Justine Grill
54 Alexandra St
Hunters Hill, Sydney
Justine Grill is in a charming Victorian establishment in Hunters Hill. It really is a lovely building that exudes history. The enchanting décor - wooden floors, stone walls with a fireplace just add to the ambiance. They seat in the vicinity of 60 people.
Soon after we were seated we were asked what water we'd like. We said still - as we usually do - and a lovely bottle of Norda Tasmanian water arrived. We were off to a good start already!
We shared a plate of oysters - served natural with a dash of lemon vinaigrette and topped with a small mound of salmon roe. As we are both huge fans of oysters - we just had to try these. Squeezing the lemon enhanced the total flavour of the oyster and the burst of the salmon roe - exquisite!
Sir for his entrée had crispy quail with smoked and spicy aioli, compressed watermelon and a red capsicum gel. Sir is mildly fond (he LOVES) quail so he had to have this. The quail was beautifully cooked - crispy outside and tender on the inside. The sauce has some lovely "bite" and the smoked and spicy aioli worked so well. The compressed watermelon with the red capsicum gel added to the great flavour and vibrancy of this dish.
Mlady had the seared scallops with sweet corn mousseline and pancetta chips. The scallops were plump and juicy combining oh so well with the delectable sweet corn mousseline and pancetta chips. Such wonderful textures and flavours - an amazing dish! And pretty as a picture too.
To drink Mlady had a lovely Rose - Alliance Loire. This was cool and refreshing on the palate.
Sir had A Vistamar Chardonnay which was easy to drink and he thoroughly enjoyed it.
For his main Sir chose beef eye fillet with spinach cream, potato fondant and shitake mushrooms. He ordered it medium rare and it arrived at the table beautifully cooked and nicely pink on the inside. It was such a good cut of meat and it literally melted in the mouth. With his main meal he had a South American Malbec.
Mlady loves seafood and chose for her main - Moqueca Baiana - a Northern Brazilian style curry with coconut cream, salt water Barramundi, prawns and mussels, cooked in a chilli broth served with herbed rice and toasted almonds. This was an incredible dish! The seafood as delicious as was the sauce and the rice - well it was SO good you could just eat it by itself. Who would have thought that rice could taste this good. Mlady spooned the rice into her bowl to soak up the sensational sauce.
For dessert Sir had the chilled apple and rhubarb crumble with macadamia, aloe vera sorbet and vanilla bean Anglaise. This was a very "playful" dessert with the bowl made from white chocolate and a syringe full of sauce to inject into the dessert. It had great flavours and textures of which Sir thoroughly enjoyed.
Mlady had the Honeycomb parfait with almond praline and banana galette. The different flavours and compositions of this dessert went well and if you have a sweet tooth - this is the dessert for you!To cap our appetising meal we both had a lovely refreshing Botrytis.
The food at Justine Grill is absolutely divine. It's high quality and the presentation is eye popping. The sauces were outstanding and something you will remember.
Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Justine Grill. Thanks to Jose and Fernanda for looking after us. Special thanks to Chrissy Symeonakis from Creative Little Soul for arranging our visit.
