Ester Excellence

The first Supper Club of 2014 didn't happen until June. But it's better late than never and Supper Club June was definitely better. Ester came onto my radar during a blogger dinner at the Tilbury Hotel last year. Sugarlace and The Gook both sang it's praises so I've been waiting impatiently to go. It's pretty exciting to get out of the Eastern Sydney bubble, even though Chippendale isn't really THAT far. At 6.30pm on a Thursday night, Ester is already full. Jars wood and bottles decorate the glowing sandstone walls and there's a warm unpretentious vibe about the place. Loving it already.

Miss Whittington the accountant advises we should go ala carte and we decide to share. We want everything so with the aid of a pen cull our list and hand our scribbled-on menu to our waiter (I don't recommend you scribble over restaurant's menus). Let the 12 course feast begin.

Crunchy chickpeas with rosemary are super addictive and I could just eat these all night and be happy. We're pretty hungry so demolish the house baked bread with butter instantly (pro tip: save some bread for mopping up juices later). I'm not a fan of mollusc so left the roasted oysters, supper club says they're good.

The blood sausage sangas come highly recommended and they are goooood. Fluffy, barely there bread cuddles a mini sausages of congealed blood. I love black pudding so totally dig these. The calamari has that delicious char bbq flavour that goes perfectly with the bright green goddess dressing.

Chicken feet? Nope but almost - crispy pig tails with black vinegar and I think a hit of Szechuan pepper. We're apprehensive at first but get stuck in and actually enjoy these. None of us can have more than one tail though, it's quite fatty.

More more more! The prawns with capers and brown butter are big enough for us to split each one. Insert bread here. The carrots with parmesan and sesame is another stand-out dish. Moreish and slightly sweet, we want more carrots but we have so much food already. I hate molluscs but the pippies with spaetzle (german noodle) and chilli smells so good, I have to have some. Insert bread here.  The cauliflower, almond cream, almonds and mint salad is ridiculous, another must order. 

Greens with fermented chilli and fried garlic is also delicious. We're proud of how many veges we order! The fish fillet with saltbush and vinegar is tasty but oh the chicken. Wood-fired chicken with garlic bread sauce - savoury, lemony, pungent, bbq-y this is an awesome dish and disappears quickly.

GVH and I obsess over our love of all things coconut - coconut oil for cleaning away makeup, coconut soap, coconut shampoo, coconut cream. It's all amazing. So obviously we order the coconut, sake and rice dessert. The barely there dessert consists of sake jelly, coconut water granita and sticky coconut rice. So refreshing and light.

If I wasn't so coco loco I would've gone for the three milks which is made up of pannacotta,  yoghurt and dulche de leche but with a twist using ricotta, goat's milk and sheep's milk. For contrast there's a biscuit crumb with rosemary.The boys go for a scoop of salter caramel ice-cream

To drink - the La Bruja Averia Rozas de Puerto Real is nice enough but the Podere 72 Rosso Piceno Superiore from Marche Italy is out of this world. 50% Sangiovese and Montepulciano it's fruity, deep and dirty but so drinkable. You know the kind of wine you don't need food with? This is it. The Ester team are kind enough to keep the last bottle for us while we're tucking into the second to last bottle. Such attentive service! 

Our bill comes to $145pp but unsurprisingly 60% of the bill consists of wine.


If we were staying in Sydney I would definitely be back to try everything else on the menu.

http://ester-restaurant.com.au/