Kensington Street Social

First was Commune Social. Then, City Social. And the tidbit of gossip I got from there was that there was going to be a Jason Atherton establishment in Australia. And here it is, Kensington Street Social. A very hip place with a pun-filled cocktail menu and tapas style dining - the same concept as Commune Social (and probably his other Social restaurants). I went here for both dinner and breakfast on separate occasions, and quite liked it!First off, dinner. As always, we ordered everything that we wanted. The waitstaff recommended six to seven dishes between three people, and we ordered accordingly.

Squid ink crackers, trout roe, cucumber

You can't ever go wrong with prawn crackers, they're so airy and addictive! I found that we ended up with too much sauce - the trout roe went well with the crackers but I found I didn't need too much of the actual sauce.

Hipster breakfast - Banana bread infused Pampero rum, cold drip coffee, salt butter, Fernet Branca

Yes I'm hipster (perhaps just on the inside), so I had to forego every other item on the drinks menu (including non alcoholic... I'm not great at consuming more than a single beverage when dining, unless it's a beverage pairing) just to get this. Isn't it cute! It looked and tasted quite coffee-like! I loved the tag that came with it, too!

English breakfast tea and toast - wild mushroom tea , gentleman’s relish, bone marrow toast

What a cute display! I'm a fan of theatric/hands on/unusual interpretations of food, it makes the dining experience so much fun and much more memorable. Presented as the toast/jam/cream/tea combination, this was a pot of wild mushroom tea that could be poured into teacups of parmesan foam. Creamy white bone marrow and a tangy, jammy relish topped some toast which, with some effort, could be dipped into the tea. The toast was so-so for me mainly because I like chunks of actual marrow (which I need to try at Salaryman!) rather than a tiny dollop. The tea on the other hand, was absolutely amazing, fragrant and hearty! I could drink that all winter!

Vine tomato, Vannella burrata, 25 year aged balsamic vinegar, tomato seasoning

There's always an interpretation of caprese salad on the menu. This one is also featured at Marina Social in Dubai. The outside picture is all you get, I didn't bother taking an inside picture because I figured it wouldn't look very nice. Basically, it's tomato on the outside, and burrata on the inside! Not the creamiest burrata as it looks like they scoop only some of it in, so the gooeyness was a little lacking, but the flavours overall were great.

Grass fed veal tartar, egg yolk jam, radish salad, sourdough

I always have to taste the tartare if I can. The veal was roughly chopped which was a nice change from oggling at the knifework from Fix St James, and the egg yolk jam was pretty trippy! The bread was a little on the holey side so it couldn't scoop up the tartare all that well. Tasty, but not one of my favourites.

Queensland Spanner crab, frozen cucumber gazpacho, rhubarb

A nicely presented spanner crab salad where the gazpacho granita was sprinkled at the table. The flavours were alright, however nothing particularly stood out. Possibly because the granita was super cold and there was a mound of it, and as it melted kind of watered down the rest of the dish.

Roast marron tail, curry butter, burnt lime, leaf salad

 Now this is a dish that shows off a super fine crustacean! Marron is seriously my favourite crustacen, plus it's adorable. The curry butter was delicious and a great change from plain butter. In my excitement, I didn't realise just how much this dish cost (though to be honest, I generally don't look at price...). It was worth it, though!

Sea urchin rice, Moreton Bay bug tail, sea blight, bisque

I didn't like this dish. It sounded great on the menu, but it's not really all that shareable, especially since there was only a very small tongue of sea urchin there. The bug tail was nice and I liked the flavour of the bisque, but the rice curse continues! I pretty much always avoid risotto, not only because it's very hit and miss, but also because I don't like rice in general (except in well made sushi). Ours was undercooked, with a hardness and slight chalkiness. I kind of which we received the marron dish last (everything else was pretty much served in menu order).

Then it was onto desserts.

Yoghurt mousse, lemon curd, malt meringue, basil 

I chose this unassuming looking dish for the reason that basil was featured. Ever since Commune Social's basil sorbet, I have been chasing basil desserts. However the style of the dessert meant that basil wasn't the prominent flavour. This was all about the yoghurt mousse and lemon curd and offset nicely by a delicate basil aroma. It ended up being my brother's favourite dessert out of the ones we ordered.

Buffalo ricotta, lemon thyme peaches, honeycomb

The second dessert that I ordered (we had four desserts between three people) wasn't that spectacular. The ricotta was nice, though I generally don't like ricotta in desserts. The honeycomb tuile was so thin and light! The peach sorbet was delicious too.

East Rydge Grove arbequina olive oil cake, coconut sorbet, spiced mango, passion fruit ice

This was the dish my brother ordered, and the one I loved the most. I've always thought butter was unbeatable, but that olive oil was so fragrant! And the texture of the cake was great too. I was seriously impressed with this as everything went so well together and the coconut sorbet was delicious. I now need to learn how to make olive oil cake myself!

Baked caramelised apple puff pastry, cider vinegar ice cream and pickled apple

I believe this was a picture my brother took because I had a hard time making it look nice. I had a small sample of this and the puff pastry was very good. This was a dish my friend ordered and she loved it!

So all up, we shared seven savoury plates and three dessert plates. Usually the food is adequate, however, in this case my brother and I were both still a tad hungry. The bill was also less than what I was used to (but that's because I have a tendency to spend extravagantly), so it would have been nice to order a couple more savoury plates.

Perhaps it was due to dining on a Friday night, perhaps it's just their policy - it was the two hour dining limit that was the real restriction. We'd arrived fifteen minutes early (for a 6:30PM booking) and finished at 8:15. However, it was a little alarming that during the dessert ordering, we were advised we only had our seats until 8PM, so I had to ask for clarification that we were allocated two hours.

Mindful of this time limit, we asked for the bill as soon as we were done... and then waited until after 8:30, and still no bill. So we had to ask again. This was possibly a teething issue since the restaurant was only about a month old on this visit, and no one actually came to kick us off our barside bench, so I wasn't even sure if our seats were really booked for 8:30. Minor issue though, I wouldn't think much of it unless it became consistent.

Since I also managed a breakfast visit, I'll tack on a short summary of that here as well.

This was the "wrong island iced tea" - earl grey, apple, lemon, lapsang souchonog. This was a great tasting tea, not overly sweet and with a good dose of tea. I also loved this shot for all the lights in the background.

While this wasn't much of a looker, it's a classic that was very, very tasty. House cured bacon? Guess what, it's similar to the Tommy Prosser style house cured bacon! Only slightly pink, this was delicious! I was very happy to have the house stuff since it's so much tastier than any packet stuff. The black pudding was also very flavourful (especially in contrast to some disappointing stuff I bought from a butcher recently) so I loved that too! The toast crust was slightly on the hard side, but nothing my well practised knife and fork skills couldn't handle, though it would be tricky for most (my friend struggled to cut her toast).

The marinated watermelon salad with mint, raspberries, creme fraiche. While it's a very pretty looking dish, it wasn't too spectular. The creme fraiche was provided as a foam in a separate bowl, but since we were still eating our toast, the foam started collapsing before we had a chance to move onto the salad!

Perhaps it's the newness, perhaps it's the high volume of high calibre restaurants in Sydney. It didn't stand out too much (but I had a superstar list of restaurants lined up this time as well) but very solid nonetheless. If I ever needed a casual spot, this would be a place I'd be happy to come back to.

Now I just have to visit all his other restaurants!

Commune Social

The story of how I came across Commune Social isn't super long, but is a story nonetheless - once upon a time, I was stalking a tumblr about Benedict Cumberbatch, when I saw a post that he was at the opening of a fancy new restaurant in London called City Social. I decided to book it as it boasted a view, and I figured my brother might like it since it overlooked the Shard, Gherkin, Walkie Talkie and Cheese Grater. Then, upon further inspection of their website, it turns out their chef, Jason Atherton, had restaurants in China, Hong Kong and Singapore too. And thus, I got the opportunity to visit Commune Social.The setup of the restaurant was quite Western, all courtyardy and open, and in a quick visit before actually going, we were advised that the food portions were very small - but luckily I had known that already, it being fancy and tapas style, so I was prepared. The downside was, I had never ordered tapas style food for more than four people, so it became awkward when we were dividing tiny portions into six! I should have doubled all the orders, and that would have been enough.Not only is this kind of food grossly more expensive in China, but I felt that there was a far lower level of service than in a Western country - perhaps it was just this visit though. I also admit to having no experience or knowledge about how to adequately staff a restaurant, but I've been to a fair few and every now again observe the waitstaff observing customers because it's interesting to watch. I use the "magical refilling water test" as a benchmark of restaurant service, but here it felt like there just wasn't enough attentiveness overall - plus the waiters looked a little stressed out, and I had no way of knowing if they had staff call in sick. That being said, I was excited that I frequently saw the dessert chef popping out to present her dishes.

Beetroot, burrata, gingerbread

I was pleased with the prettiness of the plating, but having had only burrata once before where it came whole, this one was already broken up for sharing and just as tasty. I really liked the gingerbread component here as well.

Black sausage, duck egg, potato

I love black sausage, so when I saw this combined with egg, I had to order it! It's always a winner for me - especially when it comes in a cute little pan.

Cured salmon, lotus root, bok choy

As this was on their board menu, I can't remember what the sauce was. Possibly wasabi, possibly miso? I really liked the salmon here and that vegetable with the pink bulbs on it was something I enjoyed.

Marinated sea bass, pickled kohl rabi, apple

I didn't realise this was a raw dish as I tend to avoid it while in China - otherwise I would have chosen the beef tartare! This was quite nice though and all the vegetables complemented the flavour of the fish.

Char grilled octopus with beetroot

This octopus was quite tasty, though it was probably a little tough for a few others at the table.

And here is some fried chicken! Three tiny morsels per plate, and I had to order a second place as soon as I saw this one come out. Fried chicken never fails and I would have loved to have more.

Iberico pork and foie gras burgers with avocado and pickles 

What cute little sliders! I wasn't too sure where the foie gras was, but I assume it was mixed in with the pork to create tender and juicy burgers. Those pickles were perfect too, to the point where I devoured the other two plates of any leftover pickles.

Grilled veal tongue and zucchini

And there's so much more to this plate that I can't remember, but it didn't matter so much because that tongue was so tender and well cooked! Had I known this was going to be so delicious, I would have ordered a second plate of this too.

Caramel popcorn

We saw these go out to every table and wanted some for ourselves, and it turns out it's complimentary! Tasty caramel popcorn served with liquid nitrogen.

Vanilla and chocolate ice cream

I've always been interested to see how restaurants approach the presentation of ice cream because of how simple "just ice cream" is - and this is the first time I've seen two flavours served in separate bowls, on ice, in a bowl, and doused with liquid nitrogen. Overkill much? But it did produce something quite theatrical so why not!

Lemon meringue pie with basil sorbet

This guy has a thing for basil in sorbets - and I love him for it. The deconstructed lemon meringue pie was already a winner, but even though I was sitting across the table, I could smell wafts of the basil sorbet and oh wow, it both smelled and tasted so good - plus I actually love the richness of the green colour as well! Even though this wasn't the dessert I had ordered, I couldn't get over that basil sorbet.

Creme catalan

A neverfail cute cream dessert, with delicious wafers.

Banana, honeycomb, goats cheese

More liquid nitrogen! All the liquid nitrogen! Well it seems like a very popular presentation strategy here - which I'm secretly glad wasn't used in my other Jason Atherton visit - mainly because while the smoke is very pretty, I don't feel it was needed for all the dishes here. It was a very pretty dessert nonetheless, and delicious.

And that concludes my first fine dining experience in China. While I would have liked to sampled a Chinese fine dining experience, this will do for now. Overall the food is as good as anywhere else, however in this particular visit I felt that the service was underwhelming. It's definitely still a place I'd consider frequenting.