Bird Cow Fish

"Restaurants are , of course , nowhere nothwithstanding oris brothel There is no spear going to them if you wish one inward when to preserve one's belt buckled"

Wednesday, 12th August 2009

500 Crown Street, Surry Hills NSW

http://www.birdcowfish.com.au

Telephone: +61 2 9380 4090

We had lunch:

"Sonoma sourdough bread with unsalted butter or Coratina extra virgin olive oil" Delicious. http://www.sonoma.com.au/

"Mixed marinated olives" Delicious.

"Potato gnocchi with sautéed prawn meat, burnt butter, verjuice, capers & crispy sage" As seen on MASTERCHEF! http://www.masterchef.com.au gnocchi is excellent, wonderful mouthfilling silken texture. BUT, the burnt butter was more beurre blanc than beurre noisette - should have been cooked a bit longer for more flavour. Also a personal preference is for Balmain or Moreton Bay bugs instead of prawns for a dish like this. Also, kill the capers and use a few currants instead for a modicum of richness.

"Roquefort salad with Corella pear, verjuice, caramelised walnuts, celery heart, radicchio & witlof" Sounds great but it needed a little something to balance the roquefort, perhaps a mild drizzle of a good honey or more than 3 pieces of caramelised walnut?

"Salad of watercress, crispy prosciutto, Hindmarsh Valley goat’s cheese & a brioche crumbed poached egg" "Brioche crumbed poached egg"! Looks great on top of a good looking salad with colour and interesting bits. Break open the perfectly cooked egg over the salad - Yum! Could have done with more volume of the 'interesting bits' though.

"Sautéed fresh pasta sheets with braised oxtail, roasted pumpkin, currants & parmesan" Nice. Looks good, tastes good and probably does ya good too. Pumpkin could have had a bit of caramelisation or colour but a minor detail in a well considered dish. Oxtail, treated properly, is one of the most condensed meaty flavours you can get - perfect in this dish. "Baked Mulloway fillet with a sourdough herb crust; sauteed pancetta & brussel sprouts; anchovy cream" What's a Mulloway? They cried. It comes from African and Australian waters - Butterfish in Africa, Mulloway in Australia (Aboriginal for 'The Greatest One"). Beautifully presented, perfectly cooked - the brussels were replaced with freshly shelled peas and chopped iceberg lettuce in the dish I ate (the description is from their sample menus online). A lovely dish, it works very well (I like brussels too though so wouldn't mind it as it was, or with brussels or maybe even savoy cabbage!!) Try it.

"Steamed ginger pudding with a dry sherry sabayon" Nice, lightish, lovely ginger flavour. A simple but satisfying dish.
"Dark Chocolate, cumquat, hazelnut & almond biscuit layer cake; caramel cumquat sauce; mascarpone " Hmmm..The Good: chocolate, hazelnut & almond layer delicious on its own. The Bad: needs much more cream. The Ugly: caramel cumquat far too citrusy/acidic and clashes with the good bits.
"Apple & puff pastry galette with caramel parfait (15 minutes)" Pastry to die for! Hang on to that pastry chef at all costs! Delicious. Nice touches: Yes - what a pleasure to actually get a decent-sized glass of wine when ordering by the glass. The cost: Who cares, it was a good lunch!