Service was a little patchy. It took us a while to place our food order and the waitress kept signalling with her finger she'd be a minute and had to ask another waiter who was busy doing something else about something before coming to us so we had to wait for the two of them to finish whatever needed doing before placing our order. But after this little blip we were back on track.
We started with a Hokkaido Crab Croquette which came on a carrot salad. The croquette was a nice balance of crab and potato with a crispy crumb. The carrot salad was bland - strings of carrot with some creamy mayo so I left most of that.
Next was a small sushi and sashimi tasting plate. I'd been warned by my lovely dining companion Stefanie, that sometimes the fish is questionable so didn't raise my hopes. I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the kingfish sashimi and the three pieces of sushi that consisted of salmon, tuna and a whitefish. Very delicate I enjoyed the soft rice and the generous cut of fish.
Main course - we both opted for the eye fillet. There was also a Yellowfin tuna option. The eye fillet came with pommes puree and a mushroom, red wine and bacon reduction. The French influence certainly came through this dish and I loved it. The eye fillet was tender and flavoursome. The pommes puree and the mushrooms and bacon chunks were delightful. So delicious to have such a flavoursome, strong and rich jus to support the steak and the pommes puree.
We were offered tea or coffee which we opted to take out. All in all a great deal for the money paid. Good food, nice ambience, comfortable place to sit and linger or to chomp, chat and leave. Given a main dish costs around $38 on an evening, this express lunch is a great bargain.
See you soon Heirloom!