side dishes...in sydney

L'etoile Restaurant and Bar - Paddington

THE 21ST BIRTHDAY DINNER:

Any excuse to go out for dinner is a good one, but having a special occasion dinner is even better. A few weeks before we travelled to Sydney I was given the task to find a restaurant that 1: something my brother would like and 2: something personal. A friend had just done the Pantry cooking show with Manu so he was fresh on my mind. So L'etoile it was.....

The whole experience was lovely, although I was slightly underwhelmed when we entered the restaurant nothing fancy and the bar area looks like it had been around for a while. It was a Sunday night so the restaurant wasn't busy and we were directed to tables in the middle of the restaurant with no one sitting on the couch seats on the wall I asked if we could move. Being a special occasion and there was only three of us I thought my request was justified. We were happily moved, the couch seats making the experience and restaurant more inviting.

I was to caught up in the evening to write down everything we ate, so bare with me on my descriptions. (The menu has changed since).

Entree: The famous "Boudin de St Jaques Bisque de Crustaces" - silky sausage of scallops with a crustacean bisque. So light and fluffy and the rich bisque bought a beautiful bite to the delicate sausage. Very rich and would recommend to share it. Very glad we ordered this, and I know why it always stays on the menu. A must eat!

Entree: "Caille Rotie au cumin lentilles braises et puree de potiron" - Cumin scented quail, braised lentils and butternut squash puree. I shotgun the crispy leg, this was DELISH perfectly cooked quail, a rich and smooth braise. I'm not one for lentils, I tend to steer clear so thank god someone on the table ordered this. The puree complemented the quail perfectly. Match made in heaven.

Main: Roast lamb with sweet bread, onion rings and a celeriac puree. You can see by the picture that the lamb was cooked amazingly. Could have been a bit hotter, not sure if the jus cooled it down. I ate it so quickly that it really didn't matter, I nearly forgot to give the others a taste. And yes, there were ONION RINGS....who doesn't love an onion ring?

Main: Roast chicken with baby onions, jus and homemade chicken sausage. Another perfectly cooked meat, juicy and tasty. Crispy skinned and accompanied with more chicken YUM. The veggies were cleaned and trimmed just right. I find chicken boring to order sometimes, but the roasty toastyness of it was delightful.

Main: Butchers house steak with jus and a mashed potato rosti. Charred just right, cooked even better. Nom nom nom. The mashed potato rosti was fluffy and light, and there was this AWFUL pouch of oil in batter on top of it. It was horrible, not sure what it was but one bite of it and your mouth filled with oil that was hard to get rid of....a couple of gulps of wine and it was gone. Oh well...maybe its a french delicacy that we don't know about.

Dessert: "Macaron au chocolat marron" - Chocolate and chesnut macaron with orange sorbet. A giant macaron, who could complain. I can....it tasted old and was really chewy and hard to cut into. The flavours were all there but the actual macaron was a let down, unless it was a frozen one? The orange sorbet was also a bit icy.

Dessert: "Parfait glace an Mure, sorbet and chocolat" - Blackberry parfait with chocolate sorbet. Even though the macaron was flat the parfait was BEAUTIFUL we were all fighting over the last bite and it looks great. The brownie, sorbet and parfait worked so well together.

To yum things up: request a table on the wall, order the scallop sausage, be wary about the oil puff on the steak, order a side of greens, try as much as you can.

211 Glenmore Rd

Paddington, 2021

(02) 9332 1577