I’ve hyped up this restaurant amongst my friends, mostly because I have an incredibly well connected barista. On top of that, I managed to stalk Heston Blumenthal as I’d been given a heads up that he was visiting, as well as having read an article by Terry Durack from his visit. All the big names! How could I not go? So I went!

I did some research before going, and discovered that the staff had previously worked at Magill Estate (which I was totally unaware of, having been an ignorant Sydney-sider who only pined for Quay and Rockpool), which apparently is an amazing restaurant. Much like Attica, the head chef forages, and the cuisine is indigenous Australian – and not witchetty grubs, mind you – but rather encompassing all of Australia’s history including the present, so there was some tasty beef and my favourite succulents.

Being only 3 weeks old and a tiny place to start off with (25 seats), it was interesting to talk to the staff, and that they were learning  as well, especially since they created a per-dish juice pairing (unlike Momofuku, which paired every second dish or thereabouts). So I would say this was even a new juice pairing concept!

Now that’s enough rambling and onto pretty pictures.

They have amazing, super expensive decor. Those decanters! Riedel black ties, I would love some! And they have them in all different colours and designs. Now I feel the need to get gorgeous glassware.

House cured prosciutto, wild garlic

Half-cooked Spencer Gulf prawns, dill oil

Fried saltbush

Puffed beef tendons

Pearl meat

Slow roasted beetroot, goat curd

Urchin roe, mustard snow

Taro grilled with beef fat

Beef short rib, grass puree

… And they were ALL just the pre-dinner snacks. Wow. The prosciutto and garlic was really nice and the garlic wasn’t overpowering. The prawns were great with the dill oil. Puffed beef tendons??? They were on the menu of Street_ADL but I had never had the chance to try them, plus I had no concept of what they might be like. They were amazing! Salty crunchy puffed tasty things! Much like prawn crackers, they were perfectly forever-snackable snacks. I would choose these over the pork crackling any day! The pearl meat was described as having a texture in between that of a scallop and an abalone, which was accurate. With enough resistance that it was fun to eat, but not tough at all. The beetroot was roasted in an underground oven for 36 hours if I recall correctly, and had an amazing look, almost like tree bark. It was so sweet and tender, and beetroot is always a winner with goat curd. The urchin roe was also nice, and the mustard had just that hint of heat to go with it. Thin sheets of taro tasted like beef which was kind of cool. And the beef short rib, super tender, fall apart meat with a grass puree. It was all delicious! Like all the recent degustations I’ve had, all of the above was served without cutlery for a hands on experience.

Also, for bread, we received sourdough with goat butter. The first unconventional butter I’ve had, it was superb, and I may have said, very lamely, “I can’t believe it’s not butter!” Well, it IS butter, just not the cow’s milk kind. And it was sooooo good!

Celebration of peas

This was so pretty, my camera didn’t do any justice. The flowers were a rich, deep purplish-pink, and there were many types of peas in the mix. It was paired with a green apple, celery, lemon and pea tendril juice which went quite well with it. I love peas, and I love pretty, so this was win-win.

Scallops and succulents

Scallops. Need I say more? Okay, succulents. Their proper name has “ice” in it, but my memory is obscured by the fact that I call these “starburst succulents” because they burst with tart, salty goodness! I absolutely love these plants. The scallops were perfect, and made even more so by the fact the sauce was made from smoked scallop skirt – which smelled and tasted like bacon! The juice pairing here was pear and lemon.

Coorong mulloway, wild cherries, parsley oil

What a pretty dish! Visually this reminds me a lot of Quay’s marron and grapefruit dish, but vastly different flavour-wise. We were advised that the wild cherries taste nothing like cherries, which was true! Perhaps it’s just my weird tastebuds, but I thought the whole thing together tasted like lychee – however all the flavours were very mild in this dish, and the juice pairing of cranberry, riberry and raspberry were required to give the dish the acidity I usually associate with raw fish.

Confit kangaroo, wild vegetables

This kangaroo was amazing. Confit and pan seared, it was so tender and delicious, especially when had with the mountain bush pepper sauce. So good! This is the best kangaroo dish I’ve had. I’m not a kangaroo connoisseur, but I do sometimes cook it at home – and this was so much better than what happens to my kangaroo fillets. I believe the vegetables mostly consisted of weeds – but when I say weeds, I think of Billy Kwong’s fried weeds dish, which is a great use of… grass just growing. The only one I remember was thistle, but it was tasty! The juice pairing with this was beetroot, blueberry and native currant – the currant was meant to be high in tannins, however I believe there could have been a bit more as it tasted a little too sweet for the kangaroo – I would have preferred something a little more tart and astringent.

Marron

I’m telling you these little tasty morsels look like attack creatures! Which makes them utterly adorable and even more super tasty than they already are, not that it makes any sense. This was the first marron in a long while that wasn’t totally drenched in butter (the butter is good!), but rather very light in flavour with a sprinkle of a native leaf that has the taste of kaffir lime leaf – which was very pleasant, especially as it matched the citrus from the juice pairing – nashi pear, lemon, lime. The pear was a great component and worked well. The sommelier mentioned he’d been trying to come up with a buttery taste in a juice, at which point I thought about banana, avocado, custard apple… but not being an expert I had no idea. So I’ll keep thinking about it without success.

South devon beef, mashed potato, karkalla

Hey look, I remembered a succulent name! Only because I see them at Central Markets every time I visit. This is of course, steak and potato and it was so good! That beef was amazing and tender, and that was some seriously buttery mashed potato – the best kind! I’ve really got a soft spot for succulents now and love the flavours that burst out of it. This was also a far better juice match compared to the kangaroo dish. This was mostly unfermented shiraz juice, and I can’t remember the rest. I really do need to improve my memory.

Gin sorbet, riberries, tea

Gin and tonic, and tea. Reminds me of Hendricks gin with the free teacup, actually. The gin sorbet was sweet and had a great gin flavour to it, and worked with the riberries. The tea was a traditional Aboriginal tea that was calming, and I loved how that offset the punchy flavours in the bowl. A really nice, unique dessert – a much better use of gin than in the textures of watermelon at Cecconi’s Cantina. Sadly, I don’t remember if this had a juice pairing or not because I’m that terrible.

Buttermilk panna cotta, strawberry

This was a really interesting dish as it was “strawberries and panna cotta” – the green oil was actually leaves from a tree that smells and tastes like strawberry!  The oil gave that extra mouthfeel to the dish, and again was paired with mainly shiraz juice.

Now, I’m the most terrible person ever because on the very last dish of Red currants, coconut ice cream, fresh coconut, coconut ash, I had totally forgotten to take a picture! The red currants were presented as puree with a few whole currants, some shredded coconut and a super creamy coconut ice cream. The red currants were soooo astringent it was impossible to have it on its own, but combined with the coconut ice cream it was quite nice. The juice pairing was watermelon and coconut, which was an odd combination, but I think it worked as the watermelon also countered the red currants.

Overall, a very unique take on some dishes (like the scallops) and taking a break from buttered marron made this experience memorable and more importantly, left me with very little comparison points with other degustations I’ve had – which is a good thing! It means it’s a restaurant with no equal! My favourite dishes were the scallops, kangaroo, and gin sorbet. And the marron. The best bit about the visit was the fact that they were new, with enough money and a food buddy (now I need to not go anywhere or buy anything for the rest of my life) I can go back and see what it’s like in 6 months, a year’s time as part of their journey. I heard as they were talking to other diners that they planned to open up similar bars (referring to Street_ADL) in the other capitals, such as Street_MEL and Street_SYD – if that happens I’d be so happy because their food is seriously good.

Plus, they’ve apparently got a machine that makes liquids colourless – wouldn’t that be amazing! Clear everything! If it works out they’ll start experimenting with it in the new year, so that’d definitely be something to see.