Bistro Lilly

We were out to see the Darling Harbour Winter Concert Series, so a dinner with Shan and her bf was on the cards. They actually read my blogs, so this review is for them.

Food

One of the gripes from Matthew Evans was the need to pay for bread. Yes, it costs $6.90 for bread here, which meant we skipped that. Just a note, the description and the spelling of the menu is theirs, not mine, so don't blame me, as at least I can use spellcheck.

We started off with our entrees. I had Seared Veal Tenderlion with Tempura Qld Scallop & Yorkshire Pudding Finnish with Horseradish Cream ($19.50) - The portions were small and delicate. The veal had a real meaty taste, the sauce sublime. Slokky had Homemade Bangalow Pork & Sydney Rock Oyster Sausage ON Mushroom Tart & Spiced Granny Smith Apple Chutney ($17.50) - luckily the oyster wasn't actually in the sausage like the description implied to, but balanced on top. The sausage didn't taste much different from the other, the pastry of the tart was good, and the oyster was very small but had a real oyster taste. I didn't really think all the flavours worked together, but eaten separately it was great. Shan had the Panko Herb Crumbed Yarra Valley Feta on Asparagus, Caramelised Walnut & Pear Salad Finish with Warm Lavender Honey ($16.80) - which she declared was very good and Chris had the Murray Valley Roasted Lamb Ravioli with Butternut, Garlic & Rosemary finnish with Tomato & Parmigiano ($16.90) - not sure what he thought but it was polished off in no time.

The entrees, being so small, left us hungrily waiting for mains. By the time the mains arrived it was way past 10pm. Shan and I both ordered the very wintery sounding dish,Braised Lamb Shank on Corned Beef Mash with Wilted Greens & Paloise ($29.50) - One lamb shank arrived on top of a mound of pink mash. So that's what corned beef mash is. I think it is a bit too salty but interesting. The lamb itself, quite good quality but not quite as caramelised or meltingly tender as I'd like, but still good. Can anyone tell me what a Paloise is though? Slokky had to see if their quail was better than his. I would like to report that the Whole Roasted Quail Filled with Wild Mushroom Risotto, Fresh White Truffles & Jus ($33.90) - is much better than Slokkys ;p The meat was delicious and for once, a good mushroom risotto. I didn't notice any white truffles or what difference this made though. Chris ordered the Gippsland Aged Sirlion on Berrichone Potatoes with two Pepper Salsa & Jus ($31.90) - except the "sirlion" was replaced by I think rump? And the potatoes with 13mm fries. We rounded off the meal with a side of Seasonal Vegetables & Hollandaise ($7.50) - which included cauliflower, asparagus, zucchini. I dunno how "seasonal" asparagus is, but I was glad to have it. The hollandaise was passable but not exactly spectacular.

Since the mains were not huge, for once we had room for dessert. Slokky and I shared the Bannoffi Pie: Baby Banans, Mascarpone & Fresh Vanilla Cream ($12.50) - just 'cos we missed bananas. Well, I certainly didn't eat very much "banans" maybe it was so "baby". The vanilla cream was good. What they neglected to mention, which I am quite surprised at since they love having very long names on the menu, is that there was a huge chunk of very sweet caramel in the middle. The caramel just pushed the sweetness over the top, and made me very full! Shan and Chris shared a Mango Sorbet with Frozen chocolate Mousse ($12.50) - which Shan declared as very good and that the mango went surprisingly well with the chocolate. All our food was washed down with a bottle of merlot ($47) from the Yarra Valley - which was ...ok.

Rating - 7

Atmosphere

Well, Bistro Lilly looks like a lot of other Sydney restaurants. There's a rectangular room with very low lighting, a brown and burgandy ( as far as I can tell anyway 'cos of the low lighting), a small bar areas, and a semi-open kitchen. I could see the blow-torch firing away. They were on the whole time, but I didn't see any brulees on the menu... I also didn't see anyone use it the whole 3 hours we were there....The toilets weren't very flash though, but at least they were clean. It's situated in a very quiet area of the city (well, for the weekend anyway), so everyone who was there would've seeked it out especially.

Rating - 1.5

Service

A bit strange really. First off, we arrived for our 8.30 booking to a half empty restaurant. We were dripping wet. A waiter came over, and we told her of our booking. She then told us to wait for a few moments. We stood there for about 5 minutes, after which she led us to a table that was already set and ready 5 minutes ago. So they like to make their customers wait with anticipation? We noticed a few other tables were the same as us too. They were very good with our umbrella once we were shown to the table though, putting it aside for us.

While waiting, we checked out the Winter Degustation Menu, which sounded pretty cool. However they failed to give us that menu with our regular menu. Shan and Chris arrived not long after, but they didn't get any drink orders taken for at least 10 minutes...They were able to accommodate Chris's unusual request for his steak, but when they brought the meals, there was a mix up on who ordered what.

One of the waiters actually said to us at this stage that he was very forgetful, so maybe that explains the up and down service? I mean, the waiters were all nice and quite efficient when they actually came to serve us. With our water, sometimes it was topped up very often, other times not at all. Weird, but I've decided that half good and half bad experience still doesn't leave a good taste in your mouth, especially when you know that they can provide good service.

Rating - 2

C-factor

This was one of the places I was looking forward to going to. The food tasted pretty good, but the portions and execution could be better for the price. Because we used 2 e-cards, it worked out to being $233 for 4 including drinks, so not too bad I guess. Still, not enough to warrant a repeat visit.

Rating - 0.5

Brownie Points - 11

Info

Observatory Tower
168 Kent Street
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9252 1116
Website