Etch is a small modern European (French, Italian & Spanish influences) restaurant with excellent prices. Instead of paying lots of money for a fancy dish, Etch’s prices are reasonable. In my opinion its market is aimed at those who want a fine dining experience which doesn’t leave pockets completely dry.

“My vision for Etch is to bring together the finest quality and sustainable produce at great prices for city workers to enjoy all day from midday to late at night with the one seasonal menu running continuously. Offering efficient and friendly service, with a concise selection of interesting wines in a relaxed and fun room”.

- Justin North

Early last year I first went to Etch for a colleagues birthday (read previous entry). Since then I had fond memories of some of the dishes I had. After being so long since I last visited, it has been one of the places the girls had been wanting to try for approximately 1 year. Finally, there was a reason for us girls to get together in celebration of spicyicecream’s birthday *whoo hoo*.

* APOLOGIES FOR THE HORRIBLE PHOTOS, It was pretty dark in there that my camera was chucking spasms even with a really low aperture =|

Caramelised pork head, roasted prawn, pickled rhubarb, kohlrabi puree

I thought this dish was pretty god dayem good. When all was combined the flavours were extremely delicious. Definitely one of my favourites for the night.

Duck plate – Duck pancake with mandarin, duck pate and duck infused creme caramel

I’ve never been a huge fan of duck. I only love my duck cooking asian style. Other than that, I find duck really gamy and really really strong. So if you love duck then chances you would love this dish. The duck pancake with mandarin was absolutely DIVINE!!!! It was that good I wish i ate the whole thing to myself. The duck pate was great! Wasn’t as strong as I thought it would be which is GREAT… and the infused creme caramel was very intelligently done. *thumbs up*

Ballottine of free range chicken, sauteed brussel sprouts, bacon, bread sauce

Chicken was really tasty, definitely one of my highlights for the night. The dish looked quite huge even i don’t think I could finish it. All the flavours when combined together made fireworks!

Crusted sea bream, Jerusalem artichoke barigoule, trompette puree

Betty loved her dish endlessly, it was really really good that I would have been happy to swap my dish for hers any day hehe. So many flavours, fish cooked to perfection.. how could anyone not love such an amazing dish!

Flathead, Serrano ham, parsnip puree, potato fondant, jus gras

Don’t judge a book by its cover! Everyone was ooh-ind -ahh-ing over my dish. It was nice but not what I had expected. Usually when I got to fancy restaurants, I always seem to order fish dishes and this one was fairly unusual with a beautiful fancy twist. Still great! definately somthing different from all the usual “seared / crispy” fish dishes .

Roasted sirloin, daube of beef, spinach, carrot, red wine jus

THE BOMB!!! Can never go wrong with red meat. Beef was soft and tender and the flavours were just delicious!!! Plenty of nods for this dish.

Risotto of Spencer Gulf prawns

I really enjoyed the flavours of karen’s risotto. At this stage so far everyones meal seems to be better than mine thank god we all shared our meals…Risotto was beautiful, rich in flavour and fresh.

Roast pork with beetroot

Being asian, we don’t really like to eat our pork red. At first I thought i’d struggle with this but instead it was actually delicious thanks the the awesome crackling!

dessert

Caramel date tart, burnt butter ice cream, Earl Grey tea syrup

After having this same dessert last year, I knew this dessert was going to be awesome which is why it still hasn’t left the menu. We all loved this one soo much that we ordered a second dosage.

Chocolate peanut butter mille feuille, manuka honey marshmallow

After having the awesome rockpools mille feuille, i had high expectations for this chocolate dish. Unfortunately we were disappointed. Having said this, usually chocolate desserts are always the safest option if your scared to venture out of the chocolate zone. In this case, venturing out would have been better =(

Lolly tray

I’ve never been one to order ly trays. In fact this is the first ly tray I have ever ordered in my life. It was pretty good!!!

Spiced quince crumble, Hoegaarden ice cream

Ive never been a fan of apple pie probably explains why this wasn’t one of my favourite desserts. I did love the flavours that came along with it such as the cinnamon / nutmeg taste. Apple pie / crumble lovers you’ll have to try this one!

Baked rice custard, poached rhubarb, white chocolate & juniper berry ice cream

Very light rice custard dessert, i’ve never had this baked before which explains the interesting texture. Presentation was amazingly beautiful!

Hope you had a wonderful birthday miss awesome spicyicecream!!!

I had an great night with you ladies and of course ears dropping at that crazy couple who were having a break-up session with tears, table banging, voice raising and of course our theories of what would and probably happened after they argued PHUAHAHA.. <3 <3 you girls!

Etch

62 Bridge St

Sydney, 2000

P: (02) 9247 4777