est.

est. at the Establishment Hotel is a Sydney icon and one of the most highly appraised restaurants in the city.  The chef Peter Doyle has been called a ‘culinary luminary’ and consistently receives the top scores in Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Food Guide, which seems very prestigious.  This was definitely one of the fanciest restaurants I’ve ever been to and maybe the most ‘posh’.  We decided to go all out and treat ourselves to a nice meal on our last night and this sure was the place to go all out.  The restaurant is on the 5th floor of the hotel and the hall it is in is gorgeous, with very high ceilings and the decor was white, very simple, clean and extremely elegant.  This placed most of the emphasis on the stunning food, which was beautifully presented.  After being seated, the champagne cart came around to our table and of course I started the night off with a glass.  Everything on the menu was so original and unique, and every dish we tried was full of surprising and complex flavors.  The variety of creative dishes made this my foodie fantasy and it was really such a great way to end the Sydney portion of the trip.  The quality of these pictures does not do the food justice since I was a bit self-conscious about photographing the food at such a nice place (and I didn’t get a picture of all the dishes), but hopefully you can still get a feel for the food.

I think this was some sort of beet salad, but can’t remember exactly.

quail breast

I got the parma prosciutto rolled quail breast with duck foie gras, pear, salad leaves, and apple balsamic sauce.  It was seriously mind-blowing. The quail was so tender and just bursting with flavor.

west australian marron

The west australian marron was served with jerusalem artichoke puree, chestnuts, peas, savoy cabbage, thyme.

pan roasted john dory fillet

I got the john dory fillet, which was recommended by the waitress for the amazing sauce it came in and it definitely lived up to the expectations.  This was served with shaved squid, jamon, broad beans, green peas, potato gnocchi and chives. Perfection! The sauce was so great I just ate the dish with a spoon.

crisp skin mulloway fillet

Apparently the mulloway fish is endangered, but it is served on the menu because it is farmed.  This was also outstanding and served with sand crab, celeriac, leek and sorrel cress, caper, lemon and shallot sauce.

squab pigeon

Roasted, boned squab pigeon with smoked onion, hazelnut parfait, grilled leek, green peas and pearl onions.

grilled duck breast

Honey glazed grilled duck breast, quince, fresh date puree, caramelized daikon.

mignardises

Delicious tiny dessert served with the coffee.

passion fruit souffle

I only had a bite of this dessert, and was most sad I didn’t get my own! Definitely memorable.  It was served with passion fruit sorbet.

cheesecake

Overall this was such an amazing fine dining experience and I loved every minute of it!