Gastro Park, 5-9 Roslyn Street, Potts Point

I have been wanting to eat at this SMH 2 hatted restaurant Gastro Park for quite some time now and I finally did for my birthday last week.  I looked at the menu before hand of course and was really looking forward to the interesting dishes they had on offer, such as the pig's tails!  But alas on the night there were fresh new dishes in it's place, I'll have to look elsewhere for those skinny little things! 

We opted for a la carte and tried these innovative and delicious dishes along with a bottle of Italian Pinot Gris Semillion.  Really loving the Pinot Gris lately!

 

 

Soy and mustard glazed swordfish belly, pickled radish and crisp wasabi peas, $18.  This was a "snack" and it was a beautiful piece of fish.  Reminded me of salmon as it was fatty and melt in the mouth.  I must admit I only had one mouthful as my husband didn't like the other snack below.  

 

 

Foie gras, wild hare, beetroot, plum vinagar and red cabbage granita, $20.  I did not expect the foie gras to be shaved!  It was an unbelievably strange but oh so good taste sensation!  The foie gras which also just melts like snowflakes on your tongue mixed with the zing of the vinegar and ice cold granita was so powerful. It was really good!  The creaminess then the beetroot hit was great along with the chewy hare!  Such a strange combo, you either love it or hate it.  I loved it, husband hated it.

 

Roast scallops, charred prawns, pork powder (!!!), carrot endive and crab sauce, $32.  This was another dish that I so wanted to get while waiting for the night to arrive. Um hello? . . .  Pork powder!!!  It was exactly like pork crackling in chunky powder form!  It was a perfect accompaniment to the soft and bouncy scallops without the hard crunch of normal crackling.  The prawn could've been two instead of two halves, but it was still a first of pork powder, the star of the dish and was worth the wait. 

 

 

Crispy scaled barramundi, smoked potato puree, calamari and tapioca crackling and ink sauce, $42.  This was definitely the star of the night.  Amazing wow factor with the crackling dominating the plate.   The flavours were all so powerful but still the barra stood it's ground.  Perfectly cooked piece of fish which tasted so good with the crispy scales, just amazing to look at and crunchy as!  The ink sauce was strong and salty as were the bits of soft calamari.  The smoked potato puree was so creamy but slightly over salted, we got that as a side as well.

 

Grain fed rangers valley beef fillet, soubise, kale, crispy sauce and tasmanian shitake, $49.  This was my husbands main, but of course I had a taste of it.  The beef was really tender and the bit of toffee on the side was an interesting flavour that worked well with the soubise, a bechamel based sauce.

 

Nitro pavalova, pineapple, papaya and coconut, $22.  Nothing grabbed my attention on the dessert offering.  But I couldn't resist the pav.  It was a bit disappointing to be honest, no creamy nougatty chewiness in the middle of the meringue.  It wasn't that sweet.  The fruits were ok.  I think it was a blessing in disguise though as any richer or creamier I wouldn't have been able to finish it.  It was a light, plain dessert. 

 

Chocolate, honeycomb mandarin sphere, cardomom, saffron and ginger, $22.  This was my second choice.  It was a textural heaven! Hahaha!  The chocolate sphere was perfectly thin and cracked open with ease to let the honeycombey liquid ooze out.  The crunchy bits was where the ginger was, like ginger snap crumbs.  It was pretty good.

 

Gastro Park is definitely worth a try.  The dishes definitely gave my tastebuds many firsts of strong and memorable flavours.  The interior of the restaurant is contemporary industrial and the window seats at the front of the restaurant are the best!  The people watching on the Saturday night made for great entertainment!  The service was good but not the most attentive as we were left a bit parched a few times when the water top ups didn't come when needed.  It's not the best value, mains and entrees are a bit overpriced for what they were in comparison to other 2 hatted restaurants, but we were still happy to have experienced them.  If you haven't been yet, I recommend it for a date night for sure.

 

The Fish Shop - 22 Challis Avenue, Potts Point

It's local restaurants like The Fish Shop and Busshari that would tease me over away from the beach to live amongst the many food options in Potts Point.  Bondi Beach needs a kick up the ass when it comes to mid price point, a little bit fancy (no thongs and bikinis) dining options.  There are too many Thai, pizza and hipster tapas places.  Merivale can you please expand your portfolio by opening a place at the beach?

 

Anyway I had been wanting to try out this place for a while and the opportunity came up recently.  I had felt like some good light seafood dishes before the warmer weather ends and the soup and stew season kicks in.

 

It was busy on a Friday night but we were able to get a table for 5 easily and weren't rushed to vacate.  The waitress was swift and attentive but maybe she was a bit busy that she got one of our drinks mixed up and then when the correct drink came, it came in a plastic cup?!  Strange. 

 

Two of us had some oysters to start off with.  A bargain at $2.70 each but when they came out they were tiny.  But they were still fresh and creamy and I could've had more!  Others got the potato scallops which looked scrumptious!  Fatter and smaller than the ones you get at the local fish and chip shop.

 

For mains I ordered the special of salmon cutlet with mash and mushrooms with a splash of some good olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.  The mash was so buttery and together with the oily salmon I filled up quickly.  This dish was really simple but delicious.  "It's all about the freshest, in season produce!"  The catch phrase of chef's nowadays.  And it's true.  All you need is great raw ingredients to start with and the skill to cook it perfectly and you have a truly good tasting dish.  The white and blue enamel plates on which the dishes were served  up on adds to the very fishy themed restaurant.

 

I can't remember the price of my salmon as it was on the specials board.  One thing they could do is have it written on the board as the waitress didn't tell us when she was telling us about them. Don't you feel a bit funny and awkward to ask how much the specials are when they are being read out to you?  I do.  It's like you don't want to interrupt  them as they try to remember all of them!



I rate this dish 8.5/10

One of my friends had the special of trumpeter with nicoise salad.  I had never had trumpeter before so I had a taste and it was quite firm and tasted like a mix of swordfish and hake.  Very nice indeed and it was quite a generous piece. 

And of course someone had to have the good old fish and chips, in fact we got two at our table.  It was another generous serving.  I forgot to ask what the fish was but it came with chunky chips and dairy free tartare sauce.  I only remember that this dish was $19 as it was on the menu. 

 

 

We also got the iceberg and cucumber salad, which sounds drab, but it came with the best ceamy dressing ever.  It was so good that I forgot to take a pic of it, but hey, you can imagine those two veges on a plate.  Originally the salad was for my dairy free friend but then when it came out and saw it we wanted to make sure what the dressing was by asking the waitress.  Then she realised it did have dairy in it so she gave us another plate of the salad without the creamy dressing but with lemon and olive oil, salt and pepper instead which was nice of her. Again this salad was suprisingly good as well.  We all noticed that the salt and pepper used was different and much tastier and think it was due to the addition of the underated white peppercorn. 

We didn't have the space for dessert, but they did sound tempting.  So I think I will have to go back and sample some so I can write about it. 

 

The Fish Shop is a great little place for a casual meal if you feel like fresh seafood cooked to perfection.  A definite must try.

Chiswick Restaurant – 65 Ocean Street, Woollahra

A few weeks ago I finally went to my favourite Aussie chef’s latest restaurant Chiswick.  Matt Moran co owns this with Peter Sullivan who, for those who don’t know owns the renowned Aria in Sydney and in Brisbane as well.

After watching Matt on Masterchef over the weeks I made a booking to go to lunch at Chiswick with my sister.

The tables are quite close together and so you can hear the next table’s conversation quite clearly but I don’t think the 60-year-old wannabe foodie sitting next to us knew that.  From the moment she asked for her chair to be swapped to a padded chair from a wooden slat chair I knew she was going to be painful!  Lucky I wasn’t one of the waiters, who by the way were tolerant of her as they should be and in general were attentive and what waiters should be.

The menu is designed for sharing and so to start off with I had to have the crisp buttermilk chicken with cabbage and harissa mayonnaise.  When this came out the painful lady commented to her partner, “oh my that is not a very appetizing dish, it looks burnt and not refined.  It’s not like Aria at all . . .” blah blah blah.  She gave me the total shits and I wanted to say something but I held my tongue.  Does she not know we are not in Aria we are in Chiswick, it’s a totally different concept you idiot!   

Trying not to think of what I would say back to her I loudly enjoyed my delicious chicken.  There were four generous pieces which were all crispy, very juicy and tender inside.  The crunchy cabbage was a good intermission between the pieces of chicken and the creaminess of the harissa mayonnaise.  I’ve never had this before; the mild spiciness along with the smokiness was so good with the chicken.  I rate this dish 9/10.  Take that old lady!  You will never know what you missed and dissed on!

For main we shared the orecchiette with spanner crab, snow peas and chilli and the roasted snapper fillet, celeriac, walnuts and bois boudran sauce with a side of steamed broccoli (from the garden) with garlic and chilli.   Oh which reminds me to share another quote from the offending lady when she was perusing the menu “Oh I don’t like broccoli I only like broccolini. ” Rolling my eyes big time!!!

Anyway. . .  as soon as the orrechiette came closer and closer and landed on our table the aroma was amazing, the waft of garlic, the light sprinkling of parmesan, just gorgeous.  It looked so pretty as well!  I was also very happy to see actual chunks of the spanner crab and not just little shreds of meat.  It tasted like a fresh spring day in southern Italy.  The crunch of the snow peas and the saltiness from the crab with the orecchiette was the almost perfect mouthful of pasta I have ever eaten.  9/10.

The snapper didn’t have quite as much aroma but looked more impressive!  The bois boudran sauce which (I had to look this up) in a nutshell is made up of vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, tobasco, chives, tarragon, shallots was a strong thick sauce but you can still taste the snapper perfectly.   The side accompaniment of celeriac and walnuts combo had a soggy but soggy in a good way texture with some crunch and I’m not sure what the dressing was but it was slightly creamy and with the walnuts was a really unique taste.  It has left me craving celeriac and wanting that salad again, and yes with the edible flowers too. 8.5/10

We were much too full to have dessert, bummer.  

The old couple next to us didn’t have dessert either and left in a hurry “ it’s too loud in here, lets have a coffee somewhere quieter.”  Good riddance!

I will definitely be back as I really want to order the Moran family grass fed beef and the roasted lamb.  I saw the lamb go to a number of tables on a big wooden platter and that looked so hearty!  

As I took in the atmosphere sans old hag, I can say that the beautiful interiors of Chiswick looks like a dining room from the Hamptons with the perfect green lawn out front, and a back view to the luscious vege and herb garden.  It was a bit loud and cramped but I guess that’s what creates the buzz and the family get together craziness vibe, amped up with the mmm’s and aaah’s of the delicious tasting produce that Matt and his team put out.  I totally recommend this place for some top quality nosh in a classy yet comfortable environment that is if you don’t get sat next to the lady I sat next to!