Archive for the ‘French’ Category
V Rating: VVV (for degustation) A couple of weeks ago I slipped out of my youthful twenties and into the sophisticated thirties. After waking up on my 21st birthday in the 12 bed basement of a grimy London youth hostel, I decided that I wanted to augur in the dawn of a new age in style. But there presents a problem for vegetarians. You have money to spend, an anniversary to celebrate, and a lot of fancy, meat ridden Modern Australian restaurants to choose from. After much umming and ahhing (I’m a food blogger. Turning thirty. On a Friday. The pressure is intense) I settled on the degustation meal at Assiette . Assiette is a modern French restaurant tucked away in the alleys of Surry Hills. As a matter of course, when I made the reservation I specified that Andy and I were vegetarians who ate no meat or seafood, my Dad is a vegetarian who does not eat meat, and my Mum has no special dietary needs. Anticipating it would be too hard to make individual degustation (tasting menu) meals, I offered to each have the vegetarian version. To my surprise and delight, they assured me that we would each get degustation meal matched to our dietary needs. This was an impressive effort, because it meant three different ten course menus and preparations (although some dishes did overlap). What follows is a photo essay on the strict vegetarian degustation. I didn’t ask if they would do a vegan version (which would stretch French cooking to its limits) but may be worth a try. First up was an espresso sized creamy sweetcorn soup with basil oil. Next was pickled beetroot with goats cheese and pine nut vinaigrette. Tart goats cheese and beetroot are a classic combination, and didn’t disappoint us in this incarnation.
Assiette hit its straps by third course, a ratatouille with Bearnaise sauce.
The freshly steamed asparagus spears made a nice contrast to the runny crumbed poached egg, although this was one of the less exciting dishes of the night.
The saffron and carrot risotto with carrot chips was a highlight. The saffron gave a beautiful yellow hue to the dish, and the fried carrot chips complemented the creamy risotto base.
Again showing an Italian influence, the next dish was cardamon puree with roasted pumpkin and gnocchi.
The open ravioli with field mushrooms, parsley foam and avocado mousse was my favourite dish of the night. The large field mushrooms were perfectly sauteed and full of flavour, while the parsley foam added lightness and colour to the meal.
We’d reached the end of the main dishes, and moved on to crisp lavosh bread with blue cheese and sweet honey and walnut. This was a great combination and something I’d like to try at home.
Our palates were cleansed with grapes, pretty cabernet sorbet and basil leaf.
The meal ended on a high note with a spiced pear brulee with lime and pear coulis. Assiette is a very small restaurant with white walls and dark furnishings. The look is austere compared to the bling of most Sydney restaurants, but the small open kitchen where you can watch chef Warren Turbull work his magic adds warmth and familiarity. The service was reasonable. The different degustation meals were stressful for the waiting staff so there was a slightly strained air to our interactions. But on the other hand, the sommelier was knowledgeable and wisely talked us out of a matched wine degustation in favour of ordering off the wine menu. I thought Assiette was good value and did an admirable job of catering for our different dietary needs so I’ve given them a VVV. Their standard menu is less veggie friendly - so perhaps save this for special occasions where you will call and book in advance.
V Rating: VV Expensive restaurants, in my experience, are unkind to vegetarians. French restaurants are even worse. Hence, I was in a highly dubious frame of mind when I arrived at the expensive, French restaurant Bistro Moncur. In some ways I was right. Bistro Moncur doesn’t offer a lot of choice for vegetarians. However, the exceptional quality of the food, combined with the relaxed, welcoming atmosphere, put me in a forgiving mood. It helped that Bistro Moncur is located inside a There were a decent three vegetarian entrees on the menu (double the usual number you find at these types of places). I chose the vine ripened tomato salad. It was essentially just large, ripe tomato slices in a light dressing. Refreshing, to be sure, but a leetle bit underwhelming for $16.50. The other vegetarian option was a salad of celery, roquefort, radicchio, pears and walnuts. in a walnut oil and coddled egg vinaigrette. The person next to me chose this salad, and it looked far more exciting than my dish. Sigh. Apparently one of Bistro Moncur’s signature dishes is the french onion, blue cheese souffle. I didn’t feel up to ordering this for lunch, especially with a main to come, but this may have a been a fatal mistake on my part because it gets rave reviews on Sydney restaurant sites. This is just one vegetarian choice for main, a seasonal vegetables with a pumpkin and mostarda custard timbale, flageolet beans and lentils in a tomato broth. Each aspect of this dish was fabulous. The custard timable had a soft, delicate, frothy texture that melted in my mouth. The pumpkin and mostarda (an Italian fruit mustard condiment) gave it a predominantly sweet taste with a slight kick. Flageolet beans are large and white with soft texture. They reminded me a cross between canellinni and kidney beans. They combined well with the lentils and the lovely tomato broth. It was clear that chef Damien Pignolet had put this dish together carefully using some more unusual ingredients like mostarda and flagolet beans. While sometimes unsual ingredients feel like they’ve been included solely to add some ‘fashion’ to a dish, in this case the meal had a hearty, down-to-earth feel. My only criticism is that even though the flavours complemented each other, there was no strong relationship between the food, so it felt like a tasting plate rather than a ‘meal’. As a general note of caution about Bistro Moncur, you can’t book and it is popular so get there early or expect a long wait. Although I’d normally only give an expensive restaurant with one vegetarian main a v-ware, because of the three veggie entrees, lovely atmosphere and unusual main dish I’ve awarded Bistro Moncur VV
V Rating: VVV Last Thursday I went to a degustation dinner at French restaurant, Balzac. I was nervous about the vegetarian fare. Most French restaurants struggle to produce a single vegetarian dish. How would Balzac go thinking up five of them? French, fine dining restaurant Balzac is an anomaly on Belmore road, more notable for its squashed, communal and mainly Asian eateries. The sense of disjuncture is symbolised by Balzac’s cheerfully awkward position on a thin peninsular of land jutting out between two bustling roads, where it perches like the Tardis having landed some place it oughtn’t. Entering the restaurant is like stepping through a door into a different dimension. Exposed sandstone walls, soft lighting and white tablecloths transport you to a romantic, semi-rural restaurant in the Loire Valley in France. Urban Randwick, not so much. But back to the food. I had no idea what dishes to expect because there were no vegetarian options written on the menu. Once the waiting staff heard that I was vegetarian they were very attentive and made sure that dishes met my dietary preferences. For example, I was told that the first dish was quail’s eggs and asked if that was OK. I said yes, a little apprehensively. Technically I eat eggs. Just not a lot, or by themselves, and not generally from quails. I was secretly relieved when the waiter reappeared with onions fried in spices and mixed with finely shredded brussel sprouts. For the next dish I was expecting gnocchi. What actually came out were four fried truffled quail eggs with celeriac and asparagus. I didn’t immediately realise this, however, and had a Julia Roberts moment when I first tried to pick up an egg and had it roll into my lap, then tried to poke it quickly and had the yolk splash up into my face. Hence the old saying, I guess.
My favourite dish was the sauté of potato gnocchi with roast jerusalem artichokes, portobello mushrooms and reggiano. The gnocchi was soft, and the large, carefully placed slices of mushroom added a hearty flavour. At this point in the dinner we were treated to a passionate speech about the recent RU486 debate in the Federal Parliament. It was inspiring to hear how women from different parties had joined together to convince the Government to allow a rare conscience vote on the issue, and then persuaded the Parliament to pass amending legislation placing the decision to approve RU486 in the hands of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), rather than the Minister for Health. It was sobering, however, to hear that the situation arose because a number of fortunate coincidences, and that the fate of related issues, like the push to ensure transparent advertising in pregnancy counselling, was bleaker. After this food for though we returned to food for stomachs. The waiters served small glasses of ice cream, but thoughtfully offered to bring me a different dish because they assumed that I didn’t eat gelatine. Instead, I got dark cherries in sweet syrup with lemon sorbet. Lovely. For dessert, I had the chocolate fondant with thick chocolate sauce. This was a beautiful, rich pudding perfect for a cold winter’s night. I’m not sure that a vegetarian happening by Balzac would have such an easy time, because like most French restaurants the regular Balzac menu is squarely focussed on meat. However, my degustation experience at Balzac was great. The service was impressive and friendly, the company was stimulating, and the food was carefully prepared and conceived.
V Rating: VV (but almost a VVV). 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.
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.
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 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.
V Rating: V-Ware I’ve learnt not to expect vegetarian miracles when eating at French restaurants. In between the snails, beef, lamb, trout, pheasant, deer and cock there is rarely anything for vegetarians to be cheery about. So it was with the Little Snail. The set $25 three course lunch menu offered some choice. There were three choices of vegetarian entrees and no choice of vegetarian mains. I ordered a crepe with mushroom sauce for the entree. For my main, I ordered the entree pasta – as a main. The penne came with a tomato sauce which I am happy to say was edible, if unmemorable. The only other vegetarian entree that was available was a salad of cold pickled vegetables. Next time I go, if I don’t want to eat the same meal, I’ll have to try that. Alternatively, I guess I could reverse the order of the menu and have entree pasta with a crepe main. You get the picture. The good news was that none of the desserts appeared to contain any meat. I had a crème brulee, which was pretty good. Not a great spot for vegetarians though: V-ware. - Garry R. |
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