The James
British food is the starting point at The James, brought to the table with a contemporary Sydney sensibility. The dining room is dark and close, warm rather than formal, with a subtle sense of theatre running through it. It sits on Kent Street at Millers Point, in the Langham building, at the western edge of the city. The kitchen serves lunch and dinner every day of the week, noon to 2.30pm and 5.30pm to 9pm.
The kitchen starts from British classics and cooks them the way Sydney eats now, led by a team whose roots are European. The technique shows in the handling rather than in any flourish on the plate. Beef Wellington comes by pre-order only, since the kitchen carries a limited number of them. The wine list is extensive, and dessert has a card of its own.
The room takes a table of two as readily as a table of twelve. Parties of 10 to 25 eat from a set menu, Classic or Premium. Above that, half the dining room can be closed off for a party, or the whole of it, and the events team settles the detail beforehand. Bookings run through SevenRooms, and the restaurant also takes them by telephone on 02 9460 0048.
The room
Menus
Familiar dishes, taken seriously
Three menus — food, dessert and drinks — revised whenever the kitchen changes something.
Private dining
A table of 20, or all 114
Take the dining room in full and it seats 114; the north half seats 54, the south half 40, and there is a room for 20 set apart from the rest.
114 seated
Seated: 114 with the whole floor in use, 54 for the north half, 40 for the south half, and 20 in the room set apart.
The James
What's on here
An SRG Hospitality venue
The James belongs to SRG Hospitality, the group Bill and Kathleen Drakopoulos started in 2000 and that Daniel Drakopoulos and Perry Drakopoulos run today as managing directors.