“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

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It’s no secret I’m fascinated by American food and food from the South is particularly tempting to me. So when Teena discovered South in Neutral Bay last year she and Gina, Hot dog and Philippe joined Mr NQN and I for a meal there that we really enjoyed (the ribs-oh those ribs!). Sure it was tiny and we mean tiny, with a Tabasco sauce mural, a possum above an awning inside and appealed to the kitsch in me. It was at times hard to get a booking at. So when I had heard South’s owner Leo was opening up a new place called Blue Plate Bar & Grill I knew we had to visit which we did one Saturday night. And it’s nothing like I expected.

I was tipped off by a friend that had dined there that it was fancier than South but when I walk through the heavy wooden doors I see that it is probably the polar opposite of South in terms of decor. There are chandeliers, heavy flocked curtains, an oyster bar and inside it sparkles. A Blue Plate special is a special of the day usually served at a diner so I had expected well… a diner. Even though it doesn’t look like a diner, sure enough on a mirror there are the blue plate specials of the day with a different special for each day of the week.

It’s Saturday and the special of the day is Surf and Turf with a steak topped with a whole Alaskan crab leg for the very reasonable price of $27. Prices are very similar or the same as South and the food-well it’s the same down home cooking, just with more “North” options and in a much fancier setting. The bar is busy and they serve Mint Juleps should you be in the mood for some Southern cocktails.

Catfish Bites $14

Hot dog orders the catfish bites and they come with a mustardy remoulade sauce. They’re coated in cornmeal and deep fried which gives it that extra crunch on the outside but the catfish fillets are moist and soft inside.

Philly Cheesesteak $16

Now I’ve always been a bit obsessed with these for no reason than that they look so obscene and I love melted cheese. It’s essentially a scotch fillet steak that has been thinly sliced and cooked with mushrooms and brown onion and topped with lashings of cheese. It’s enormous and when paired with the generous serve of fries you could happily eat just  this and be very full. The hoagie submarine bread roll is burnished on the outside with a slight sweetness, kind of like a cross between a bread roll and a brioche. It’s good and I slather a bit of  tomato sauce on top and proceed to polish off my half.

Po’ Boy $18

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It was that moment of panic. You know the one – where you need to find a place to eat in the immediate vicinity and there are no seemingly viable options. The place that I was taking my mother for her birthday lunch was closed, unexpectedly so and we were driving around Kirribilli trying to figure out where to go. My mum was flexible, anywhere was fine. It was just me that wanted to make it somewhere nice.

“Why don’t we just go to Yum Cha?” Mr NQN says. The only problem was that the Yum Cha I knew was in North Sydney and I had already written about it so I wasn’t in the mood to reblog it.

“Fine but I can’t blog it” I whispered to him.

Mr NQN thought about it and realised that a meal eaten and paid for and not blogged is a missed opportunity so we kept driving. Until we reached Broughton Street. I suggested Garfish guardedly. You see Mr NQN, Queen Viv and Miss America had dined at the Crows Nest branch years ago (B.B.=Before Blog) and had a highly unimpressive meal there. The waiter was rude, the servings were tiny and we left hungry and poorer. But figuring that lightening the wallet in aid of a birthday was probably the best excuse and besides, these people were hungry we decided to go back.

We choose an outdoor table. Our male waiter is friendly and explains the menu. There is the paper fold out menu that sits on the napkin and then there’s the daily specials menu with fresh fish of the day as well as specials. He recommends the Singapore Chilli Crab which at $70 for two including bread and salad is actually not a bad price at all. We choose the crumbed garfish with a coleslaw with apple, pomegranate and dill mayonnaise as well as a salt and pepper squid. The prices thankfully haven’t seemed to risen from our visit the years before.

Salt & Pepper Squid $16

While waiting for out entree, we ask three times for the side flap to be pulled down as the sun is shining directly on us. We’re on the brink of doing it ourselves when the tall waitress does so. Our salt and pepper squid arrives and true to the warning, it’s small. Ahh yes a reminder of our last visit. It is quite good though and the chilli and ginger sauce is moreish. My mum loves it so she asks the waitress if she can keep the chilli sauce and the waitress says that she’ll bring out a fresh one for our mains. She never does and we have to ask for it later when our main arrive. Then the waitress takes my knife and plate but places my used fork back on the left hand side of my setting. She takes my mum’s fork and knife but leaves my father’s fork and knife. Odd.

Crumbed Garfish with apple, pomegranate and dill mayonnaise salad $30

The wait for mains is a little longer than we’d like but it looks to be a small kitchen. The crumbed garfish is quite good although I don’t often go for crumbed fish when dining out (my mum’s choice, she loves crunchy deep fried things). The accompanying salad is very good and we try it with the chilli sauce.

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