For $65 Monopole‘s tasting menu is dangerously good value. Everything is to share. There wasn’t a single dish I didn’t like. And the presentation of each dish was spot on.

We start with finely sliced cured meats. Delicate bits of cured duck breast, Berkshire pork neck and Rangers Valley bresaola are assembled on a wooden board and served with sourdough, butter, and pickled veg.

I love the flavors of the beef tartare with 62° egg yolk, mushroom crumb, and potato skins. But the ceviche of scallops, charred avocado, sweet corn, and puffed wheat is probably my favorite of the night. The scallops are plump; there’s a crispy bite to the puffed wheat; and the creamy, charred avocado makes it a home run for me.

Our second seafood dish of the night is an outstanding plate of crispy skin snapper, pickled celery, and grapes.  A hefty line up of lamb rump, charred asparagus, buttermilk, and mint oil vinaigrette follows. It’s accompanied by a summery salad of shaved broccoli stems with pickled pear, pecorino, and hazelnuts.

We finish with a stellar dessert. Anise soaked strawberries with a quenelle of strawberry ice cream are atop a delicious heap of fennel cream, and strewn with almonds. I was munching on the crispy tendrils for a while before realizing they were actually fennel crisps. At first bite it almost seemed like an apple crisp, but the fennel flavor lingers at the end. Candied fennel and dehydrated strawberry are also in the mix. This is a clever, clever dessert.

We’re kindly given a complimentary dessert on top of our tasting menu. It’s like a fancy schmancy brekky. A mound of fresh blueberries and dehydrated raspberries is topped with beetroot granita and hidden underneath is whipped sheeps milk yoghurt. It’s fresh, it’s fruity, and oh-so-vibrant.

Note: this meal was independently paid for except for the sheeps milk yoghurt dessert.

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Monopole
71A Macleay St, Potts Point
Dinner 7 nights, lunch Sat & Sun