[category]
[title]
Matt Moran’s Chiswick opened back in June 2012, meaning Sydneysiders have been enjoying party-starting Spritzes and caramelised, slow-roasted lamb shoulders in a sun-splashed dining room for 14 years. I have been one of them.
The Woollahra restaurant is special to me. I celebrated my 18th birthday here with my family, including my beautiful late grandfather. We took snaps on the pretty, well-manicured lawn. Dug into a golden, free-range chook, garlicky spuds and leafy greens. And the pastry team created a showstopping bombe Alaska for my cake. Over the years I've had many enjoyable meals here, many of which featured veggies and herbs plucked from the pretty kitchen garden (and I've interviewed Pete the Gardener for a story, too).
A recent Sunday visit was just as special.
On our way in, we passed a sun-dappled courtyard with terracotta pots bursting with springtime colours – bubblegum pink, tangerine orange, lilac – under twisted vines and festoon lights. It looked like something out of a fairytale. Inside was lively and filled with lunch crowds and celebrations.
Our waitress Fleur told us she had been working at Chiswick for 11 years as she talked us through the menu.
We kicked things off with a Chiswick staple: barra-masalata with sweet potato crisps ($16). It was creamy, briny and salty, a riff on taramasalata, and a dish that was created by a magic accident many years back when the chefs were thinking of creative ways to cut down on food waste.
Zucchini flowers came stuffed with goat’s cheese, deep-fried and topped with a fat anchovy, lifted with a squeeze of lemon ($16 each). The chargrilled octopus was cooked until lovely and tender, coated in a fiery fermented chilli sauce, tempered with a light and fresh fennel salad on the side ($36).
The ricotta ravioli with spring peas was glorious, served in a lemony butter sauce with fresh peas and tendrils on top ($36). We toyed with the idea of ordering Moran’s famous lamb shoulder, which comes from the family farm near Bathurst, but at $125 it was too much to share between two. So we opted for the wood-roasted rainbow trout with harissa ($65), lovely with a chilled rosé.
For dessert, we enjoyed a rich and velvety dark chocolate tart with a dollop of cream. We ordered bittersweet Negronis, too. A perfectly joyous and delicious Sunday lunch.
When I think of Chiswick I think of great flavours, seasonal ingredients and generous servings. Moran encouraged us to pull up a seat and share plates of food long before it was mainstream and championed following the seasons and garden-to-plate food before it was trendy.
Back in March 2016, Time Out alum Myffy Rigby wrote: “All signs point to Chiswick becoming a Sydney institution.” A decade on, it’s fair to say that she, as usual, was on the money.
Note: I was hosted by Chiswick, but our editorial recommendations are always honest. Find out more, here.
Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, food & drink inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox.