My expectations were high when we rocked up at Hubert on a Tuesday evening. Every single person I had spoken to (bar one) was raving about the modern French restaurant. Surprisingly, it lived up to the hype.

The vibe is like no other in Sydney, teleporting you straight to Europe. And the service is attentive (though we were mystified by the very regulated tasks of each staff member – they seemed to be divvied up according to food orders or beverage orders).

As for the food? Everything is très tasty.  The duck parfait layered with maple syrup jelly is creamy and perfect (or parfait as the French would say – har har har). The accompanying bread is warm and wonderful, so we keep asking for more. The baskets get more abundant each time. They’re probably hoping they don’t have to keep coming back to our table.

The tomato tart is a thin disk of puff pastry layers topped with a tomato confit as tomatoey as you can get. But the malakoff – deep fried gruyere with Dijon mustard and dill pickle – is pretty remarkable. Oozing with cheese. It doesn’t get much better in life.

There are only two servings of roast duck left on the specials menu when we sit down for dinner – we actually get anxious and ‘book a duck’ almost straight away. Turns out we got the last duck! The anxiety was warranted. We originally considered ordering both the chicken and the duck, but luckily we’re convinced otherwise. The duck is considerably larger than we anticipated, and definitely enough between the five of us.  Stuffed with duck sausage and served with cherries, it’s perfectly complemented by our order of red butter lettuce dressed with a punchy caper vinaigrette and soft herbs.

The highlight of the meal though is the pommes anna, a sculptural dish of layered potato and beurre blanc. It is is so effing good we order two more serves right away. This stuff is DREAMY, guys. Uneven shapes of layered potatoes that have been deep fried, sitting in a fantastic butter sauce… I’m drooling just thinking about it. This is a work of art. I love the presentation too – it’s so far from what a traditional pommes anna looks like. As a potato fanatic, I’m jumping with joy on the inside – in fact, I’d go so far to say it’s the best potato dish in Sydney right now.

Desserts cater to different tastes. The creme caramel and the melon en surprise (Santa Claus melon, finger lime, sorrel jelly, young coconut sorbet) are my faves. But the religieuse au chocolat (choux pastry filled with hazelnut cream, chocolate) is lovely, too. That hazelnut cream is delicious.

Restaurant Hubert
15 Blight St, Sydney, NSW
Monday to Saturday 5pm to 1am
restauranthubert.com