Being a (poor) uni student, decided to make the most of the Vivid set menu and a voucher I got earlier this year from Taste of Sydney. I really loved their wallaby skewers and soft serve from the festival, so was looking forward to dining here, even though their menu has changed for winter. They have a special set menu, 3 courses for $55, or 2 for $45, so it was perfect timing to go. My voucher was for 20% off a la carte menu, but the waiter thought I wanted 20% off the set menu. Pls, I know I can only get one discount or the other, and I even called up beforehand. She was pretty harsh and I'm just like get the manager (this was even before we ordered anything). The she realised afterwards she misunderstood the whole discount thing...It took a long time before they brought out the menus, no idea why when were were only the 3rd table there. I'll just list the normal prices below.
entrance
still quite around 6:30pm
tables were filled by 8pm
comes with set menu
I always take photos of bread (at restaurants which give complimentary bread). The butter was so, so smooth and easy to spread on. The bread crust wasn’t too hard and still had a slight crunch.
1. Entree: Cured Petuna ocean trout, pickled cucumber & smoked roe-$20
Ocean trout was super fresh, and loved the pickled cucumber balls. I’m not normally a fan of creme freche, but this one was quite light (hidden under the trout) and gave the fish more flavour to help tie everything together. The bits of dills and other herbs also helped to makes this entree light. The salmon roe helped to season the fish without being overly salty and could still taste the curing in it.
pink duck and beetroot!
Main: Muscovy duck breast, smoked beetroot & radicchio-$38
Duck is my favourite protein, and I was delighted to see the nice and pink pieces of duck breast meat. I’ve seen at other places for the same price, you get less duck. Some may find this too pink, but for me it’s perfect (unlike that time it was way too pink at Sepia and ended on bleeding on the plate…then that’s not ok). It was soft and could definitely test ether quality of the produce. They didn’t say crispy skin, but I assumed it would. It did have a slight crispiness by the time I finished taking photos. The fat was rendered perfectly, but a skinny duck helps since not much fat to begin with. I actually hate beetroot esp the canned slices, but the smokiness from the beetroot helped to reduce the overpowering beetroot flavour, and the bitterness from the radicchio gave this dish a nice earthy tone. The sauce ended up melting the puree blobs of beetroot, so I you wore white like me, just be careful eating this dish. If only they gave a sharper knife to cut through the meat and leafy veggies…
pink!
2. Rangers Valley Black Onyx beef, confit mushroom & sauce bordelaise – bavette – 180 gr-$38
The beef was cooked perfectly pink and super tender. We found that with the bourdalaise sauce plus salt on top it was a bit too salty. It’s small for the price, but again quality > quantity. Wasn't sure if it was actually 180g. Again, places like this I wished they gave a whole mushroom rather than half, but it was super juicy and flavourful.
look at that puff!
struggles of melting ice cream and hot pastry
Spiced Sheperton quince tarte tatin-$22
The tarte tatin is one of their signature dishes. Last season it was in the entree with a cheese entree which I hoped to try, but now it’s in the form of a dessert. This was worth he 20min wait. The pastry was nice and flaky without being too overly buttery. The spiced quince was firm on the outside yet still soft on the inside with a nice fruity and slightly acidic flavour. Loved the super fragrant ice cream which melted on the fresh out of the oven tatin (vanilla flavoured? couldn’t see any vanilla beans but tasted like vanilla though).
3. Dessert: Werribee chestnut cream, dark chocolate & caramel sheets-$19
The chestnut and cream was a bit boring, and in photos it looked like the dessert from Quay with different texture sticking into a nougat. I guess it’s because of the ‘cheaper’ menu that less effort was put into the presentation. Layering something is easier than sticking things in and hoping they balance on top. The cacao wafer was super thing and crunchy, and the chocolate was perfectly tempered. Would have liked more of the chestnut flavour in the cream, but it wasn’t too creamy which was also good (if that makes sense…lol)
Chef's Table view
upstairs view
Capp-coffee comes with set menu
The restaurant didn’t get busy until later in the evening, probably because people finished looking at Vivid stuff. They forgot about the capp we ordered until much later when the bill arrived. It took them over 10mins to get this out to us. It's a decent size and a nice coffee aroma with a good amount of frothed milk. It's probably a large size compared to other cafes. They didn't offer this to you and it doesn't say it on the printed out menu on that night, but the website menu had it, and of course I didn't want to be 'ripped off' from a coffee (yes, food lyf of a uni student who dreams of eating at places for free, but it's too hard following the game and getting more 'followers.') 😔 Vivid ends this Saturday, so if anyone reading this late post and wants to go out for a spontaneous dinner like me, I suggest you should try this whilst they have the Vivid set menus.
