Hotel restaurant Pier Dining at Pier One Sydney Harbour hotel takes a more relaxed and casual approach

Mornay, Rockefeller and Kilpatrick have a lot to answer for. When you like a fresh, raw, freshly shucked oyster, it's almost a travesty to top it with cheesy béchamel, creamed spinach, or Worcestershire-spiked bacon. That's not exactly the point.

But I just met a hot oyster that puts the oyster first, gently poaching it with minimal heat and sending it out with warm, smoky wagyu fat and coconut vinegar.

It's a smart opening statement from a hotel dining room that has shaken off its fine dining years. What was The Gantry Hotel at Pier One Sydney Harbor is now a simpler affair, with new chef, Frenchman Dimitri Damman, recruited from the ranks.

This has happened before. When Joel Bickford left The Gantry to move to Matt Moran's flagship Aria in 2018, management plucked a young Thomas Gorringe from the kitchen as chef. Gorringe is now executive chef at Aria, Bickford runs Shell House Dining Room and The Gantry's most recent chef Rhys Connell is opening Soluna in Sydney's north for Etymon. Damman has worked for all three chefs for the past five years. Now it's his turn.

The oysters ($6 each) come nestled in a lively green bed of samphire, purslane and seaweed, placing them firmly on the edge of land and sea. The wood-floored dining room, which still bears the hallmarks of its industrial and working dock heritage, is similarly situated, looking west over the more restored docks and choppy water.

The last time I was here in the Gantry days, some disgruntled hotel guests left because it was too fancy and they didn't want to order anything. Now it's easier at Pier Dining with dishes like chips, Bermagui catch of the day, steak and potato scallops on the menu. My fellow guests reflect this: small family groups have strollers strapped to the side, and smartphones discreetly play TikTok kindergarten teacher “Miss Rachel” to the under-threes.

But there is still plenty for the older ones.

There's kangaroo tartare ($18) that's lush and noble, hand-minced Paroo 'roo nut meat with macadamia on a pine mushroom emulsion, topped with cured egg yolk and surrounded by buckwheat crackers .

Even comfort food has done more than you might expect. Mostly, this is good. There's a spin on carbonara made with an excellent fresh bell-shaped pasta from small-batch producers Duro Pasta ($32). Inspired by Josh Niland's repurposing of fish bits and pieces at Saint Peter, Dammon swaps the guanciale for a dry-cured chopped redfish neck, tossed in a lightly eggy sauce and tossed with black pepper. For a quick dinner, this and a glass of vibrant and elegant Mount Pleasant Aged Semillon ($20/$95) from the Hunter Valley would go well.

Sometimes, there is too much of a good thing. The King George Whiting Parma ($42) is so crisp and coated in a Heidi Farm tilsit cheese that you miss it. Which is not the point, really. A tropical-inspired plate of coral trout crudo with green mango ($32) is brought in on a cart, its tangy dressing (spicy pepper, ginger, cilantro, lime) mixed at the table with mortar and pestle. Nice idea, but the thinly sliced ​​fish is hard to lift off the plate, which takes some of the fun out of it.

I know everyone says they want a more relaxed and casual dinner, but they always want a fancy dessert. My choice is not the “Pierlova” signature; it's a slice of Valrhona chocolate cake with Dulcey cookie butter ice cream ($21), from pastry chef Jitender Awasthi. All poise and elegance, layered with chocolate ganache and feuilletine paste and crunchy hazelnuts on a crunchy chocolate sable base, it's a bit of Euro precision worth shelling out for.

The food and wine service is pleasant, if distracting, and there is a covered area for those who want to be closer to the water. Pier Dining is now a hotel restaurant that gets most things right, doing that a little more than necessary, in an attempt to give its guests the experience they want. Which, you should say, is the point.