Universal Restaurant, Darlinghurst
Wanting to eat out and to give my newly acquired camera a test run, F booked me in for a secret dinner – secret because he wouldn’t tell me where we were going! Bah. Eventually though, as the week progressed, he caved and revealed that we were going to eat at Universal. The website looks so vibrant and colourful, I hoped that the food would be the same as well.
Approaching Universal, I was a little surprised to find that it was a semi-outdoors restaurant. As we were seated at our table, I had some misgivings with the lighting as we had the street lamp streaming in bluish-tinged light onto the top half of the table and a warm orange glow emanating from the inside of the restaurant onto the bottom half of the table. Ugh. I apologise for the weird lighting in the photos, I should have asked to change tables when F urged me to. Sigh. Hindsight is totally 20/20 (or when you see the photos in Lightroom and end up hitting your head on the desk).
Funky menus
I’m a sucker for pretty or cool looking menus/crockery/decor/bathrooms – I can’t help but coo over them and look at them admiringly at different angles. I also love touching the paper used for the menu – feeling its silky smoothness and thickness, as well as admiring the font they use (weird, I know). Universal’s menu had me doing all of these and it was then that I found out it was awarded 2 hats this year.
Just as we had started perusing the menu, our waiter came up and asked whether we’ve dined here before. Amused and slightly curious about the question, we replied with a negative and he launched into an explanation of the menu.
The way how Christine Manfield set out her seasonal menu, we were told, was to have the lightest dish at the top left-hand page and as you go down the page (going on to the right-hand side of the page), the dishes progressively gets heavier. All the dishes are the same size and he went on to saying that most diners chose three dishes each, usually having 2 light dishes and 1 heavier dish or 3 heavier dishes for those who have a heartier appetite.
In a way, that made our choices that little bit easier and harder at the same time, but as always, we managed to work it out.
Ruby Baby Mocktail and Cosmopolitan Cocktail ($9 and $17)
As with all things spicy, I’m terrible with alcohol. Some of my friends tease me by calling me a “Cadbury”, by which they mean it only takes a glass and a half and I’m gone. I’m that bad – even worse on an empty stomach! I normally opt for a lemon lime bitters, but their mocktails caught my eye and ordered the Ruby Baby mocktail, which was made up of raspberry sorbet, ruby grapefruit, cranberry and soda, while F ordered a Cosmopolitan.
The mocktail was so refreshing and delicious with a hint of tartness. It took a lot to try and not slurp it down in one go.
Warm Sour Dough with Olive Oil
I’ve been trying not to take photos of bread, but obviously it didn’t work for this dinner. I love being served warm bread; perhaps it makes me think that it’s just come out fresh from the oven and I imagine the kitchen smelling of that rich, fragrant perfume of just-baked bread mingling with aromas from dishes being cooked. *bliss*
Entrees (or Light Dishes)
Sichuan Spiced Duck, Palm Heart, Cape Gooseberry and Coconut Pancake ($26)
Inside View of Sichuan Spiced Duck, Palm Heart, Cape Gooseberry and Coconut Pancake ($26)
This dish might not look like much, but boy did it really pack a punch in terms of flavour and texture. The coconut pancake was so soft and it felt so delicate that when I was picking it up to eat it I was afraid that it would fall apart in my hands, but it wasn’t as fragile as it seemed. I was a bit worried about the spice (particularly since it’s Sichuan), but the chilli kick wasn’t too bad and surprisingly I found that I could handle it. (Maybe I’m building up that tolerance people keep telling me about?)
The duck was soft and juicy and the flavours all together was delicious (and sadly my vocabulary is lacking here to describe and pinpoint what exactly made us moan with each bite).
Seared Sansho Beef, Miso Seaweed, Anchovy Cloud ($24)
As soon as I saw the combination of ingredients, I felt compelled to order it – especially the mysterious anchovy cloud component. However, even after eating it, I still don’t know what the anchovy cloud was (maybe that dollop of sauce on top?). Ah well, so long as it tastes good right? Actually, to be technically correct: it tasted freaking amazing.
The beef was perfection – I’ve had pretty good beef before, but this just blew everything out of the water; it is succulence at its finest. The combination of the miso seaweed and sauce with the beef was spectacular. Again, we couldn’t help but moan over each mouthful.
As the first two dishes cleared, I hoped that scrumptious trend would continue.
Black Truffle Sea Scallops and Spiced Pork, Globe Artichoke and Roasted Hazelnuts ($32)
We both have a weakness for scallops and it’s pretty much a must-order whenever we see a scallops dish on the menu (I have a niggling feeling that you might already know that). Our benchmark is Selah’s seared scallops: they are blissfully perfect each and every time we have them and we adore them to bits. We haven’t tasted anything that is equal to or has surpassed Selah’s seared scallops… until now.
The scallops were brilliantly cooked and F ventured to say that it may be even better than Selah! I was more conservative than F, as it’s been a while since we’ve had Selah’s scallops and because the taste and texture of Universal’s scallops were so similar. It would be a tough decision to make unless we had the two dishes side by side (that thought in itself makes me wiggle in delight). They are at least just as good as Selah and it made me so happy to find another restaurant that cook scallops the way we love for them to be cooked. We have yet to try searing scallops ourselves; scallops in our areas look dreadful and so we really do need to go to the fish markets – it’ll be my first time! I haven’t been yet.
Sorry about raving on about the scallops, now that that’s out of my system, onto the rest of the dish.
The spiced pork was lovely and tender, while the artichoke and hazelnuts really gave the dish more textures with each bite. The whole dish was so wonderfully balanced and well-seasoned, there wasn’t a thing that we thought it needed or could improve upon.
Soft Shell Crab Tempura, Roasted Tomato Chilli Relish, Coconut Cream ($26)
This dish was a lot bigger than I imagined it would be. The crabs were definitely bigger than what I have been used to (what you see there are two crabs), but that’s not a bad thing. The relish did have a bit of a kick and I found myself reaching for the glass of water quite frequently, but I couldn’t stop eating! It had that scrumptiously crispy-soft texture and the flavours were (according to F) “how soft shell crab should be”. I totally agree with him there, though mindful of the fact that most soft shell crab aren’t usually served with roasted tomato chilli relish and coconut cream.
So far, I am in awe of Christine Manfield’s flair of artfully combining different cuisines into the one delicious dish.
Fuji Mama Mocktail ($9)
By this time, I’ve finished off my Ruby Baby and was just going to stick with water, but I changed my mind at the last minute. I was so glad I did.
The mocktail contained: apple and honey puree, Peruvian spice syrup and apple juice and it has got to be the best mocktail I have ever tasted. It was sweet without being cloying and utterly refreshing. I wanted to steal the bartender so they could make me the mocktail at home… or bottle it and take it home.
Mains (or Heavy Dishes)
Veal Sweetbreads, Roasted Parsnip, Garam Masala Mushrooms ($24)
Being fans of cooking (reality) shows like Top Chef and Iron Chef, we’re no strangers to hearing about sweetbreads. What we haven’t experienced is seeing it on the menu and actually eating it. Needless to say, F was completely excited when he saw it on the menu and claimed it for himself it straight away.
To be honest, even though we’ve heard it so often, we never got around to looking up what exactly sweetbreads are (beside the fact that they’re categorised as “offal”). Wikipedia informs me that sweetbread is the throat and/or the pancreas of (usually) a calf or lamb. That would explain the soft, almost-but-not-really chewy, texture. It was the texture that I couldn’t get used to or like, but it was a hit with F.
I liked the flavours of the dish – it was very much reminiscent of Indian cuisine (duh I suppose with the Masala component) – and loved the roasted parsnips.
Spiced Lamb Fillet, Sweet and Sour Pumpkin, Baked Quince ($28)
Like all the other proteins we’ve had (bar the sweetbread because I’m not sure what’s good or not), the lamb fillet was perfectly cooked, well-seasoned and it didn’t have that strong lamb taste I can’t seem to like. I don’t know what it was spiced with, but it was really delicious – playing off nicely with the other components of the dish.
I normally don’t like pumpkin (except, strangely enough, in soup form), but the sweet and sour pumpkin was surprisingly likeable… and of course, very tasty.
We were getting surprisingly full by this stage and we were glad that we took our waiter’s advice of getting just three dishes each.
Desserts
Black Beauty - Caraibe Chocolate Mousse, Chocolate Sacher Cake, Pedro Ximenez Jelly, Candied Cumquats ($18)
You can’t say this dessert is not a feast for the eyes. It was so pretty, we hesitated to dig in (a rare occurrence, surely!). The mousse was utterly smooth and velvety and the cake! Oh, bliss… It was rich but not over-bearing with the candied cumquats helping to cut through the chocolate.
The gloss on the dessert is from the Pedro Ximenez jelly. I had no idea, but I thought Pedro Ximenez was some famous chef and that the jelly was a nod in his direction. Thanks to Wikipedia (again), I now know that Pedro Ximenez is a type of white grape originating from Spain, though notable regions also include Australia. To be honest, I know that we tasted the jelly on its own, but it’s been so long since this dinner I can’t seem to remember what it tastes like (if anything).
Bananarama - Banana Marshmallow, Salted Peanut Caramel, Passionfruit cream, Passionfruit Banana Sorbet ($18)
Inside View of Bananarama - Banana Marshmallow, Salted Peanut Caramel, Passionfruit cream, Passionfruit Banana Sorbet ($18)
This dish reminds me of Minh because she adores all banana-related desserts – it’s her dessert weakness, as scallops are my entree weakness. The presentation was fairly impressive as well and again, we hesitated to eat it.
It has got to be the best dessert I have had the pleasure of eating. There were so many textures to experience and the flavour combinations were so spot on with none of the components overpowering another. I was muttering “oh my god” with almost delirious adoration and had to stop myself before anyone heard me. “Minh would go crazy for this dessert!” I thought to myself and also that it was a pity that she wasn’t here to taste it. I wondered if I should message her and rub it in that I was having the best dessert ever (banana too no less), but I thought it’d be too mean spirit of me and let it be.
It was a bitter-sweet feeling when I finished the dessert.
Inside Universal
Looking Outside Universal
You can see the two sources of my headache when processing the shots taken from those two photos (perhaps not so much the blueness from the street lamp, but trust me, it’s there), but I think the almost-but-not-quite-outdoors design plays such a big part in creating Universal’s casual fine dining experience. There are, I think, two other restaurants tucked away in this little courtyard (one of which is Phamish, where Ms. Taste and Simon have blogged about) and we had a good view (and in hearing range) of the kids playing tag or something while their parents waited in line for a seating.
I wondered though what would happen if it rained. I’m quite sure Christine Manfield would have thought of a suitable contingency plan, since her dishes were so well thought out.
Universal was everything we had hoped for and more. Besides the food being positively amazing, the wait staff were attentive, friendly and courteous – and they always had a smile for you (though not in a creepy or sleazy way). The attentiveness of the wait staff was evident when a diner’s napkin slid off his lap without him knowing and a waiter quickly darted forward, replacing the fallen napkin with a new one on the diner’s lap and whisking away the dirtied napkin. They weren’t obtrusive either, a quick locking of the eyes was pretty much all that was needed to gain their attention. Even the timing of the dishes was good: the food didn’t take ages to come out and it didn’t come out so quickly that you felt like they were trying to rush you out of there.
Leaving Universal feeling satisfied, content and ultimately happy as clams, F announced that it is now his favourite restaurant. It is definitely in my top 3 restaurants and we were thinking of coming back here the week after (though sadly we didn’t).
Universal
Republic 2 Courtyard, Palmer Street
Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010
Ph: (02) 9331 0709
Web: http://www.universalrestaurant.com/
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By squishies
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This article was written on 07 Sep 2009, and is filed under Dessert, Dinner, Modern Australian, Sydney, Inner East.
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WOHOOOO for female chefs! Christine Manfield definitely knows what she is doing.
Another place opting for that ‘tapas’ style menu. Decor looks just as vibrant and colourful as the website does
top 3 aye? what’s the other 2?
btw pedro ximinez is my FAVE wine to order. it’s a sickly sweet dessert sherry and tastes of burnt raisins/sultanas etc. and is thick almost like a sauce (the ones that i like anyway)! think molasses! yummmmm. most sommeliers go :S when i order it as my beverage of choice at the beginning of the meal!
Cadbury.. hehe. I can relate, unfortunately. And don’t you just hate weird lighting?? Your photos still turned out beautifully though.
.-= Y´s last blog ..You can take the girl out of the ghetto, but you can’t take the gateau out of the girl =-.
Oh wow I’ve heard so much about this place but never seen any photos of the food before. Everything looks spectacular and your photos are great! I’ve got a thing for scallops too
.-= Jacq´s last blog ..The Sydney Fish Markets, Pyrmont =-.
wow, your photos are looking great. did you need to use a flash. if not, they’re amazing. thanks for the mention of phamish. Lucio’s is also in the same area next to Phamish http://simonfoodfavourites.blogspot.com/2009/06/lucio-pizzeria-darlinghurst-18-june.html
After your review I’m putting this on my wish list. sounds worth checking out for a special occasion. 
.-= Simon Food Favourites´s last blog ..Cafe Sopra: Italian Eatery at Fratelli Fresh, Waterloo (22 August 2009) =-.
Very kind of you not to ring and gloat over your dessert – it would have been tempting
Sounds like an amazing meal!
.-= Arwen from Hoglet K´s last blog ..No Dig Gardening =-.
abercrombie: Hehe that she does.
poptart: Marque and Selah =) LOL I didn’t know you liked that type of wine. I can already see their faces XD
Y: Yeah =( Though it is a bit of a challenge – makes things interesting (if frustrating) haha. Thanks!
Jacq: Everything tasted spectacular too
Oh yay! I thought F and I were being weird in being so obsessed about them haha
Simon Food Favourites: Thanks! Nah, no flash used. Noticing that the white balance is a bit more neutral now without the flash and with the use of a grey card =) Yay!
Ah! So that’s the other restaurant. They were really quiet in comparison to Universal and Phamish.
Arwen from Hoglet K*blushes* It was a fleeting thought, but I would have felt so bad if I had.
marque! yummmm – i’m going back in december!! where’s the post?
selah: fail. *reow* my guest was devo’ed (after the meal) that i took her there and was actually offended that i took her there, thinking that i took her to selah on purpose to psst her off! :S
pedro ximinez tomorrow night at claude’s. BAM! still shattered it lost its 3 hats status 2 days before i go!
poptart: lol we’re going to Marque in mid-October so look out for the post then ^_^
Oh that’s terrible… I’ve never had anything but good experiences at Selah. Maybe I’ve been lucky or she has really high standards (and different too?).
=T Yeah I read. Sucks… Hopefully it’ll still be good though!
wait, so you haven’t been? how come it’s in your top 3?!?!
actually she doesn’t have really high standards, she’s a regular at pancakes on the rocks and lowenbrau et al and she didn’t have to pay so i know it wasn’t a price issue! doesn’t matter selah is on my banned list lol
poptart: I went last year, but I didn’t bring my camera *gasp* hahah
Ah well *shrugs* I suppose you can’t please everyone. I mean, Quay’s named top restaurant again and remember our experience last time? I still am wary about it.
gasp indeed! not even a PHONE pic?!?! tsk tsk!! lol
yeah Quay’s banned too. decor was SOOO 80′s! :S and the service was certainly not top notch!
poptart: Yeah =T It was actually pretty dark in there – phone camera would have struggled hard and it wasn’t worth it. Had an awesome degustation though! I’m so excited for October to come around =D Hehe
Makes me wonder really… =P
[...] – fine dining. Squishies from eatshow&tell reviews Christine Manfield’s Universal Restaurant in Darlinghurst, [...]
*sigh*
I love Universal toooooooo! It seems like their menu has changed quite alot since the last time I had visited. My highlight was their dessert – Universal Gaytime and raspberry ripple.
btw, awesome pictures!
.-= Yas´s last blog ..Braised beef to da max. =-.
Yas: Oooh that dessert sounds awesome! If I could, I’d eat here every 2nd week haha.
Thanks! =)
[...] There is always one dish that reminds F of why certain establishments earns three hats. For F, it was this dish. He thought it had every element of the perfect dish: it was visually orgasmic, mind-blowingly creative and most importantly salivatingly delicious. For me, this was the best dessert I’ve ever had – even better than the Bananarama from Universal. [...]
[...] Bananarama from Universal Restaurant, [...]
Totally agree this place is also one of top 3 for me & C. Absolutely top class service that can only be matched by Bilson’s & Rockpool. Everything on the plate just makes sense; the presentation, the aroma, the flavours. Chirstine never made a dish that have us thinking “Why she needs to do that?”….. never! Desserts too are to die for….
oh the other 2 for us; Bilson’s, Marque (but this restaurant is due for review).
[...] to go to, but somehow the timing has never quite worked out. Almost 2 years after I first read Squishies post on Universal I finally got to experience the glory that is Christine Mansfield’s [...]
I really want to try that Banana dessert! and how can you never been to the Fishmarket?!?!?!