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Best Restaurants in Sydney: Firefly Neutral Bay
It was in the middle of one of the worst storms in Sydney that I was booked to do a restaurant review at Firefly in Neutral Bay. To be honest the last thing I wanted to do in this ghastly weather was jump in an Uber and head over the bridge, but I was sure glad I did, as you will find out if you continue to read on.
On arrival, I was greeted by the friendly staff and shown to my table. I was waiting for my dining partner, Andrew, to arrive as I was a bit early so I was offered a glass of Mulled Wine. Hmmmmm yes please! What could be more delicious than mulled wine on this awful stormy night? Such a great start!
Once I was settled in I was given the extensive wine list to look at. WOW! This restaurant specialises in Pinot Noir, and you can select your wine by flipping through the note cards. It took me a while to decide because it is an extensive list but I settled for "A Family Affair" - Lightfoot & Sons, Gippsland. The wine lived up to the recommendation!
Once Andrew arrived we decided to have the $55pp Tapas. This is great value and as the food came out we were delighted with every dish. I'll point out here too, the systems these guys have in place is amazing; our dishes were timed perfectly. The whole team made it look easy, but I don't think for a minute serving a full restaurant is easy, so well done!
The restaurant's menu is 70% gluten free so for those who avoid gluten there will be something here for you.
Here's what's on the menu for $55 pp....
Smoked trout hand held salad - citrus coconut dressing
Duck pancakes - shallot, hoisin sauce
Grilled haloumi - watermelon, toasted almonds
Pumpkin Tortellini - beurre noisette, crisp sage
Canadian seared scallops - morcilla, pickled pear
Crisped pork belly - chilli caramel, asian herb salad
Roasted lamb rump - crushed minted potato, pea puree
Salad of roasted beetroot - feta, walnut, leaves
If presentation is your thing you won't be disappointed with this menu. These smoked trout salad with citrus coconut dressing balls were delicious. I wrapped mine up in the betel leaves as I'm a bit of a fan of these and that gave it that little extra touch.
Duck pancakes are one of my favourite treats! These were great, the duck was tender and the sauce sweet, but not too sweet. These pancakes were a generous size too.
Now this is a fabulous way to have Haloumi. The cheese was not stringy and I loved the combination of watermelon, almonds and touch of mint.
How good does this look? This tortellini was quite rich. I only had one and Andrew polished off the rest! A beautiful pasta dish with the sage and beurre noisette.
By now I was struggling to keep eating, but there was more to come!
For those of us born in the UK Black Pudding was most likely something that you grew up with. I certainly did. I must say I was surprised at this dish. I have not had scallops served with morcilla (blood sausage) before. The morcilla does complement the scallop and makes for a rather rich dish.
Andrew is not a fan of pork belly and he told me he wouldn't be eating this dish. I encouraged him to try it, so he did. I noticed when he put a piece on his plate the pork fell apart, indicating to me it was going to be good. I'm still laughing about this; not only have a converted Andrew to try pork belly, he ended up eating most of the dish himself.
This is how you cook lamb! What a delightful combination! The pea puree and crushed minted potato was a match made in heaven!
We were served the beetroot salad during at the start of the tasting. It's just one big bowl of health!
And just when you think you can't eat anything else, we ordered dessert! Chocolate brownie with salted caramel ice-cream.
I'm going to put Firefly down as one of my top restaurants to recommend whenever someone asks me where they should eat in Sydney (I get asked that a lot)!
During the evening, on this dreadful night, people kept coming through the door, even willing to sit outside next to the fires!
Great service, food, ambience, wine and a must visit.
Sydney Chic were guests of Firefly Restaurant. Opinions are honest evaluations. Please read our full DISCLAIMER.
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