Bistro Moncur, Woollahra – Closed

Edit: CLOSED OH HAI! Been a while since I posted a pic with a knife lols. So like, the boy and I were heading out to Woollahra to get my fix of pate from Victor Churchill Butcher and a shoutout on Twitter about where to go for lunch led us to Bistro Moncur (116 Queen St, Woollahra) adjacent to the Woollahra Hotel.

French Onion Souffle Gratin ($20) is Bistro Moncur’s signature dish and it is freaking amaaaazing. Totally to die for (heh HI ANNA). The shallow dish is filled with golden liquid cheese and the island floating in the middle contains strips of caramelised onion melding perfectly with the incredibly light souffle. The complimentary basket of bread that is placed at our table is perfect to soak up the rich cheesy sauce.

Poached Bugtail Salad ($21.50) is an eye catching dish, the bright colours of the celeriac remoulade, grapefruit segments and avocado slices all but hide the bugtail slices layered beneath. The flesh is a bit on the squishy side but the salad of the day is a welcome contrast to my uber rich entree.

Grilled Sirloin with Cafe de Paris ($41.50). Yeah baby check out my steak lovingly bathed in butter! A flawless medium rare, with the perfect fat to tender meat ratio, the sirloin was just awesome. And um, rich covered in all that butter. After my super cheesy souffle I was totally about to have heart palpitations but I soldiered on! Cos it’s what I do! The side of fries were thin and crispy and were unceremoniously dunked into the butter sauce.

The boy has opted for the Prime Fillet Steak with Sauce Béarnaise ($43). Sadly his medium rare steak was a tad on the dry side and the bearnaise sauce oddly had lemon juice in it making it taste more like a hollandaise sauce. The string holding the steak together was left on and was inelegantly excavated and pushed to the side. Not happy Jan.

But dessert will make it better! Warm Chocolate Pudding with Chocolate Sorbet ($16.50) is a glorious sight, the rich chocolate sauce cascading down the edges of the light as air chocolate pudding. The chocolate sorbet is surprisingly refreshing and light in flavour.

Noods’ Blood Orange Granita with Poached Winter Fruit, Yoghurt Panna Cotta and Candied Almonds ($17.50) is such a pretty dessert though not one of my favs thanks to my dislike of almonds and multiple flavours and textures in the one glass. The panna cotta has a slight cheesecakey taste thanks to the yoghurt which I find intriguing but would’ve loved it if the blood orange granita was more in your face with flavour.

Sidenote: a ginormous bottle of sparkling mineral water was plonked at out table without asking what we wanted. We only found out when we got the bill that it was complimentary but still, I would’ve preferred to have been asked of our water preference as I’m totally ok with Chateau Warragamba. Service was a bit hit and miss, we started off with a lovely waitress however she was loved by everyone there and was soon run off her feet and we got switched with a not so happy waiter. Oh wells the glass of red and of course the company made for a delicious (if exxy) lunch.