Astral Restaurant

According to the critics, Astral has improved vastly over the years, so it was time to test it out for ourselves.

Food

We opted for a-la carte (3 courses for $105), so here’s what we ate:

pre-amuse bouche

• anchovy toast - lovely and crisp, the thinnest biscuit with a hint of anchovy
• tomato tart - a great start of very very light pastry encased some caramelised tomatoes

amuse bouche proper

• sourdough bread - warmed from the oven but was dense and boring – tasted more like bread roll than any use of any sourdough starters. They brought out some butter and salt(?) for us too
• Cauliflower soup with fried cauliflower velonte and almond oil - no idea how to describe it. The waiter called it something fancy. I can taste the flavour of the cauliflower through the soup. The waiter advised us to sip the soup and then have a bite of the fried cauliflower. I did as I was told, but the fried cauliflower was a bit superfluous in my opinion.

entrée

• Confit of Petuna ocean trout with free-range egg - looked absolutely wonderful, with a whole free-range egg yolk in the middle of a concoction of salad. Taste wise, not as wonderful as Tetsuya’s signature, but you can taste the sashimi grade trout, which surprisingly, pair very well with the still runny egg. The vegetables serve as more for decoration on the plate I feel.
• Crisp smoked pork belly - I’ve had plenty of pork belly in the last few years, and this one uses one of the better quality of pork I have had, with thick slab of fat. However, the sauce was very much like a heavy doze of the hoi-sin sauce and was too overpowering for me. Slokky, who usually prefers a stronger flavour though, loved it.

main

• Medallion of beef with herb butter, bone marrow, watercress salad and watercress mash - This was spectacularly presented yet again, with a whole bone marrow with a spoon in it, the butter resting on the beef, with mash on one side and salad on the other. The beef was quite good – they actually didn’t ask how I wanted it cook, but I was happy to discover that it was medium – just the way I like it. The watercress mash was interesting and good, the salad on the other end, a bit too overpowered by the eshallots.
• Venison with beetroot - was presented as 5 venison medallion with a very complexly made sauce. The medallion was actually not as nice as the stuff we bought ourselves from Gippsland. I like the sauce of this one a little better as it is more subtle. The beetroot complimented the meat quite well.

pre-dessert

• Apple sorbet with apple cider jelly - very lovely, the sorbet was tart and sweet, the apple cider quite subtle.

dessert

• Banana soufflé with mango ice-cream and passionfruit foam - is a little bit too fancy with the foam - again added nothing to the plate, but the soufflé was lovely and light, with a strong banana taste. My favourite was the heavenly mango ice-cream. It was so creamy and tastes so much of mango, but it didn’t have any of that fake mango taste
• Peanut butter and jam sandwich - is not really as interesting as it sounds. Two wafer biscuits are stacked over more more-ish peanut ice-cream. The “jam” is basically a “ball” that encased strawberry sauce. It must’ve taken them a long time to put together, and the taste definitely wasn’t worth it.

In conclusion, I feel that the food is good, but for the amount of effort that has obviously gone in the preparation, not really worth the trouble. Some of the fancy techniques seem to be there to show off rather than to harmonise the dish together, something that Bilsons didn’t make the mistake of doing. That’s why this is only a one-hat place I suppose. After all that, the desserts were my favourite.

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

Well, there’s great view over the Sydney cityscape. You can see King St Wharf, Darling Harbour and the Harbour Bridge or Wooloomooloo out of the floor to ceiling windows. We were unfortunately seated on the wrong side, but you can always go out to the balcony to admire the views, if you can stand the cold.

The place to be though, is the private dining room, which juts out on its own, meaning you have 270 degree view of the city. We were in the direct line of view of the room, and watched the people in there all night as entertainment.

The décor is a little 90s, but it’s still tasteful. The first thing you notice is the lighting “feature” in the middle of the room, then you notice the view, then the back-lit wall of wines, then the crisp white tablecloth (we saw the waiters ironing the tablecloth once it was placed on the table) and finally the lounge-style chairs. Great place to take someone you want to impress.

Rating - 2.5

Service

It wasn’t to my taste. Our waiter introduced every course to us, but gave us so much details about the food on the plate, describing EVERY SINGLE ingredient on the plate. We could read that on the menu, and they also explain the function of an amuse-bouche and a pre-dessert. I guess it’s good in some ways, but again, way too much details to digest, especially if you were in the middle of a conversation – they should try something like what Bilsons does for their explanation.

Our waiter was multi-lingual, explaining things to all the Chinese and Japanese customers who haunt the joint. They delivered everything professionally, but when you want attention, it was a bit hard to flag them down.

Oh yeah, they did the fold your napkin thing...if that's your thing. By that I mean they fold up your napkin neatly when you leave your seat.

Rating - 3

C-factor

I think they are quite deceiving. They haven’t updated their website or their advertised menu outside the restaurant. Only upon looking at the menu, we found out that the prices have gone up by $10. This has a direct effect on deciding whether you want to go to that restaurant or not. We also found out that the Pre-theatre menu is only for theatre goers only and you can’t have it even if you dine at exactly the same time as those people. You also cannot have a la carte (only the tasting menu) on a Friday or Saturday. I think they could have told us this when I booked (no excuses as I called them 3 times), instead, they only chose to review these details when we enquired on the day. I am very disappointed actually and probably would not have visited if I had all the information available.

In terms of value, you can do much better – go to Bilsons, it’s around the same price

Rating - 0

Brownie Points - 13

Info

Level 17,
80 Pyrmont Street
Pyrmont
NSW 2000
Phone 1800 700 700
Website