Best seats in the house

The light at dusk falls softly across the tables of Bert’s Bistro. On warm summer evenings, as the sun sets over Allianz Stadium, the final rays of the day lengthen across Moore Park, illuminating the grassy parklands.

A waiter stops by our table with a tray of mini martinis ($16), gorgeous pint-sized cocktails that look as though they’ve come from a movie set. We sip, listening to the hum of the crowd streaming into the seats just beyond the secluded walls of the restaurant.

The sense of life in the vicinity is palpable, even though in this dining room — with its green hues and feature wall of printed palm-leaf wallpaper — the pace is tranquil.

So this is fine dining, stadium-style, a new way to experience live sport or music without having to rush out to dinner somewhere else beforehand.

Bert’s Bistro is a spinoff from Bert’s Brasserie, the two-hatted fine-diner the Merivale group installed at The Newport on Pittwater in 2018. The original Bert’s shines with a kind of moneyed old-world sparkle and a 1920s teahouse vibe, only everyone’s drinking Champagne rather than tea, and eating caviar instead of scones.

Bert’s Bistro is like a potted version of the mothership, a compact transplant on level two of the Members section of Allianz Stadium. It doesn’t necessarily have the teahouse energy of the original, but it has its own life force. Bistro chairs and crisp white tablecloths in a stadium venue? Why not?

Like the space itself, the menu of executive chef Jordan Toft is an abbreviated version of the original. It provides a selection of Bert’s classics that are luxurious without being overly challenging. You can eat this food and run (to your seat) if you need to. Don’t expect any fussy haute cuisine here. This is real food, interpreted glamorously.

Start, obviously, with oysters on the half shell, served with a chardonnay mignonette ($6 each), for a fresh and sexy opener, or try a very good beetroot tartine, the fresh and earthy veg offered with zesty horseradish crème fraîche and chives ($18). Or there's chicken liver pâté slathered on crunchy crostini ($19), simple and generous.

Other options include steak tartare with capers and pickled chilli ($22), and brioche with cured salmon and fennel pollen ($19). The starters are plentiful and rocking with flavour.

A six-strong mains list has moments of bedazzle via grilled lobster with garlic butter (market price), or if you’ve got the cash to spare, opt for the 500g bone-in wagyu sirloin with béarnaise and watercress ($190). More prosaic, but no less delicious, is a cheeseburger with dry-aged beef, cheddar, Zuni-style pickle and bacon ($32).

Also on the list: a beautifully caramelised 300g Angus scotch fillet with fondue butter and watercress ($60), and a soft and flaky Murray cod fillet with capers, lemon and parsley ($56) that’s full of flavour and soul.

All dishes are served with a mound of French fries, as they should be. We’re at the footy, after all.

The cooking throughout is solid, even on busy nights such as this when the restaurant is full and tables are turning over before our Sydney FC match. Orders arrive speedily, but not so fast that you can’t linger over your martini or can of rather elegant rosé spritz (poured into a glass at the table).

Part of the joy of dining at Bert’s is undoubtedly sampling the wine list. Having wine by the glass or bottle sure beats drinking out of a plastic cup.

Find intelligent choices that explore Australia’s best wine regions and supplements those with international favourites for all tastes and budgets (there’s an $80 bottle of Côtes de Provence rosé, a $295 burgundy, an Italian pinot grigio for $75, to nominate but a few).

If you’re really in the zone you could opt for the Dom Pérignon vintage 2012. It’s $450, but what a year.

Some may wonder if people will be up for ordering lobster, wagyu and fine wine at the footy. The answer to that question has already been answered: the gent at the table next to us, dining alone, is doing just that. Over his lobster he’s sipping Champagne like a king and frankly, hats off to you, sir.

Bert’s Bistro is both elegant and fun. The dishes may be elevated but they are not pretentious. You can eat and drink well, then head out to cheer on your team feeling as though you’ve had a very good night out, without having left the stadium.

Bert’s Bistro

Members Area

Level 2, Allianz Stadium

Members only