Had a long awaited dinner at Allium last week for a friend's birthday. Had long heard of the great reviews about this place so I was super excited to check it out.
Made a booking for a mid week dinner. The place was dim, moody and quite cosy. Perfect for long catch ups over good food.
There were two menus, one was a winter banquet, another was the full menu with a degustation option. Pressed between the choice of two set courses, we decided on trying the winter banquet menu at $64pp.
Drinks for the evening included the Peccorino, a curious savoury white wine, the sweet Bloody Jasmine and my crisp refreshing French 75. All drinks were moderately strong and provided a nice way to start off our meal.
We had some bread to share come out first, this was the Allium Malt Sourdough served with Wagyu Fat Butter. Interestingly, there was only two pieces of bread despite there being three of us, so there was a bit of inconvenience in splitting the bread. The bread itself was rustic and crusty, but we would have liked it better if it had been toasted for extra crunch. Having said that, the wagyu fat butter spread wonderfully.
Entrees came fairly quickly, this was the Rangers Valley Beef Tartare, Fermented Chilli, Nashi Pear with Jerusalem Artichoke. This was definitely a highlight for me, as someone who really enjoys steak tartare, it was very fresh and well seasoned. The Nashi Pear was crisp and delicious, I only wish there was more to share and some bread or biscuits to go with the tartare.
Our second entree was the Heirloom Tomato, Housemade Ricotta, Basil, Black Olive with Sour Cherry. Like a cross between fruit salad and veggie salad, it was fresh and I liked the light vinegarette it was served with and how it complimented the mild ricotta.
The wait between entrees and mains took a little while, this was the first main, Potato Gnocchi, Truffle Cream, Oyster Mushroom with Ewes Milk Whey. Flavour wise, I really enjoyed the complimentary mushroom flavours of truffle cream and oyster mushroom. The texture of the gnocchi was a bit mushy though and tasted a bit like mashed potato.
Our second main was the Borrowdale Pork Belly, Soy Caramel, Green Pawpaw with Asian Herb Salad. Again I found it a little odd that there was two pieces of pork belly between the three of us. The pork belly was a bit fatty and the skin was soft and sticky, unlike the usual crispy skin we are used to. The flavour was extremely sweet and we could only balance it out with the herb salad.
We had two sides to accompany our mains, this was of course the Shoestring fries, Malt Vinegar with Aioli. The portion was generous, and I do love shoestring fries, but they didn't stand out as something special compared to other offerings on the market.
Final savoury dish was the side of Roasted Sugarloaf Cabbage with XO Sauce. This was tender and enjoyable, especially with the pungent XO Sauce which really added an Asian twist to the dish.
The wait between mains and desserts though was extremely long, at close to 40 minutes. Dessert of the evening was the Vanilla Cheesecake, White Chocolate, Toasted Macadamia, Strawberry Ice Cream. Again we had two portions to awkwardly split between three. Having said that, I really enjoyed the deconstructed cheesecake. The vanilla cheesecake element was very creamy and rich, while the strawberry was fragrant and the macadamia gave it a lot of much needed texture. We definitely ended the meal on a high.
Price Range: $64pp Banquet
Value: 7/10
Service: 6/10 (long wait times between courses)
Environment: 7/10
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