Etch: CBD Sydney (23 April 2012)

Etch was always one of those restaurants on my to do list, and so on a Monday night we decided to give it a try. We had the tasting menu which consisted of 6 courses plus an amuse bouche and pre dessert. However having heard from friends whom went the previous week to be ready for a 30-40 minutes wait between each course, we were slightly wary after our long days at uni/work, but everything turned out great and we were out of the restaurant by 9.30p.m. (2 hours).

Entrance - restrained and quirky

Amuse Bouche

The Amouse Bouche was a creamy soup - can't remember exactly what it was, but it was very flavoursome and settled us in for the night. 

Local figs, Woodside goat curd

The creamy goat curd complemented the sweet figs and crunchy sesame wafers. Not usually fans of figs, but everything worked well together and the figs were incredibly sweet. 

 Crispy Spencer gulf prawns, peach, wasabi

Thought both the prawns and the vegetable risotto dishes were ok, but nothing spectacular. 

 Autumnal vegetable risotto

 Caramelized pork belly, beetroot, pear puree

Pan-fried snapper with vegetables

Surprisingly this dish was quite substantial, and was the substitute dish they had for me since I requested no pork. The vegetables were crunchy and complemented the snapper well, giving everything a "fresh" taste. 

Aromatic slow braised lamb shoulder, pumpkin, garlic spinach, mint, balsamic

The flavours worked well in this dish - it was rich and tender, and a nice substantial finish to the mains. 

 Pre-dessert of rhubarb compote, wine jelly, vanilla chantilly and rhubarb jelly

I wasn't much of a fan of the rhubarb compote and jelly, but that would just be a personal dislike of rhubarb. The vanilla chantilly on the other hand was creamy and matched well with the wine jelly. 

Lemon parfait, pineapple, coconut salad, coriander

The lemon parfait was not as "citrus-ey" as I would have liked it to be, but I still really enjoyed this dessert. The coconut salad worked really well with the dessert, as did the small meringue they placed on the corner. 

Overall it was an enjoyable meal, and a good start to the week. We probably won't be going back anytime soon, though it does make me want to attempt to make lamb as tender as they had it with our slow cooker. 

Etch 

62 Bridge Street

Sydney 2000

02 9247 4777

Mon-Fri 12pm-3pm; 5pm-late

Saturday 5pm-late