I was stuck in traffic on a friday evening on my way to L'etoile, so I ILLEGALLY called my gourmet friends to ask what the menu was, so I didn't need to waste too much time poring through the menu deciding on what to eat, making my friends wait.
It was a great idea, not only did I then quickly make the order once I arrived, also it served to entertain me while I sat on the congested Sydney Harbour Bridge. Underlined are what were ordered:
Entree menu included petits poireaux a al vinaigrette de truffe (baby leeks with truffle dressing), potage de lentille et bacon, crouton au lard (speck bacon scented lentil soup and toasted sourdough with cured lard), pate de campagne de canard, contiture d'oignon et pain (duck liver pate with onion jam and sourdough toast), choucrout de la mer, beurre blanc au champagne (seared scallop, steamed mussels, clams and kipfler on saurkraut and champagne beurre blanc), cassollette de ris de veau et de champignons sauvages (veal sweetbread and wild mushroom topped with puff pastry), boudin de St Jacques, bisque de crustaces (silky sausage of scallops with crustacean bisque).
Oh the duck liver pate. Oh the bliss of biting into it. This was more a terrine than a pate, but who cares. Onion jam - delicious sweet red wine and caramelised onion a standard complement to a terrine. Topped with a touch of mustard - oh the flavour explosion, but at the same time subtle, filling my senses with nothing but pleasure. (NB this was similar to what Katie made for xmas 2009 - incredible effort and result). I didn't have the other dishes, but the boudin de St Jacques looked amazingly delicate, and was one of the other entrees I considered. But I could never say no to a good canard!
Salads: Salade de foie de volaille et lardons (salad of chicken livers and crispy speck bacon, raspberry vinegrette) and salade de chevre chaud (melted goats cheese on toast with frisee and walnut)
Plats principaux :
Pochouse de St Pierre et calamar, petits legumes (poached John Dory and calamari, chardonnay sauce, abby vegetables), filet de kingfish roti a la Grenobloise (crispy skinned kingfish with lemon, caper and crouton butter sauce), filet mignon de porc farci au pomme et estragon, sauce au cidre (pan roasted fillet of pork stuffed with apples and tarragon, cider sauce); selle d'agneau roti et parfume a la sauge, legumes glaces (slow roasted lamb saddle scented with sage, glazed baby vegetables), Bavette d'aloyau sauce au poivre et cognac (butcher's steak, black peppercorn and congnac sauce, gratin dauphinois); risotto d'orge aux champignons sauvages (pearl barley risotto with wild mushrooms)
Tossing up between butcher's steak and lamb, decided on the lamb (won't tell you the reason, has a bit to do with work). Oh dear this lamb was out of this world - tender, juicy, evenly throughout the whole piece of meat; not one bit was more cooked than the other except the 1mm or so on the surface. Baby vegetables were the cutest things - both as a delicious side and as a garnish. A bit of sage was rolled inside the lamb and you just get this whiff of sage as you put into your mouth - wonderful. The only thing I cringed was the salt - the lamb was very salty, but I was told that French food can be salty ... oh well. The pork was amazing too, NOT SALTY but just juicy sweet and wonderfully tender.
Side dishes: Petit pois a la francaise (fricassee peas, bacon, spring onions, lettuce); Haricots verts au beurre d'ail (baby beans with garlic butter); pommes frites (potato chips) and salade verte (green salad).
Desserts: the highlight of my meal (see divinedessert.spaces.live.com) - creme brulee, la tarte tatin de maman (mum's caramelised apple tart with sour creme), mousse chocolat et son palmier (dark chocolate mousse with caramelised biscuit), poire belle Helene (poached pear, vanilla bean ice cream, toasted almond, chocolate sauce).
Creme brulee was a good brulee but it didn't blow me away. Vanilla seeds had sunken to the bottom - which often happens, but I have had vanilla seeds throughout the creme brulee once so I don't know if they could have done it better. But Bather's Pavillion creme brulee still reigns supreme. Chocolate mousse was RICH - one mouthful was probably enough, very lush, reminds me very much of the filling for fleur de lys cake.
Overall I will rate this 8/10 - really beautifully executed dishes, attentive service, unfortunately the desserts were, well, fine but no fireworks. I may be unfair though, we were stuffed at that stage, so our appetite probably didn't do it service. Noise in the restaurant - not sure how it could be helped, maybe less tables? The outdoor heaters were a bit too high, it was quite close to the patrons so that's another problem, maybe it could be rectified by having less tables, or use a different type of outdoor heater that doesn't have such direct heat? The tables were also quite close to each other so that if the water is in the aisle guests could be trapped in the meantime. Regardless - I would definitely come back!
As a parting act, lunch at Racine's which was happily situated on a vineyard, and on their wine list, they served mostly local wines and some of their own production. As a change from my usual order of a bold red wine and a strong flavoured meat, I went for a glass of bubblies to start my meal, to match the beautiful crisp (though freezing) weather, and the lovely cool apple green interior.
We started with an amuse-bouche - an appetite opener that starts you salivating, and mentally anticipating a great meal to come - a creamy corn veloute that was so lush, I wanted a whole pot!
Cheese plate - blue, cheddar, soft brie; with pear slices, muscatel and selection of breads and crackers. Really lovely cheddar, dared not to handle the blue, and brie was not as nice as King Island :p
