The Devonshire - Surry Hills

$35 for a three course meal at a hatted restaurant? I'm in!

The Devonshire does this pretty awesome deal every Friday lunch time. The menu changes from week to week - they post it up on their FB page most of the time. As amazing as it sounds, it's actually taken me a (long) while to get here - you know, with the whole working a full time job not in the city type deal... But I have to say, this place is so awesome that it might just be worth that day off work ;)

We walk into this intimate, classy little mirror-laden room to be served by two really friendly waiters. It's all a little Frenchie and a little bit posh. We a quickly given a little wooden slab with two types of butter - housemade honey butter and normal salted butter - cut perfectly I might add, and two piping hot, fresh out of the over baguettes which is just oh so heavenly (especially when the slightly sweetened honey butter melts all over the super soft hot bready innards)... I take such a liking to their honey butter that I am soon using the bread as an accompaniment to my butter, much to my hubby's amusement.

Our entree for this Friday was a smoked pork belly beignet. Perfectly crumbed and golden brown, full of flavour and just pull apart meat, all sitting happily on a pool of celeriac veloute. This celeriac veloute was mindblowingly good. So smooth, so rich, so creamy and oh so so soooooo good. Pickled fennel and apple added a good balance to the dish. And did I say that the veloute was mindblowingly good???

For the main, we had seared Barramundi with potato noodles and an orange, pine nut and chive salad. The fish was cooked perfectly - well seasoned and silky smooth. Hubby didn't like the potato noodles much... it was a bit fiddly in the mouth. But the side of potatoes that we ordered were pretty fantastic. Triple cooked for that extra crunch and with a rich garlicky aroma. YUM!

Dessert was a bittersweet chocolate mousse with a rum & raisin milk sorbet and chocolate biscuit crumble. The mousse was not the least bit sweet - perfect for dark chocolate lovers but a nightmare for sweet-tooths. However, it did combine well with the sweetness of the sorbet. The crumble also added good texture.

So for $35 (less if you have an Entertainment Book), this is probably the best value fine-dining quality lunch you can get. Pretty amazing stuff - I'd definitely be back for more!

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 9/10
Overall - 32/40

The Devonshire 
204 Devonshire Street
Surry Hills
NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 9698 9427

Peppercorn - Cremorne

It's not everyday that we can eat at a restaurant and leave without paying a cent. It's a weird feeling - really. But that's exactly what we did. Upon my leaving of my old job, my awesome colleagues had given me a couple of dining vouchers (from Ouffer and Spreets type things). One included a 2 course meal with wine at Peppercorns in Cremorne. Having done my research (mainly eatability), I approached this restaurant with due caution - there were some reviews saying it was absolutely fantastic! yet some saying it was abismally poor and to never go.

Nonetheless, with an open ish mind, we entered the place - met with friendly and attentive waiters. We were presented with their menu and proceded to opt for the house red to go with our food choices.

My hubby's French Onion soup was very rich full of onion flavour. It was hot enough and the floating cheesy bread was complimentary enough to the shreds of soft caramelised onions in the soup.

French Onion Soup

My slightly more unhealthy option of salt and pepper calamari and prawns with aioli and salad was also appetising enough. The deep-fried stuff was all edible but the salad was a bit (or a lot) drenched with salad dressing. Even for me - someone who loves lots of salad dressing - thought it was a bit all too much.Salt and Pepper Calamari and Prawns

As for the mains, I opted for the pan-roasted half spatchcock. This came with potato balls, salad, mushroom and beurre cafe de paris butter. The butter was super rich - but just buttery - not much other flavour. It did mix with the spatchcock well though. Again, the salad was overly drenched, but the potato balls were alright.Pan-roasted Spatchcock

My partner ordered the grilled John Dory with prawns and vege. The fish was done better than I would have expected. It wasn't overcooked (on the most part) and tasted quite nice with a dash of lemon oil. The prawns and the veges were alright enough too.

Grilled John Dory

Dessert time came round - but nothing really intrigued us about their dessert menu and hence we left it. This resulted in us ordering nothing that wasn't included by our voucher meaning that ... yes - we just got up and left. How wierd is that feeling? LOL

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - ? (we didn't pay for the voucher so not sure how much it was)
Overall - 21.5 + ? / 40

Peppercorn
332 Military Road
Cremorne
NSW 2090
Tel: (02) 9908 1823

Restaurant Atelier - Glebe

Restaurant Atelier

A degustation at the small cozy Restaurant Atelier was the destination decided upon for our post-masters celebratory dinner. Offering 7-course degustations "tailored" to each group of customers for $80 per person ($50 extra for matching wines), the friendly staff were happy to accommodate alternate dishes for our non-fish and vegetarian friends.

The restaurant is quite small as after fitting our crew of almost 20, the restaurant could only accommodate a few more tables of customers. However, the atmosphere was awesome, giving off a dimly-lit, cozy romantic feel.

After seated, we were offered sourdough bread with an anchovie tapenade, balsamic olive oil and Echire butter. Many ooo's and ahhh's were heard about the tapenade and the balsamic olive oil with one friend even wanting to take the oil away. The bread was also warm, soft and pleasant to eat.

Sourdough Bread with anchovie Tapenade, Olive oil & Balsamic, and Echire Butter

The first course of the day was a prosciutto with fig sorbet. Hiding under the prosciutto was a green fig and sitting pretty on the top is a yummy breadstick. My tastebuds did not agree much with this course. I loved the bread stick - it was crunchy and lightly salty - but other than this, the dish was overall extremely sweet. Almost sickening so. I guess it's partly my bias though. My company seemed to devour this and so I guess, if you like the taste of fig, you will like this. In my opinion, the cold fig sorbet's sweet aura soaked through the prosciutto, overpowering the saltiness of the cured ham. As such, even without touching the green fig underneath, the whole dish was super fig-tasting.

Fig sorbet, prosciutto and green fig

The second dish suited my taste-buds much much more. This was a perfectly seared scallop with a 'Pot-au-Feu' veal terrine topped with asparagus and sprouts. The scallop and the terrine was separated by a chive crisp and nicely touched and decorated with a summer truffle and rosemary oil. The scallop tasted heavenly - lightly salted, not too raw, not overcooked. Mmm... YUM. The terrine was more interesting, consisting of cubes of veal and some green stuff ... but feel and texture was all quite separated and slightly disjointed - falling apart mostly. It tasted alright though I guess. And lastly, the chive crisp was lovely. Not exactly snap crunchy but flavoursome nonetheless.

Seared Scallops with a ‘Pot-au-Feu’ Terrine, Chive Crisp & a Summer Truffle & Rosemary

The next course was the marron tail. This was easily the best dish of the night. The marron tail was fresh - one bite into it and the lightly peppery seafoody juices just fill your mouth. This marron tail was accompaned with foie gras mousse which was light and fluffy, and a fresh pea salad and a pea and ham sorbet. The pea and ham sorbet was very OMG. Sooo much better than the fig sorbet, this one was fresh, savoury, cold and complemented the pea salad and the marron tail perfectly. Mmm... I would want more of this. The pea salad, lettuce piece and the deep-fried bacon crisp added the crispy texture element which complemented the moussey, melt-in mouth foie gras and sorbet very well. If this was the only dish of the night - this restaurant would get a 10 out of 10.

West Australian Marron Tail, Foie Gras Mousse, Fresh Pea Salad & Pea & Ham Ice Cream

Another dish that should have, but didn't hit the spot for me was the poached john dory fillets. The fish was definately not cooked right for everyone. A somewhat offputting fishy seafoody smell met my nose from a few seats down long before my fish settled in front of me. Luckily, my fish didn't smell bad. But it didn't taste good either LOL. The fish appeared not very fresh and hence, over-peppered. The poached nature ought to have given the fish a fall off the fork feel - but it was dissappointingly tough. The red piquillo pepper puree was nothing special, nor was the confit fennel and black olive salad. The olives were not pitted - and most found this deeply annoying. I also thought that putting capers in this salad was a bit out of place. So whilst this dish looked good appearance-wise, it did not meet expectations taste-wise.

Poached Fillets of John Dory, Piquillo Pepper Puree, Confit Fennel & Black Olives

After eating a not-so-appetising seafood dish, almost everyone was craving meat. Luckily, the next course was meat. The cocoa-roasted striploin of venison was served rare - chewy and with a full-on meat taste. The confit baby carrot puree and liquorice-infused sauce was praised by many people. The liquorice-infused sauce accentuated the charcoal feel of the cocoa-roast and bought with it a sweet sweet taste. There were also bits of baby turnip and white asparagus scattered around the plate.

Cocoa-Roasted Striploin of New Zealand Venison, Confit Carrot Puree, Baby Turnips, White Asparagus & a Liquorice-Infused Sauce

Now onto dessert. First up was a tonka bean creme brulee and a chocolate candied raspberry mousse with a poppy-seed flake pastry. I'm not a creme brulee fan but this creme brulee was pretty good. The tonka bean taste was infused throughout the smooth creme brulee and the sugared toffee top was nice and hard. A sign of a good creme brulee. The chocolate mousse was sweet and strongly chocolately. Amazingly, this tasted amazing when eaten with the savoury poppy-seed flaky pastry. Without this flake, the mousse was just ordinary.

Tonka Bean Creme Brulee with chocolate candied raspberry mousse

Last course of the night was served at odd paces. Certain people got his dessert plate long before others. Some thought this was rather unprofessional but perhaps this was because the souffle must be served straight from the oven otherwise it will flop in. The tahitian vanilla and chocolate fudge souffle was served with a malt-infused milkshake and a malt chcoolate ice cream. The how-to-eat instructions for this dessert was to poke a hole in the middle and pour some chocolate milkshake in. The rest of the milkshake can be drunk through the chocolate straw (drink before you eat the straw~!). I'm not a fan of souffles but my partner loved it. This milkshake was also not the best and the chocolate straw tasted somewhat burnt. The malt chocolate icecream was very yummy though. Good sweet end to the night and a good sweet end to 6 years of uni :)

Tahitian Vanilla & Chocolate Fudge Souffle with Malt Chocolate Ice Cream & a Malt-Infused Milkshake

Overall, the staff were friendly and attentive. They left us alone when we were roudy and they readily appeared and took our orders when we needed drinks. This dimly lit restaurant would be great for a small dinner party, or just a cozy dinner with your other half. But I guess if you were purely going for food, other restaurants would probably be a better pick.

Ratings:
Food- 7.5/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 9/10
Value for money - 7.5/10
Overall - 32/40

Restaurant Atelier
22 Glebe Point Rd
Glebe
NSW 2037
Tel: (02) 9566 2112