Having recently changed owners, Rumpus Room has a brand new menu and is full of new surprises.
Six months ago, this petite-sized restaurant in the skinny streets of Darlinghurst was an Italian bar. But it’s since changed hands and it’s new offering is really quite unique.
Firstly, the Italian is gone. Well kind of. You can still order a carbonara and mushroom risotto, along with a handful of other Italian dishes. A few Australian classics like fish and chips have also been thrown into the mix. But Rumpus Room’s new speciality is really Malaysian.
Sydney rejoice, because we’ve got a new spot for authentic sambal eggplant and beef rendang.
A fusion of Asian, Australian and Italian
While the menu is a mix of cuisines, what is consistent is that every dish has a home-style quality. It’s clearly on the menu because it’s a speciality of the head chef. These guys are just dancing to the beat of their own drum, and it’s to the benefit of Sydneysiders.
Visiting on a Friday night, I ordered a slew of dishes off Rumpus Room’s new menu, and everything was fresh and full of flavour. The highlight was the grilled sambal squid, the beef rendang a close second. And there really wasn’t a lowlight.
Rumpus chilli king prawns, with asparagus and grilled sourdough
Grilled sambal squid, with bean crackers, mixed leaf and aioli
Beef rendang, with fragrant rice and pickled vegetables
Malaysian curry chicken, with potatoes, bean crackle and rice
Dory fillet, crumbed in pistachio and hazelnut, served with chips, salad and aioli
Hands up for durian desserts
A visit to Rumpus Room is also an education in the world’s stinkiest fruit – durian. The native South East Asian fruit is used in several of Rumpus Room’s desserts.
Now if you’re not acquainted with durian, it’s said to smell like turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. The smell so pungent, the spiky fruit is banned across some public transport networks in Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. While celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain once said that after eating durian: “Your breath will smell as if you’d been French-kissing your dead grandmother”.
Still game? We tried the durian and date pudding, and the durian pandan muffin – both surprisingly pleasant. But if you’re risk averse to durian desserts, the Rumpus ice kacang is a safe bet.
Durian pandan muffin
Durian and date pudding
Rumpus ice kacang
Rumpus Room: The final word
A visit to Rumpus Room is like visiting a friend’s house. You’re warmly welcomed in, there’s no pomp and you’re just treated to a good home-style feed.
Rumpus Room | 13B Burton Street, Darlinghurst, New South Wales
rumpus-room.business.site
