Estelle Bar & Kitchen
Many months ago, Alastair and I had lunch at the Estelle with Taz, Haz and Gazman, Kat and Josh plus Ashley. We’re talking middle of winter months ago.
I don’t know why it has taken me so long to write about it.
It wasn’t because we didn’t have a good time – we had fun.
It wasn’t that the food was bad – it was good.
It wasn’t that the service was lacking – the wait staff were friendly and perfectly lovely.
So why has it taken me so long? No idea bear!
But you know what they say about good things taking time. 🙂
The Estelle, located on High Street in Northcote, is co-owned by Chefs Ryan Flaherty and Scott Pickett (formerly from The Point).
I guess the food is the category that’s often referred to as “Modern Australian” though, as you’ll see, it’s a bit more than that. If pressed, I would find it very hard to describe the kind of food that the Estelle does. There are several degustation options, starting from 3 courses (lunch only) for $50, 5 courses for $70, 7 courses for $90, and 9 courses for $110.
We decided on the 5 course option.
Because we were a largeish group, we were seated in the private dining room upstairs, which gave us an opportunity to wander through the kitchen and check it out on the way up. The dining room was nice and quiet (particularly for the other customers!) though it was a bit cold up there in the middle of winter.
Lunch kicked off with a little snack. In the martini glass we had onion mousse, topped with veal tendon crackling – so creamy and it just melted in the mouth.
Alongside were warm chickpea fries with a light crust.
And small squares of lightly pickled rockmelon with a dab of yoghurt in an edible wrap. It made me think of candy – sweet with a firmish texture.
Our first course was a gorgeous heirloom beetroot salad, served with goats cheese rolled in edible ash, with radish and basil gel. It was a very earthy salad with minimal sweetness and pungency from the cheese.
Next we had crab mornay made with blue swimmer crab meat, a light bechamel, brioche crumbs and topped with parmesan. Sliced onions and tabasco gave it a bit of spiciness, but the dish – though nice – was a bit heavy by itself. I found the crab a bit lost in it.
Our third course was fish: rock flathead fillet with cauliflower puree, pine mushrooms, baby capers, caramelised onions, grapes and Jerusalem artichoke chips. The fish was cooked beautifully, and I liked the different textures in the dish – particularly the crunchy Jerusalem artichoke chips.
The last savoury course was meat: wagyu rump with black mushroom puree, celeraic remoulade, salsify chip, and brown sauce, which I thought may have been a reduced balsamic.
The meat was very rich and… well… meaty. It wasn’t as tender as I was expecting, but it had a great depth of flavour.
The fifth course was dessert and while it didn’t look like much, I absolutely loved it. It was probably my favourite course, which is unusual for me.
Dessert was an olive oil and vanilla infused sponge with salted caramel, pepitas, and frozen sour cream.
The sponge was really light, and I liked the combination of the airy sponge, the crunchy pepitas, the cold sour cream, and thick caramel all together. Such an unusual dessert – I loved it.
And finally, we had a little bonus to finish. 🙂
The bottom of the glass contained creme caramel, and poured on top was warm maple bourbon.
MHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. So warm and creamy and boozy. It was a nice sweet finish to our meal.
Even though it took me a long time to put this post up, it’s not going to take me long to head back because Alastair and I have a booking in December. We will be taking Alastair’s dad to his first ever degustation, and judging by our lunch I’m sure it will be enjoyable times for all. 🙂
For more on our lunch at the Estelle, check out I’m so hungree.
View Off the spork in a larger map
Estelle Bar & Kitchen
243 High Street
Northcote
Phone: 03 9489 4609
Web: estellebarkitchen.com.au
Daisy@Nevertoosweet
November 9, 2012 @ 10:24 am
Ohhh I’ve actually never heard of Estelle Bar and Kitchen 🙂 But everything looks very pretty ~ Finally a good place to go that’s in the suburbs and not always in the city hehe
What was the dessert? It looks good to me ~ If you said it’s the winning dish for you, then it’s gotta be GOOD! LOL
Agnes
November 19, 2012 @ 9:19 pm
It was an olive oil and vanilla infused sponge with salted caramel, pepitas, and frozen sour cream – so unusual! I loved it.
Em
November 9, 2012 @ 11:54 am
Everything looks amazing. I am going to Estelle for dinner next week so your post has made me even more excited!
Agnes
November 19, 2012 @ 9:28 pm
Oooh. Did you enjoy? 🙂
Catherine
November 9, 2012 @ 12:44 pm
I love Estelle! The dessert was surprisingly good for us as well, I hope to revisit again soon 🙂
Agnes
November 19, 2012 @ 9:30 pm
That dessert was such a surprise. One reason I really liked it 🙂
lotsofcravings
November 9, 2012 @ 2:38 pm
we went earlier this year and kind of disappointed to see some dishes that we ate appear in your courses (although i wouldn’t mind the beef again!). hoping if we drop by again, we will get to try some new dishes.
Agnes
November 19, 2012 @ 9:31 pm
We did eat there a few months ago. 🙂 I’m going again in December so will be able to report whether the dishes have changed!
Bryan
November 9, 2012 @ 6:16 pm
Oh my heavens, all the dishes look so exquisite. I wonder why I’m so gushy when I’ve already been there, lol.
But I do look forward to your posts, the photos always makes the food look so good. I’m looking fwd to my revisit in a month’s time!
Agnes
November 19, 2012 @ 9:33 pm
Awww, that’s a huge compliment coming from you, Bryan. Thanks 🙂
Thanh
November 11, 2012 @ 11:05 am
It was a good lunch. Some things were a bit heavy I agree, but dessert was amazing.
Agnes
November 19, 2012 @ 9:33 pm
It was all thanks to your organising efforts. 🙂
msihua
November 11, 2012 @ 7:38 pm
OMG I just shouted out to Gaz, “Have we blogged about Estelle?” No Idea bear! I want to go back cause it was great too!
Agnes
November 19, 2012 @ 9:34 pm
I don’t think you have blogged it. What’s going on? :p
Rachael
November 14, 2012 @ 10:27 am
I loved eating here but as mentioned above the dishes look the same as what we had and also the same as I have also seen on other blogs. If I went back (which I really want to)I would like to try different courses.
Agnes
November 19, 2012 @ 9:34 pm
I’ll report back when we eat there again in December on whether the dishes have changed 🙂