Erin - Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Sydney

tl;dr friendly staff, some good courses but also some misses across the board. Don't think I'd be back again but could be tempted depending on the menu. I don't regret trying it though, glad I tried it because it's an interesting concept :)

Service: (mostly nits, but for a ~fine dining experience have some higher expectations) Friendly :) They chatted to everyone at the end of the night, which was lovely except we were the last table they got to - so we had to wait around a long while (and they were giving small snacks/gifts too, so I didn't want to just up and leave :P) Little inconsistent with cutlery replacement - a couple times my spoon got switched out for a more dish-appropriate spoon but my husband's didn't. Didn't bother us but yeah a note if you were expecting full fine dining experience Knife was too blunt to cut the lamb, needed a proper sharp knife. Combined with the bowl-ish plate we had, made it really difficult to cut without cartoonishly sticking my elbows out so I could get an angle on the meat and saw at it we were at the back of the room so usually last to get food (- somewhat annoying wait between courses) despite being pretty quick finishing the prior dish :(

Atmosphere: Generally nice Lighting was from the centre of the ceiling - anyone sitting facing away from the lighting couldn't really see their food that well, because it cast a solid shadow. Needs some wall lights or something haha Also the lighting changed/flickered several times throughout the night, wasn't sure what was up with that

Food: (I recognise this is very much an individual opinion) Not bad but wouldn't write home about it Gelato was good, but didn't feel like it was integral to a lot of the dishes. Felt more like an addition that the meal could've done without. Obvs it's a gelato experience and I signed up for this (I love gelato), but not totally sure it was the right thing for a lot of the savouries Often not balanced. Dishes often had really good individual components but all together it was too much / they overpowered each other. e.g. The starter course didn't need the chicken satay. It was so delicious and would've been plenty of flavour without it - the chicken felt like a distraction and I couldn't appreciate/taste the satay. the mixed herb gelato, spanner crab salad & mascarpone dish had a LOT of great flavour in it, but the addition of the (cucumber?) soup thing at the bottom was (delicious, but) super overpowering and really overtook the more delicate crab + herb flavours with its acidity. I like acidity - it was just too much here The smoked ocean trout dish was delicious and I'd love to eat it again! However, same thing as mentioned previously - it had plenty of flavour/complexity without the gelato, the gelato kinda didn't feel like it worked + made it feel more chaotic Drink pairings - great idea, hit/miss in terms of whether it went with the dish for me The cook on the meats (and components in general) was A+. Dessert was fab :) Honestly would've loved it to just be 6 desserts - they're so good at that but if you're reading this review, you probably know that already!

P.S. If you're lactose intolerant don't be an idiot like me and forget your lactase tablets :) pray for...

I am a die hard fan of Messina ice creams. Dining experience was nothing but disappointment and I love food and I am not a picky eater.

Drinks were sour /bitter all throughout the dining experience. Didn't make make sense and it was coming way before the food .

First dish was burrata ice cream with focaccia with salt and touch of powder tomatoes .

focaccia was tasty but too salty , burrata ice cream tasted like milk ice cream with just a powder / touch of tomatoes. Overall saltiness overpowered the dish. Lack of freshness killed this dish.

Second dish was probably the best of the night Chestnut soup with the ice cream which acted as a cream(?) for the soup. It made soup quite cold. The accompanied bread was overpowered with olive oil. Overall the taste was interesting all things could be good separately but unsure if they complemented each other.

Third dish : carpacio from watermelon and black sesame ice cream.

Overall too salty without reprieve. Ice cream was salty so did the dish.

4 dish mushroom donut with stracatella ice cream. Very oily and heavy but somewhat tasty. Again not much balance as it was heavy and oily with ice cream

Salty baked beetroot but nothing but salty. There was no additional flavours rather than a beetroot, baked beetroot, pure beetroot . Beetroot ice cream was so bland that none of the table of 4 could finish it.

Finally the desert which was ok. Too salty again.

With me being a fan of Messina ice cream and that I can't fault them I was mind boggled ghat this was so highly rated on Google reviews.

This was overcomplicated not tasty or balanced food. It was like puting things that don't belong together and see if people pretend to like it just because it was expensive .

I thought maybe Messina creative couldn't do vegetarian version well but it seemed that our meet eating friend were even more disappointed ( they bacon ice cream with raw eg and one crisp wasn't edible )

There weren't single dish I would like to eat again. I would rather not eat at all than eating any of those dishes. Lack of balance, everything was way too salty . Half way through the experience I was worried what next dish will be and was not looking forward to it.

Two stars only because of the staff. Otherwise it would have been 1 easily .

Ambience and...

@erinatmessina is @gelatomessina farm-to-table restaurant, named after their dairy farm in Erindale, Victoria, offering savoury & sweet dishes with gelato elements! we opted for the a la carte option:

🦪 oysters with white balsamic kombu vinegar, granny smith & pear, pear sherbet $7.5 each soo fresh and delicious, the vinaigrette was so perfect

🥒 pickles from erindale grown veggies, lemon & herb oil $7 they had the perfect crisp texture while still tasting straight from the soil

🍞 milk ciabatta $11, a fresh messina milk bread with jersey cheese and olive oil the bread was absolutely perfect, I did just think the cheese needed a liiiiiittle bit more salt

🐄 tartare toast with jersey beef, parmigiano, jalapeno sorbet $18 great balance of flavours, I loved the taste of the jalapeno sorbet

🧀 cacio o pepe cookie sandwich with macadamia, caramelised honey, parmesan gelato $15 the parmesan gelato was so strange but I kind of loved it, it had this funk that was surprising but really yum, the sweet honey really complemented each bite

🦐 prawn toast with brioche, mixed seeds, tomato sriracha sorbet $19 definitely my fave snack! the tomato sorbet was so cool, the tomato wasn't too acidic or sweet, such a wonderful addition to refresh the piping hot prawn filling

🥧 to share was the beef pie with jersey beef bourguignon, cacao puff pastry and ketchup gelato $25 serving size was a little bit smaller than expected for a "main" but we adored the flavours of this pie, the beef was rich and soft, and again the ketchup gelato wasn't too acidic or sweet so it balanced the pie perfectly. pastry crust was 10/10

overall I think we pretty much loved everything! the price point was pretty good and I enjoyed the unique gelato elements in each of the dishes. I think i'd def come back to try out anything new (and for that prawn toast)!!

Check out my food Instagram @erinxeats for more!

#erin...