Etch Restaurant

Friday nights in Sydney are really quite insane - it takes double the amount of time to travel anywhere into or around the city because of the traffic, and getting a table at any decently popular restaurant is like winning the lotto! I tend to avoid no-reservation institutions on Fridays because the last thing I want after a long working week is to stand at a kerbside watching people eat while I starve in anticipation. So this week I called on Monday hoping to get a booking at District Dining or Etch. Neither had good reservation times left, so we went for the late sitting at Etch, which is incidentally one of my Sydney faves and I haven't been there in quite a while.

As with all Justin North restaurants, Etch is fabulous for the inventive and colourful dishes, but the prices aren't as exorbitant as other fine dining restaurants. I went with some foodie friends and we have the food sharing down-pat, with everyone always ordering different choices so we can sample everything. We went with two entrees to share, including the Duck Terrine nightly special, individual mains, then four desserts to share (yes, I did say I love dessert!).

Entrees: Caramelised pigs head and Duck Terrine



Mains: Flathead and Chicken cooked three ways (though it had a fancier name)

Of course everything was delectable and well presented and it didn't disappoint! I went for the Scampi and vanilla risotto which was a very large serving size and then still went crazy over the dessert so was feeling understandably overstuffed by the time our long dinner had ended.

Caramel Date Tart with Earl Grey ice cream

Lolly Tray - this was better than previous versions and I was actually impressed!

Vanilla Creme Brulee with apple sorbet (which was amazing!)

Peanut butter esque mille feuille

And now I'm off for lunch - Italian yum! This weekend is really becoming quite a food-feast!