est. Peter Doyle- my first three-hatted experience.

2012 has been a very exciting year for me, many firsts, great friendships and many great memories added to my virtual cloud storage! my brain! 

Many thought the world was coming to an end and i heard all sorts of crazy stories about preparing to fly up to the moon, people stocking up a year's worth of daily essentials and even some extremists claiming their own lives in fear of the end of the world! As such i used that as an excuse to splurge on shopping, travel and of course food! This is how my parents and i ended up at est.

Est. by peter doyle, part of the Merivale group is a dining experience, it is one of sydney's long standing three-hatted restaurant's aside Quay and Sepia. i haven't been to the latter yet so this is my first three-hatted experience and boy i have to say, the food, the service, everything was fabulous! 

est. is located on level 1 of the establishment building and the moment you step into the complex, you are transformed into a completely different world, its romantic and the perfect ambience for a quiet drink or a romantic dinner.

The menu. i really like the simplistic design in terms of the menu and the dining area. it feels really cosy but still very elegant. 

External shot of the establishment complex. 

At est., you can choose to go al la carte or you can choose to chef's menu for $150 pp, which consists of 4 courses. the menu here is seasonal and changes depending on what produces are in season.

We ended up going for the chef's menu, which allowed us to sample a range of est.'s signature dishes. 

we were a party of 3 so i didn't get to try everything on offer, but we managed to sample a majority of the chef' menu. yay!

The first course

sashimi of ocean trout, cucumber, ruby grapefruit, salad burnette, verjus jelly

I've had quite a bit of ocean trout sashimi before and this one didn't disappoint, it was amazingly fresh and the ruby grapefruit really helped with the freshness.

salad of spanner crab, fresh corn, avocado, baby gem lettuce, finger lime, mint

this one was my favourite as the flavours were nicely balanced, the only down side? too little of it!

White tea consommé, venison tataki, beef tendon, Yuba, turnips and shiitake

the white tea consomme was very interesting and refreshing, and surprisingly went really well with the venison tataki.

the wine stoarage. i love the simple design!

the second course

moreton bay bug, cavolo nero, green peas, radish, young turnips, bonito flakes

the moreton bay bug was the favourite for the 2nd course, it was fleshy and had a nice bouncy texture to it, cooked perfectly! even the turnips were beautiful, this comes from someone who doesn't like turnips! 

grilled quail breast, almond cream, figs, duck jamon, ruby grapefruit, picada.

i love quail and this was a really nice dish too! the flavours went really well with each other.

steamed murray cod fillet, shaved abalone, snow peas, black fungi, ginger - green shallot vinaigrette 

We have a lot of steamed fish at home because my dad loves his steamed fish, but this dish was beyong amazing, i wish the steamed fish at home was this amazing, i'd be hogging the entire fish!

the third course

duck breast, glazed belgian endive, rolled dates, caramelized daikon

my favourite protein use to be chicken but now i've gone onto a duck phase, be is chinese style roast duck, pan seared duck breast, duck consomme, you name it, duck is now my favourite!

this duck did not disappoint, it reminded me of favourite dish from baroque, yep another duck dish!

john dory, globe artichoke, calamari, braised baby cos lettuce, broad beans, radishes

this was the favourite amongst us 3 as the john dory was perfectly cooked and very flavoursome. my 2nd favourite part had to be the calamari, you can see how much detail they put into presentation, each plate is like an artwork! 

pan roasted lamb rib eye, borlotti beans, fennel pollen, broad beans, warm olive vinaigrette.

this lamb was pretty good too except a bit too rare for my parent's liking. 

we were seated in along the couches, so it was really comfy and relaxing. The staff were all very efficient and came to check up on us between courses etc. excellent service!

Fourth course: Desserts!

blood orange souffle, raspberry sorbet, double cream 

there is a 20 minute wait on the souffle, and it was the one dessert that i had been looking forward to! its really is worth the wait and is one of them most amazing souffles i've had!

the only downside was both the blood orange and the raspberry were on the sour side, i  would of liked something sweeter to go with the blood orange souffle.

rhubarb dacquoise, ginger cream, raspberrries, sorrel – yoghurt sorbet

we ordered this one simply because the components sounded very interesting. my mum loved this but i found the ginger flavour to be too strong and covered everything else. 

Valrhona Chocolate cream, banana, yoghurt, sesame praline, churros, caramel ice cream

this one was also a very nice dessert! the banana, slightly caramelised was so amazing! i've never been a big banana fan but i could eat a bucket of banana is it was served like that! 

and to finish off a lovely meal, petit fours!

there was a strawberry marshmallow, olive oil jelly, a macaron, a truffle, a chocolate and one that got eaten before i figured out what it was ><!

i got to taste the marshmallow and the macaron, the marshmallow is absolutely gorgeous, light 

and fluffy with a very nice non artificial strawberry taste!

i really have to say that est. was an amazing dining experience and it is well worth it! i would return if given the chance and i would love to try more of their dishes!

i wish everyone a very happy new year and may everyone achieve their new year resolutions! 

till next time,

Milkteaxx