La Chouette, Sydney

Recently, we dined at La Chouette, a French bistro located in a suburban area, Hunters Hill.  The heritage house turned into a fine and cozy dining space.  Only two persons run the show: a husband and wife.  The man is the chef while the wife manages the serving duties.  We arrived genuinely excited to see how the kitchen would marry bold ideas with classic French comfort.  Lucky, on the day we visited, they just newly launched a few menus like sea urchin and caviar and baked prawns.  What followed was a meal full of promise, a few lovely highlights and several surprising missteps.

Steak tartare with egg yolk, aioli, anchoiade and pomme frites $35 (small)

First menu arrived and the evening began on a high with a beautifully seasoned steak tartare.  Fresh, lean and mixed with just the right punch of acidity.  It was an incredible dish.  One of the best steak tartare I had ever eaten actually.

But then came the unexpected letdown, instead of the usual crisp cracker or even a slice of rustic French bread, the tartare arrived with chips.  While quirky, it felt out of step with an otherwise elegant dish and took away from the traditional tartare accompaniments.  I also overheard the table next to us asking the same thing.  The French fries just didn't really match.

Sea urchin (cold) with cauliflower mousse, crustacean bisque jelly and black lumpfish caviar $30

La Chouette's new menu leans into luxury ingredients, but sometimes the idea outshines the execution. The sea urchin dish was certainly eye-catching.  It was plated with intention and priced accordingly.  Unfortunately, despite the impressive components, the flavours didn't quite sing together.  Instead of a rich, briny harmony, the dish felt a little disjoined, as though the ingredients were standing next to each other rather than working as one.

 

Burgundy snail - served in shell with garlic butter and parsley $26 for half dozen

We also ordered the snails, which were comforting in their buttery, garlicky sauce.  It is classic and satisfying.

Pan fried foie gras with seasonal fruits/vegies, sweet corn sauce and poutargue $36 

The foie grass was smooth and rich, a decadent treat that leaned into the restaurant's French identity.

Duck confit served with pickled cabbage, carrot mash, citrus sweet and sour sauce $45

For our mains, we ordered the duck confit.  It was well-seasoned and hearty with tender meat.

Jack's Creek black angus sirloin MB4 $55

Both steak dishes were cooked decently - good char, solid flavour.  I think their steaks are the best.  Nicely cooked, medium rare as we asked for.  The sirloin came with bearnaise sauce and some French fries, while the tenderloin was served with some duxelle or minced mushroom and roasted vegies in red wine and black vinegar sauce.

Beef tenderloin (Riverain 200g) $50

Aguna murray cod fillet $55

The cod was where things faltered the most.  While the flavour was mild and pleasant, the fillet arrived with quite a few bones still attached, making it rather unsafe for a five years old kid to enjoy.  And for $55 just for a piece of fish fillet, they definitely went overboard.

Creme brulee $18

Now, let's move on to their dessert.  I like their creme brulee the most.  Classic and well executed.  The crack of the sugar top was satisfying and the custard underneath was silky and smooth.  While the choux was light and not so sweet but the pistachio cream was not standout at all.  Not impressed with this.  The last dessert we got was the souffle.  She recommended this dish and I noticed around other tables, many people ordered this as well.  When this arrived on our table, I was impressed with the height.  Delicate texture, but the sourness from passionfruit sauce was extremely sour and overpowering.  What a pity!

Paris brest pistachio $22

Souffle served with passionfruit coulis and ice cream $22

La Chouette is clearly striving for something special - elevated French cuisine in the heart of Hunters Hill - and in several instances, the ambition shows.  The tartare, foie gras and desserts all demonstrate what the restaurant can do.  But this visit also revealed inconsistancies: mismatched accompaniments, luxury ingredients whose flavours didn't quite harmonise and technical oversights like bones in the cod.  With refinement and attention to detail, the restaurant has the potential to be a true gem.  Still, we left with full stomachs, as a few memorable bites and curiosity to see how the menu evolves.

La Chouette 

54 Alexandra St, Hunters Hill

Ph: +61 2 8084 2428

Open: Dinner Tue - Sat from 5:30pm til late and Sunday lunch from 12pm

Breakfast at The Dining Room, Park Hyatt Hotel Sydney

You don't need to stay at the Park Hyatt to enjoy one of the city's best breakfasts.  We recently booked a morning table at The Dining Room and for $70 per person, it was absolutely worth it.

The restaurant sits right on the harbour with a postcard view of the Sydney Opera House.  The atmosphere is calm and elegant but never stuffy.  It is perfect for a relaxed family breakfast with a touch of luxury. 

a-la-carte mains

The menu offers the best of both worlds: a self-serve selection of freshly baked pastries, seasonal fruits, yogurts and drinks, plus an a la carte menu, you can order as much as you like from the pantry section and one serve from the large plate choices.

They definitely do great pastries.  Their croissants were flaky and buttery.  And I can tell that they use good quality ingredients.  

Cured meat and cheese plate

Our daughter who loves sweet, was thrilled with her waffles.  They were golden and fluffy with just the right amount of sweetness.

Spanner crab omelette

I chose the spanner crab omelette.  It was beautifully light egg but slightly lack of flavour.  

Our son couldn't resist the burger for breakfast.  It had some pork sausage and sunny side up egg with tomato chutney for the sauce.

My husband tried the wonton noodle soup, which was unexpectedly comforting for breakfast and was refreshing and delicious too.

After breakfast, we just walked around Circular Quay enjoying beautiful morning breeze and warm sun kiss.

The Dining Room by James Ville

Park Hyatt Hotel, Sydney

7 Hickson Rd, The Rocks 

Ph: +61 2 9256 1661

6HEAD Steak Restaurant, Sydney

We decided to treat ourselves to a lunch at 6HEAD Restaurant, right by the Sydney Opera House.  The setting alone is worth it.  You get those classic Sydney Harbour sights, plenty of sunlight, and a calm, easy-going atmosphere that makes you want to linger a little longer and enjoy every moment.

We started off with the garlic brioche and caviar and wow, it was more than your average side.  Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  Loaded with buttery, garlicky goodness.

Then came the kingfish ceviche, which was super fresh and perfectly balanced in flavour.  It had a clean, delicate taste that paired really well with the light dressing.  It is perfect for a sunny lunch.  The dish was beautifully presented too. 

The prawns were another highlight.  Big, juicy and packed with Southeast Asian flavour. You could really taste the quality and they were cooked just right, not rubbery or overdone like you sometimes get elsewhere.  

And of course, we couldn't skip the steak - absolutely the star of the day.  Tender, perfectly cooked to our liking, with a smoky char and rich flavour that showed why 6Head has such a great reputation for their steaks.

Mashed potato

The service was friendly and attentive without being overbearing and everything came out at a good pace.  It felt like the staff genuinely cared that we were enjoying our meal.

6HEAD Restaurant

Bay 10 & 11, Campbell's Store

7-27 Circular Quay West, The Rocks

Ph; +61 2 8629 8866

Sepia

 


NSW premium rock oysters, served with lime and rice vinegar $5/each

Pretty disappointed with this optional dish, not because of their beautiful wine vinaigrette, but as their oysters are so inconsistent in size.  Understandable that Rock oyster is generally small, however what I got on the plate is only one in good size and the rest are tiny tiny bits.  Moreover, I paid $5 for each pieces, unbelievably overpriced.  


Oba leaf, Emporador, Sudachi

Their amuse bouche was absolutely delicious.  The tempura battered oba leaf was very light and crispy, it can maintain their crunchiness although topped with those fresh sashimi.  Great start, looking forward to their next dishes.



# Course 1, 2 and 3

 

# Course1: Sashimi of Yellow Fin tuna, steamed Japanese omelette, white soy, wasabi and sheep yoghurt

 

Funny flavour combination, with salty tuna and slightly sweet steamed omelette.  The omelette's texture for me, is more like a mousse.  It wasn't bad but not great either.



# Course 2: Carid prawns, heirloom tomato white cucumber, creme fraiche, tempura batter, Matcha tea oil

  
This dish was one of my favourite.  I tried each single items on the plate on it's own and it was yumm.  Then I spooned all small bits and pieces together from top until the bottom of the plate and have them on one go and it is like heaven in my mouth.  Great flavour and texture.  Especially those little popped of tempura batter, I totally loved them, would be great if I can have more of these little  though.

When the waiter put this butter on our table, first glance I thought it was an early pre-dessert of white chocolate sapphire.  But I was totally wrong, it is actually a ball-shaped butter. Ehmmm...  Very interesting.




# Course 3: Poached bone marrow, smoked salmon roe, bamboo, roasted onion thyme and mustard, nasturtium

 
When I heard that the next dish is bone marrow, I'm so looking forward to it as I really love bone marrow.  When the dish came in front of me, I was so exciting.  It looked nice and smelt delicious too.  Once I tasted the bone marrow, it was just melt-in-my-mouth but lack of flavour and the mustard was a little too salty on its own but gorgeous when eat them together.

# Course 4, and meat course 1 and 2

 


# Course 4: Crab rice, egg yolk, tarragon, Japanese land seaweed

Another outstanding dish that they served. Very tasty crab rice with slightly runny egg yolk goes well together then those popped Japaneses seaweed lift up this dish to the next level.



# Course 5: Wagyu rump, hatcho miso, sea urchin and wasabi butter, garlic chives, potato and kelp

The flavour of the each individual component on this plate was totally delightful.  The sea urchin wasabi butter was sensational.  I am not a fan of sea urchin but here the taste was so subtle and compliment the meat very well.  Those crunchy potato and kelp complete the dish.  However, the beautiful Wagyu piece was ruined as it was overcooked so it was quite dry and not as tender as it should be.  Otherwise, it would sit on top of my A-list.




 

# Course 6: Seared Mandagery Creek venison, boudin noir, chocolate crumb, coconut yoghurt, blackcurrant, shichimi

This dish had WOW me, the venison was perfectly cooked.  Although it sounds unusual for venison to be eaten with yoghurt and chocolate, however, taste is completely opposite.  What a surprise, everything on the plate was actually complimented the meat very well.  I like this dish alot but my husband didn't think so.




Optional dish and 2 pre-desserts

 


# Optional dessert: Saint Agur and mascarpone cheese, crystallised macadamia's, celery cress, roasted chicory granita (optional) $18

I could say that I 'hate' blue cheese, but I give this one a try as thought I never had it in dessert.  This dish had converted me, blue cheese itself was very subtle and not overpowering, instead it is a great match with macadamia and chirory granita.  




#Pre-dessert: Lemon meringue, candied lemon aspen, lemon leaf granita, fennel pollen

 Nice refreshing lemon granita to clean my palate before indulging my desserts. 



#Pre-dessert: Peach cream, raspberry and yukari

 




"Summer chocolate forest"
#Course 7: Soft chocolate, hazelnut and almond, lavender and honey cream, sour cherry sorbet, rose and violet jellies, green tea, licorice, chocolate twigs

So many things going on in this dish.  The items on this plate are all over the place.  However, to have them in one spoonful was excellent.  This is a brilliant dessert.  It is definitely finished my meal on the high knot.  Also. the dish looks pretty on the plate, totally adore it.

For saturday meal, they serve only degustation menu which not from their everyday menu.  They create special degustation menu that keep changing every week.  I found that their meals are heavily influenced by Japanese cuisine.  With 2 pre-desserts in the house, it left me extremely full by the end of our meals.  

We had an enjoyable meal with some even exceeding our expectation.  However, the whole lunch would be better if we got a different waiter to serve us.  He just lazily told us what was the dish that he brought to our table.  Very softly and very in hurry. Only few words I can catch and finally I understand more of what I had put in my mouth by the end of the meal when he handed the menu lists to us.  I overheard that our neighbour table also complained the same thing.

Pretty shameful for a three Chefs Hats restaurant which serving excellent dishes but been let down by their waiters.  Regardless with their service, they put up a fascinating delicious dishes.  I am not a small minded person, so I will definitely come back to this restaurant again, just hoping we will get a better waiter next time.

Sepia Restaurant

201 Sussex Street, Sydney

Ph: 02 9283 1990   

#Degustation menu $350 for 2 people