Sluurpy > Restaurants in Woollahra > Fred's

Review Fred's - Woollahra

Gary L
Had a great Sunday lunch here a few weeks back. Really great atmosphere, open kitchen, staff happy and energetic. Food delicious and bread was a real treat. My style of fine dining and won't break the bank. Disappointed with the sunday surcharge but won't let that ruin a great experience. Thank you
David McCarthy
An exquisite experience of food wine and service. The highlights were the perfectly cooked John Dory, and the wonderful prawn ravioli. Cocktails and wine offerings delicious too. Top 10 restaurant in Sydney easily.
Kevin Peng
New York Industrial fused with French Provincial ambience done right in the heart of Paddington, Sydney! Love the set-up with the kitchen and Chefs doing their thing in full view of the patrons. Service was good! The staff were plentiful and were professional with just the right amount of attention served. And most importantly, the food was on par of course! Do yourselves a favour folks!
M So
Always love visiting Fred's. The open kitchen, the rustic ambience and attentive service. I used to always recommend their lamb and bread, however this time tried their steak and a few other canape and entree dishes. The cavier and pancakes and king fish ceviche were well balanced! Highly recommend that you give that a try😋😋
Juni Kim
I visited this place for a snack. Amandin(?) who served us was amazing. Her service was absolutely best. She was really nice!!! Absolutely helpful, lovely and amazing. We really enjoyed wine because of her. She made us happy. We will definitely visit again to enjoy. Thanks a lot.
Dean Yesberg
We started our night in Charlie Parkers the bar under Fred’s. Really moody great vibe perfect start to the night. You have to give it to the Merivale group they really know how to create a place with a great atmosphere and Vibe. Fred’s is a very different dining experience as you are so close to where all the action is happening in the open kitchen. We were literally only 3m away from our dinner being cooked. Everything we ordered was outstanding particularly the mozzarella fig entree and the lobster were a standout . The lobster bisque that came with the lobster was a food group in itself, they could bottle that. Service was on point. Highly recommend.
Yanisa Teerachai
My boyfriend and I went there on his birthday and its absolutely amazing!!!!! The staffs warm my heart💓 Food is average, but they know how to play with the ingredients. Totally falling in love with Fred and 100% will come back
Liz W
Great experience at lunch where we enjoyed watching the chefs working right in front of us in the open kitchen. The food was cooked to perfection - only needed a spoon to slide the lamb off of the bone. The wine list is decent but pretty pricey. The service was friendly and attentive. Will definitely return.
Gastronomicamenteincorrecto
Casual food with a really cool vibe restaurant. Open fire kitchen top!
Always Hungry
Good place to go with a group and share. Open kitchen nice vibe though on a hot day avoid sitting near the oven. Solid entrees- had the bonito crudo, burrata, pappardelle. Mains were better- Murray cod fillet, quail and T-bone steak. Sides- must get fresh corn polenta! Potatoes and fennel salad were ok but nothing special.
JDP79
What a beauty. Each dish was as scrumptious and clean as you could imagine. Highlights were the bread, the duck and the mozzarella. Oh yes, get there
Marianna Tuccia
American Chef Danielle Alavarez (ex Chez Panisse, The French Laundry, California) is at the helm at Fred’s, one of Sydney’s most beautiful restaurants. The heritage fit-out, the open kitchen is the stuff of dreams. Well my dreams, at least. As soon as you walk into Fred’s you are made to feel special. The service is faultless. The food, which is all about sustainable produce and has a Mediterranean influence, is fresh, beautifully presented and has you wanting more. We thoroughly enjoyed everything we ate. As the menu is constantly changing, I cannot wait to return to try other seasonal dishes. Downstairs is an intimate bar called Charlie Parker and every meal at Fred’s should end there! #freds #merivale
D
Our first time to this restaurant and we loved it. The open kitchen gives it a very homely feeling. The food was surprisingly flavoursome, and we enjoyed every dish we tried. The staff were very friendly, but did forget to place the order for 2 items we requested. We were given truffles to take home for our anniversary. Will definitely come back.
Johnny S
First time at Fred’s had an early booking and the place was spotless! Extremely clean and the open kitchen set up was incredible! Was awesome to watch the team of cooks too! <br/>Very friendly staff and the T-Bone was amazing ! ☺️<br/>
Tim A
This was a return visit to Fred's and they keep up the standard every time.  We (4) had Danielle's tasting menu and matched that with some great wine suggestions from the sommelier.  The service was great and very relaxed (just like our waiter was a friend of the family) and this made the whole night special.<br/>Thanks to all, we'll be back (soon I hope)
Jennifer Wilkins
This restaurant has a beautiful interior with an adventurous concept in open food prep set up in several spots in the cavernous room. All very interesting and the food was very good. Great ingredients, simply prepared, beautifully presented, and delicious. Our bill came to $100 per head including only one modest bottle of wine. This was borderline overpriced I think, given our total experience. The waiting staff were not unfriendly but neither were they warmly welcoming and we generally felt underwhelmed by the service. They made a few mistakes with our order, and some placing of the plates across our faces at the table was avoidable and amateurish. Observing the way the waiting staff worked the room, they seemed harried and I was unable to fully relax as a result. We also felt unusually harrassed by Fred's via text, email and phone call asking us to confirm our booking and warning us of a hefty charge to our credit card (given to secure the booking) should we fail to show. I understand the frustration that restaurateurs have on no-shows but this was a bit too much. To be honest, I wouldn't go back to Fred's.
Ellen Ehrhardt Smith
I’ve been to FRED’S in Paddington a couple of times now. It’s always been good, but not that great. I suppose I had pretty high expectations. Merivale restaurants, in my experience, are always excellent – in terms of the fit-out, atmosphere as well as the food. I can’t fault the atmosphere or decor at FRED’S though.  It’s like you’ve literally stepped into Danielle Alvarez’s home, with the big open kitchen where the staff are all quietly and peacefully chopping or cooking away. No one seems stressed, there are no huge steaming pots or sweaty chefs. It all feels calm and welcoming.
Lily
Have always wanted to try this place, was finally able to get a table recently. The service was lovely, everyone was really friendly and helpful. We ordered a selection of dishes from starters to mains between the 3 of us, they all tasted really good and flavourful. Was slightly disappointed with the chocolate choux bun, it looked enticing but didn’t taste as anticipated. Nonetheless, we had a really good experience overall.
Vonanderemplaneten
2 x reviews; first one from July and second one from October<br/><br/>July 2017<br/><br/>Magnificent open kitchen centre-stage space, with ALL the open fire and wood-fired oven cooking as well as all the prep work in plain sight, the BEST front row seats at any live performance!<br/><br/>Amuse bouche of radish with dip<br/><br/>Jerusalem artichoke and kohlrabi soup with crispy chips, preserved lemon and spring onion oil<br/>(...creamy sweet comfort food flavours of the Jerusalem artichoke and kohlrabi were elevated to the extraordinary by the intensely delicious power of the spring onion oil, and then suddenly came a solitary, attention-grabbing and entertaining bite of preserved lemon - full theatrical drama inside a soup bowl!...)<br/><br/>Smoked sardines, satsivi, pickled currants, herbs<br/>(...the satsivi was the perfectly subtle foil for the scrumptiously smoked sardines, the flesh of which were still moist and tender - and beautifully complemented by the sweet currants and the fragrant herbs...)<br/><br/>Manjimup black truffle tagliatelle, butter and parmesan<br/>(...unctuously rich sauce with black truffles and parmesan...)<br/><br/>King brown mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, green lentils, kale, artichoke and truffle butter<br/>(...awesome to see such love in a vegetarian option with contrasting textures and deeply flavourful tastes...)<br/><br/>Pork chop, pumpkin puree, grilled radicchio, sherry<br/>(...the most yummy, succulent, chewy, juicy pork I've had in a long time! The radicchio was grilled perfectly - sweet with a bite of bitterness - and the pumpkin was rich and sweet...)<br/><br/>Creme brulee, chocolate honeycomb, buckwheat crunch, apple<br/>(...a perfect creme brulee, with lots of crunchy, crispy and smooth, sweet extras!...)<br/><br/>Petits fours<br/><br/>October 2017<br/><br/>Another faultless meal at Fred’s!<br/><br/>Seedlip spice with sprig of eucalyptus<br/>(...citrus and eucalyptus and spices...)<br/> <br/>Asparagus salad with veal sweetbreads and lemon aioli<br/>(...fragrant and fresh...)<br/><br/>Crunchy black rice, wood-oven Southern squid, celery, lemon<br/>(...intense wood-fired flavour and so many textures in the one dish...)<br/><br/>Chicken maryland “al mattone”, chickpea puree, roasted capsicums, capers<br/>(...juicy and tender meat, crispy skin, richly traditional flavours...)<br/><br/>Toasted meringue, grilled lime ice cream, mango sorbet, caramelized white chocolate<br/>(...a top-notch dessert with perfectly executed elements; the toasting, grilling and caramelizing added more contrasting bitter flavours which added to the dessert and made its taste more interestingly complex...)<br/><br/>Cocoa covered candied almonds<br/>(...farewell snack until next time...)
Eatsydney
BRILLIANT ✨😛✨ I LOVE EVERYTHING about this joint👌You walk I into a beautiful chill room after being greeted by charming people. Your table will be a lovely comfortable place with a view of the large open plan open fire kitchen watching calm stylin staff prepping bits pieces for you meal. The food keeps getting better here, this is the chicken served on chick pea purée. It has been wood oven roasted and has amazing flavour and crisp skin with a rich but clean sauce. Then you have access to some amazing wines. They have an off the menu range so if you want to splurge, be sure to have a good chat to the som and find something exceptional. The whole vibe is totally desirable and you can learn more from a great podcast about a girls perspective in the kitchen, @daniellemariealvarez , from another talented female @leetranlam, a great insight into creating this wonderful place. And thank you @Merivale for your huge part in the collaboration of this resto ✨ Did I just gush enough? I’ll try to post a few more photos in sequence before I fall asleep as I got up far to early this morning to try to get photos of the ocean and walked too many stairs to increase strength and stamina for an upcoming sporting trip 😬 19/20 👌#freds #paddo #kitchen #sydney #bbq
CherryPie
After all the good press I really wanted to enthuse about Freds but ultimately its a suburban bistro with good food but unreasonable prices.<br/>I'm just going to focus on the food, I had the bucatini with sardines which had terrific flavours, sadly the pasta was overcooked. For main the lamb was delicious, beautifully cooked rack with lettuce, broad beans and peas we also had the chicken, golden skin, silky mash and flavourful gravy - bistro classics. Desserts were up and down, the chocolate pudding was a big hit, the panna cotta was a miss. <br/>All in all it was good but not great
Leon
Fred’s is Merivale’s latest venture and the most impressive-looking restaurant in Sydney. The gorgeous restaurant features an elongated, open wall with marble topped benches where I had my meal and watched the chefs and kitchen crew working next to wood-fired oven and charcoal grills. The intimate cooking experience was unprecedented but the occasional eye-to-eye contact with the kitchen assistant washing and preparing a garden salad was stressful. <br/><br/>I proceeded with a disappointing three-course meal at the hatted restaurant. First, the spring herb and flower tart, served with jacquin cherve, a type of cheese made in the Loire Valley, honey and sunflower seeds. The high quality cheese produces a sweet hay aroma but it was apparent the cheese used in Fred’s suggest otherwise. The tart appeared as an inconvenient marriage of the different ingredients and the intense flavour of the cheese overwhelmed my palate and subsequent main course. In other words, this dish was unsuitable as an entree. <br/><br/>Their signature lamb leg a la ficelle, was underwhelming too. The lamb leg was sliced and combined with a succulent and juicy grilled lamb chop. It was amazing that they could create such tender and beautiful lamb. Unfortunately, the charred lettuce, broad beans and baby artichokes did not enhance its taste. Furthermore, the cheese had completely ruined the dining experience.
Suren Surendra
Worst experience with Merivale group restaurants! <br/><br/>“Fred's changing daily menu” but on first sitting they don’t have the fish as mentioned on the menu, can understand if that was on second sitting!<br/><br/>Sat on salad making station for dinner and watched our own “Grilled octopus” dish!!! Plated three times the same “Grilled octopus” from dish to dish by two staff including head chef, didn’t even chuck into bin and started fresh Wow!!!<br/><br/>Ordered Selection of cheese! The average selection of cheese and when it was served Wow worst cheese plate in Merivale group!!<br/><br/>Sorry didn’t stood-up as expected.
Elisa Halim
The place isnt exactlt children friendly, but the staff were super friendly & very accommodating. We got the round table at the corner, a beautifully decorated private corner. Totally love the ambience, place set up, & menu..especially the open kitchen concept! We ordered several dish, my favorite is the T-bone & ravioli item. And ow, the octopus... Gosh!!! The texture was awesome!!! I grew up in place where seafood is abundant, yet never eaten octopus prepared so well! Truly had an amazing family dinner there. Will definitely come back for more!
Warwick Robinson
The food was OK definitely not outstanding.<br/>Intrusive wait staff.<br/>Deceptive pricing.<br/>Way to expensive we had a party of eight our bill came to $1548.00 this included a service charge (tip??) of $138.00. When have gratuities been determined by the service provider??.
Barry Crowley
First the positives. Fred's is a beautiful restaurant, with a unique 'open kitchen' homely style fit out. Comfortable seating, the open fire pit and wood burning oven and watching the chefs at work in the beautiful French country house style kitchen all add to the atmosphere. Bustling on a Thursday night, I suppose that's the power of a good write up in Gourmet Traveller magazine. A complimentary morsel of fig wrapped with prosciutto to start and a white chocolate & pistachio crisp after desert are nice touches too. <br/><br/>Now the negatives. The food is average, and along with the wine list both are quite overpriced for what you get. $26 for STRAIGHT FROM THE FRIDGE COLD burrata, slow roast tomato, greens & pistachio. $28 for two king prawns with some kombu butter and a little seaweed. $45 for a slice of lamb leg, two rack chops, some potato and a little vegetable garnish. The wine list has few options around the $50-$80 mark, then it shoots sharply into the hundreds and beyond. The $95 a glass desert wine just casually hanging around on the bottom of the desert menu is laughable.<br/><br/>The menu is simple and straightforward, four cold plates, four entrees, four mains. It doesn't need to be explained blow by blow by the waiter for 5 minutes, I think we can figure out that 'sides' will "wonderfully compliment" the main dishes on our own, thanks! However, remembering that one of your guests is a coeliac would be helpful when bringing out a starter that comes with two pieces of toasted bread sitting on the plate. <br/><br/>Overall, not very impressed and wouldn't be rushing back. Just because you've spent millions on your fit out doesn't give you the right to charge exorbitant prices for what is, at its core, pretty simple, almost Sunday/family dinner style food.
Erica
Wow. What an incredible experience we had last night at Fred's. When you fist walk in you're met with a cosy, soft lit bar and smiling bar staff who happily guide you to the restaurant - tucked in the back of the building. <br/><br/>The restaurant itself was open plan, kitchen and dining somewhat merged, with some diners even sharing the same work bench as chefs, able to watch on as they roll out dough or plate the prettiest of ceviche. It felt like home. It was welcoming and warm and I like it. A lot.<br/><br/>The floor staff were all well educated on the menu and wines and they were helpful and attentive. Being so open, you almost felt like you were in someone's kitchen and watching the chefs work was like watching the ballet, seamlessly floating from pot to pan they were pumping out food with what looked like minimal effort. I was impressed and it was lovely watch.<br/><br/>Danielle's seasonal and daily evolving menu, based on a paddock to plate ethos, was stripped back and inspired. We opted for her 5 course set menu (with the addition of steak tartare..because steak tartare you guys) and it was faultless. Starting with fresh house baked bread with a crunchy crust and open crumb, whipped butter and the fruitiest olive oil I've ever had, and ending with a deliciously textural blood plum frangipane tart with wild fennel ice cream. Wild. Fennel. Ice cream. Every dish in between was refined, unpretentious and created with surprising familiarity. The sweet corn and goats curd cappalletti was an absolute highlight.<br/><br/>We will most certainly be back. Thank. You. Fred's.
Honeylishuss
I went to Sydney specifically for Fred's in Paddington. It is a very beautiful dining room; transporting, exquisitely simple but with so much style. The kitchen sits unobtrusively in the centre of the room and informs the menu I think, as much as the seasonal produce does. My favorite dish was the pippi spaghetti. The sauce was so delicious and had that wow factor in terms of flavor and freshness. I really am over-cooking my pasta at home, I realized. My friend had an entree bowl of whitebait; plump, delicious things they were. For main course I had the crispy skin whiting which sat in a light well-seasoned broth. It was lovely but I felt the broth was a slight distraction and also didn't pair well with the sides I wanted; a minor thing really. The desserts were very nice, absolutely lovely, rather than unusual. Our service was excellent, so much so that we didn't realize that we were almost the last table to leave and yet nothing had been said that would have made us feel that we had overstayed. I highly recommend Fred's. I'm still relishing the ambiance and comfort of that beautiful dining room. We were all so happy there. It was quite memorable.
I'm Still Hungry
Farm to table works if the results are delicious. Something is being lost in translating what is surely excellent produce into that gorgeous kitchen, to what’s being put on the plate. It’s not working all the time, and not working nearly as well as it should. It should have been an easy win of a meal and restaurant, and I can’t help but feel I’m missing something given Fred’s near universal acclaim from critics and friends alike. To go against this grain? It’s is even more surprising and uncomfortable than finding a whole bunch of bad raspberries in my dessert.
The Napoli Alert
Unlike many of Merivale’s other venues, Fred’s, on Oxford Street, is a little more intimate, seating only sixty. But that may well be intentional, because they want it to feel like a bit of a home away from home. Walk past the bar at the front (where you can also eat the full restaurant menu)….
Helen | Grab Your Fork
Chef Danielle Alvarez is bringing back the hearth. It's hard not to stare as soon as you enter the dining room at Fred's, a scene that looks more like the bustling kitchen of Downton Abbey than Paddington's newest restaurant. The open kitchen is a heart-warming display of raw abundance: rounds of freshly baked fougasse spilling across the  counter, a leg of lamb slowly spinning in front of a fireplace and a mountain of fat green broadbeans piled up high on a footed platter.
Arancini Baguette Beef Burger Cakes Calamares Calamari Cassoulet Ceviche Cheeseburger Chili Chocolate mousse Churrasco Cod Confit Corned Beef Crab Croquettes Cucumber Salad Curry Duck Duck Confit Dumplings Eggplant Fish Fish & Chips French Fries Gelato Halloumi Ice Cream Juice & Smoothies Lamb Shoulder Lasagne Lemon tart Lobster Matzo Ball Soup Meringue Moussaka Nachos Noodle Octopus Omelette Oyster Pad Thai Pancakes Pasta Prawns Pretzel Prosciutto Quail Ribs Risotto Roast Chicken Roe Salad Salmon Sandwiches Scallops Schnitzel Shrimp Sirloin Steak Souvlaki Steak Sandwich Steak Tartare Suckling Pig Swordfish Tacos Tagliatelle Tapas Tempura Tiramisu Toasts Tuna Wings
Share on WhastApp
Share on Facebook
Browse the menu
Add review