Astral Restaurant- Level 17 @ Star City

After so many years together I still get excited about every ‘date’ that we go on and tonight was no exception. Jacky planned a special dinner at Astral tonight, somewhere that I have wanted to try for a very long time now. It was a dinner to say “hey I know I’ve been busy with exams and work, so tonight is just you and me!”

Astral is an excellent restaurant and one that we highly recommend! A 3 course meal will cost around $88.00 per person which is pretty standard for a nicer place. For the view and food, I feel that you get a lot more value here than at a place like Wildfire

The service was flawless, and the atmosphere extremely pleasant. Everyone dresses up, even the girls that show you to your table wear a black evening dress. There is also an outside balcony area where you can enjoy the views of the Harbour.

What is really different about this place, is that they bring out these complementary little mini dishes prior to the entree, mains and dessert. The flavours are rich and leaves you lingering for more!

I'm not sure what this was called except that the white filling in between the pastry was barramundi. It was absolutely delicious! the pastry was fluffy and soft and the barramundi flavoursome.

To eat with our fresh sourdough bread roll, we had a dish with a variety of dipping salts, extra virgin olive oil and pepper that tasted like rose petals.

The 2nd mini taste dish was a parmesan creme caramel with a parmesan wafer. The flavours were very unique, it was a bit of a suprise because it was the first time that I have ever tried a savoury creme caramel - not bad at all.

entrée:
1. Marinated tuna loin & tartar, avocado, fennel & tomato confit, roquette sorbet

2. Smoked quail & Earl Grey consommé

The entrees that we selected were nice but not terrific, I found the tuna to be rather ordinary even with the different toppings and would not recommend it. Jacky's Quail dish was very strange, a whole pot of earl grey tea was poured on top of the quail as a result I felt the tea diluted the quail flavour too much.

Mains:

1. Spring lamb, 3 cuts, 3 garnishes

2. Crisp skinned snapper, seared scallops, baby leek, cauliflower, osso bucco jus

Put simply, Jacky described his lamb as "the best lamb that I've ever tasted". My Crispy Skinned snapper was probably the best dish of the night, the skin was cooked to perfection and the flavours kept simple.

3rd mini tasting dish pre-dessert. It was a peach jelly with a layer of peach mousse finished with fresh strawberries and mango.

Jacky doesn't eat peaches or mangos, but he polished the whole dessert. I think that says it all.

Dessert:

1. Paperweight of summer berries, pink champagne jelly, basil icecream

2. Chocolate & espresso teardrop, white peppercorn sorbet

Yum Yum YUM! at first I made the mistake of trying the jelly and the ice cream separately, the alcohol taste was too strong and the basil ice cream weird. It wasn't until I combined the two that I realised the flavours worked really well together, not a bad dessert at all.

The Chocolate & espresso teardrop was to die for! very rich and you will struggle to finish it if it were any larger. The peppercorn sorbet on the other hand was just wrong, ice cream and pepper are just not meant to go together!

Watching the sun set over the city...priceless.

Thank you Jacky for the wonderful experience and knowing how to make me feel special.

I love you.