Friends Restaurant

"Winner of a two-star Michelin award, a two-star Egon Ronay award and four AA Rosette"

http://www.friendsrestaurant.com.au/menu.htm

Please note: I tried this place almost a year from now and just haven't had the time to blog about it. I liked it that much that I felt it deserved a posting ^^

My close FRIENDS and myself decided to try a degustation for the first time. We chose 'Friends' restaurant as the chefs scored 2 michigan awards in their pockets and at the price of $95, it seemed pretty reasonable for degustation in such a restaurant.

On arrival, the outside looked modern and classy but the interiors was a different story. To me it looked rather outdated and cluttered. I didn't fancy the floral grandma curtains and the fake vines that looked as though they have collected dust over the years. Some of the decors was very pretty though and overall it had a nice warm homey feel to it which was most important, the restaurant had views at all angles and was very spacious.

We went on a chilly Saturday night and the restaurant was rather quiet. I started questioning whether people just didn't know about the restaurant or it just wasn't that great, the crowd was mainly old people with too much money to spend..we felt quite out of place.

Each table had a cute lamp and a salt combination platter! very exciting ^^ We were then presented with a basket of different freshly baked breads to choose from and then served canapes which was delicious.

Salt platter

Freshly baked bread

Canapes

Now I don't quite remember the exact name of the dishes but I do remember the taste very clearly. First course I had artichoke and truffle soup..This was delicious! So rich and creamy and the truffle flavour was definitely there, the flavours was so rich I can understand why it came in such small amounts.

Artichoke and truffle soup

Second course I chose the rabbit terrine, This was nice but my friend had the salmon which I would actually prefer over my terrine. Nonetheless it was still delicious.

Rabbit terrine

Salmon

Third course I had chicken, I realise I'm not too much of a fan of foam on my dishes but putting that aside, the chicken was cooked perfectly, very tender. But I have to admit I wasn't very WOWed with this dish.

Chicken

Fourth course was the seafood terrine. This looked very beautiful and tasted delicious too. It is flavours you can see. I enjoyed this more than the rabbit terrine.

Seafood terrine

Fifth course was the pork belly and potato mash, I'm just so eager to talk about this dish. The pork belly was DELICIOUS! crunchy, well seasoned skin and OMG the mash potato is the BEST mash I've had in my life..it was SO creamy, silky and SO buttery! DELICIOUS! My friend had the waygu steak and he also enjoyed it, probably not as good as my dish as he wasn't raving on about his dish like I did..then again, it could be a guy thing.

Pork belly on a bed of mashed potatoes

Waygu

Our rhubarb souffle was our Sixth course and it took awhile to get out but when it did, we realised it was fresh OUT of the oven and smelt so good! We all loved this dish!

rhubarb souffle

Overall I love this place, service was excellent, food was delicious and through my palate I now understand why they've won such awards. I would definitely come back to try their ever changing menu, perhaps taking my bf here on a special occasion ;)