For those who keep up with social media, especially the foodie side of things, there is little doubt that you would have heard of the newest Three Blue Ducks, which recently opened its doors in the beautiful W Brisbane. Having a girls night out, we decided to finally go and check it out.
Far away from their other store at The Farm on Byron, this restaurant exuded elegance, but still with a homey rustic charm.
If you're lucky enough to book a window seat (which we didn't), the view is quite spectacular too.
Menus were provide upon seating. Comprising of one page only, it encapsulates the concept of having a small menu, filled with things that you can do to a very high standard. We almost ordered one of everything.
Starting off with drinks that evening, one companion had a white wine, one had the wonderfully fragrant "The Humble Fig" cocktail, all of which were well enjoyed. I especially found the three ducks on the wine glass to be super cute.
Our meal arrived before long, and the spread was as impressive as you would expect.
The main event for us was the Lamb Shoulder. It was a group sized portion to be shared amongst 2-3 people. Breaking up the shoulder, the meat literally just fell off the bone. It was amazingly tender, apparently cooked in a two stage process with the first stage taking 8 hours. The flavour of the herbs were absorbed deep into the meat, making for a very tasty meal.
As a side to the lamb, this was the pea, zucchini, squash, red onion, mint with lemon dressing. This was both refreshing and sharp in taste to balance out the heavy lamb. The lemon and mint really cut through and the spice of spanish onion really made it stand out.
My favourite of the night was the humble roasted garlic and rosemary potatoes. With their crispy exterior, they were almost giant oversized wedges. I love the strong garlic taste and wonderfully fragrant rosemary.
We also had two other small dishes, first of which was the raw fish, paw paw, red onion, chilli & ginger. That evening, fish of the day was kingfish. I found the dish a little sweet for my palate, with an abundance of pawpaw. I found the generous toppings of onion, chilli and ginger did detract from my appreciation of the freshness of the fish, which was undoubtedly completely overpowered.
Our second side was the Duck's cauliflower cheese. It was a grilled cauliflower dish with considerable melted cheese and breadcrumbs for texture. I found the dish warm and comforting, but could have had a bit more by way of depth of flavour.
For some reason, our starting bread came after all the other dishes. This was the organic sourdough bread with cultured butter. Whilst late, the bread was also untoasted, which was disappointing, as it meant the delicious cultured butter was unable to melt upon my bread. Had it been toasted, I would have had no doubt it would have been very enjoyable.
Our desserts came not long after we finished our mains. They were like works of art.
This was the Ducks cheese board, lavosh, figs & honey. The three cheeses on offer that day comprised of Blue Cheese, Camembert and Espresso Cheddar. The cheeses were tasty and generous in portion, the espresso cheddar was a particularly fascinating in its contrasting flavours. I liked the sweet fig jelly, and the crumbly honeycomb that it was served with too.
Next we had the Chocolate parfait, almond crumb, pickled blueberries sprinkled with matcha. Surprisingly, I found this dish to be a little overwhelming in its sweetness, with a very sugary and not very chocolaty. This was partially redeemed by the sour pickled blueberries, cutting sharply through the sweetness. I was initially very excited by the matcha, but this too was overpowered by the chocolate.
Last dessert of the night was the Sea salt meringue served with berries, yoghurt ice cream, lemon curd and macadamia crunch. I was initially expecting this to be the sweeter of the desserts, but it wasn't as sweet as the chocolate parfait. In fact the yoghurt was quite fairly light and creamy, the meringue was balanced by the sea salt and the berries and macadamia gave it quite a good texture.
Taste: 6/10 (very hit and miss with some dishes amazing, some disappointing, very inconsistent)
Value: 6/10
Service: 8/10
Environment: 8/10
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