Is that the Estelle Bar and Kitchen…

The Estelle Bar and Kitchen in Northcote was a bit of a surprise. When HD suggested it as a pre comedy festival event the rest of us were all happy to go along with the suggestion and take it from there.

 

Arriving at the Estelle ( Estelle Bar and Kitchen) we were greated by a lovely interior with rich wood and cool tiles and it’s small – not super small just intimate small. We sat down and were offered the wine list which we happily accepted. The wine varieties were good although we noticed out white was a little less cool than normal – sort of white wine temperature you might find in Europe as opposed to our super chilled white we serve here. The red of course was room temperature. We all really enjoyed the wine recommended and served.

With a short amount of time we selected the three course degustation (it’s a degustation only venue) and at $50 this is pretty amazing value. We definatley will go back for the five ($60) or seven ($80) courses in the not too distant future.

We were brought a selection of three amuse bouche to begin. The first was this gorgeous melon square wrapped in edible cellophane – it was fun and tasty and such a light way to begin the meal. We moved onto these chickpea chips which were AMAZING. The final of the three was a sardine fossil – essentially a sardine flavored puffed rice cracker with sour cream – while I couldn’t try this the others found it intresting and it disappeared as quickly as the other tasters.

Our first course at was celeriac three ways and was absolutely delicious. It’s great when food causes conversation around texture, flavor and look – it was a tasty and intresting dish. Who would have thought I would have become a celeriac fan?

Our second course we parted ways as my vegetarian reverse gelatin cauliflower sausage came out. What an inspired dish, not only did it look intresting the sausage was light, fluffy and a bit like a slightly set mouse. It was set on a bed of cauliflower pieces that were heavenly. This was a blend of bizzarre deliciousness.

The rest of the gang had a baby barrumandi and nettle dish that they reported as tasty a great combination.

 

Our final course was asparagus and a 60/65 egg for me that was delicious (but I must admit this seems to be a standard replacement on many a degustation for the meat course). The others had a waygu beef that was also delicious.

Bar Estelle is a great find and the feeling that the kitchen is not only inspired ut is having fun is hard to miss. We can’t wait to go back and see what else they can whip up and perhaps try a dessert!

 

 

Estelle Bar & Kitchen

243 High Street, Northcote

PH (03) 9489 4609

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