Oscillate Wildly, Newtown

 After some fruitful watermelon cake and flakey pastries from Black Star Pastry why not give Oscillate Wildly (275 Australia Street, Newtown) a visit which is located just next door. Oscillate Wildly appeals to the hopeless romantic which is inevitably inside everyone and honestly, it is enough to salivate not only your mouth, but you're heart at the same time. Thanks to Patty for my Birthday dinner! =)

(Chris hopefully this post will help you decide where to take Mum & Dad for their anniversary dinner; and to Josh & Sharon here's what to expect next week! ... it's a baby. Wait what? Don't worry Bernard)  

Jamon with Salted Rice Cracker

 We started off with some thin and airy rice crackers which were generously covered in some velvety cured ham. Yum.

Gin & Tonic
Compressed in Sugarcane

 First of all ... how cool is it! Anyhow this is the most ingenious idea ever. This marvellous creation/invention gives Mr. Edison a run for his money, I would love to light my house with these clever little things. If only. This mouth cleanser is a thick sheet of sugarcane drenched in gin and tonic and served surrounded by ice in a double walled glass. Your teeth become a sugarcane machine as you gradually chew out the liquid absorbed by the sugarcane and boy is it tasty. Delicious!

Butter & Pork Lardo with Chilli/Fennel

Bread Bread Bread

Sea Urchin, Apple, Ponzu
with Heirloom Carrots

 Our first course of the night is this light and refreshing sea urchin dish. The sea urchin is hiding somewhere down the bottom of the pot but above it are truck loads of shaved apple and carrots. Not a dish for haters of raw carrot but since we're bunnybloggers it was our bread and butter ... which we coincidently had  before this (Bernard stop it, seriously) hahaha.

Abalone, Cuttlefish, Coconut
with Palm Heart, Young Coconut & Ginger

 Not the greatest photo unfortunately (I meant the food) but it was pretty awkward fishing into my bowl just to get a snap at the cuttlefish. The broth tasted like green thai curry and the seafood was super fresh.

Polenta, Parmesan
with Chargrilled Corn

 A different take on some corn polenta. Some really creamy and smooth corn sauce with chargrilled corn kernels for texture accompanied with two thick slithers of parmesan. It was an interesting dish but in the end I think they pulled it off pretty well.

Pan Fried Murray Cod, Potato, Almond
with Almond Puree & Chive Olive Oil

 This cod was cooked to perfection and with a seared crust, it was a delight to eat. The almond puree unfortunately didn't have that much flavour but I guess it was to make sure that the cod was the star of the dish!

Boneless Chicken Wing, Carrot
with Cauliflower Puree & Chargrilled Onions

 Here we have the gently cooked boneless chicken wing accompanied with some carrots, cauliflower puree and chargrilled onions. The chicken was moist and tasty and along with the creamy cauliflower puree it was a solid dish.

David Blackmore Wagyu 9+ Beef, Beetroot Puree
with Compressed Cabbage & Mustard Leaves

 These photos really don't justify how good this hunk of beef truly was. Seared like an Aussie at the beach, it was masterfully cooked to perfection and honestly the beef just crumbled and melted in our mouths. Forget the weirdly sour compressed cabbage or the random mustard leaves, chuck us another slab of meat. The beetroot puree went really well with the wagyu as well and I enjoyed it so much that Patty generously gave me half of hers. I didn't thank her for the gesture, I instead thanked David Blackmore for producing such good wagyu.

Cheese on Toast
with Parmesan Ice Cream & Crumbled Brown Bread Praline

 This was the optional cheese course that was sold to us by the waitress and it's definitely a must try! The parmesan ice cream was something so different and when eaten together with the crumbly, toffeed bread it was exactly like cheese and crackers. Yeah, sure you could easily go home and have the same experience but this looks so much cooler.

Cherry Sorbet
with Sorrel Leaves & Parsley Meringue

 The pre-dessert of the night was a palate cleansing cherry sorbet with sorrel leaves and broken bits of parsley meringue. The parsley meringue didn't offer much flavour but the cherry sorbet hit the spot and was a friendly welcome after so many savoury dishes!

Peaches & Cream

 The peaches and cream was made up of some light peach meringue which looked like floating ice shelves in the antarctic and peach ice cream. I sort of forgot what else was on the plate but it was tasty, so I guess that's all that matters.

 There is only a small room full of seating (maybe 20 people) so if you're planning on taking that someone special or even if it's just a friend, make sure you book early! The wait staff were really friendly and the atmosphere was very pleasant. It's kind of awkward however with the whole toilet situation though ... there's only one toilet out the back to share between both males and females. A mini queue may end up forming if you take too long in there and since there's no where to hide inside the restaurant, you may get a few shifty looks later on. Overall though, Oscillate Wildly is value for money when it comes to degustations, at only $100 pp for 10+ quality courses there's no wonder that it's so popular.

 Josh & Sharon: Happy anniversary and hopefully you'll enjoy your dinner just as much as we did! Josh ... let's hope that the night ends better than when we last hung out.

We're lucky to have our girlfriends

Bunny Rating-
Category: Fine Dining

Berowra Waters Inn Restaurant, Berowra

 If you have wings and love swimming/flying then Berowra Waters Inn (Via East and West Pacific Wharves, Berowra Waters) would love to accommodate your visit (therefore you'll have to probably be a duck...ahahahahaha Bernard, nice one buddy, keep those ones coming). Only accessible via boat and seaplane, Berowra Waters Inn is a more than secluded restaurant hidden inside the bushes of the Hawkesbury and alongside Berowra Creek. 

 For Patty's 21st Birthday I thought I'd surprise her (she found out before I even booked the place) with a romantic lunch. To make sure she doesn't break up with me any time soon the seaplane was the only option capable of accomplishing such a feat.  

Mister Seaplane

 Upon arrival we were greeted by the head chef himself, Mr Brian Geraghty and was lead to our table via the miniature wharf. There's quite limited seating inside so it get's a little quiet but the view is spectacular. Definitely recommend going during lunch.

House made Tomato Butter

  Some smooth house made tomato butter to spread on our endless selection of bread, yummmm!

Nice Buns, I mean Bread

 Patty found some eye candy in the form of our awesome Italian waiter. He had a pearly smile, luscious, curly locks and eyes that you'd just lose yourself into ... okay fine, he was eye candy for me too. Pretty upset right now to be honest with you though ... just came across another blog post of Berowra Waters Inn (no names will be mentioned) and it appears that our little Italian man has been posing for photos with other bloggers too =( you cheated on us! But don't worry, Patty and I will never forget the precious time we spent together.  

Happy Goblin
Pale Ale

  This little treasure above is the Happy Goblin Pale Ale which is micro brewery located in Mount Kuringai. All bottles are hand made and unfiltered which gives this particular pale ale its darkish oak colour along with a more intense hoppy finish. The alcohol content and date of bottling is hand written on each label as well! Brian tells us that the beer is delivered by the owners themselves via their dingy, so fresh ...

Hamachi, Squid & Cucumber
with Frozen Avocado

  An extremely delicate course to begin. A thin sliced kingfish (hamachi), wrapped around diced squid in a refreshing cucumber consomme. The fine green powder on top is frozen avocado, but you can barely taste it. Nevertheless, a great way to begin lunch!

Ocean Trout, Smoked Milk & Dashi
with Fried Bean Curd

  Don't let the dashi foam hide the trout! It's okay mister trout. Half the foam actually came from Patty's mouth as I saw her eyeing the trout down and frothing at the same time. What am I even talking about. Anyhow a great dish that let the freshness and silky smooth texture of the trout shine throughout the dish. The smoked milk puree and dashi foam gave it that extra something along with the crunch from the bean curd sheet (I think it was at least).

 Oh yeah, Patty and I also shared matching wines to go with our lunch. 

Carrot & Liquorice
with Random Leaves

 Like a forest floor plonked onto your table, this dish cried out to every vegetarian out there trying to save the world one cow at a time. A neat assembly of heirloom carrots served in a variety of ways (some would say, a Bunny's paradise) wedged with forest leaves and liquorice soil. I'm not the biggest fan of liquorice but the taste was quite subtle which made it more enjoyable.

Chicken, Soubise & Macadamia 
with White Onion Foam & Puree

 The white onion foam makes the chicken look like it has a puffy hat on, but if we concentrate on the taste aspect of the dish then its a really winner. Rich white onion puree accompanied with its brother soubise goes well with the chicken and the crumbed macadamia was excellent.

Short Rib, Anchovy & Cracked Wheat
with Sherry Jelly

 Probably my favourite dish of the day, a beautifully braised beef short rib with a cracked wheat crust and anchovy. The sherry droplet on the side gave it that citrus kick but it looked a little odd on the plate. If only the rest of the cow joined us on the table =( I could go with some right now.

What's a blog post without a toilet shot

Tropicana No.2

  I was a little disappointed we didn't have any pre-dessert, so wine and beer had to cleanse the pallet for us this time. I have pretty much forgotten what was on here, but from left to right: A thin slither of mango wrapped in cream; some sort of jelly with a fruit inside; and mango sorbet ... yeah that wasn't really helpful at all was it? On the bottom is ... either some sort of frozen stuff or crumbed popcorn (don't know why I think it's that, my bad). Anyhow more importantly, the dessert wasn't the best because it lacked flavour but there were some interesting textures to play around with.

Petit Fours

They have Grounds Coffee!

 After our meal we departed back to Rose Bay via our seaplane which felt awfully bumpier on the way back. Maybe it was the half filled tummy or the pilot loved turbulence but Patty and I both had throbbing headaches. This was half cured by the amazing views from the plane though. Berowra Waters Inn was great little restaurant and it's definitely a must go destination for any sort of romantic celebration (so attention to all men out there; get your wallets out). The food and service was great but being in such a secluded peaceful area just makes it that much more worth it. 

Bunny Rating-

Category: Fine Dining