Have you ever chosen to dine at a restaurant solely because of one item you’ve seen on the menu? That’s what happened when we spotted the Twice baked souffle with roquefort sauce ($21) and decided to visit Bistro Guillaume. I friggen love cheese souffles and this a must order. The souffle was the very definition of a cloud. One deliciously cheesy cloud! The souffle was so light and fluffy with a base hit of salty roquefort sauce. The souffle does come in different sizes and I definitely recommend getting the larger one especially if you’re sharing 😛

I’m not sure why but there was just something I couldn’t quite put a finger on why I didn’t like the Chicken liver parfait with pear chutney ($20). I think partly because of the texture as it wasn’t firm enough and felt a like it was on the verge of dissolving into a puddle of liver liquid. And maybe I was crazy but it tasted super metallic and bitter to me hmm moving along now

Our waiter knew we were sharing all the food so while it was nice of them to split the Grainge Signature 300 Day Grain Fed Steak Frites ($48) for us (and we’re pretty sure we got more fries than normal), I kinda wished the steak arrived whole because um FOR THE PICS but also lol when the tiny piece of steak arrived I was like Oh… It’s so smol. But the steak was great! It’s been ages since I’ve had a good steak and Bistro Guillaume nails it! Nicely seared on the outside but with a tender and juicy medium rare. While I love eggs, for some reason I have issues with bearnaise (and also hollandaise) sauce and for once it’s not a texture thing. But scraping the sauce to the side is an easy enough fix so I could enjoy the steak in all it’s true steaky form.

The Confit duck leg ($42) is a beauty with juicy and incredibly tender meat and a tile of perfectly crisp skin. I sneakily dug around for the roasted brussel sprouts buried under the duck and loved the fresh pops of pomegranate.

The Cauliflower gratin ($15) was a pretty generous serving, and oh so cheesy with a deliciously tasty breadcrumb crust.

But the Paris mash ($12)! My god please bury me in that mash! Ridiculously smooth and buttery and just so delicious I could eat this forever.

There’s just something about a dessert trolley displaying perfectly arranged treats that speaks to me. Everything on the Petit fours trolley was $2 each and a definite must order is their salted caramels! Perfect balance of sweet and salty, it’s chewy but it won’t stick to a molar and remove a filling.

I have extremely detailed memories of eating with my family growing up. Summers of eating KFC in the sweltering heat, dunking each scrap of chicken skin into the gravy and clutching steaming hot corn cobs. Weekends at Istana, freezing in their arctic restaurant, shovelling down piping hot plates of hokkien mee or Hainanese chicken rice. School arvo’s were spent at the corner store staring hopefully at the jars of 2c lollies but inevitably getting a bundle of hot chips showered with chicken salt and wrapped in butchers paper to share with my brother.

But one of my favourite memories was during school holidays and we’d trek to the Sizzlers for the all you can eat buffet and I’d get the cheapest meal possible just so I would have access to the baskets of cheese toast. Never mind the dessert bar with the allure of building a giant soft serve sundae topped with all the sprinkles, nope, it was those golden triangles of happiness that seared it’s way into my heart.

Ingredients:
250g parmesan cheese (I happened to be at Costco and the grana padano cheese was on special)
250g salted butter, room temperature (do NOT use spreadable butter as this is way too oily and the cheese crust will melt)
White bread (about half a loaf)

Step 1. In a food processor dump in your parmesan and butter and blitz until smooth.

See? Smoooooth.

Step 2. Slather about a tablespoon worth of mixture onto your bread and spread evenly on one side only.

Layer a square of baking/parchment paper in between each slice or they will stick together.

Step 3. Important: FREEZE! If you skip this step the mixture won’t stick to the bread and will melt when you go to fry it!

Step 4. Heat a frying pan to medium heat and place the toast with cheesy butter side down into the pan.

Step 5. Cook until the bread on the top side is defrosted (about 2-3 mins) and check to see if the cheesy side is golden brown. Be warned a lot of oil will ooze out and you will question your life choices. Also if you lift the bread too soon there’s a chance your cheese mixture will slide off.

Step 6. Cut into triangles and immediately serve and reminisce about the good ol days.

I love fire. There’s something hypnotic watching flames, twisting and dancing to their own tune. Growing up out west where bushfires was the norm, I grew to love the smoky scent in the air, the headiness of the slightly burnt char scent on satay sticks grilled in the backyard or the gooey sweetness of marshmallows roasted at school camps. No this is not an admission to my slightly pyro ways but the reason I couldn’t wait to eat at Firedoor and celebrate Helen’s birthday.

We start with deliciously warm slices of woodfired bread ($8) with cultured butter and crunchy nubs of sprouted rye. I friggen love cultured butter oh man MOAR PLS! It’s creamy and rich, slightly tangy and oh so silky and perfect to be slathered inch thick onto the nutty, smoky bread.

I was blown away by the Swordfish, sugar snaps, buttermilk ($28). The swordfish was briefly kissed by flames before slicing and setting on top of the sweetest sugar snaps I have ever had. But the swordfish was beyond incredible, I believe the belly is used and it just melted in the mouth and was buttery and incredible. The buttermilk dressing (the liquid left behind after churning their house made butter) is nice and light, adding a touch of creaminess but without overpowering the fish.

And if you guys follow me on Instagram you’ll know about my recent obsession and the reason we were dining at Firedoor: The Scarlet prawn ($24)! This beautiful prawn tastes like a cross between a lobster and a scampi, with delicately sweet tasting flesh. But the prawn head is what it’s all about, use your hands and suck out all the prawny juices- it will be the most intensely prawn experience you’ve ever had!

Sadly since it was just Helen and I, we decided there was no way we could finish the 203 day dry-aged rib of beef ($176) so instead ordered the Wagyu flank, smoked eggplant, horseradish ($54) which was absolutely perfect. The steak is thickly sliced with a perfect caramelised crust and a juicy center. I was surprised the steak didn’t have more of a smoky flavour but the smoked eggplant sauce provided all the incredible sweet smokiness I needed so I could control the amount I wanted with each mouthful.

We ordered the Smoked white chocolate, cherry and coconut bombe ($20) for dessert, not really expecting too much but oh boy how I love the theatrics of the alcohol poured over the dessert and set on fire! It had the perfect balance of creamy richness from the chocolate and sweet tartness of the buried cherries with a nice crunch contrast of the coconut biscuit on the base.

Firedoor
22-33 Mary Street
Surry Hills
NSW 2010

Trading Hours:
Sunday – Wednesday: Closed
Thursday – Friday: 12 – 3pm, 5:30 – 10:30pm
Saturday: 5:30 – 10:30pm

2018. It has been another whirlwind of a year! I started a new job (again), there was a Kygo concert, the complete and utter obsession with Terrace House, and an epic food trip to Hong Kong where I ate my body weight in bbq goose, egg tarts and buttery pineapple buns.

My hair finally went aqua/green/turquoise, I ate a looooot of barbecue, I didn’t get any new ink but for the first time ever I have joined a gym but that’s thanks to the crippling pain of a pinched nerve. I gave up coffee just to see if I could do it for a month and ended up continuing it for the rest of the year with occasional ‘lapses’ when I needed to be social.

There has been a very large increase in the amount of bubble tea drunk (Coco is life but Song Tea has my heart), as well as many a Scarlet prawn(s) consumed and this year’s guilty pleasure was Shin ramen with copious amounts of plastic cheese. There were less burgers, ramen and unagi this year but more croissants, Costco pizza and generally a lot of eggs.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all have a safe and awesome NYE, thank you for following me and here’s to a delicious 2019!