There are some advantages to having a mid-week birthday. Usually I feel lucky if my birthday falls on a Saturday, thus making it easier to plan my birthday. However this only happens once every 7 years. One advantage to having a mid-week birthday is spreading out your birthday dinners to cover two weekends, thus prolonging your “Mememe It’s MY birthday” moment.
I’m not one of those people who hates celebrating my birthday like my mother in law, or one that doesn’t care about my birthday like my husband, an attitude borne out of being given rocks from the back garden for his 10th birthday present from well meaning alternative parents. It’s an unashamed “ME” fest and I am trying to coax the inner kid out of my husband and make him love celebrating his birthday too by giving him a full birthday weekend of activities and surprises and loads of gifts. I think I’m getting him to like Christmas too, he was also traumatised by a Christmas gift box of toilet cleaning supplies from his mum received about 8 years ago so he was similarly unenthusiastic about Christmas. My aim is to have him as enthused about birthdays and Christmas as I am.
So with my friends Teena, Philippe, Gina and Hot Dog, we decide on Balzac. Housed in a lovely sandstone building that has previously housed a Pizza Hut for over 10 years and changed hands many times over, it’s finally settled on Balzac. The 2 hatted restaurant featured in the SBS show Heat in the Kitchen was one that we’ve always been meaning to go to but for some reason never have. The couple Matthew Kemp (ex Banc chef) and Lela Radojkovic were living in their parent’s garage while the restaurant was starting up, giving us a glimpse into the hard life of a restaurateur and we shared their relief when they got their first hat and now they have their second.
The main thing when dining with this particular group of friends is the service. Hot Dog is one of those patrons that loves to make friends with the waiter or waitress but on his terms. He loves to cajole and tease them and try and get them to give him something for free or refer to an item as “Item 24 dollars”, and this is especially true when we visit expensive restaurants . Some waiting staff have been unsure how to deal with him slinking away uncomfortably with a scared expression on their face but some just laugh along with him and tease him right back which he loves. So it’s fortunate tonight that our waitress Yasmin is extremely lovely and seems to be a deft hand at dealing with Hot Dog. She has him eating out of the palm of her hand.
There are 6 mains to choose from and between the 6 of us we manage to sample 4 of them. Hot Dog is the only one to order an entree and I have a quick peek at the dessert menu which looks promising.
Our Amuse Bouche is the first to arrive and it’s a fennel veloute with harissa foam atop served with a salmon croquette. The tiny cup of soup is lovely and creamy and foamy but the harissa, usually a spicy and hot ingredient is very mild with virtually no chili taste to it at all. The salmon croquette is freshly fried and packed with salmon and an instant hit with the table and certainly does it’s job of exciting our tastebuds.
Big man+ small cup - Philippe takes a dainty sip
The accompanying bread is soft and warm, almost like a damper with a slight panini crust to it. It’s delicious and even a confirmed low carber like me takes a roll with the perfect temperature butter.
Smoked Salmon en Papillotes with Vichyssoise Mousse and House Smoked Oyster Vinaigrette $24
Hot Dog’s entree arrives, Smoked Salmon en Papillotes with Vichyssoise Mousse and House Smoked Oyster Vinaigrette. The mousse and potatoes are lighter touches and I expected to taste a more sharp flavour via capers or the usual smoked salmon accompaniments. Nevertheless Hot Dog is a satisfied customer and any grumbles he may have about the size are quickly quietened after his first bite.
Beef Short Rib with Smoked Ox Tongue, White Onion Puree and Mustard Dressing $36
Our mains appear at the same time, starting with Philippe and Gina’s Beef Short Rib with Smoked Ox Tongue, White Onion Puree and Mustard Dressing and it looks impressive. I try some of Gina’s rib and it’s deliciously soft, and prying it from the bone is easy. I wish I had ordered this instantly and the softly textured beef is fragrant and unctuous. The Ox Tongue is very thinly sliced and despite preconceptions of it being chewy, is delicately delicious to eat.
Confit Pork Belly with Shaved Cuttlefish, Chorizo, Chickpeas and Capsicums $35
I try Hot Dog’s Confit Pork Belly with Shaved Cuttlefish, Chorizo, Chickpeas and Capsicums and whilst he isn’t that impressed, Gina and I adore the taste and find it full flavoured and beautifully textured with the slightly crisp on the edge fatty pork belly perfect against the soft capsicums and other flavours. Another dish I wish I had ordered.
Ballontine of Chicken Leg with Pancetta, Potato Fondant, Baby Leeks and Parsley Jus Gras $34
I try some of my husband’s Ballontine of Chicken Leg with Pancetta, Potato Fondant, Baby Leeks and Parsley Jus Gras. It was nice but not as wowing as the other two mains. Granted he only gave me a bit of the actual Ballontine of chicken leg so I didn’t get to try it with the accompaniments which may have been cause for the less favourable comparison.
Barramundi with Duck Confit Rillette, Lentils and Thyme Butter $38
My Barramundi with Duck Confit Rillette, Lentils and Thyme Butter is covered with a foamy thyme butter sauce which is mildly fragrant. The barramundi is beautifully cooked, being slightly undercooked in the centre but not raw so that it is beautifully moist. The piece of fish needs a little more seasoning. The Duck Confit rilette is delicious perfection, soft and stringy in that glorious Duck Confit way and the pebbly lentils provide a textural contrast to the softness of the fish and duck.
Mixed Leaf Salad with Walnut Dressing $7
I try our sides, the Mixed Leaf Salad with Walnut Dressing is full of herbs and mixed leaves but a little light on the dressing.
Roast Sebago Potatoes with Beef Dripping, Thyme and Garlic $8
The Roast Sebago Potatoes with Beef Dripping, Thyme and Garlic sound the most promising and look glisteningly so but the potatoes themselves are awfully starchy and dry inside, they’re like eating roast potatoes that have been sitting under a buffet heat lamp for hours: dry and unappetising.
We take a short break before we’re lured by the dessert menu. Teena and I choose the Chocolate Bombe Alaska with Hazelnuts and Hazelnut Liquer, Gina chooses the Pumpkin pie with pumpkin seed ice cream and Philippe chooses the Rhubarb and Apple Crumble with ginger ice cream and custard, $2 of which will go to the HeartKids NSW for the month of May.
Pre-dessert: pannacotta with sweetened stewed plums and a praline top
Before our desserts arrive, we are given our pre-dessert which Hot Dog mishears for a Free Dessert which makes him rather happy but he was hoping more for ice cream with chocolate sauce. It’s a pannacotta with sweetened stewed plums and a praline top. It’s gorgeously soft with the crunchy praline on top providing the necessary crunch and ending.
Chocolate Bombe Alaska with Hazelnuts and Hazelnut Liquer $17
It’s not long before our desserts arrive and I dig into my Chocolate Bombe Alaska, the outside is nicely singed and spiky like Lisa Simpson’s hair. The inside ice cream is rich with bittersweet chocolate ice cream and it’s surrounded by hazelnut liqeur foam and crushed, roasted hazelnuts.
Our waitress is not happy that my Bombe has arrived sans a birthday candle so she has a word to the kitchen and she brings me out a lit candle with 3 petit fours: a cranberry fudge square, a chocolate fennel fudge square and a Chai truffle. It’s a lovely little touch to make me feel special. The Chai Truffle is very interesting, certainly very heady in scent. The fennel fudge isn’t very strong in fennel and tastes mainly like a rich dark chocolate fudge whereas the cranberry fudge square is lightly flavoured with cranberry resembling a slight cranberry flavoured jersey caramel.
Pumpkin pie with pumpkin seed ice cream $15
I try Gina’s Pumpkin pie with pumpkin seed ice cream. Being Canadian she is very well versed in Pumpkin pie and makes a mean pumpkin pie, draining her pumpkin mix for days to ensure that it’s the right consistency. She finds it too spiced for her liking and indeed it is very heady with nutmeg and cinnamon. The pumpkin seed ice cream is delicious, resembling a pistachio ice cream studded with lots of nubbly nuts.
I don’t get to try Philippe’s dessert, he is a little averse to sharing having grown up in a family of boys where mealtimes are a fend for yourself event but I am assured that it was indeed delicious. I adore the little copper pot serving style and mini jug of custard.
As we’re leaving our waitress wishes us a nice night and a Happy Birthday to me again. Hot Dog proclaims the service to be the best he’s ever received and we can see why it won the Silver Service food award from the SMH. High praise indeed for the service fussy Hot Dog!
Restaurant Balzac
141 Belmore Road Randwick NSW 2031
Tel: + 61 2 9399 9660
Fax: + 61 2 9399 6929
Email: restaurantbalzac@tpg.com.au
Web: www.restaurantbalzac.com.au
Open Tuesday through Saturday
Dinner from 6 pm onwards
Fridays for Lunch 12- 3
Last Sunday of Each Month for the Seasonal Degustation Dinner - 6.30pm onwards
13 Comments | Add your own
One of my favourite restaurants in Sydney! We love their monthly Sunday degustations. Have you tried The Burlington, their new bistro in Crows Nest? We’ve been meaning to get there for the last few weeks but haven’t managed yet.
hee the giant candle on the petit 4s is cute! happy birthday dude hope you have an awesome bday/bweek/bmonth
Hi Amanda-I was eyeing off their monthly Sunday degustation for a future visit. It sounds fabulous and there was a couple near us having the regular degustation and it looked fantastic. I haven’t tried it, in fact I didn’t know about it. I’d love to hear what you think of it if you go!
Hi chocolatesuze-It was rather cute!
Thanks so much! I’m going to one of your favourite restaurants Rise for one of my birthday dinners 
Happy Birthday! I went to Balzac for a birthday dinner some time back. Nice meal, but horrific memories of a singing dancing plastic cake they brought out at the end, which I didn’t know how to turn off, so had to let it run it’s course.
Hey NQN - great recap on the night. I think even the usually critical Hot Dog would agree. Very good choice in the end.
Well done NQN, let’s hope the photo of Philippe doesn’t turn off other potential diners!
happy birthday!!!
ive been wanting to try ‘Balzac’ sometime - it does seem right for a special occassion… the food looks delicious - beautiful presentation too!
Hi Y-Thanks!
I read your post about the dancing candle-how weird and it sounds a bit tacky!? Thankfully they’ve dispensed with it 
Hi Gina-Yes it was a lovely night, and let’s make plans for the degustation sometime in the future!
Hi Teena-Philippe may have started the Big Man+Small Cup trend, or at least be the best example of it!
Hi Anastasia-Thanks!
It is perfect for a special occasion, the last thing you want to worry about is the service or food!
spiky like lisa simpson’s hair, eh? i chuckled over that one while wiping the drool from my chin. what a fancy shmancy dinner! dessert definitely would’ve been the highlight for me.
have a terrific birthday week/month/however long you can draw it out!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NQN! what a great place to have your birthday! i would definitely go the pork. I love crispy pork skin!
haha so am i! im having my bday dinner on the 25th maybe ill see ya there!
Hi Lorraine!
I laughed out loud when I read “Item 24 dollars”! That’s an interesting way to order, but I don’t know I’d have the guts to do it? :-/ !!
That was odd about the Harissa foam being the way it was. Which makes me think of a restuarant story I have: On boxing day, hubby and I tried an Indian restaurant in another town (we were staying with my inlaws). My hubby ordered something “hot” and it came out to him mild. I tasted it and there wasn’t any chilli in it AT ALL. Zero chilli. Just one mistake of many that night (I kept telling myself I’d write a letter of complaint but I STILL haven’t done it.. pfft)! Can I share another mistake.. I know it doesn’t have anything to do with this post..but I have to tell someone!
We were sitting there feeling pretty disappointed by the experience, almost ready to pay and leave. Our waitress (and I use that term loosely) walked past carrying a stack of dirty dishes collected from another table. When she walked past us, one of the spoons fell from her pile onto the carpet beside us. We thought it was obvious (at least audible) and she’d come back for it. She didn’t and kept coming and going, coming and going and ignoring and stepping over this dirty tablespoon. Eventually she picks it up and puts it on our table. In front of us! We were gobsmacked. Someone elses dirty spoon!
Anyway.. where I was getting with the harissa was that maybe they forgot the harissa part (which is unlikely..I know). It sounds like they created a very “safe” foam and didn’t want to scare anyone’s palates with anything fiery in the amuse bouche? (Note to themselves: don’t use harissa in the title of any amuse bouche if it’s not real harissa).
I did really like the look of that amuse bouche I must say! I love a good croquette too.
All of the dishes looked great.. your hubby’s looked the most “safe” as far as in the tasting would go. I’m curious about the stuffing in that chicken.
Your barramundi with duck confit sounds superb.. I love my fish done like that (The texture you described).
Re: the salad - at places I know that skimp on dressing I always ask for extra on the side when ordering. Then I feel a bit like a freak because maybe I just like things heavily dressed? I just don’t want to taste gourmet lettuce mix and nothing else, especially at restaurant prices. It has to stand out somehow. I know a few people who eat salad ingredients minus dressing and that is “salad” to them because they don’t like dressing. I think of them as “safe eaters”.
Re: the potatoes. Do you think by any chance they could have not used sebago’s? It was just a thought that popped into my mind. The wrong kind of potato. But yah.. after watching Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (and my own eating experiences) I know restaurants do leave things sitting under lamps.
I’m happy that you received some fudge/a truffle and a candle to honour your special occasion! Very small pieces though! At my birthday dinner.. we received a small square of house made fudge each with our hot drinks at the end of the night. The fudge was atrocious.. it was just like crystallised sugar that had been coloured with a weak cocoa mixture. I’ve tasted some superb local fudge..and what we had was gross. Didn’t get any photo’s of it.
Can I be honest and say I don’t like the ganache or whatever it is smeared on the white plates. (Pumpkin pie photo and your fudge/truffle). One picture reminds me of trying to get vegemite off a knife and the other reminds me of some porcelain cisterns I’ve seen in public loo’s..where you walk in and go “NOOOOO..”. That is a pretty gross analogy..but it was just what I thought regarding that kind of garnish. I’m sure it tasted good?!
I agree with you re: that copper pot dessert.. it just looks SO appealing! Love it.
I’ve only eaten Bombe Alaska once (I had it on the menu for my 1st wedding). That was in 1989 and I completely forget what it tasted like.
Thank you for sharing one of your lovely birthday dinners!
p.s. I’m worrying that my poo analogy was out of line??!
Hi Grace-Lisa Simpson was the firs thing I thought of when I saw it
I love dessert-I always ask to see the Dessert menu so I can see whether to save stomach space.
Thanks so much! It’s over after this weekend but I’ve managed to stretch it out for 2 weekends. Not bad hey?
Hi Maria-Thankyou so much!
Hehe yes I was trying to be healthy but really what was I thinking? 
Hi chocolatesuze-I’m off there tomorrow night. Happy Birthday for the 25th!
Hi Maria-He’s the kind of guy who likes to test waiters. At Sel et Poivre he routinely orders “Butt Cheeks” instead of “Beef cheeks”!
Oh that story of the spoon sounds ghastly! A food crusted, trodden over spoon? Makes you wonder what happens in the kitchen!
I suspect they used a home made harissa that was milder as the foam was harissa coloured. The real Harissa du Cap in the tube that we buy which is imported from Morocca is very hot, too hot in some cases so that you have to use it very sparingly or else!
I must admit I had a bit of a grumble to my husband over him giving me only half a round without the other things but from memory it was quite nutty and with pancetta. Nice but not as exciting as the pork or short rib.
I admit I like a lot of dressing, not drowning mind you but well coated. I had a really nice salad that they lightly sprayed with dressing so that it was a very light but thorough coat.
I wondered about the potatoes as they were just so disappointing to everyone. I can say that they definitely did sit under a heat lamp and for too long although I don’t usually eat Sebago potatoes so I am not that familiar with them.
Hehe don’t get me started on fudge, I find most of it achingly sweet and I can’t stand it when I can taste the sugar granules. There is a wonderful fudge brand from Tasmania called Island Produce, that is the best fudge in the world. Have you tried that? It’s lovely and smooth.
Arrrgh! That’s funny but scary about the ganache on the plates. Will I be able to look at a ganache patterned plate the same way?
I always think that Bombe Alaska looks better than it tastes. That doesn’t stop me from ordering it but I sometimes feel a touch disappointed that it’s just ice cream in the centre. I feel like something else should be in there-a Chanel purse, a Dove should fly out…I don’t know
Thankyou! Only two more birthday dinners to go for this birthday girl
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