Bistrode

Food

The food can be described as high-class bistro style. The restaurant name is obviously a play on the word Bistro, "de" comes courtesy of the husband and wife team who own/cook/run the place, Jeremy and Jane Strode.

The meal got off to a good start, because they offered me two things I really love. Those of you who follow my blog will know that I have a thing for bread. Bistrode offers two styles, white sourdough and spelt sourdough. Guess which one I chose? ... Yes, it was the spelt. And it tasted wonderful.

We decided to forgo the entree so we can save some room for dessert. The entree selection sounded pretty good though! For mains, I chose:

• steak - This came with a huge knob of herb butter and a huge mushroom, cooked medium as requested. The meat was extremely tender and juicy, the mushroom can be described in the same words. I am sure I ingested more fat than I had eaten for the whole of yesterday but it was worth it.
• pork cheek - This came served on a bed of mashed pumpkin, which was very creamy. The cheeks? Consisted of 1/4 meat and 3/4 fat, so needless to say, had lots of flavour. When I wasn't thinking about eating straight fat, it was wonderful, very melt in the mouth. Who knew pigs have such fat cheeks?

Rating - 8

Atmosphere

Bistrode is also in the semi-suburban part of Surry Hills (i.e. not Crown St), giving it a very local and cosy feel. It pops up on you out of nowhere - there are no signs and the lighting is very very dim. The bar actually takes up a large part of this small restaurant, but there is a nice courtyard, albeit next to the toilets...
It's actually a bit hard to make out everything, but no high class show off material here, just solid, functional furnishing. I don't even remember seeing any paintings or decorations...

Rating - 2

Service

For most part, the staff were very charming and handled our group of 12 very well. We had different people ordering at different times and I ordered 2 mains (not both for me!). We got all our orders delivered with a smile. The only gripe I had was that my glass of water sat empty for a long time. Luckily they refilled it after dessert.

Our meal was paced very nicely, but we were last to leave at around 11 on a Wed night.

Rating - 3.5

C-factor

I had the best time. I forgot how much I enjoy hanging out with Seng people. It's weird that we've been out of uni for quite awhile now and also that people haven't changed all that much.

To top it off, we got a classic David moment as well. On the menu, they have an item listed as..... Now, several people were confused why this "dessert" was so expensive, but Luke & Tsa somehow convinced David that it was a plate to share that is why, and he actually ordered one. It was only when Luke & Tsa decided to roll around laughing that he realised it wasn't an expensive dessert afterall. And for those who still haven't worked it out, the "dessert" is a cookbook written by the chef and his wife.

Rating - 2

Brownie Points - 15.5

Info

478 Bourke St
Surry Hills
NSW 2010
Phone (02) 9380 7333