“I could give birth any minute now” Christie says to me as she picks me up outside of my house. My eyes widen in slight panic. I’m on my learners driver’s license and can only drive supervised. Besides which, I have very little to no experience in childbirth so I’m fairly useless in this situation. “Please don’t give birth right now! ” I say to her as we drive Northside towards Pymble.
We are headed towards Pymble to try out Dietmar Sawyere’s bistro called Ad Lib. He is of course famous for being the chef at Berowra Waters Inn and former chef of Forty One and this is said to be a more affordable nod to French Bistro food. Indeed from looking at the menu some mains can be had for less than $30 which is somewhat of a minor miracle in Sydney. The menu is broken up into three sections, hors d’oeuvres, seasonal specialities and mains. It’s a hard task deciding what to order as there are some dishes that seem a little Berowra Waters Inn and then there are some tempting French classics.
Duck Liver parfait with onion marmalade $17
We start with a dish that comes to us from the chef which thoughtfully makes ordering a bit easier. It’s the duck liver parfait with onion marmalade. It comes with some thinly sliced but still slightly soft (I don’t enjoy it when the toast is too hard) pieces of toast and in presented very well, so well that others next to us coo over the presentation and it turns out that we are sitting next to other bloggers too! The parfait is airy and moussey with a layer of liquidey fat on top. I unclip the jar and dig in. It’s fantastic, mild with liver and especially good when paired with the red onion marmalade which has an ever so slight touch of chilli which was serendipitous.
Steak Tartare $19
OK it’s time to get serious now and we need to order. Ever since I visited Montreal, it rekindled my love for steak tartare. I order a small version of this for my entree. Sometimes it comes pre mixed and sometimes it comes with the condiments separately and you need to mix them together yourself. Here it us all done for you. I take a bite and the meat is gloriously soft, just the right texture and it is perfectly seasoned with a hint of mustard, very finely diced onion, chives and a dash of Tabasco. I would imagine that you would need to know what you’re doing when seasoning this for if you let the customer mix it up themselves, then they can do what they like and the seasoning is left up to them. I’m pleased to see the salad is dressed with a lovely slightly sweet dressing and there are also some lovely grilled mushroom quarters in it.
Tarte Flamiche of leeks and gruyere, tomato, olive and shallot salad $16
Christie’s dish is the tart flamiche with leeks and gruyere. The pastry is snappily crisp and there is a thick layer of finely sauteed leeks and gruyere. The leeks are sauteed until translucent but not caramelised so that they don’t become sweet. Interestingly it is served cold whereas we both prefer pastry warm. It is served with a tomato, olive and shallot salad.
Snowy Mountains trout fillet, yabbie tails, lemon, capers, parsley $38
Now I chose this dish because a) the waitress recommended it and they usually know what’s good and b) because it sounded like a Berowra Waters Inn dish and when it comes to our table we are not disappointed. Christie and I pause a minute just to admire it. The yabbies are perfectly cooked, rich and flavorsome and there are four yabbies in this dish. The Snowy Mountains trout fillet is thin with a slightly crispy skin and sits on a bed of sauteed spinach. Christie and I notice that we didn’t get that film on our teeth that you tend to get after eating spinach so we ask and they tell us that it is because the spinach is washed twice. We figure that it has been rinsed, cooked and rinsed again and then cooked again so it is very tender and much like creamed spinach. It is simply flavoured with lemon, capers, parsley and tomato but it is the simplicity of these that really complements the seafood.
Crisp duck leg confit, lyonnaise potatoes, endive and raddichio salad $34
Christie’s duck keg confit main is mostly deboned with one delicate bone left inside. The duck leg is slightly crispy on the outside and with a delectable sweet sauce accented with thyme. It is served with caramelized onions and kipfler potatoes Lyonnaise potato style.
Creamed potatoes $8
“Mmm this is good” Christie says and continues to spoon at this despite holding some stomach space empty for dessert. The mashed potato is creamy and rich and perhaps worth negotiating precious dessert stomach space for.
Crepes Suzette with blood oranges $12
After a little break, we are tempted with dessert. We had of course scoped out the desserts ordered by the friendly gentlemen sitting next to us. Our waitress tells us that the Crepes Suzette with blood orange is a dish that wows at night when you can see the flame. Sure it’s lunchtime but we order this anyway. It comes out and the crepes are good with a marmaladey sauce and there are two slices of blood orange to the left and a rich vanilla bean ice cream.
Pear Tarte tatin with white chocolate ice cream $12
I do love pears, they’re probably my favorite winter fruit and this pear is an ideal texture, cooked but not wet or sloppy. The pastry is buttery but it isn’t as crispy or caramelised as we’d like-perhaps it’s the use of pears rather than apples which have less liquid. The white chocolate ice cream is heaven with actual shards of good quality white chocolate in it.
We didn’t mean to eat it all but we did and so we roll out of there and chuckle at the sign outside which reads “Reduce Speed”. Yep warning heeded.
So tell me Dear Reader, do you ever ask the waiter or chef how things are cooked when you dine in a restaurant?
NQN and Christie dined at Ad Lib as guests of Ad Lib
Ad Lib Bistro
1047 Pacific Highway, Pymble, NSW
Tel: +61 (02) 9988 0120
Open: Monday-Friday 10am-10pm, Saturday 5pm-10pm
BYO Mon-Thurs
Another Ad Lib will be opening Mid November at 21 Bay Street Double Bay, NSW.
If you enjoyed this post, why not share it with your friends?
What is NQN up to now? 
NQN on Facebook
RSS
48 Comments | Add your own
I think that it is a minor miracle that someone decided to open a decent restaurant in the North Shore.
The pear tart tartin at Berowra Waters Inn was absolutely perfect if you ever decide to head out there..
Yes sometimes I do ask the waiter how things are cooked, especially with seafood or chicken, I’m not big into the deep fried foods, and sometimes it is not said on the menu
I adore Ad Lib! It’s a local for me and so wonderful to see such a top quality establishment up north! I ask the waiter/chef questions about things all the time, usually in the hope I can replicate things at home!
OMG! That all looked so delicious! My belly is aching just reading about all that lovely food, mainly becuase I know I would have wanted to eat it all too!
I take it Christie made it home to give birth at a later date
crepes suzette when they are flambeed are just spectacular ! dop you know the origin of htat dish : in monaco at the grand café de Paris the Prince edward (futur Edward VII) was waiting for his crepes to be cooked but the waiter poured some champagne over the crepes and they started to burn with a big flamé !! the waiter tried to hide his mistake by saying he was creating a new dish ! the prince asked to the closest woman to him her name and it was suzette !!!
voilà !!
Pierre
I have to say, the crepes look nice.
Wow miss NQN, this restaurant looks fantastic. Big fan of your website, largely due to you being able to find these high quality bistro type restaurants in suburbia rather than the overly crowded sydeny cbd. Also, yes I do sometimes ask the waiter how things are cooked, especially when the dish is the really simple looking but super delicious type.
We have been wanting to try Ad Lib for ages….just never seem to get to that side of the bridge…might have to wait until ‘Ad Lib’ Double Bay.
oh serving the pate in that jar is such a wonderful and unique idea! I love it!
Mmmm – I’ll take the seafood with the crepes Suzette please. I don’t ask how things are cooked, although I often ask for recommendations.
If I am overseas I sometimes ask for help with selections if I don’t understand the menu.
YUM! I’ve spied this restaurant when going down the Pacific Highway and always wanted to try it. Sounds fab!
I love it when restaurants serve lovely creamy mash. I could eat a bowlful right now!
Oh that confit duck leg looks amazing, I Have been wanting to try this place. I like chatting with the restaurant staff to see what they recommend – as I tend to stick with favorite dishes! Good luck with your driving Lorraine, think of all the fun food places you can visit when you get your P’s!
I love to get your recipe
for the steak tatare.
That’s brilliant, washing the spinach twice. I’ll have to try that next time I cook spinach.
Hmm, in my family we often ask questions about how things were cooked because there are rather a lot of allergies amongst us! I always try to be super polite when doing so though
That steak tartare looks amazing!
Glad to read this, I’m off there next week. And thanks for the lumberjack cake recipe – a contentious subject among cake makers – who has the right recipe. Years ago wen I worked for family Circle magazine – we published a recipe for that cake and had so many letters about it not being the correct one. No matter what – it is one of the great cakes!
PS you are going for your driver’s licence – not a license – unless you are an American?
Some decent french on the Northside finally! Looks good, definitely give it a try
If I truly can’t decide between dishes, or one sounds particularly unusual, I will interrogate the server to find out how they are cooked and what is recommended. It always seems to work out!!
Thanks for this. I love the Berowra Waters Inn, and will head out to Ad Lib very soon.
Sounds divine – the creamy mashed potatos and duck had me drooling……
What stunning presentation for ‘bistro’ food…! The yabbie dish in particular sounds, especially wihtout the filmy teeth… !
Oh boy, I can’t wait to try this place and it’s on MY side of the bridge too!
So you missed your chance to do a fast drive to the hospital with a nice cop on a motorbike leading the way… like they show in movies!!!
The Bistro looks nice, I love the presentation of the Duck Liver parfait with onion marmalade, brilliant to serve it in the jar!
ciao
Alessandra
That steak tartare looks awesome! oooo yabbie tails! yes please… aww hehe thats cute that your still on your L’s!
I really enjoyed my visit here and the food was really delicious, but I’m not sure it’s worth the long drive along the dreaded Pacific Highway for it ….
I’ve convinced the other PA’s to come here for our team xmas lunch – can’t wait!
Oh that brings back memories. When we were kids, we’d ride our bikes to the local butcher, beg for odds and ends of meat – which he gave us – ride to a local creek, tie them on string and catch yabbies! We’d put them in a bucket, then bring them home, usually threatening our big sister with one of them (I was a tomboy), and then Mum would cook them and we’d eat them. So spoiled.
Looks like a lovely selection of yumminess.
I usually like to know how things are cooked, I can really appreciate the effort that has gone into them. I also won’t order anything that I feel is cheap for the restaurant to produce- like pumpkin soup even though it’s yummy, or anything that is very easy and the apprentice is likely to have made! I guess this is one of the problems of being a chef!
Alas, way too far for me to drive to , even if the food looks very enticing. I love the Crepes Suzette story, thanks Pierre.
I like to ask questions when an item is on the menu that I’m unfamiliar with which is not very often because I ‘trawl’ food-related magazines and books with a passion.
I just learned what a yabbie is. We don’t have them here. But, crepe suzette can be found
I love to hear how things are cooked and often ask questions especially if the Wait Staff or Chef suggests its done in a new style than I’d have thought. Great post Lorraine, some of this food …., Yum
OMG. That would be scary if she actually gave birth right there…I think I would be scared shitless and freeze up and end up killing both the mother and the baby. Eek.
Anyway. That Duck Liver parfait with onion marmalade! When I am rich one day, that’s what I wanna have for breakfast everyday.
This sounds so wrong: I seriously coveted that duck confit! And yes, I do ask the waiter or the chef how dishes are done – and I usually do this when the food is especially good.
YES! if something is so good and we just can’t figure out how it’s done, we cheekily ask if they could tell us how it got that way. I want that steak tartare. It looks glorious and the way you describe it, I know I’ll just love it! x
Wow that was one big yabbie. Sometimes I ask but to be honest, if it is a waiter usually they don’t know!
I always ask how things are cooked. Maybe that’s cause I have a water bath and want to know what exact temperature the chef has used to cook the protein. Maybe I’m just curious, but curiosity did kill the cat….
Those are some of the best foodie photos I’ve seen in a while. A meal like that would have brought on labor pains!
mmmm this looks great! The steak tartare looks good and I would love if someone gave me a jar of duck liver parfait! *nom* Glad your friend didn’t give birth!
I sometimes ask – if I’m super curious! Interesting about the spinach. The presentation of the dishes here is just gorgeous.
Heidi xo
I always ask as it helps me decide what to order
The tart looks delicious although i’d prefer it warm too & that duck liver parfait? Oh my!
I lunched with some lady friends some weeks ago at Ad Lib and had a wonderful time. We all had different things and did little taste tests. It’s wonderful having a nice French option on the upper North Shore.
(
I always ask how things are cooked because more often than not I don’t understand the menu
Ah you have reminded me that I must go there again. Had a lovely meal there. Tried to go back a few times but they were always booked out (a good sign as I hope they survive – the north shore desperately needs decent places to eat!)
I have become a bit of a fan of steak tartare and that one looks/sounds really good.
So happy you came over to the North Shore!! Hopefully more fabulous restaurants like Ad Lib will open up soon and you can venture over this way more often.xx
Loved the spinach tip! I just washed my (ready to eat) spinach twice before cooking with it and no nasty film on the teeth – fantastic!
Post a Comment