Foveaux - 65-67 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills

The end of October was the expiry date for this meal voucher I bought for Foveaux,  so off I went with anticipation on Thursday night with my husband for a nice meal out.  I love eating out and was keen to try what Foveaux had to offer.  They are pretty low key not much hoo haa about them when they won Sydney Morning Heralds Best New Restaurant of the year in 2008 and awarded 1 hat this year!  I don't proclaim to be down with all the latest restaurants but how did I not know about this acclaimed four year old restaurant until I saw the deal pop up in my inbox!

Anyway as soon as we walked in we were welcomed by the friendly waiter who reminded me of Jonah Hill (of Superbad movie fame) and so straight away I found him jovial and he was at no way showing any sign of wanker hipster waiter syndrome which I hate.  

So the deal was to choose an entree and main for two for only $60!  Half price as all entrees were $24 and mains $36.  We had some sparkling a glass of wine each a side of potato puree which I didn't bother taking a photo of and then a dessert which was $16.

I was thinking we were only going to get a set menu but we had 5 choices for each course which was great. All were dishes with uncommon (venison leg, smoked hock glaze etc.) ingredients creatively described with more common things.  As in most fine dining restaurants you get an amuse bouche to kick-off your meal. And then it begins. . .

Tomato, fennel and onion starter with a parmesan crisp was so intense, hence perfect for amuse bouche. Served warm and very zingy!  I really liked this, like a very posh tomato soup!

Rabbit terrine, raisin, roquefort with a salad of walnut, endive, apple and celery.  This was my entree as I don't think I've had rabbit before.   But can I say there were no raisins and no walnuts.   Maybe it was in the dressing?  Not sure.  It was a good dish, but the endive greens were a bit old.  Well they weren't bright green and trimmed properly.  I had a bit of celery with the ends all brown, I'd expect it should've been trimmed off first before serving!  And I had a bit of white bone in the meat.  I didn't say anything but if it wasn't for those two negatives it would have been a very tasty and pretty dish.  So it only deserves a 6/10.

Caramelised venison tongue, nham pla prawns, crispy pork skin, cauliflower cream, cashew, shiso and mint.  This was my husbands entree and of course, I had to taste the venison tongue.  It was the first time we both tried this and to our surprise it was better than we thought.  It was rich and dense and probably like a hard piece of pate, also like a piece of steak but smooth, not with a grainy texture.

Roasted veal sirloin, caper and veal chip, white anchovy puree and Brussels sprouts.   This was my main and it was really really good.  I've had veal schnitzel and veal osso bucco but never just a good old hunk of veal.  So this was it.  The piece of sirloin was cooked to perfection, medium rare.  My friends and family know that I love a good piece of steak and I usually always order the meat main over a seafood one despite there being some good fish options that night, I'm glad I stuck to what I love.  The veal was so tender and eaten with the anchovy puree and jus it was melt in the mouth deliciousness, ooo I want to eat this again now!  The puree was not too strong at all.  I actually ate it by itself as I didn't get my meat to puree ratio right!  I needed more veal!  And another brussel sprout wouldn't have hurt, there was only a quarter of one or half of a tiny sprout on my plate. The croquette type thing was ok, the stringy veal bits tasty but were a little dry probably as it was fried a tad too much.  It didn't seem so fresh inside. . . 7.5/10.

Baked rainbow trout, celery puree, soya bean braised veal tail.  There was also something with hazelnut and something or rather but I totally can't remember.  This was the other main, bad pic, but it has the veal tail underneath.  I tasted the trout and it was unlike other trout that I've eaten before as it was quite subtle and really light on flavour, almost a bit watery tasting.  My husband said it was ok, not something he would order again.

Thyme parfait, lemon curd, blueberry sorbet, pistachio and dried lemon sponge.  I don't have much of a sweet tooth but I think it's slowly developing, or how can I put it, when having devoured an entree and main, a dessert is essential!  So I chose this dish as this was the most appealing and different sounding.  The parfait was beautiful and creamy, not that much thyme flavour but enough, and the blueberry sorbet definitely made the perfect match with it's tartness and burst of juice from the berries.  The dried sponge was unusual and looked like a sponge cake that was cooked in a microwave (thanks Masterchef for that little cooking technique, even though I haven't or probably ever will attempt it) but it was hard like honeycomb, a crispy texture like the inside of a Crunchie bar.  All the elements on the plate made for a pretty damn good dessert.  8/10.

I would definitely recommend people to try the creative, unusual dishes here, although I do think the prices are a bit much for what they are in terms of presentation and quality of ingredients in comparison to other restaurants charging these prices.  Maybe you should stick to the 6 course degustation they offer for $85. The service was great and the ambience was just ok.  Most people were there using their vouchers the night I was there as I heard the waiters explaining how it worked.  I hope they get more customers from this deal they put on. Overall I rate my experience at Foveaux a 7/10.  Let me know what you think. . .