Universal, Darlinghurst

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Universal restaurant, which has graced Sydney with flavours from all over the globe (and, of course, its fancy twist on the Golden Gaytime), will no longer exist as at the end of April. It is thus why I responded enthusiastically in the affirmative when a friend invited me along on a last minute weeknight venture there.

 Located in a little open square that I didn't know existed, Universal visually stands out from the other restaurants with that distinct orange glow. The random brass statue right next to it is also a great conversation filler. Gravitating towards the light, we claimed our table and perused the menu. Our waiter explained that unlike other restaurants, Universal does not do degustations, but that people order a number of dishes a la carte. The list of savouries are arranged such that the lightest dishes are at the top and the heaviest are at the bottom - with a separate one for the vegetarians.

The recommended number of dishes per person is 3 savouries and 1 dessert, but being a small eater, I stuck to 2 savouries and a dessert. Wise choice in the end, as I was feeling pretty stuffed after the second savoury.

Universal has a pretty extensive drinks menu, but I settled on a detox virgin (mocktail) they called "Ruby Baby". Containing raspberry sorbet, grapefruit, cranberry and lemonade, it was sweet, tart and useful for clearing my palate throughout the night.

Ruby Baby ($9.00)

Next came the complimentary bread, which looked and tasted like brown rye. The accompanying olive oil had a light, bitter aftertaste.

My first savoury dish was the lamb rump, served with roasted pumpkin, saffron rice and spiced chickpeas, smoked almonds and bits of juicy pomegranate. I loved the flavours of the spices, but the lamb was quite rubbery. It's hard to tell in the photo, but the portions were also really small for the price charged - I know saffron is expensive, but it's not that expensive.

Lamb rump ($31.00)

My second course was roasted snapper immersed in a curry gravy and accompanied by cubed tomatoes, spanner crab (sprinkled on top), mint salsa and spiced coconut. The curry was spicy, slightly creamy, and slightly sour. The spanner had a nice flaky texture, made flavoursome on top of its bed of sliced young coconut.

Snapper ($32.00)

 With my whole table ordering the Gaytime Goes Nuts, I decided to deviate from the norm and ordered the Mocha Bomb. Which led to extreme sugar overload. The mocha bomb was a cube of cakey chocolate mousse, espresso ice cream (sandwiched by more dark chocolate), and 2 or 3 balls of chocolate hidden inside. It was probably better to share this one with someone (with a light dessert to balance out all that cocoa).

Mocha Bomb ($20.00)

Interior of chocolate bomb

I sampled bits and pieces of what the others had (including the Gaytime Goes Nuts, of course). Here's what they consumed:

Rabbit ($29.00)

This dish was slow braised rabbit with chorizo, swiss chard and a gruyere cloud. It was encased inside potato and leek pastry. I refused to eat this one because my brother's "children" are rabbits. If you're like me but want to have the cloud, they do have a vegetarian equivalent.

Risotto balls ($28.00)

 This was one of the vegetarian dishes - 3 sizable risotto balls covered in an avalanche of roasted cashew salad.

Duck ($32.00)

I had someone strongly recommend this duck dish to me, so I couldn't resist and stole some. It was sichuan spiced duck with a giant seared sea scallop, asparagus, lychee and smoked eggplant sambal. My forkful didn't contain any eggplant sambal or scallop  but the duck was crunchy and moistened by the fresh lychee.

 

Venison ($31.00)

This was rare roasted venison with beetroot and horseradish spelt risotto and a goats cheese cigar. I really liked this dish because of the tender but substantial texture of the venison. The risotto was also really tasty. Had a bit of food envy.

Gaytime goes nuts ($25.00)

 The famed tower of gaytime. They really boosted up the price on this one, but considering it won't be around for much longer they could charge $30 for it and heaps of people would still order it. I think what makes it so distinctive is the hazelnut caramel inside and the crunchy tuille skirt. I only had a spoonful and really want to go back and have a whole dish of it, but I was told that after a while it's too sweet and rich. Probably another dessert for sharing.

Little miss sunshine ($20.00)

 The little miss sunshine was a really light dessert, consisting of passionfruit banana and yoghurt sorbet, coconut cloud, papaya, pineapple and passionfruit. It was overall nice and summery, but as much as I love papaya, it was the sore thumb of the dish - too dense and distinctive to match everything else.

Overall, Universal has good flavours and friendly service, but the food is kind of really overpriced.

Bentley Restaurant & Bar, Surry Hills

Bentley Restaurant & Bar is nestled amongst a host of vintage shops and other eateries on Crown Street. Despite the overcast weather (and intermittent rain), Surry Hills was buzzing with activity. When we arrived, however, we were the first ones there (having made a booking for noon). Business soon picked up, though, and I was glad we had the first pick of tables and snagged a window seat!

We opted for the $55 fixed price lunch and then proceeded to observe the lunch crowd, which consisted of a healthy mix of young couples, girlfriends on catch-ups, more seasoned patrons, and a young family. We were soon served complimentary sliced sourdough bread with olive oil. The olive oil was subtle and complemented the fresh bread well. It was somewhat awkward breaking off pieces of the bread because we weren't given bread plates. Genius I am, I didn't think to do it over the bread board and ended up getting crumbs on the table.

Sourdough bread with olive oil dip

Anyway, I digress. The first course was octopus flavoured with garlic and almond. This was one of my favourites of the day. I barely had to chew the pieces of octopus because the meat was so well-tenderised and the creamy sauce was so mouthwatering I wanted to lick the plate. I thought I could taste basil and cheese in the sauce, but the main star was the chopped garlic. My lunch buddy thought the garlic was a bit too strong, but I'm a massive fan of it, so it didn't phase me.

Octopus

 The second course was a vegetarian dish made up of a thin, crispy sliver of eggplant (the brown bit sticking up), with salsify and baby turnip. What exactly is salsify? Turns out it's a white root vegetable. The salsify was pureed and presented slightly warm on the plate, which was nice as my stomach tends to become unsettled when I eat cold dishes. The texture was slightly starchy and the taste was akin to potatoes. The other vegetables were slightly crunchy and pretty fun to eat because they looked so delicate and pretty. The course on the whole was fresh, light and tangy with great textures, but I have to say that the meat dishes stand out more.

Eggplant

 The third dish was poached tuna with amaranth, artichokes, ice plant and bisque sauce. The theme of the ocean really sprang out, with the use of not only tuna, but octopus (a tie-back to the first course) and mussel. The amaranth was slightly grainy, reminding me of chewy cous cous, and there were bits of seaweed made in different ways. The dried, darker seaweed was crispy, which contrasted nicely with the rice-like mound of amaranth. The bisque sauce provided the sodium and moisture necessary to flavour the dish and reminded me of the oily layer of minestrone soup.

Poached tuna

 The final savoury course was pork cheek and belly with sprigs of fennel, black garlic and calamari. Eaten alone, the pork cheek would have been too salty, but it was just right with the dollops of green and black sauce. The mini slabs of pork belly were rich and I had to repress another urge to lick the plate. The tiny mouthful of calamari was tender (just like with the octopus). A beautiful main.

Pork cheek

 Finally, we were served a melon sorbet with fresh slices of melon, coconut cream and liquorice. I'm not a fan of liquorice, so thankfully it wasn't too strong and it actually went nicely with the coconut cream. The dessert was refreshing and tasty, but compared to the mains, it wasn't outstanding. It was nevertheless a lovely way to polish off the meal.

Melon sorbet

The lunch is well-paced and it takes a little less than an hour and a half to eat through the lunch menu. The waitstaff was observant and took care of us really well - I've found one of the best indicators of good service is when they clear dishes/ replace cutlery/ refill your water glasses unobtrusively throughout the meal, and they passed that particular test with flying colours. All in all, the combination of mouthwatering dishes and friendly, attentive service made this visit fantastic value for money. I've definitely made a note to return when their seasonal menu changes!