BISTRO MONCUR
French Onion Souffle Gratin
Provencale fish soup with its rouille and croutons
Barossa Chicken Liver Pate
Grilled Sirloin cafe de paris
Confit duck with scallops and creamed cauliflower
Kurobuta pork shoulder with crackling and salsa verde
Bistro moncur is my kind of restaurant. Although i try to make it to as many top restaurants as i can, i still find the atmosphere in a great deal of them to be intimidating and often pretentious. As far as i'm concerned, the more casual the dining experience the better- and that is precisely why bistro moncur is my kind of restaurant. It is blessed with a casual vibe which comes from its pub-side location and the buzz of chatter from a dining room full of couples and families.
As for the food, Bistro Moncur has made a name for itself by consistently delivering top-notch renditions of french bistro classics, of which some are popular enough to warrant permanent status on the menu. A couple of these Bistro Moncur staples are the french onion souffle and the steak frites with cafe de paris sauce. These two also happen to be among my favourite dishes in Sydney and if it were within my means, i might be inclined to have them for lunch every day for the rest of my life. But then, i suppose i would have to miss out on some of the other brilliant dishes on offer.
My last visit was with my sister and mum for mother's day-I arranged the lunch, which gave me the unique opportunity to selfishly choose to go to one of my favourite restaurants, regardless of the opinions of my dining companions, while at the same time being thanked and considered magnanimous for doing so. Anyway, other than the french onion souffle and steak, which i insisted must be ordered, we also tried another of their menu standards - a provencale fish soup with rouille and croutons. I quite liked this soup, though I realised I prefer my fish soups to have more in the way of actual seafood in them. It seemed like a waste to serve such a rich, fishy broth completely devoid of any of the fish which lent the soup its flavour. Still, the rouille was very nice.
My sister ordered the chicken liver pate. The generously sized slab of pate was incredibly rich. So much so, it proved too overwhelming for my sister to finish, which, of course, was good news for me. Despite the richness, it had a wonderfully smooth texture and was certainly one of the best versions of the dish that i had tried.
Of our mains, the pork was tender and juicy but was let down by what my sister described as an over-seasoned salsa verde. It was also served with a large piece of crackling which looked very much like a prawn cracker. It was also inedible. Strange.
The duck confit with scallops and cauliflower puree was as delicious as it sounds. And although my steak was slightly over-done on this occasion, it was saved by the cafe de paris butter. I love cafe de paris butter. I have some in my fridge currently which i made myself, using Justin North's recipe from his book 'French Lessons'. It is sufficiently awesome to justify my smothering everything from kangaroo to lamb to chicken with its goodness. Having said this, the Bistro Moncur version is even better and if i were able to have access to a steady supply of it, i don't believe i would ever want for another condiment. Mmmm.
Anyway, after this, we were rather stuffed and did not elect to have dessert, though if you go to this restaurant and are not similarly full at this stage, i recommend the caramel-glazed apple tart. It rocks, but then, so too does almost everything at Bistro Moncur.
As for the food, Bistro Moncur has made a name for itself by consistently delivering top-notch renditions of french bistro classics, of which some are popular enough to warrant permanent status on the menu. A couple of these Bistro Moncur staples are the french onion souffle and the steak frites with cafe de paris sauce. These two also happen to be among my favourite dishes in Sydney and if it were within my means, i might be inclined to have them for lunch every day for the rest of my life. But then, i suppose i would have to miss out on some of the other brilliant dishes on offer.
My last visit was with my sister and mum for mother's day-I arranged the lunch, which gave me the unique opportunity to selfishly choose to go to one of my favourite restaurants, regardless of the opinions of my dining companions, while at the same time being thanked and considered magnanimous for doing so. Anyway, other than the french onion souffle and steak, which i insisted must be ordered, we also tried another of their menu standards - a provencale fish soup with rouille and croutons. I quite liked this soup, though I realised I prefer my fish soups to have more in the way of actual seafood in them. It seemed like a waste to serve such a rich, fishy broth completely devoid of any of the fish which lent the soup its flavour. Still, the rouille was very nice.
My sister ordered the chicken liver pate. The generously sized slab of pate was incredibly rich. So much so, it proved too overwhelming for my sister to finish, which, of course, was good news for me. Despite the richness, it had a wonderfully smooth texture and was certainly one of the best versions of the dish that i had tried.
Of our mains, the pork was tender and juicy but was let down by what my sister described as an over-seasoned salsa verde. It was also served with a large piece of crackling which looked very much like a prawn cracker. It was also inedible. Strange.
The duck confit with scallops and cauliflower puree was as delicious as it sounds. And although my steak was slightly over-done on this occasion, it was saved by the cafe de paris butter. I love cafe de paris butter. I have some in my fridge currently which i made myself, using Justin North's recipe from his book 'French Lessons'. It is sufficiently awesome to justify my smothering everything from kangaroo to lamb to chicken with its goodness. Having said this, the Bistro Moncur version is even better and if i were able to have access to a steady supply of it, i don't believe i would ever want for another condiment. Mmmm.
Anyway, after this, we were rather stuffed and did not elect to have dessert, though if you go to this restaurant and are not similarly full at this stage, i recommend the caramel-glazed apple tart. It rocks, but then, so too does almost everything at Bistro Moncur.
French Onion Souffle Gratin
Provencale fish soup with its rouille and croutons
Barossa Chicken Liver Pate
Grilled Sirloin cafe de paris
Confit duck with scallops and creamed cauliflower
Kurobuta pork shoulder with crackling and salsa verde
No comments:
Post a Comment