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Saturday, August 21, 2010

Restaurant-ing: Bilsons & Pier

I was spoilt for my birthday awhile back, I managed to go to Bilsons and Pier - but not at the same time!

S brought me to Bilsons for a lovely dinner degustation, we had eaten there previously but we had never had the degustation before, so it was a treat! We had quite a late sitting due to the popularity of the place, but by the end of the night we were the only patrons which was nice.

We opted for the 'Fine Bouche' with a few glasses of pinot to go with the meal. Here are some shots of the night:

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All the mains were delectable! Top Main dishes were:
  1. Freshwater Crayfish & Lobster Bavaroise, Green Pea a la Francaise (2nd pic) - Flavours were so nicely intertwine with each other and surprisingly delicate textures
  2. Roasted Scallop, Petit Sale of Puy Lentis and Foie Gras Vinaigrette (4th pic) - scallop was cooked to perfection - lovely crispiness on the outside and nice and juicy meat. I really enjoyed the lentils with it, interesting texture
  3. Roasted Partridge with Beetroot Braised Red Cabbage, Glazed Carrots and Rocket Pistou (5th pic) - I've never had patridge before but I really enjoyed the meat and went really nicely with the sweetness of the beetroot and the crunch of the cabbage.

Dessert was such a treat, last two photos were the start of the dessert - first the cleanser of the palate. If only i remembered was what in it - but it definitely cleansed the palate. The last picture above was a pear inspired dish - even with pear jelly on the bottom. We were so engrossed that we forgot to take the 'before' picture and so there is a missing element to the dish on the right - oops!

Last dish was 'Autour Du Chocolat' which translates to 'Around Chocolate' - and I definitely like to be around chocolate. It was so delicious - from start to finish. So many different types of chocolate were on the dish - I wish i knew all the names for each part - but delicious! Even the petit four pictured at the bottom were lovely! Cute macaroon and friands was a lovely ending with a nice cup of English breakfast tea. I think we finished eating at around midnight.

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So we managed to out-eat everyone else in the restaurant I think - pretty empty when we left so we snuck in some photos including their wall of 'hats' - Bilsons has been a pretty top rated restaurant in Sydney for awhile now and I agree with their high rating - absolutely delicious!

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The next day, I had my birthday lunch at Pier Restaurant - I was still ridiculously full from the food fest from the previous night! In hindsight, I probably should not have had the squid ink risotto, since that fills the stomach even more!

Pier Restaurant has a beautiful view and seats a small number of patrons so it did have a cosy feeling to it.

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We all had seafood mainly because it is known for its seafood, being a seafood restaurant!
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Pics from the top
  1. Crab Omelette with Asian Greens - Interesting fusion of Asian methods and v. tasty (and large)
  2. Roasted Barramundi with caramelised endive ,dutch carrots and bitter orange sauce - Really well cooked barramundi - lovely crunch!
  3. Bread Crusted Kingfish with piqullo puree, preserved lemon and almond foam - look how foamy it is. what a cute dish!
  4. Squid Ink Risotto with Calamari and a hint of truffle - i love truffle - this is what I had it was really tasty! They originally only had it in the entree size but we asked for them to up size it. Only issue with squid ink risotto is that you can't really talk whilst eating it without scaring the people around you with the black spreading over  your mouth and teeth!

Anyways, 2 days of excellent and indulgent eating! Highly recommend giving Bilsons a go, top notch!

Happy voting all

mw

2 comments:

  1. Your pictures look very 'clean' compared to mine.. i know a lot of it is skill but have u cleaned these up in photoshop at all?

    I'm trying to work out how much quality im losing not having an SLR...

    ReplyDelete
  2. how did you come up with milkwood?

    although it's a template, i love the colour scheme and layout.

    ReplyDelete