Pistachio Express Post

Pistachio tasting plate of entrees scallop, chicken and leek terrine and potato croquette ($19.00). I’m always one for variety so I couldn’t pass on the tasting plate of entrees. I really liked the scallop and the potato croquette, the downside to the tasting plate is wishing that there was a bigger serving size of your favourites.Goat’s chese ravioli corn veloute, slow cooked lamb shoulder and basil oil ($18.00).Mains~ all $30.00

Confit pork belly twice cooked chilli, wilted spinach, coriander, bean shoots, shallots and capsicum. I didn’t like the Asian flavours with such a big piece of pork belly and the skin wasn’t crispy all the way through.Grilled grass fed beef sirloin served medium rare, jacket potato, bacon, sour cream, honey grazed carrots. This was absolutely delicious; all my favourite warm conforting foods on a plate. I just wished it was my main.Sides~ all $8.00

Green beans with toasted almonds and parsley. I’m not one for ordering green beans as a side but I’m so glad that someone did, they were cooked and seasoned perfectly and I almost ate the whole thing myself.Rosemary and garlic roasted chat potatoes. Crispy, crunchy and seasoned to perfection, everything that you would want in a potato.Dessert~ all $15.00

Eaton mess sundae creme Chantilly, almond praline, crushed meringue and almond praline ice cream.Honeycomb cheesecake poached white peach, pistachio and syrup. I loved the flavour combination of this and it wasn’t too heavy. I found that the honeycomb pieces provided a crunchy contrast to the cream cheesecake and poached white peach. 

Strawberry cannelloni brick pastry, white chocolate ice ream, freeze fried strawberry.

p.s. Don’t forget to use your Entertainment book!

Advertisement

People are nuts for Pistachio

——-08/12/2011——-

When the Canberra’s top 20 eateries article came out at the end of last year, it reminded me that I haven’t been to Pistachio yet. I had been to that location when it was previously Pinocchio’s, a cute pasta place spammed with Pinocchio memorabilia all over the walls and it was nice that when we walked into Pistachio, that they had kept one Pinocchio sitting on the wall.

How fitting to have pistachios at every table. 

We had a late booking which suited them as they were very busy and had several big tables. I’m sure it’s usually a quite romantic restaurant, but it was very noisy and busy that night.

Bread – house made herb and garlic sourdough served with salted butter ($5 per serve). The butter had almost completely melted and the bread wasn’t that great.

Entree~

Kilpatrick oysters (dozen for $27.00) The oysters were fresh but were a bit dry as it had no ‘sauce’ but tasted absolutely wonderful with some lime squeezed on top. If I didn’t get this I probably would have chosen the trio of entree (that night was rabbit, scallop and vegetarian miniaturized).

Main~ ($28.00)

Duck confit and roasted duck leg with dried mushroom and baby spinach risotto and roasting juices. The duck was so nice and crispy and the risotto was absolutely delicious (might be a bit too salty for some), there was nothing left on my plate.

Prawn – prawn dumplings with sweet corn veloute, king prawn, basil and baby corn. The baby corn was still a bit crunchy and it was bland but the dumplings were awesome and the prawns inside tasted very fresh. The BBQed prawns were succulent and very tasty and although Timmy wasn’t fond of the basil creamy sauce, I kept sipping at it- yum! The downside was that it was too small though. 

Dessert~ ($14.00)

We were warned that dessert would be a 40 minute wait, but like a stubborn little girl, I wanted to stay and try. I ordered a chai tea which came with petit fours to distract myself from the wait.

The chai was very delicious but I didn’t think much of the petit fours and the waiter in a rush almost threw the plate on the table. Although the staff appeared to be very attentive to begin with, I could sense their demeanor was slipping towards the end.

Panna cotta – white chocolate panna cotta with mango, mint and sago salsa, lime syrup and coconut and white chocolate cookie. I really enjoyed the salsa much more than the panna cotta, nothing much wrong with the panna cotta (although I didn’t really taste the white chocolate), it’s just that the salsa was really good. 

Cheesecake – Pedro Ximenez cheesecake with sherry anglaise and macadamia praline. A fantastic cheesecake, hard to describe the flavours but it was just YUM!

It wasn’t very romantic with so many large loud tables and being a small table of two trapped in between big table orders. I’m sure it was just a bad time to have a romantic dinner during the festive socializing season and I would come again because the food was good and hope that it wasn’t a rowdy night.