Black by Ezard - Pyrmont

For hubby's birthday, we decided to test out some yummy steak at Black by Ezard at the Star. Stepping though really big and heavy automatic door brings you into a dimmed, very nicely and elegantly decorated area. The music choice, however, was interesting and not particularly to my taste.

To start, complementary brioche was given. The loaf was super flaky (like a croissant), really buttery and awesomely soft. I loved it! Hubby didn't. I think he likes your normal bread rolls. He found it too fluffy or airy.

freshly baked brioche

Entree-wise, shared some oysters and their famous organic farm egg ($25). The farm egg was poached and lived in a crispy noodle ball. It all sat on some really tasty potato cream and a light herb salad was atop it. On the side, there was a very thin but crazily delicious slice of iberico jamon. All up, it felt a lot like breakfast. I swear I would be over the moon getting this for a weekend brunch but as an entree, it was a little bit odd. Tasty but odd.

organic farm egg - $25

The oysters ($4 each) that we got were served with yuzu and wakame jelly. The jelly was a crazy flavour explosion - recommended to be eaten with the oyster and not on its own (trust me).

oysters with yuzu and wakame - $4 each

For the main, we really didn't know which steak to order. Hence, we decided to share the Wagyu Trio ($170). This was wagyu 9+ marble scored rumpcap, flat iron and striploin. Normally at Black, you tend to get a tiny tiny piece of steak on a massively otherwise empty white plate. So we got considerable more steak than the norm - and it proved to be almost impossible to finish (atleast for me). Every bite was absolutely deliciousness! The beef was really tasty and really tender, each bite was 'melt-in-your-mouth'. Superb - and I guess for that price, it had to be! We had our steak with the marrow and shallot sauce ($4) which was super tasty also.

Trio of Wagyu - $170 (to share)

marrow and shallot sauce - $4

For sides ($10 each), we had a gratin with leek, brioche, chives and gruyere cheese, and a potato puree. In retrospect, I definitely would not have ordered these two sides. WAAAYYY to rich and WAAAAYYYY to cheese and buttery. I love the potato puree though - was like eating pure buttery heaven, so I probably would have ditched the gratin in favour of some sort of salady green.

leek gratin - $!0

potato puree - $10

I really wanted dessert. The chocolatey peanuty ball was crazily tempting but my stomach just would not comply. I was completely fully stuffed and could not eat ANYTHING. So next time, I'd go for just a tiny steak with just one side and definitely try to leave room for dessert.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 7.5/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 30.5/40

Black by Ezard
Level G, Harbourside, The Star
80 Pyrmont Street
Pyrmont NSW 2009
Tel: (02) 9657 9109