Ester, Chippendale

You know when you keep seeing photos of a certain dish on IG and instantly know that you just HAVE to have it? That was me a couple of weekends ago when I kept seeing pics of food from Ester in Chippendale.

So I dragged the boy over last weekend for a lazy long lunch and we start with Roasted rock oysters ($5 each). They were bloody perfect considering how I normally hate cooked oysters! They were briny, plump specimens, not entirely cooked through so they still quivered when slurped straight from the shell and there was just enough of the zingy horseradish emulsion to set the tastesbuds a-tingle.

The Fermented potato bread ($22) is a must order. A MUST ORDER! The bread is blistered and crusty on the outside from it’s time in the wood fired oven. It’s super light and fluffy on the inside, just begging to be torn apart and dunked into the kefir cream with a squish of dashi jelly and a spoonful of salmon roe.

I ordered the Calamari & lardo on a stick ($16) solely because of the magical word lardo and it did not disappoint. Folds of smoky, tender calamari alternate between delicately thin ribbons of melty lardo that have been slightly caramelised by their baptism in fire.

We couldn’t resist Ester’s take on the classic sausage snag with the Blood sausage sanga ($9). A pillow of fluffy white bread holds a squiggle of mayo (or is it aioli hmm) and a steamed then roasted sausage made from minced pork belly, rice, nuts and pig’s blood. It’s surprisingly balanced, the sausage is damn tasty and doesn’t taste overly meaty or salty.

NOW THIS! THIS! The Potato pasta ($18) is what I’ve been drooling over this past month and it’s just as incredible as I had imagined. The sheets of pasta are silky and tender and hiding a incredibly smooth potato puree that melts on the tongue. The sauce is a potato dashi and puncturing the egg yolk so that it runs all over just adds even more umami to the dish and sends me into a dizzying stupour.

I had my heart set on the sourdough ice cream but when I saw the dessert special float by me I knew I had to have it in my life. BEHOLD! A giantass choux puff filled with cumquat and white chocolate cream!

Innards! The choux is deliciously crisp and flaky, reminiscent of Beard Papa’s cream puffs and the filling while delightfully creamy isn’t too sweet and is just the perfect end to the meal.

Ester
46-52 Meagher St,
Chippendale

Trading Hours:
LUNCH
Sat: 12pm onwards
Sun: 12pm – 6pm

DINNER
Mon – Sat: 6pm – late