Dinner at Whitebait and Kale (11-Jul-07)

FS and P were back in town for a day on their way back to Bolehland from their vacation in the middle of the ocean.

We arranged dinner at Whitebait and Kale, in the Camden Medical Centre. FS, P, KP, PL, VW and I were there.

I hear that its main competitor is Corduroy and Finch. After a couple of poor experiences at Corduroy (the service staff and kitchen alike can’t cope with crowds) I really don’t think Corduroy meets the mark.

Whitebait and Kale has white, roughly laid floorboards, lots of small mirrors on the walls, dimmed lighting and a book case that divided the restaurant and contains a rather eclectic mix of glass bottles, glasses and miners’ lamps. There is a long serving area with a large blackboard above it, promoting the specials. Given that Whitebait is off the beaten track I was surprise that it was full on a weekday.

We shared a bowl of whitebait (of course) that looked promising but was just ok, a little hard in my opinion, but the portion was generous.

For starters we variously had the pan-fried crab cakes with asparagus and bush tomato chutney; arugula, blood orange, dates and shaved parmesan with balsamic-honey dressing; baby spinach with grilled Portobello and lemon olive oil. I really enjoyed the crab cakes and the tomato chutney. Starters cost around $15 to $21 each.

Mains were capellini with jumbo crabmeat, grilled peppers and olive oil (much like aglio olio with crabmeat); baked snapper pie with mushroom ragout, asparagus in a cream sauce; grilled ras-el-hanout marinated lamb rack, haricot verts and muhammara (muhammara looks like belachan, and is a Syrian pepper dip made from olive oil, pecans and garlic); grilled rock lobster.

I’ve tried the capellini before and it’s very good, slightly salty and the pasta is nicely al dente. The snapper pie was huge and very delicious, with the sauce being nice and light and the fish firm. I had the lamb which was pleasant but as is always the case in this part of the world (I should have known better) the lamb is a little too fatty, but the muhammara was a great compliment to the grilled meat. The had to send the lobster back as the meat near the head was translucent and even after being grilled again it was still not well cooked throughout – a bit of a disappointment really. Mains were priced around $25 to $35 each.

The mains were good portions so we decided to share desserts. We ordered pavlova with cream, passionfruit sorbet and berries; profiteroles with macadamia ice cream and chocolate dip; valrhona chocolate savarin with grand marnier orange sauce and bittersweet chocolate mousse; warm banana bread and butter pudding with toffee sauce. The pavlova was very good with crispy meringue and tart sorbet. The profiteroles were different to what you’d normally expect. Instead of choux pastry balls there was a bar of macadamia ice cream on to which halved pastry balls are stuck, with the chocolate dip served in a separate dish – very nice but it might disappoint if you were expecting traditional profiteroles. The savarin (a small chocolate cake dipped in liquer) and the bittersweet chocolate mousse were a nice compliment to each other with the savarin being warm and soft and the mousse chilled and firm. Desserts are priced at around $12.

Would I come back – Yes. Comfortable ambience, excellent food, good service.
Service – Good, although some of the younger staff were a little inexperienced.
Food – Very good, varied with plenty of healthy choices too.