Wood-fire dining room
Surry Hills, Sydney
Everything comes off one ironbark fire. Native produce, whole animals, and a short menu that changes when the coast does.
Opening hours: Closed · opens 5:30pm
Worth ordering
Straight off the coals, cultured butter, saltbush.
Five hours over ironbark. Meant for the table.
Roasted stone fruit, macadamia praline.
The fire
There is no gas in this kitchen and no oven. Ironbark and red gum burn down at the back of the hearth, the coals get raked forward, and everything on the menu is cooked over them at some height or other. It is a slower way to run a service, and it is why the room smells the way it does.
The room
The kitchen
Fourteen dishes, and a handful of them change every week — whatever came in from Blackwattle Bay that morning, whatever the growers at Bilpin have picked, and whatever the fire is good for at that particular hour. If something runs out at nine, it is gone.
Since 2019
Tallowood began as a Sunday cook-up in a Marrickville backyard and got out of hand. We took the lease on Bourke Street because it had a chimney and a back wall we were allowed to knock through.
Almost everything we cook comes from inside a two-hour drive — the Hawkesbury, the Southern Highlands, the boats at Blackwattle Bay. Not as a position. It is simply closer, and it tastes like it.
Find us
Between Foveaux and Devonshire. The door is unmarked — look for the lamp.
DirectionsOpening hours: Closed · opens 5:30pm
| Monday | Closed |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | Closed |
| WednesdayToday | 5:30pm – 11pm |
| Thursday | 5:30pm – 11pm |
| Friday | 12pm – 11pm |
| Saturday | 12pm – 11pm |
| Sunday | 12pm – 9pm |
Closed Monday and Tuesday. The fire takes a day to come back up.
All times are Sydney time.
42 Bourke Street, Surry Hills, Sydney 2010
Book a table
Bookings open 60 days ahead. Same-day tables are usually phone-only.
Would you rather not fill in a form?
Nine or more is a single seating and we cook one menu for the table — call and we will work out the night.
Before you come
For dinner, yes — the room is 42 seats and Friday and Saturday go about three weeks out. Sunday lunch is usually fine on the day. Eight stools at the bar are held back for walk-ins every service.
Most of them, and the menu already marks vegetarian, vegan, gluten free and nuts. Tell us when you book rather than on the night — a fire does not do last-minute substitutions gracefully.
Step-free from the footpath through the main door, and an accessible bathroom at the back. Two of the four tables are at standard height; ask for one of those when you book.
Up to eight through the booking form. Nine and over is a single seating on the long table and we cook one menu for everyone — call and we will work out the night.
No car park. Metered on Bourke Street after 6pm, and the Wilson on Elizabeth is a four-minute walk. Central is eight minutes on foot, which is what most people do.
No. Everything here is cooked to go straight onto a plate two metres away, and it does not survive the trip.