Embrasse Restaurant

IMPRESSED!!!

I probably can't do this place justice with my limited experience writing restaurant reviews.  If ever there was a time when I wished I wasn't against taking photos of food in restaurants then this would be it.

I was fortunate enough to have lived in London for three years and have eaten my way through the degustation menu at many a Michelin restaurant including Claridges in London and Richard et Christopher Countanceau in France.  I have eaten at the famous Gramercy Tavern in New York, Ubuntu in Napa Valley and Nobu in Hong Kong. These previous dining experiences may be one of the only things that qualify me to give my opinion on Embrasse.

Nick and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary at Embrasse last Thursday night and let me just say the pleasure was all mine!

We started with Champagne (of course!), served by our lovely polish waitress and before we had arrived had already made the decision to order the eight course degustation (they also offer a six and a ten course).

I am not going to go through every dish I will just tempt you with a few.  Firstly came the home grown meli melo of vegetables, sprouts, herbs and flowers and herb emulsions.  What an impressive start!  Perhaps I won't come away from this French dining experience with a stomach ache!  The vegetables were all cooked to perfection with all of their individual flavours intact and the colours of the flowers and the emulsions reminded me of what a rainbow must taste like if it were edible.

The king prawns, broccoli, roe broth, prawn nougatine with borage (a prickly leaf plant commonly used to improve the flavour of your tomatoes when planted nearby in your garden) was another stand out dish with the cripy nougatine enhancing not only the texture of the dish but also the depth of the prawns.

The pallate cleansing gentian granita of wild pansy was divine and I was amazed at the vivid flavours that could come from the clear ice crystals.  The consistency of the granita whilst crisp and cold also had a slight gelatinous texture to it which only served to make it even more interesting.

All of the dishes were really well executed and had obviously been attended to with a lot of passion which reflected in the success of our dinner date.  I loved that once we had finished our gorgeous dessert of chocolate parfait, meringue, chocolate crumb and sorrel granita the chef Nic Poelaert (The Age Young Chef of the Year) came out to ask us how our evening had been and I could tell him it had been perfect.

This restaurant is all about purity, seasonality and simplicity it is modern French and a very good sign that the masters of cookery are moving along with the times.

Address: 312 Drummond Street, Carlton VIC 3053
Phone: (03) 9347 3312
Bookings:  Yes
Licensed:  Yes