Ester Restaurant

by Chef Mat Lindsay ester (ˈɛstə/) - an organic compound How is it that a restaurant can become so instantly hot and cool? In the case of Ester, part of the answer lies in its heritage. The frontman here is youngish chef Mat Lindsay, who was last cooking at Surry Hills' 121BC Enoteca &Cantina, a small wine bar that does a great line in sultry. Ester is associated with the group of restaurants connected with Vini, the excellent Italian bolthole that spawned 121. The staff, including chef Nick Wong, are young and well credentialled. The space occupies an ex-basement garage fitted out by Anthony Gil interiors and is just out of the way enough to need to be sought out, and is near to cafes including the Brickfields bakery that also have some underground appeal.

17 July, 2016

Photography,

Ester: chemically inspired, organically nurtured

ester - an organic compound

Industrial setting with warmth of people and food

The open kitchen brings warmth to the space, which is otherwise elegantly understated, dominated by dangling globe lamps and grey archways. The semi-industrial feel of the place (designed by Anthony Gill architects) is a nod to its past life as a basement car park. It has been nicely transformed with the simple interior an exercise in allowing the food to shine.

seasonal menu of ester restaurant

Wines display on a industrial metal rack which gives simple yet understated look

Ester sourdough / cultured butter

Roasted Oyster with horseradish emulsion

The oyster is roasted with the shell and the steam open up the shell and top up with a fresh horseradish emulsion

Crispy squid dumplings

Blood sausage sanga

blood sausage "sanga", a square of steamed white bread enfolding a dense and wonderful blood sausage, coriander cress and caramelised onion

Busy kitchen with wood fired oven

Hiramasa (kingfish) / burnt mandarin / nori paste

fresh kingfish sashimi slice, with crunchy cucumber, sweet seasonal burnt mandarin to give its subtle sweet and tangy refreshing taste and a punch of concentrated nori (seaweed) paste. Such a great combination of flavour

Cauliflower, almond sauce and mint

At Ester perhaps the other most visible thing approaching signature dish status is the cauliflower. Boiling members of the brassica family can bring out their off-flavours, but roasting them concentrates their sweetness and gives them complexity. Here the half-head of cauli comes out of the domed wood-fired oven well browned and charry around the edges. Chef Mat Lindsay contrasts that flavour with the clean, rich taste of an almond cream, fragments of almond and a few leaves of mint.

Fine dining without the feeling of stuffiness at ester restaurant

three milks

Three milks is a plate daubed with goat's milk dulce de leche, splodged with cow's milk panna cotta and airy sheep's milk yoghurt and finished with olive oil and oily biscuit crumbs and rosemary... and it is heavenly good.

rustic ester sourdough

leftover sourdough icecream

sourdough ice cream encrusted on a super intense black crispy crumb from the sourdough, it is slightly bitterness complements the slightly sweet ice cream and make this an unforgettable way to end a long lunch on a Sunday.

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