Splitting Hairs

Vast new Barangaroo restaurant 12-Micron offers much to intrigue the discerning aesthete. And, writes Pat Nourse, some of it is very tasty indeed.

- Pat Nourse

I’m afraid “12-Micron” is not an accident. I thought the name might be just a quirk, a sort of tic of branding, a slub in the fabric of its ID work. But no. I have a feeling someone got paid well to come up with some of the “concepts” that inform the look and feel of this new, very large restaurant. Things may have even been curated. And some of these things are very silly indeed. Real forehead-smackers. But fortunately, in the middle of it all, lurks some surprisingly good food.

To find the place, you walk past the hoardings labelled DANGER ASBESTOS and the stunning battlefield of drills and cranes that marks the site of the new casino. Ride the lift up to level two of Tower One – aka The Big One – at Barangaroo and as you step out you may spy a sign that says the venue is licensed for 500. It seats closer to 230, but that gives you an idea of the space we’re dealing with here. This is clearly a big investment.

Which makes things like the way the menu is structured all the harder to understand. If you were to spend a lot of money to open a large and ambitious restaurant, would you run with the tried-and-true method of entrées, main courses and desserts? Would you go with the more modish shared-plates approach? Or would you divide things instead into Earth, Ocean, Land, Air? Would you put cheese under The Milk Artists?

The Milk Artists?