My Birthday Dinner

For my birthday this year, Hubby took me to Ezards. We've heard great things about the restaurant so we wanted to try for ourselves. Ezards is located on Flinders Lane in Melbourne City at the Adelphi Hotel.

We decided to have the degustation menu. The eight courses sounded very enticing and it gave us a chance to try a little of everything.

1 st course : japanese inspired oyster shooter - This was a great start to the meal. The shooter was saki and mirin with the alcohol burnt off. The raw oyster was divine. I don't usually eat raw oysters but will definitely have this one again.

2nd course : lime cured cuttlefish with mirin, sticky soy, bonito mayonnaise, fried leek and seaweed - This was presented on Chinese spoons and is meant to be eaten in one go to feel all the different textures in the dish. The cuttlefish was tender and melted in the mouth. The bonito mayonnaise gave it a fishy tast but it was strong that it over powered everything. the aftertaste was fantastic. There was a lingering sweet and sour taste that came from the sweet soy and the lime.

3rd course : moreton bay bug raviolo with cauliflower cream, yarra valley salmon eggs and curry oil - the raviolo was very tasty. The moreton bay bug filling was excellent. I was excited when I saw that there was moreton bay bugs was on the menu even though it was a tiny portion. the cauliflower cream and the salmon eggs was to die for. Both Hubby and I adored this sauce the the raviolo sat it. It was creamy and full of flavour and the salmon eggs added bursts of salty to finish it off.

4th course : crispy polenta with sauteed mushrooms, poached quail egg, soft herbs and parmesan oil - The disk of polenta was crunchy on the outside and very light and creamy on the inside. the poached quail egg on top was a little over cooked but I guess it would be hard to keep the yolks runny as it it only need seconds to cook.

5th course : steamed suzuki bass with japanese plum wine dressing, hand rolled rice noodle, stir fried asian mushrooms and xo sauce -I liked the sea bass as I could tell it was very fresh, however the plum wine dressing was a little too strong in flavour. To me, it drowned out the flavour of the subtle bass.

6th course : morrocan spiced quail with babagnoush, mint and red onion and pomegranate salad, labna and saffron syrup - I really enjoyed this course. I loved the spices in the quail. It was the taste of Morocco. What both Hubby really liked about this dish was the labna. It had the great flavour of the yoghurt cheese.

7th course : wagyu beef two ways with soft truffled polenta, sticky shallot sauce and mache salad - This course was an alternative course to sichuan peppered duck. There was wagyu beef that was slow cooked ragu style and the other was pan fried cooked to medium raw. I have to say that this was my first time eating wagyu and I totally loved it. The meat is so meltingly tender. The sauce and polenta that accompanied the meat was a great balance.

Palate Cleanser : Vanilla Yoghurt sorbet with orange creme fraiche, poached tamarillo topped with mulberry jam and an oven baked slice of star fruit - This course wasn't part of the degustation menu. It was complimentary. I'm sorry to say that this was the best course of the night! The sorbet and the orange creme fraiche was a great combination. The flavour of the orange really came out well in the creme fraiche. The poached tamarillo had the right amount of sweetness to compliment the sorbet. Fantastic!

8th course :pear and praline parfait with pear sorbet, roasted pears and pomegranate syrup - To be honest after the palate cleanser, I was really full and didn't think that the dessert course can beat the palate cleanser. It didn't. But it was still really delicious. The praline parfait was creamy and went well with the pear sorbet. I didn't like the pomegranate syrup at all thought. It was a strong sweet and sour flavour. To me , it tasted a little weird.

We did feel really full after our meal but I have to say definitely worth it. We enjoyed out night out not just because of the great food but the atmosphere and waitering service was top notch

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie