teresa 28 January 2010 Dinner, European, French, Spanish, Sydney, Lower North Shore 13 Comments  Print This Post  Email This Post

My second visit…

From the outside of the restaurant, the Burlington looks like a small, modern and rather unassuming location. I decide to make a return visit to Burlington to show my international visitor the simple, yet flavoursome cuisine served here.

Upon entering, you would assume the restaurant to be only one room seating around 50 or so people, but to my visitor’s surprise, he was surprised at how large the restaurant was.Don’t be fooled. A trip to the washroom will talk you on a 30 second journey past three separate dining rooms and a full bar!

On my first visit to Burlington, I was quite impressed at the fact that I was given the choice of an entrée or main course size for majority of dishes on the menu. This gave me more freedom to try more dishes, and it avoids the restriction for most diners where you wish you could try more of the entrée dishes.

Each table is served with fresh slices of multi-grain bread. I love how the bread was FULL of grains. It made the bread consumption a lot more fun, trying to chew through each grain and trying to work out what type of grain it was (possibly this is just a Teresa-thing.)

For entrees, we decide to order TWO to share… (price displayed include both entrée & main sizes)

Hiramasa kingfish on panzanella salad - 20(e)/28(m)

Confit chicken wings, seared scallops, apple & pear salsa - 14/25

Everyone agreed both dishes were delicious, the only drawback may have been the size! We finished both in a jiffy! The portions of the entrée would be good for those that may want to try more dishes but not eat as much.

Premium Black Angus 120 day grain fed sirloin - 250gm/35 400gm/45

Platter of mustard

Served with hand cut chips, red wine jus and sauce bearnaise.

D orders the steak as he has craved to taste top Australian beef. The steak was rare and rather bloody, but for D, it was perfect. I ask him why, and he responds with “Because I love steak. If there was no risk to eating raw beef and it were socially acceptable, I would order it raw everytime. That said, my rare steak was cooked to order here and was flavorful, juicy and satisfied my caveman sensibilities.”

The steak was presented with a platter of mustard options, which D was surprised to see at first, but then became a BIG fan of. “Spicy stoneground mustards taste great on steaks.”, he exclaims.

Tonight, I am also dining with my favourite 2, Bubble and Favourite (names too cutesy?) and us all, being of the mind to share and share alike, tasted and opined on each other’s entrees/mains throughout our dinner.

Pan seared tuna loin with roasted red peppers, jamon & saffron - 18/29

The pan seared tuna loin with roasted red peppers, jamon & saffron was tasty and the presentation was nice, but it’s not really something to order again. After trying, we all agreed.

Raw salmon with avocado puree, radish & smoked bonito - 15/22

Favourite’s Raw salmon with avocado puree, radish & smoked bonito looked more like a mural than a plate of food. It was a heartbreak once we started devouring at the mural. It was beautiful in presentation and just fresh and tasty to eat as it looks.

Crisp pork belly with confit of savoy cabbage

Bubble’s crispy pork belly was the favourite of the night for some, mostly due to the crackling (nomnom!) – well for me anyways. He’s the toughest critic when it comes to pork belly. Apparently, he orders pork belly most of the time he goes out dining (which is quite often). This tough critic found the pork belly to be “satisfactory.” D, on the other hand, was quickly falling in love with the crunchy pork skin. It was crunchy at first and melted in your mouth in the way that hog fat and skin should render.

And as the boys moaned about being way too full, us girls maintain we have a second stomach for desserts, so we order away…

Tiramisu - 12

I forget what spirit was in this tiramisu, but it has a surprisingly strong alcoholic flavour, which was different and in a GOOD way.

Banana split with honeycomb & hot chocolate sauce - 12

As we ate this, it brought back childhood memories, where my brother and I would make our own banana splits and douse the banana with a HEAP of chocolate sauce and ice cream and 100’s & 1000’s. I really enjoyed the honeycomb in this dessert the most. It gave everything a nice crunchy adventure whilst consuming it.
But for D, he never fails to end his dining experiences with a nice cup of coffee + biscotti.

The food was good. The company was good. The atmosphere was good. The service was good. I want to go back (again). And as they write on their website:
“It’s all about casual dining done well; we want people to have a great meal with friendly service. Burlington is all about the options.”

I’ll cheers to that!

Burlington Bar and Dining
6 Burlington St,
Crows Nest NSW 2065
Tel: 02 9439 7888

Web: http://www.burlingtonbardining.com.au