Meat cooked with flame stars on the menu here, but the drinks offering is no afterthought – the beer selection is outstanding and the dynamic wine list makes for difficult choices.
When a venue is conceived by someone who deals in produce, you can be assured that produce will get the hero-worship it deserves. Terra is the brainchild of Anthony Iannelli from Canberra purveyors The Food Forum, and every plate, by chef Sung Son from the soon-to-shutter Sydney stalwart Hartsyard, reflects that respect. Each cut of meat is treated simply as it makes its way through smoke or flame – the pork belly gets the wood-fire treatment, the tomahawk is on the chargrill, and the chicken gets a turn on the rotisserie – but there’s nothing easier to get wrong than simplicity, and nothing is ever wrong here. Don’t think the drinks list is an understudy to the food, either; plenty of energy has been put into the offering. The excellent by-the-glass selection sees meat-happy malbecs and pinots from Margaret River and Victoria alongside a few niche European surprises, such as the lo-fi biodynamic Melsheimer Trocken Riesling from Germany. And it’s a bold Canberran sommelier who rounds out their beer list with internationals or inter-staters when the home turf does such a great trade in craft brews, but the inclusion of a bunch of truly special Kiwi, New South Wales and Tassie options reveals a devotion to taste and quality above all other considerations.
Truly, what drink do you not order? You start to work up a bit of an excited sweat as you turn the pages of this dynamic list, where the crossed-out entries suggest they mix things up a lot – there’s simply too much that’s too good. The by-the-glass offering is packed with character. Kick things off with a peachy Italian prosecco from Australian fizz-maker Babo, or a chilled pinot blanc from Austria’s Claus Preisinger. If you’re after a bottle, stop letting the list torture you and wander over to the wine wall to simply grab something you like the look of on display.
The spirits list is magical. There are your classic Jack Daniel’s and Maker’s Mark, of course, but then a few hand grenades are thrown in such as Denmark’s left-field Empirical spirits and Mexico’s Quiquiriqui mezcal. For an extra four bucks you can pickleback any of them – that is, chase them with a shot of pickle brine. And, oh, the beer. There’s a strong local selection, but the pick is hops-crazy Pernicious Weed IPA by Wellington’s Garage Project, which parties like grapefruit popping candy in your mouth. How fun.
