FineDiner’s posterous

La Brasserie - Sydney

La Brasserie is a true Parisian dining experience in downtown Sydney. This is one restaurant where you feel like you have walked into a small bistro off the streets of Paris. Staff with gorgeous French accents, a great French wine list and a traditional French menu that is just too hard to choose from. We had a great evening the week of Bastille day. Could have done without the dancing girls though!!!

Saucisson Sec - Traditional French sliced air dried sausage with cornichons and pickled onions

Escargots a la Bourguignonne  -12 snails baked in their shells with garlic parsley butter and sliced baguette. Hot and succulant and garlicy...nice.

Souffle au Fromage - Twice baked goats cheese souffle with walnuts and frisee. This souffle was perfect. Soft, creamy and cheesy...

Rabbit with mushrooms - probably my fav dish of the night. juice rabbit with a great smokey flavour.

Bouillabaisse - not the traitional style

Pot au feu - perfect winter stew with oxtail and bone marrow

Venison perfectly cooked

Fondant au chocolat - soft centered dark callebut chocolate pudding with coffee foam and pistachio ice-cream

Crème brulee

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Rockpool Bar and Grill - Sydney

Neil Perry's Rockpool Bar and Grill in Sydney's CBD is not only known for it's amazing steaks and fresh seafood but also for the best wine list in the country and the most elegant and beautiful dining room. All of them are so true. The art deco room is grand. Soaring green marble pillars and chandeliers of Reidel glasses and a huge open kitchen with more chefs than you could imagine. When you see the vast menu - you know why. There is something for everyone. Cold bar menu with caviar, oysters, jamon and Alaskan crab. Hot starters and salads including a truffle omelet with truffles toast. Pasta, charcoal oven grilled seafood and dry aged beef from the wood fired grill. A long list of sides and condiments and a dessert menu that was hard to chose from. Wait till you have a look at the wine list that has been awarded Australia's best wine list. It is huge and you can find any wine you could ever dream of from anywhere in the world. 3500 different wines ranging from 1795 including a 1945 Romanee Conti. The wine rooms are stunning. Different wine rooms for the different price bracket wines. Could have stayed in the main wine room for ever. Service was very professional and friendly. Food simply stunning.
 

The famous reidel glass chandelier at the bar  - over 2000 glasses that are not for use but cleaned periodically. beautiful

The grand room with soaring atrium

Sautéed spanner crab and globe artichoke with soft white polenta and fontina. delicate fragrant and soft flavours. the polenta was creamy and warm. Would have this dish again for sure.

Charcoal roast squid and pork belly. very spicy and full of flavour

Tuna Tartare, Moroccan eggplant, cumin mayonnaise and harissa

Wood fire grilled Prawns with beans, hummus, croutons and yogurt

Cape grim dry aged 36 month old grass fed T bone 400gm 32 days

Seafood stew with spicy mussel and saffron broth

Seared king prawn with goats cheese tortellini, burnt butter, pine nuts and raisins. Soft and beautiful and perfect burnt butter

Wagyu chuck braised in red wine with gremolata and potato puree. Amazing. Beautiful aroma and beef that just falls apart. Everyones fav dish of the night.

Warm rhubarb, strawberry and almond pudding with vanilla sauce. This was amazing and a real surprise. it was soft as a souffle with crunchy bits in it. yum....

Dark chocolate Bark with cashews and sesames

Black forest trifle inspired by The Fat Duck's BFG - big dish with layers of elegant flavours.

The open kitchen

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Après - Sydney

Après is one of the latest to enter the Sydney French restaurant scene. The team from La Grand Bouffe have opened this great restaurant in Potts Point. The restaurant was beautiful. Dim lighting, tables well spaced out, amazing wine display and a semi-open kitchen layout. The staff were extremely friendly and service flawless. Nothing was too hard for Josh and his team. We were given the private dining this night and it was perfect for our group. We stared off with a lovely crusty and warm French bread - perfect for a winters night. The menu was exciting and there was just so many things we would have liked to order...

Amuse bouche of snails with garlic butter - perfectly cooked.

Twice baked goats cheese soufflé with walnut and radicchio salad - I am a huge cheese soufflé fan and if it is on the menu - I always order it. However I must say that this one was a bit too spicy for me. I guess I was not expecting the spice so it probably caught me by surprise.

Duck liver parfait with cornichons - this was divine. Soft and creamy and a beautiful texture. Perfect with our pinot...

Whole Roast Duck with pommes fondant - This dish was to share for two people and was huge. Each of us got two pieces of the duck. One was beautifully cooked and we cleaned it off the bone. The potatoes were divine.

Chocolate Gateau Ménage a Trois with Crème Fraiche Sorbet - Yum :)

Lavender Crème Brulee with Poached Pear

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Claude's - Sydney

You need to ring a doorbell to enter this small restaurant on Oxford street in Woollahra which has been a highly awarded institution in Sydney since 1976. Claude's has had four owners since and the current owner is an ex-lawyer Chui Lee Luk. We dined there when she first took over the kitchen and the food was very different to what we had this time. The flavours were more delicate back then with soft little touches of flowers and exquisite aromas. This time it was a lot heavier, more asian influence and truly - not really what I expected. It was good but not stunning. I must say though that both the desserts were fantastic. Would like to go back just for the desserts if we could.
 

Saffron and chestnut broth - saffron biscotti

Spanner crab, celeriac griddle cake, chicken with black truffles

Angus fillet cured with mignonette pepper - mushrooms, onions, capsicum

Yellow fin tuna and salt cod

Pork en crepine, fish fragrant sauce

Roast aylesbury duck

Champagne and elderflower vacherin - this was just amazing and everyones fav dish of the night. Beautiful textures and flavours. Want more...
 

Bitter orange souffle

Chocolate hazelnut macarons

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Macaron Masterclass @ Baroque Bistro - Sydney

The Baroque Bistro at the Rocks not only does great French cuisine but is well known for its amazing macarons. They have just started running a macaron masterclass with Chef Jean Michel Raynaud. It is an all day affair but there is just so much to learn. Jean Michel is amazing and shares every detail of the process with you while you work hands on to make your own macarons to take home! We made dark chocolate and salted caramel macarons today. Made the ganache and the macaron shells, learnt to pipe them, cook them and assemble them. Wow - it takes hours to make them and about 10 secs to eat them. They are amazing though and the masterclass was just fantastic. Worth the experience. Sydney weekender were filming on this day hence the cameras...
 

                       
Click here to download:
Macaron_Masterclass_Baroque_Bi.zip (279 KB)

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Etch - Sydney

It was great watching Justin North on masterchef. Becasse is his famous 3 hatted restaurant in the city and Etch is the little brother but still hatted and lovely. James Metcalfe is the exec chef at Etch and quality local produce is the main feature of this European cuisine restaurant. Really well priced for the city with great quality. Loved the caramel date tart with burnt butter ice cream…yum! Every dish on our tasting menu was a winner...will definately come back.

Salad of green beans, poached pears, witlof, persian fetta, hazelnut. Not a real salad fan but this one was fantastic. The hazelnut puree added a definate great touch.

Spiced Hiramasa kingfish, apple, watercress, bacon vinaigrette. The spice was the surprise element to this dish and really added to it.

Daube of beef, spinach, carrot, red wine jus. The daube was fantastic. Did not need to use the knife at all. perfect!!!

Caramel date tart, burnt butter ice cream, Earl Grey tea syrup. Sensational and beyond words. I managed to have two on the night :) Happy.

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Restaurant Balzac Game dinner - Sydney

Chef Matthew Kemp put on his first ever Game dinner at Restaurant Balzac this week. Each of the six dishes had a different game meat and each one was better than the other. Great innovative dishes and great complimentary flavours with Yarra valley matched wines. The stand outs for me were the venison and the squab and duck terrine. The duck egg and truffled honey brulee was to die for. It was matched to the Punt Road Botrytis Semillon which was amazing. Great meal and great wines and a great concept.

Kangaroo tartare
Emu
Terrine of Squab and Duck with pickled globe artichokes
Rare roasted Venison with a delice of spiced quince
Braised Hare with chestnuts and bitter chocolate
Roast rack of Wild Boar with a cassoulet of confit neck
Duck egg and truffled honey brulee
Single malt truffles

               
Click here to download:
Restaurant_Balzac_Game_dinner_.zip (146 KB)

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Sepia - Sydney

I feel very spoilt and privileged. Sepia has been open for just a year and this has been our third visit so far. Initially we were excited as two of Sydney's top chefs were cooking here. Martin Benn ex Tetsuyas and Daniel Puskas ex Oscillate Wildly. This month Graeme Mclauglin - head chef of Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck has also joined the kitchen. Amazing… this has to be the best kitchen in town currently! For the month of May/June, on Saturday nights, a special 9 course degustation is designed by the three chefs! It was an awesome journey matched by stunning wines. Each dish was more spectacular and inspiring than the other and my favorite was the last one - chocolate forest. I would have loved another serve.

Amuse Bouche of Tomato Nectar and Chia seed - chilled and full of flavour clear tomato soup...yum

Pickled cuttlefish, Bacon Noodles, Smoked Quail Egg, Yuzu, Jamon - loved this dish. amazing variety in textures and the quail egg was divine

Tea Cured Hiramasa Kingfish, Daikon Noodles, Popcorn Dashi, Corn Silk - this was a cold dish which surprised us but was a pleasant surprise. The consume was poured in at the table and the corn silk was great.

Queensland Spanner crab and Buckwheat Risotto, mustard Butter, shellfish essence - this seems to be the sugnature dish as we have had it all 3 times on a degustation menu. Absolutely amazinf. perfect blend of flavours.

Butter Poached Murray Cod, Wakame, Braised Bone marrow, Apple, Kohlrabi, Baby radish, puffed skin - must say it was not our fav dish on this menu. The cod was a bit bland but when eaten with the puffed skin - it was better.

Roast Aylesbury Duck Breast, braised almonds, almond milk, Date jus, fennel candy - the suggestion was to eat the fennel candy first. brilliant duck

Poached pasture fed angus beef fillet, braised short ribs, buffalo milk tofu, rosemary and quinoa - the braised short ribs was the stand out on this dish for me.

Finger lime and ginger aid - wow - tingled on the tongue and real palate cleanser

Mini Weiss bar - was amazing. beautiful mango icecream and great fresh fruit flavours.

Chocolate forest - soft chocolate, lavender cream, sour cherry sorbet, licorice - what can i say.....amazing. sensational textures and big flavours. beautiful!!!!!

Petit fours  -chocolate hazelnut ice creams, lychee rose jelly, green tea marshmellow

Plating the chocolate

End of the night...

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Enopizzeria - sydney

Mauro Marcucci of Melbourne's Caffe e cucina opens this new pizzeria cum wine bar in Neutral Bay. A very Melbourne kind of wine bar with a huge but not very expensive wine list and a very Italian menu adds excitement to this lower north shore suburb. We are excited as it is just 100 mtr from our home. It has only been open for 3 weeks and the service still has a way to go. They took forever to take our order and even longer to get the meals. The pizza was really good and moist and full of flavor. The slow cooked lamb shoulder was the highlight of the night and if for no other reason than this  - I will come back. The risotto was a bit bland and the linguini a bit under cooked. Another reason to come back is the soft centred chocolate cake…very nice!  Bit noisy and very crowded but I guess it is only 3 weeks old…has potential.

Slow cooked lamb shoulder with farro risotto and tuscan cabbage

Bug meat risotto with spiced tomato broth and crustacean oil

Lucifero - Pizza with hot salami, mushrooms, onions, tomato sauce, buffalo mozzeralla, chilli olive oil and basil

Linguini with fish and shell fish, garlic, chilli and extra virgin olive oil

Soft centred chocolate tort, cocoa and ginger sorbet

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Credo - Sydney

Not sure where to start with this suburban restaurant review. $33 for 3 courses maybe a good place. Who would have thought you could get anything these days for $33 let alone 3 courses of good French food! Credo is a restaurant, café lounge bar kind of place in cammeray and is also BYO which makes it even more attractive. On weekend lunches and Sunday dinner they go further and drop the price to $22…amazing. As for the menu…there are about 18 classic French dishes from which you can choose your 3 courses. We chose traditional dishes such as French onion soup, snails, chocolate mousse and were not disappointed.

French onion soup with cheese croutons

Mussels kilpatrick

Snails bourguignon served in the shell with garlic parsley butter

Pork medallions with mushroom wine sauce

Kangaroo fillet served rare with native plum sauce

Duck special of the day

Chocolate mousse

Apple crumble with vanilla ice-cream

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