Food
We all tried the Degustation Menu, which changes according to what products are available that day. Unfortunately my camera malfunctioned, so I was not able to capture all the courses, so I will have to rely on memory for this review.
Foccacia Bread and Cheese Sticks - Pretty soon after we were seated, the waiters brought out some generous serves of foccacia bread, which were very soft, and accompanied by the olive oil, made a good start to the meal. Overall I rate this average, the olive oil was good for the job, but I have tasted much better. I don't think any bread will compare to the ones I had at Bel Mondo years ago. This also did not measure up to the Sourdoughs I get at La Tartine or Brassarie Bread, but it was definitely better than some of the bread rolls that gets offered in a lot of restaurants! The cheese sticks though were excellent, crunchy and with the right amount of cheese. They get extra points just for the fact that you can play with them 'cos they're so looongg! They were also the perfect accompaniment for the ...
Pumpkin Soup - Served as an amuse bouche. It was creamy and foamy, and went perfectly with the cheese sticks! Apart from that, it tasted like...Pumpkin Soup.
Buffalo mozzarella with verdura mista of chargrilled eggplant, zucchini, peppers and 25 year old balsamic vinegar - It was sad to see that the balsamic vinegar was actually younger than me, but its flavour married very well in this dish. The vinegar certainly lifted the vegetables to another level.
Orecchiette with blue swimmer crab meat, celery and salsa rossa - The pasta was a little soft for my taste, but the seafood broth like sauce really sang out. I would have liked a bit more crab meat but I guess you get what you pay for!
Chargrilled salmon fillet with green and white asparagus and bagna cauda dressing - Yum! I love salmon, and Alio's was cooked just right, at about a medium. I guess because the salmon was good, the sauce didn't really matter as much. Alio should be commended for the restrain they showed in the sauce. I also love asparagus, theirs were very soft and mild in flavour.
Oven roasted spiced rack of lamb with roasted red and yellow peppers marinated with garlic, capers and basil - This was a real lamb rack, unlike the one I had at Sevardi Cucina Italiana at Beecroft, which was the worst so called "rack" of lamb I have eaten, and a rip off at that!!! But back to this lamb rack. The meat was served medium, it was nicely rested with a good lamb taste. The sauce was heavier than the other dishes so far. It was very suitable for this dish, but I found it a bit salty.
Mango Sorbet - I was really hoping for pineapple sorbet just so I could have Luke's as well, but alas, we got mango sorbet. This was served in a Chinese style spoon, and tasted just like the mango part of a Weis Bar! Fortunately I love Weis bars, but I wonder if they make their own sorbet?
Choux puff with hazelnut cream and chocolate sauce - I have to say I was disappointed by the dessert. The pastry was nice enough, quite crunchy in part, however, I couldn't really taste the hazelnut in the cream. This dessert was very filling, but that didn't stop me, or the rest of the party (Tsalina started it!), scraping the last of the sauce off our plates.
Locatelli Family tiramisu - My friends were nice enough to arrange a b'day "cake" for me. After being silenced by the wedding party, everyone was only too happy to sing Happy B'day as loud as they can when the tiramisu was brought out. After I "blew" out the sparkler and "cut" the "cake", we shared many (5) spoonfuls. It was one of the better tiramisu I've had, intense coffee flavour, but not bitter. Creamy but not too sweet.
Cocktails - I had a cocktail with some melon, cream and alcohol in it, oh, and a peach as well. I have no idea what type of alcohol, but it was a refreshing drinks. Disappointingly, only the St George Girls drank anything, actually, that wasn't a surprise at all. We had celebratory champagne and Cosmos.
In summary, the flavours really hit the spot. The food itself was not really innovative, but it was well executed and showed great skills in the marrying of flavours. The cocktail list showed flair, and had some interesting combinations. The potion size were just right, although if I had eaten any more bread than the half slice I had, I would not have been able to fit in that tiramisu, which would have been a great shame! The quality was not the best, but great for this price.
Rating - 7
Atmosphere
Alio is located in the "suburban" part of Surry Hills, in a house-like building near the Surry Hills Shopping Village (more on that later!). It's a modest room with a front bar. The colour scheme is muted chocolate brown and whites. Yup, they had mood lighting. The lights were actually dimmed towards the end of the night - great attention to details. Overall, a discreet and comfortable room. We were seated in a section in the rear of the room, separated by some circular White Screens. The seats were comfortable, the tablecloth quite starched. According to Tsa, they played some sort of South American/Latino music too!
It was very quiet when we got there at 7pm, but things heated up, especially when Gernot?, the OS lecturer from UNSW was seated behind us and a wedding party showed up. That's something you don't see every day! The wedding party reserved around 20 seats and even had their speeches in the restaurant, speeches we all had to be quiet for!
Rating - 2
Service
One of the greatest things about Alio is the service. I rang them up several times for booking and menu arrangements. They were very happy to answer my questions and accommodate my requests. They had no problems when I had to cancel 2 seats at the last minute.
The staff were friendly and more importantly, very efficient. There was always water on the table, and my meal was spaced just right. They even wished me Happy Bday when I left the restaurant.
Rating - 4.5
C-factor
$55 for the degustation menu was definitely good value for money.
The thrill of the night occurred on the way home. Slow & Nic and Christina all parked their car in the Surry Hills Shopping Village car park. Unfortunately, that car park closed some time before 11pm. I guess a lot of other people must have the same experience because we found a makeshift ramp (made up of planks of wood) propped up on the side. Slow managed to manoeuve his car slowly (pun intended!) over the ramp and out. Christina on the other hand, wasn't even thinking of using the ramp. She aimed in the general direction of the ramp, and put her foot down on the accelerator. She managed to get the car out of the carpark in one piece, but the poor ramp was totally destroyed. I guess the rest of the cars that were still in the carpark when we left will need to think of some other way to get out! What was so remarkable about the whole thing was that Christina had had no alcohol that night.... maybe you can absorb the effects by osmosis?
Rating - 2! Full marks!
Brownie Points - 15.5
Info
5 Baptist St
East Redfern
NSW 2016
Phone (02) 8394 9368
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