Restaurant Balzac

Hello!!!! I want to share with you all this wonderful restaurant I went on Saturday for dinner. It is in Randwick, Sydney. The food is the best I have in Sydney so far. I called them on Thurday night to make a reservation for 3 and was told that there is only 1 table available and it will be from 6pm to 8pm. I agreed to it, since it was the last table.... I told my friends that it is either very small or the food is very good.

Restaurant Balzac in Randwick

On the day itself, they called me in the afternoon to confirm our reservation. We reached there at about 630pm, as we went to my brother's place to collect the bed for Kristy. We were served immediately and the service was good. The waitress that serve us was very friendly. The menu is rather small with 2 fish dishes, 1 chicken, 1 risotto and a meat if I remember correctly. Anyway, the service was very fast. Shortly after we ordered, we were served bread and our amuse bouche (a cauliflower soup with chicken bits and truffle oil). Both were very tasty. The bread was nicely warmed and soft, served with slightly soften salted butter. Although I was not that hungry as we had a very late lunch, I cannot resist the bread.

Amuse Bouche

When our first course was served, we all WOW!! It was very beautifully presented as you can see from the photos below. We were busy enjoying the presentation, taking photos and I look at another table and saw them doing the same thing, taking photos. When we had our first tasting, all of us go mmmmm..... All the starters are very yummy!! Nicely presented and taste good. Cecilia ordered a Salmon and Kingfish Tartare, Kristy had a Duck salad with Foie Gras and I ordered a Parma Ham with Anchovies, poached egg and rockets. We simply enjoy our food and tasting each other's.

Kristy's Duck salad with Foie Gras

Cecilia's Salmon and Kingfish Tartare

My Parma Ham with anchovies, poached egg and rockets.

Then, came our main course. As I was served first, I was so busy looking at my beautiful plate of Ballotine Chicken and Crab. It was so beautifully presented that I took my camera and snap the photos straight away, so was Cecilia, snapping away on all our food. :P She was having Mahi Mahi as none of us know what Mahi Mahi is beside it is a fish. But it taste really good. Kristy ordered Pan-fried Barramundi, which was better than what I had at Waterfront. My chicken was served with some gnocchi. I am not a fan of gnocchi but here they made them small bite size and the sauce that accompany them were fansatic.

The 3 satisfied diners.

Roasted Mahi Mahi

Ballotine of Chicken and Crab.

Pan-fried Barramundi

After the main, I was 80% full and was willing to go without dessert but the 2 of them said that if the food is so good, the desserts must be good too. So we ordered 2 desserts to share. Since I had such a heavy dinner, I wanted something lighter and opt for a fruit salad with lemongrass consomme and ginger ice cream, they both wanted to try the hot chocolate fondant, so we ordered 1 to share as well. The waitress was very accomodating, since it was already 8pm and we were suppose to leave by 8pm and the hot chocolate fondant will take 20min, she went to ask if we can have it. Excellent service since we indeed manage to have our hot chocolate fondant. :P Both desserts again were beautifully presented and best of all, tasted very delicious too. The fruit salad was light, refreshing and unique. Why unique because there is some corrinader in it that makes the taste different in a nice way. Subtle but yet unique. The hot chocolate fondant was good too but I prefer the fruit salad more as the chocolate was becoming too common. All in all it was the best dinner for me in Sydney so far and also the most expensive, BUT WORTH IT! Not that expensive, $88 per pax with 1 bottle of wine

Fruit salad with lemongrass consumme and ginger ice cream

Hot Chocolate Fondant with coffee ice cream

Our desserts