Oscillate Wildly, Newtown

There’s a thrill that’s part of a new restaurant experience, and that’s how it was at Oscillate Wildly. My Fooding experiences in the last year or so have been somewhat limited and non-documented so there was a lot of fun had in just the photography experience.

Oscillate Wildly is a rather new restaurant tucked away in one of Newtown’s side streets, a little off the main road it’s small and lively atmosphere is a great place to just sit with friends and enjoy good food. Split between Squishies and myself we ordered up a range of dishes.

Seared Scallops, Black Rice, Confit Garlic, Chlorophyll
I’m still rather clueless as to what the heck Chlorophyll is (I’m guessing the green smear in the middle). While the Scallops were moist and plump, the black rice was a strange addition as it seemed rather flavourless, and the green smear was just confusing. But then I’m a sucker for scallops and never hesitated ordering this dish.

Cured Salmon, Beetroot-Cucumber Noodles, Goats Milk, Rice Powder
The Beetroot noodles amused me but the salmon was nice and squishy. The goats milk made for an interesting combo, but then again this was Squishies dish and she’ll know more about it. On the plus side, it was really quite pretty.

Qing: While the rice powder gave the dish an interesting crunchy texture and the beetroot-cucumber noodles was a bit oddly limp (vegetables aren’t usually so floppy from memory), both had a rather subtle flavour and in the case of the the noodles, I wasn’t too sure if it really added anything to the dish. It might have been that the salmon and goats milk combination was just so scrumptious that they demanded your full tasting attention. I was slightly dejected when it was finished.

Fish of the Day (Snapper), Parmesan Custard, Pickled Cauliflower-Fennel Salad
I really was in a seafoody mood that day and decided to go with all Fish all Day. The photo makes the serving look deceptively large, in fact it was rather moderately sized I thought. However! The skin was crunchy and the flesh clung to the underside, only to fall off smoothly once attacked with the fork. I’m not so sure what was so pickled about the salad but it was a smooth creamy addition to the main.

Confit Pork Belly, Pear-Parsnip Puree, Shallots
There’s something about Pork Belly which I adore, maybe it’s just the awesome fattyness of it all but the flavour really just bursts in your mouth. A worthy addition to my memory of the various styles of Pork Belly which I’ve eaten, the meat was firm but once again fell apart when approached by a fork. The serving was actually quite large and I couldn’t help but eye the dish a little once the fish had been put away.

Qing: “Oh so soft!” was my first thought, which was quickly followed by, “Mmmm fatty goodness” – though one of the slices had more fat on one end than the other and it rapidly became too fatty (but overall it was the perfect amount of the fatty goodness). The savoury pork belly was nicely balanced with the slightly sweet pear-parsnip puree. Because I don’t like shallots (and utterly grateful that they were huge pieces), I didn’t try to see if it did anything for the dish. Honestly, it was almost perfect and quite filling.

Tonka bean panna cotta, banana, smoked maple syrup
Sadly at this point my camera skills failed me and I have only this badly photoshopped image to present to you. Easily the standout dish for me for the night, I was suckered in half by the panna cotta and the other half by the banana (there’s just something about bananas…). Deliciously wobbly with random foam on top, the mildness of the tonka bean complimented the overly sweet banana beautifully and I proceeded to almost lick my plate clean.

White chocolate cake, rooibos, yoghurt, pink grapefruit
While I was curious about the rooibos ice-cream (a form of black tea we are informed by our waitress) I’ve been a self imposed chocolate ban, simply for the reason that I’ve grown tired of the taste. The pink grapefruit was a surprising hit combined with the cake and ice-cream almost making me wish I’d gone for this dessert.

Qing: To be honest, the white chocolate cake itself was just decent – nothing that made my taste buds dance as with the previous dishes. The pink grapefruit on the other hand was a riotous (and slightly tart) party – it was pretty awesome; the rooibos was quite lovely and sedately smooth in comparison. The yoghurt, I felt, brought out a bit more flavour from the cake and went quite nicely with the other flavours.

Oscillate creates this homely atmosphere with its tiny dining area and friendly staff, the tables were filled up within 20 minutes of us arriving and I couldn’t help but continue gawking at the other dishes that arrived around us. Service was more than fast with barely a pause between dishes and staff more than amused by our photography antics. Having heard that the menu changes on a regular basis I’d be more than happy to revisit in a few months.

Many thanks to my guest blogger for her contributions and invite!

Oscillate Wildly
275 Australia St
Newtown, NSW
02 9517-4700

4 Comments

1. squishies

   January 3, 2008

   

   All good! =D

   Good food must be shared ^_______^

   Reply
2. Teresa

   January 12, 2008

   

   ohhhhh i wanted to try here! looks so good! mmmm

   Reply
3. Sepia Restaurant , Sydney - eatshowandtell

   August 10, 2009

   [...] here. Martin Benn was the Executive Chef at Tetsuya’s and Daniel Puskas was the Head Chef of Oscillate Widly. Surely we were in for a treat [...]

   Reply
4. Sepia Restaurant and Wine Bar – Sussex St, Sydney CBD, NSW

   January 5, 2010

   [...] Martin Benn was the Executive Chef at Tetsuya’s and Daniel Puskas was the Head Chef of Oscillate Widly. Then Mitch Orr who won Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year award 2009 and Lemonpi Y, a [...]

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