A couple of weeks ago we went to a friend's birthday dinner. They opted for the relatively new Duck Fat, located at Haven Newstead. I had heard considerable mixed reviews about the place but went with an open mind to try it out anyway. We had made a reservation for saturday night, it was roughly half full by the time we got there and almost empty by the time we left, so I would say a booking is likely to be better than not but by all means not necessary.
Food wise there were two menus, a banquet menu and an a la carte menu. By group consensus we agreed to order via the a la carte menu for a more customised experience. Service throughout the evening was inconsistent at best and it took a lot of effort for us to get the attention of wait staff.
Drinks wise, we had two mocktails, the L'amour and the Virgin Lavender. Between the two of them, the L'amour was the more flavourful and enjoyable of the two with its tart cranberry juice, although the drink tasted a bit artificial. The virgin lavender was very light in flavour and the lavender foam had a weird gel like texture that I didn't enjoy.
For our entrees we had the Scallops served with butternut purée, pumpkin seeds oil and crispy
prosciutto. Considering the price of almost $30, I was surprised and disappointed to have only been served three scallops. These were considerably overcooked and a bit more burnt than I would have liked. The butternut and pumpkin seed puree was decidedly oily. We didn't enjoy this dish and probably would not order it again.
The other starter we got was the three cheese flamed tart. It was basically a thin crust pizza with crème fraîche, Roquefort blue, Comte and mozzarella. In theory, I adore cheese pizza. In practicality it was greasy and oily, leading to a pool of oil on my plate and also running down my arm as I tried to eat it. A friend who ate with us commented that they either needed to use a thicker base to absorb the oils or less cheese so it wouldn't soak the tart base. It was also a shame that when melted together, I was unable to discern the types of cheese, ultimately making this dish also a disappointment.
To share, Dr L and I had the Flame-grilled Wagyu beef rump steak marble score 7 (500g), which came with french fries, green salad and condiments. For his benefit, I ordered it medium rare but it came out rare. As someone who has devoted a lot of time to steak, I am also fairly convinced that what we got was porterhouse not rump steak but we couldn't complain given that the portion also appeared to be bigger than 500g. This was definitely the highlight of our evening with the steak being fairly tender albeit still a bit greasy. The abundance of sauces which I didn't photograph was also a highlight and I particularly enjoyed the shallot sauce.
The salad was a generous amount of chopped lettuce doused with a significant amount of vinegarette. Again it was dripping with oil throughout and we wished that there could have been a bit more variety in the salad (such as tomatoes) to keep it exciting.
The last element of our main was the french fries. These were fresh out of the fryer and very crunchy. The portion sizes were generous also but it was a confusing choice to match with thousand island sauce.
It has to be said also that we were rudely shocked when receiving the bill to be notified of a 5% saturday surcharge. This wasn't brought to our attention at the point of booking and upon review of the menu there was fine print advising that there is a weekend surcharge of non descript amount. On top of that was also the 1% card surcharge, ultimately leaving a very bitter taste in my mouth. Furthermore, given how bad some of the dishes were, I would definitely have brought this to the attention of waitstaff if anyone had asked us how we were enjoying our meal (given I had literal cheese oil running down my arm), but no one asked and thus my woeful experience at Duckfat concludes. With an experience like this, I will definitely not be back and would veto any friends who suggest this venue for any future birthday meals.
Price Range: $90 - $110pp
Taste: 5/10
Value: 3/10
Service: 4/10
Environment:7/10
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