A good friend who eats out every day asked me for some inspiration for dinner ideas the other week, and I took it as a good opportunity to check off another place on my list of restaurants to check out, so we made a last minute reservation for the highly popular Nota in Paddington.
It was actually really lucky that we did make that reservation. Even though we were the first ones to arrive, it was a full house that night. I really liked the intimate setup and the rustic vibes of the exposed brick wall.
We liked the selection of modern european dishes on the menu, however as my friend often finds it difficult to make decisions, we had the convenience of opting for one of the Chef's selections, and we chose the three course one.
Kicking off with drinks, he wanted something sweeter, so he had the Passion Pop with Aperol, Prosecco and Passionfruit. I tried teh Garden Party with Brooke's dry gin, cucumber and lime and enjoyed how crisp and refreshing it was.
My friend was quite confused when he saw the house baked bread with butter as he mistook the slab of butter for a slice of banana. Apparently that's the way he eats banana on toast, but I won't judge him too much on that. Personally, I enjoyed the warm lightly toasted bread. The butter could have been a bit softer and easier to spread, but it had a good balance of salt which I enjoyed.
Even before I tried Nota, all my friends told me the highlight of their menu was the Tempura fish sandwich with house tartare and mustard cress, so I was especially pleased to see it on their tasting menu. The bun was soft and fluffy without being overly sweet. The tempura fish was unbelievably light and crisp, even now I can still remember the crunch when biting down on it, and the tartare and cress gave it some balance and dimension. Definitely something to come back for.
Third of our starters was the Puffed rice crisp with smoked sesame cheese and semi-dried tomato. Like you would expect from its appearance, it was light and crispy, but the lack of taste from the rice crisp was balanced with the intense flavours of dried tomato. We both quite enjoyed this dish.
First of our two mains was my pick of the night, the Brisbane Valley quail with sweet corn, polenta and burnt butter. Since having tried Brisbane Valley quail in regional flavours this year, it's been fairly hard to get it off my mind. Was so keen on having it again, and it was just as good as I remembered. Meaty, moist and tender, it went wonderfully well with the jus and polenta. Another dish I would easily come back for.
Our second main was also a poultry dish, being the Confit duck leg, creamed cabbage, crispy potato and raspberry. Like the quail, the meat was exceptionally tender and easily fell off the bone. The highlight for me from this dish was undoubtedly the crispy potato, which was layered and fried. I enjoyed every morsel.
To balance our meal, we had a side of Broccolini served with anchovy butter and toasted almonds. The broccolini appeared to be partially fried and reminded me a little of crispy kale, so I wasn't too sure of how much added health benefit this dish would have, but it did make up for it via enjoyment value. Almonds added a lot of extra crunch to it too, which was a good contrast.
Our shared dessert that evening was the Warm house crumble with vanilla anglaise. For a first time hand model, my companion did fairly well with the sauce pour. The crumble was crunchy and decadent, whilst the anglaise was smooth, creamy and light. Added fruit pieces under the crumble gave it a certain amount of tartness which we appreciated, definitely a wonderful way to round off our meal.
Price Range: $60 - $80pp
Taste: 9/10
Value: 9/10
Service: 9/10
Environment: 9/10
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