V Rating: VV (but almost a VVV).
Where: 1 Kellet Street, King’s Cross.
When: Dinner: 7 days, 6pm - late.
Tel: (02) 9368 7507.
Price: Entree: $9 - $24. Mains: $16 - $25.

Friday night came around and Andy and I headed to Libertine with our ex-housemate and his girlfriend. It certainly upped the glamour stakes from our usual Friday nights in - although I guess it’s not hard to out do beer, TV and tracky pants.

I got a frisson of excitement when I walked through Libertine’s doors. It’s just so damn gorgeous. To the right is an intimate and luxurious cocktail bar, all Edwardian meets harem style. There’s deep red embroidered lounges, a fireplace, and a parlour.

After sampling a cocktail we moved on to the restaurant for dinner. Some of us weren’t quite finished when the waiting staff came to shoosh us on, but I guess beautiful people wait for no-one.

The restaurant is decorated in an opulent, rich style. Intricate chandeliers fall from the roof, their sparkles reflecting in the gilt-edged mirrors.

What I liked most was that the designers haven’t sacrificed warmth for ostentation - Libertine has a feeling of openess, generosity and fun. For example, the restaurant is divided into different sections, including an outdoor area, but they all open onto each other.

While Libertine is tagged as a French / Vietnamese menu, it’s more accurately described on the website as Vietnamese food with French influences. That suits me because I prefer the lighter Vietnamese flavours.

There’s one vegetarian entree - a crispy noodle salad with nuoc xoat (a vegetarian version of a traditional table sauce with lemongrass, garlic, spring onions, chilli and soy). However, we skipped the not so veggie friendly entree menu and went straight for the mains.

I was happy to see that three of the ten main options were vegetarian. We ordered two - the crispy spiced tofu and the Southern style vegetable curry with okra, sweet potato and eggplant. We also tried two of the side dishes - (chef) Ryan’s magic mushrooms, and wok-seared Asian greens.

The tofu was just the way I like it - soft and lightly fried in a mildly spicy coating. The curry was coconut-based and had a rich, sweet taste. My favourite dish was the sauteed magic mushrooms …. for the strong flavours that infused the finely sliced pieces, of course.

For dessert Andy had the lemongrass creme brulee and I had the more traditional rhubarb, pear and Vietnamese mint crumble with vanilla ice cream and creme anglaise. Unlike Ed at Tomato I like my old faithful vanilla, and have been hankering for rhubarb lately (we used to have it a lot when I was quite young) and the crumble hit the spot.

The slightly tart rhubarb, sweet pear, and buttery-sugary crumble combined well, and I’ve always loved the contrast between hot desserts and cold vanilla ice cream. Add to this a liberal soaking of creme anglaise and my city to surf training took a backwards step I was a happy camper.

The creme brulee produced more mixed feelings. I really liked it - I can’t remember having lemongrass in a dessert, so initially the sweet creaminess of the brulee was at odds with the strong lemongrass aftertaste, but once I was accustomed to it I enjoyed the combination. The others were less convinced - perhaps they have more of a sweet tooth than I do.

I really enjoyed Libertine. I loved the decor, ambience, and combination of restaurant and refined cocktail lounge. I thought that the food was tasty and happily unpretentious. I’d rate Libertine as a borderline VV / VVV for food - the only downside for vegetarians is that there’s only one entree. However, making up for this is a great range of unique, all vegetarian salads. Definitely one to try again.

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