GOURMET TRAVELLER 43talk polished? Try abalone, roasted and
sliced thin, served on a collagen-rich braise
of pig’s trotter cut through with capers
and finished with parsley oil. A finger of
toast spread with abalone-liver butter and
topped with dill, parsley and chervil checks
the savouriness. Both dishes show the
produce in its best light.
Blame the format rather than the
execution if the main courses feel dated by
comparison. The general trend in higher-
end restaurants towards large-format dishes
following a flurry of snacks and entrées is
recognition, if nothing else, that the most
interesting things are often found at the
front of menus. The mains at Est are
fine. Better than fine. A dish of Spanish
mackerel sees the fish cooked to the right
point, skin smoky and blackened, flesh
opalescent, bitter wilted radicchio and
sweet beetroot playing off each other.
And the jus on a dish of lamb loin with
anchovy-bread sauce and kutjera is clear
and refined, even if the striated rectangle
of squash and zucchini it comes with gets
by on its looks more than anything.
But then halfway through our
course, waiters swarm a nearby table,
dropping split rock lobsters and bone-
in sirloins with a sense of ceremony.
There’s excitement after all – even if it
is a little clichéd – it just comes at a price.
The sides, meanwhile, are a
chance for the kitchen to show off its
considerable prowess with the simple
things. Lettuce leaves and fines herbes.
Fried cauliflower under a parmesan-
cream sauce showered with wakame.
Big deep-fried batons of grated potatoFrom far left: crab with cavolo
nero, hazelnut, horseradish,
trout roe and lemon jam;
head chef Jacob Davey; wild
venison with purple carrot,
quandong, native pepper and
cocoa; roasted abalone with
pig’s trotter, capers, parsley
and herb toast.PHOTOGRAPHY NIKKI TO.
flavoured with wagyu fat, reminiscent
of McDonald’s hash browns – just a bit
better, if that were possible.
Est certainly has polish. The waiters
are at once warm and professional,
knowing how to turn it on for a special
occasion or take a back seat if you’re
closing a deal. My response to anyone
who wants more excitement on the wine
list would be that someone has to do
classic, and at Est they make a point of
going hard at it. Sommelier Dheeraj
Bhatia oversees a list that’s a lesson in
wine regions and houses: Mosel riesling,
Etienne Sauzet chardonnay, Saint-
Émilion Grand Cru, plus prestigious
Australian labels, including a back
catalogue of Grange. It’s the best fun
you’ll have with an encyclopedia.Dessert is a class act, too. Valrhona
chocolate mousse, cut into thick pieces,
is dense and rich and dark and plated
with paper-thin leaves made with prune
and potato, muscat ice-cream made
with liquidnitrogen, and a sweet buttery
pumpkin sauce. It’s a mouthful, but it’s
solid and rousing. A vacherin resembling
a hard-packed snowball is all poise and
balance, a raspberry coulis (now there’s
a throwback) underpinning a filling of
raspberry sorbet and buffalo-milk curd.
It feels important that as the world
spins around it, Est remains staunchly
wedded to the ideals of taking good
produce, cooking it well and presenting
it with flair, trying to be nothing other
than the best at what it does. Est is Latin,
you know. It means “it is”. It simply is.DetailsEst
Level 1, Establishment,
252 George St, Sydney,
(02) 9114 7312,
merivale.com
Licensed
CardsAE MC V EFT
OpenLunch Mon-Fri
noon-2.30pm, dinner
Mon-Sat 6pm-10pm
PricesLunch entrées
$30-$44, main courses
$42-$74, dessert $22;
dinner 2-4 courses
$105-$160; dégustations
$165-$195
VegetarianOn request
NoiseWhat noise?
Wheelchair accessYe s
MinusExpensive,
and knows it
PlusYou get what
you pay forSydney review