Stepping into Ester I am instantly caught off guard by an ambience which is somehow both cool and quaint. It¹s 8:30pm on a Tuesday and it¹s freezing outside, but the place is brimming with trendy hipsters and busy professionals. Happy chatter and the hurried scrape of forks on plates is music to my ears.
As we sit down the friendly waiter is with us in a thrice. The cocktail menu isn¹t extensive but it is exciting. I take my time deliberating, but eventually settle on the ‘Elderflower Collins’. It¹s a twist on an old classic, gin, elderflower and lemon. I only just manage to resist gulping the whole lot in one go.
Feeling indecisive, we opt for the set menu. At $72 ahead, it definitely seems reasonable. I sit back, enviously scouring the enticing plates perched on our fellow patrons’ tables. When the waiter returns promptly with our first plate I’m more than a little enthusiastic. (Friends of mine will attest to food having this effect on me.)
The first courses are all flavoursome—each one better than the last. The horseradish emulsion paired with the roasted oysters, is a little overpowering but the crispy squid dumplings more than make up for it. Chewy, squid-ink stained pastry envelops a sweet and delicate filling. Upon my last bite I’m instantly left wanting more.
While I admit that the blood sausage sanga has me a little worried, fears abate when I bite into it. The sweet spice of the meat, is interesting and moreish and the cakey bread, is a suitable accompaniment.
The real show begins however, with the middle courses. The kingfish– somewhere between sashimi and ceviche– is served simply with a side of pickled cucumber and charred mandarin. It is beautiful and refined and the perfect prelude to our next dish, a stunning plate of grilled, butterflied prawns, speckled with brown butter and caper sauce which is nutty and rich. The prawns are succulent not to mention gargantuan and I reach culinary nirvana.
Starting to feel full, I’m dazed when two substantial fillets of lamb with anchovy jus are presented to us. With one bite, I find a second wind and manage to demolish the entire thing. The meat is tender and juicy but surprisingly (and thankfully) light.
Throughout the whole meal, the wait-staff are attentive and friendly. It’s a welcome relief from other fine-dining establishments. They explain each course perfectly, but the ritual is remarkably quick and unpretentious.
By the time desserts arrive, my partner and I start to feel the beginnings of food coma and have to coerce each other to keep going. But, thank goodness! The ‘three milks’ with rosemary and olive oil is unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. The gamey sheep’s milk yoghurt and ricotta pannacotta offsets the bold dulche con leche underneath. While the brown bread ice-cream is all kinds of weird and wonderful.
We leave the restaurant feeling smug. Ester is another big food win for Sydney, bringing us one step closer to arch nemesis, Melbourne. Indeed, this restaurant is the archetypal cool kid of the dining world—punchy and confident with zero pretence. I for one, am glad to have her on our team.
Ester is in Chippendale, Sydney. Hipsters and professional women alike can book here.
