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Would you like to dine in a 5 star restaurant?

One that has won accolades and fantastic reviews from both customers and journalists alike.

Would you?

Would you want to dine in a restaurant who upon winning the coveted 3 hatted chef hat award from The Good Food Guide in Australia, said, “Erm, actually, can we return the hats? We don’t want it anymore.”?

“It’s too stressful!”

Would you? Of course you would! That can only mean one thing. That the restaurant and chef appreciates the finer things in life.

Enjoying one’s meal without the hullaballoo of fancy sounding ingredients or a dish arriving with caviar carved upon troll-like horns with flames and smoke! (However, if you do hear of one, please let me know!)

We investigate if the change has impacted on the quality of Pier at all.

Almost a year ago (I know, I’m terribly late), the Boy and I paid a visit at the famous Pier.

Located in the scenic look-out area of Rose Bay, both of us were taken in with the beauty of the surroundings.

If you have met me in person before, chances are you will recognise the picture of the cutlery below 🙂 It’s on one of my name cards!

The Boy and I absolutely fell in love with the cutlery! I know, I know, it’s such a small thing but aesthetics really play a big role with me when I’m dining out.

I absolutely loved the glass windows that make up the “walls” of the restaurant. The crisp white linen adorning each table. The blue glasses that fit so well with the aquatic theme.

I could go on and on, but I really liked the feel of the place. I just knew it was going to be a lovely day!

To start our meal here, I enjoyed a glass of crisp white, a Riesling (which I have forgotten the region where it hailed from).

There were a couple of choices in terms of dining. We could have gone with the ala carte menu or the tasting menu (5 courses). We took a while to decide as the tasting menu didn’t include some of the dishes we would have liked to try.

In the end, after much deliberation, we decided to go with the tasting menu, as it offered the best options from the ala carte.

The first dish to arrive was the famous Cone of Tartare which looked like a little wonton cone of king salmon, garlic chives, and capers (if you ordered from the ala carte, you could choose other seafood options).

First of all, the salmon which adorned the cone was extremely fresh. The taste itself was quite delicate and it seemed particularly sinful to chomp down on this sashimi grade quality fish with a crispy wonton skin!

Next up on the tasting menu was a Carpaccio of Kingfish – with Pomegranate, Ruby Grapefruit, shaved Fennel.

Another beautifully fresh dish enhanced with the light olive oil dressing and fruit.

With seafood this fresh, little needs to be done to enhance the flavours of the sea.

The Pan Roasted Scallops – with Pork Cheek, Carrot Puree, Lentils, Sherry Vinegar was the next dish.

The Boy absolutely loves his scallops, and he mentioned that this was definitely a winner.

Everything on the plate was paired really well together.

Finally, the main dish of Crispy Skinned Barramundi – with Roasted Onion, Confit Garlic, Tarragon, Madeira was definitely a close contender to the scallop dish from before.

We were told that the fish used for this dish was farmed barramundi for sustainability reasons.

To eat this fish, we would have to begin eating it from the outside, slowly making our way in towards the centre of the fish, as it was still cooking.

The lovely smoky taste from the burnt garlic puree and baby onion mousse certainly provided an added dimension to this dish.

With such a fantastic introduction to Pier’s savoury dishes, the Boy and I eagerly and highly anticipated the arrival of our desserts.

First up on the rank was the Mandarin Soufflé – with Mandarin Sauce, White Chocolate Creme.

Unfortunately for the both of us, despite my love for all things citrus, we found it a little too hard to digest this dish.

We found it too sweet for our tastebuds and once we had made our way through the soft pillowy souffle crust, we could see quite a lot of unmelted sugar in the mandarin mixture at the bottom of the copper pan.

However, due to my readiness to always order an extra dessert (from the ala carte menu), we did end on a high note.

The Valrhona Chocolate Pave – with Sour Cherry, Coconut Sorbet, Marshmallow, Pop Rocks certainly picked up from where we left off with the fish, making me forget the entrance of the previous dessert.

The chocolate was dark and bitter, the coconut sorbet and sour cherry interplayed with the sweetness of the marshmallow to cut through the heaviness of the chocolate.

A heavenly finish if I must say so myself.

All in all, we had a very good and enjoyable lunch whilst we dined at the former top 100 restaurant of the world (#94 in 2009, S. Pellegrino).

Although they slipped up and landed in a puddle with the mandarin souffle, it was such a minor slip in the plethora of good dishes we had that lunch.

We will definitely recommend dining at the Pier and look forward to returning when we next visit Sydney!

*Disclaimer: All food ratings & review are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality at the time of visit

Food/ Cuisine: Modern Australian (Seafood)
Dining Style: Fine Dining
Overall Food Rating (Based on the Dining style): 8.25/10
Restaurant ambiance: 8.5/10
Service/ Attitude: 8/10
Value for money: 7/10 (It is a little pricier than most other fine dining restaurants in the Sydney scene (we spent $330+ all up, slightly more than what we spent at Quay), however the quality of the seafood used is undeniably fresh, and plus the view is simply stunning)

Opening Hours: 
Lunch: Monday to Sunday, 12pm – 3pm
Dinner: Monday to Saturday, 6pm – 10pm; Sunday, 6pm – 9pm

Address:
594 New South Head Rd
Rose Bay NSW 2029

Tel: (02) 9327 6561

Website: http://www.pierrestaurant.com.au/

How to get there:

Pier on Urbanspoon