Bivouac Canteen and Bar

http://bivouac.com.au/

Bivouac was chosen as the dinner spot for a long overdue catch up with F and E. Initially I wanted to go for the brunch as it seemed very popular, but because I seem to always go in the wrong days ie. Sunday, I decided to try a dinner service first.

Bivouac has a concept of providing a venue for rest and recuperation, much like a Bivouac itself. Dishes are Mediterranean inspired and therefore meals are designed for sharing. True to its name the canteen like venue has a relaxed feeling and a very youthful vibe to it with a few VERY UNIQUE art work displayed.

We were greeted by a young energetic waitress and started pondering over the menu. This was the verdict we came to:

Chacuterie board: wagyu bresaola, serrano style air dried pork, salami tascana, olive mortadella, ham hock terrine, pickles and char grilled sourdough 22

slaughtermans gnocchi, ox tail ragu, reggiano 23

moroccan mechoui lamb, chickpea puree, date and preserved lemon relish 29

gin gin goat chops, chermoula rub 16

First to arrive was the chacuterie board and we were disappointed, it wasn't the fault of the kitchen, more like us not knowing what most of the terms meant on the description. We all saw the word "wagyu" and was like "YEP! iwantthat". None of us knew what bresaola meant and turns out it meant air dried salted beef, in other words, this platter was basically store bought items plated on a chopping board.

Chacuterie board

Although our first dish was a disappointment, it only got better from then on. The gnocchi was well done and I was glad we shared as it got rather repetitive in flavour which is what I usually find with gnocchi in general. Ox tail ragu was so tender it melted in out mouths but I have to admit, I had to get my head around the fact that I'm eating a "tail".

slaughtermans gnocchi, ox tail ragu, reggiano

My favourite dishes would be the Moroccan lamb and goat chops. First of all the lamb was cooked to perfection and packed full of flavour which masked the lamb smell that usually puts me off lamb. Chickpea puree was silky smooth and the date and lemon relish just tied the whole dish together. The goat chops also had alot of flavour, it's flavours you can see and reminded me of what Jamie Oliver would whip up. I would have liked more pieces though, one piece each isn't enough.

moroccan mechoui lamb, chickpea puree, date and preserved lemon relish

gin gin goat chops, chermoula rub

Next was dessert, it didn't take long for us to order as we basically went, "I'll have all of it *finger circling* except that *finger points*" too easy. We ordered the following:

The deconstructed tira mi su, savoiardi biscuits, crema della duchessa and cafe marsala

Persian love cake $9

pistachio white chocolate and cointreau parfait, caramelised nectarine, honey wafer $14.50

baklava $6

When I saw the word "deconstructed", I instantly thought MASTERCHEF, I was so excited and when it came out, I have to admit I was a little bit disappointed, I guess I was hoping for crumbs of biscuits scattered on the board with little dollops of cream and a drizzling of rich coffee, but it was more simpler than what I imagined it to be. The waitress explained to us how to approach the dish, grab a biscuit, dip it in the coffee and and scoop some cream. We did as we were told and as soon as the biscuit hit our palate WHOA! that coffee was strong assss, the second time round, we didn't do a dip, it was more like a skim off the coffee. Despite the let down in my expectations, it was fun sharing the dish with awesome friends.

deconstructed tira mi su, savoiardi biscuits, crema della duchessa and cafe marsala

My favourite would be the pistachio white chocolate parfait, it went well with the caramelised nectarine. As for the Persian love cake, it was basically a cake with syrup, it looked beautiful and went well with the fairy floss as the taste is simple and not very sweet.

pistachio white chocolate and cointreau parfait, caramelised nectarine, honey wafer

Persian love cake

We also tried a baklava and was told it was home made. It was very hard to cut into three pieces, I'm not sure if baklavas were meant to be that hard, I found it rather average and a little bit too dry for my liking. At least I can say I've tried baklava.

Baklava

Overall, I enjoyed my experience in Bivouac and will definitely return to taste their new menu. Service is excellent, food is delicious, beautiful presentation and we left paying just over $40 each with 7 dishes in total.