Birch — Restaurant in Moss Vale

My partner and I had the 4 course set menu last night. The quality of the food a little later...but other factors detracted from the experience we were expecting from a restaurant with a high review according to the AGFG. From the lack of a timely greeting and the initial inability to find our reservation, the slightly chilly temperature of the atmosphere (apparently due to the front door being left wide open), tablecloths that were clearly not ironed or steamed, boxes of wine stacked up against the bar in full view of customers, and other patrons having to pay for their meals at the doorway entrance of the kitchen, indicated to us that this restaurant needs to seriously polish up its very rough edges if it wants to have returning customers. We have dined at fine-dining establishments such as Sixpenny, Automata, Yellow, Cirrus, Bentley, Lumi and others so we know what a fine-dining experience should be like. The food was average. The duck terrine was slightly over-salted, the 2 small samples of luke-warm Black Angus weren't quite enough to be called a 'main', some of the accompanying mushrooms were cold, the green top of the carrot had not been washed properly enough as the crunching of grit in the mouth indicated and the citrus tart was not adequately set and too sweet. The parsnip ice-cream, although tasty, was icey in texture. The waiter collected the sorbet glasses like he was collecting and stacking beer glasses at the local pub, when in fact he should have had a serving tray. The loud, startling noise eminating from the kitchen when cutlery was being packed away was another distraction. The atomsphere remained cold and we kept our coats on all evening. It has the makings of a good restaurant but will need to work on these issues for us to return...

OH-MY-GOD... AMAZING! We had the chef's Rogue menu with wine pairing and each of the six courses were incredible! Not only the food was great, the two waiters were the most polite, amiable, funny, smiling people we met in our trip to the Southern Highlands ♥️ Each dish pretty as a picture, beautifully plated, and each wine pairing served with a detailed explanation of why that wine had been selected to complement the dish. The chef went to great lengths to accommodate my chilli intolerance and replaced with other ingredients in each dish (not just removed the chilli, but replaced with other ingredients that provided a little kick without being too aggressive to my stomach) and they did such a great job, replacing it with mustard seeds in one dish and with pickled cauliflower in other... You can tell they actually had fun trying to step up to the challenge and I was so grateful for it! It almost made me feel special, rather than a nuisance (which is the case in most other places)!

I could only fault one little thing and that is the fourth course was rather cold, which was a bit of a shame, but everything else was so so perfect that I'm still giving them 5 stars (and we did tip generously as they definitely deserved it). We'll return soon!!! Thank you for a dinner we will remember for...

Honestly delicious.

If you want a gorgeous restaurant in the southern highlands then you need to come here. The ambiance alone is a reason to come to this restaurant.

I came here with my girlfriends the other night and it was delicious. We shared a starter and then ordered mains. The cocktails were delicious, I was expecting the Autumn Warmer to be more like a Negroni than it was but it was still delicious.

They gave us beef carpaccio with truffle Mayo (I believe it was) with garlic chips to start with and I just wanted more, it was delicious!

We shared the school prawns and I can only say order them! They’re crispy and yummy and everything you want in school prawns.

I had the duck Wellington for dinner, if you want something that’s on the bigger side of the mains I recommend this as I only got 1/3 through it! Delicious, non traditional but very yummy.

The gnocchi was yummy along with the beef too!

Overall it was a great experience, if it was to lose points somewhere when we first arrived the service was a little lacking but there was only two of them! Aside from that great experience :) will try to return.

Please be advised you’ll need to book in advance as it’s sold out most...