Mrs Sippy

Double Bay's bright, summery bar and kitchen Mrs Sippy has a new Executive Chef and a new summer menu, providing good reason to check the place out regardless of whether you're a loyal local or you've never been.

The interior is fresh and colourful, the front dining room maintaining a refined restaurant feel while the outdoor garden bar area becomes more playful with graffiti-style wall art and the the entrance to the dance floor.

Starting a warm evening out here with a cool drink among the plants and late afternoon sun seems a sensible idea, whether you then move on to an inside table for dinner or keep your bar table and make a casual night of it.

They're a fan of the classic Aperol Spritz at Mrs Sippy's garden bar, and we don't mind this at all. It's a little sweeter than you'll often find it, yet delightfully refreshing on a warm Sydney evening.

New Executive Chef Adreanne Pelletier came to Australia from Quebec several years ago, and brings experience from some well established restuarants in London, where she has worked recently. She explains the mix of influences on her cooking that she has gained from working with different cuisines, previously being exposed to a lot of Asian cuisine and delving most recently into Middle Eastern flavours after several months learning about Syrian food while working with a charitable cookbook initiative in London.

Mrs Sippy's new summer menu reflects several of these culinary influences. Sydney rock oysters are flavoured with kaffir lime and shiso ($4 ea), Wood roasted chicken is served with walnuts, mint, chilli and a Middle Eastern tahini-based tarator sauce (half/whole $25/$40), and there's a very on-trend Salmon poke on the salad menu ($26).

Citrus cured kingfish carpaccio ($18) is a standout entree, fresh and flavoursome and with a gentler hit of citrus than you might expect. This is one to try for carpaccio fans with grapefruit fears - the famously bitter fruit stands minimal chance of competing for your taste buds when used thoughtfully in this dish, and the delicious kingfish sings through.

For mains, we find it hard to look past the slow roasted lamb shoulder with white beans, cavolo nero and dukkah (half/whole $30/60). It is tasty, melt-in-your-mouth, fall-off-the-bone meaty goodness, and the white bean side is a surprising highlight on its own.

For simpler share-food eats there's a selection of cheese and charcuterie boards ($26 - $30) and a short but sharp list of pizzas ($23-26).

Dietary requirement may require some menu alterations but are happily catered for.

Finally, chocolate lovers must give the Chocolate fondant a try ($14). It stands its ground as an excellent incarnation of the dish, with a divine miso-salted caramel and crushed macadamias. The use of miso to salt the caramel is genius - less of a salty slap in the face than some such sauces can be, and complimenting the fondant and nuts in a gooey mess of deliciousness.

Mrs Sippy is open midday - midnight Tuesday - Sunday.

They have multiple spaces available for functions including the restaurant, garden bar and private upstairs laneway bar.

Happy hours run on Tueday - Friday afternoons and for midweek casual dinners there are bar food specials on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Check Mrs Sippy's website for more information, menus and booking information