Felix, Sydney

I've long been a fan of the Merivale restaurant group in Sydney.  They have well thought out unique curated concepts, and they aren't afraid to pivot and move on to newer trends.  Two of my top 10 restaurants in Sydney are Merivale establishments: Mumu for innovative Southeast Asian street food, and Ms. G's for truly wonderful ridiculous Asian fusion.  I've visited others over the years, e.g. Mr. Wong, Sushi E, and others that have since closed, and generally enjoyed them all.  I generally gravitate towards the Asian cuisine, because that is what is so much better in Sydney than SF, but I've heard great things about their Italian concepts too.

During my recent visit to Sydney, we needed a location for a small leadership dinner of 7 people.  Somewhere quiet enough to chat (so not as much of a scene as many Merivale places provide ambiance-wise), but also somewhere not too adventurous in menu, as we had some folks that are pretty classic "meat and potatoes" folks, and also, one vegetarian.  We also had a fairly limited budget.  So, all my top choices were out, as they were deemed too "scary" for the guests.  I went back to the drawing board, and came up with a somewhat boring, but safe, cuisine: French.

Overall, it was a "fine" experience, but not one I'd repeat, nor really recommend.  Service was average for Sydney, not particularly attentive, but it was generally possible to flag someone down when we needed something.  No real checkbacks done, nor interest or concern in if we enjoyed our meals, minimal acknowledgement of one dish that was served improperly raw.

Setting

We partially picked Felix for the location, right in the CBD, so easy access to hotels and public transit for the locals.

Outdoor Seating.

The entrance to Felix is down a lovely side street, lined with restaurants that spill out into the street.  Felix is no different, with plenty of tables outside in a sheltered area.  The outdoor space was fairly vibrant and lively.

Indoor Seating & Wine Room.

Inside was a more subdued environment, very traditional dining room with white tablecloths and napkins, wooden chairs with matching salt & pepper grinders and little lamps.  The back wall had all the wine in illuminated shelving.  It wasn't a stuffy, silent dining room, but it certainly wasn't as lively as outside.  It worked well for our group as we were easily able to hear each other throughout the meal.

Open Kitchen.

I enjoyed watching some of the action in the kitchen, clearly formal French brigades style.  The separate pastry area was also open on the other side from here, where I watched soufflés going in and out of the oven, and the blow torch come out over and over again for crème brûlée.  It made me eager for our closing round.

Food & Drink

Menu.

Felix has an unsurprising menu.  No real innovative cuisine here, just, French classics.  

The menu is broken down into Fruits de Mer (which we actually entirely skipped) and Début to start, Plats de résistance, Les Steaks, Plats à partager, and Garnitures for the main round, and Desserts to finish.

Wine

2018 Hickinbotham ‘Trueman’ Cabernet Sauvignon. $29.

I forgot to take notes on my wine, but, I was quite pleased with it.  A fairly big and bold wine, not too high acid, not too much tannin, but real structure to it.  I recommended it to others when they moved on to wine.  I'd get it again.  ****.

Début

Rolls.

Once we had ordered, our server came back with a giant bread basket.  "White or brown?", she asked, which didn't seem particularly descriptive, given that the white bread clearly had seeds.

Sadly, neither kind was served warm.  Cold butter provided on the table for the group.

"Brown" Roll.

I went for the brown roll, and it seemed to be lightly sourdough, so not really my thing.  It had a decent enough crust to it. But room temp, sourdough-ish bread, not interesting.  No one else commented on the rolls, so I don't think anyone was particularly impressed.  *+.

Pâté de foie de volaille. $26.

"Chicken liver pate, spiced pear chutney, brioche."

To get started, I had my eyes solidly on the pate.  I had a great pate the week before (in the Sheraton Grand executive club of all places), and couldn’t wait for more.  I had seen photos of it on Instagram, and I knew it would be delightfully smooth and creamy.  The rest of the group chatted through some shared apps for the table, including the charcuterie board, that would come with some pate, but I wanted my own portion (which I would share of course if it was a huge hit with others).  The server warned us that the charcuterie platter would have it, but I still pushed forward.  I’d eat it all, gladly.

Or … so I thought.  It did look absolutely fabulous.  It was remarkably smooth and creamy.  But the flavor wasn’t particularly good.  Strong bitter notes, and although it had some liver taste, the bitterness really overwhelmed.  It lacked seasoning, and really needed a sprinkle of salt to make it pop.  ** pate.  The Sheraton Grand pate was just better in all regards.

Spiced pear chutney wouldn’t be my first choice for a pairing, particularly in the summer when stone fruit or berries are in season and I think go even better with liver, but, it actually was fine.  The pears were nicely cooked, lightly al dente, and the spicing was interesting.  ***.  The cornichons were average, and the little pearl onions were delightfully tart, my favorite element of the entire meal actually (yes, really.  **** onions).  

Toasted Brioche.

To go with the pate, fluffy toasted brioche slices were served.  They were not warm when they arrived.  But otherwise good, and a great vessel for the pate.  ***.  Considerably better than the dinner rolls.

Assiette de charcuterie (Large). $45.

"Cured meats, cornichons, baguette."

The rest of the group was excited for the charcuterie board.  It had the same pate (with the chutney and cornichons, but no more of the tasty onions), a rillette of some sort that was decent (none of us could figure out what it was, I thought maybe duck confit?), a slice of the terrine that is also available standalone (the others finished this before I had a chance to snag a bite), and two kinds of thinly sliced meats (the proschuitto like one was great, I didn't try the other).   Overall a nice selection.  ***+.

This came with crostini on the side rather than brioche.  I didn't try them, but no one seemed to care for the crostini, commenting that it was too hard and hurt their mouths.

This was the large platter for $45.  A smaller $32 version is also available.

Salade de tomates et prunes. $24.

"Heirloom tomatoes, blood plum, green herb dressing."

The vegetarians went for their only two options to start, starting with the tomato salad.

Tomatoes are very much in season right now, so I was expecting something great from this dish, but alas, the tomatoes were pretty average.  My office had considerably better tomatoes every day.  I didn't get a slice of plum.  The dressing was not very flavorful. ***.

Poireaux grillés et sauce piperade. $24.

"Grilled leeks, roasted peppers, hazelnuts, sherry vinaigrette."

The other vegetarian option I was also excited for, grilled leeks, but, alas, there was only 5 pieces, and by the time I looked up from the meats, it was gone.

Plats de résistance / Les Steaks

Our mains came about 30 minutes after our starters.  We had a variety of dishes from the Plats de résistance and Les Steaks sections, but none of the higher end sharing Plats à partager.

Poulpe grillé. $27.

"Grilled octopus, kipfler potato, rocket, fennel pollen and Espelette vinaigrette."

For my main dish, I actually ordered an appetizer, as I wanted a smaller portion, fully intending to go all in on the dessert round, and because I had really wanted two appetizers: the pate and the octopus.  The server asked if I’d like a larger portion if I wanted it as a main, which I declined, but thought was a nice touch.  I frequently order appetizers as mains, and haven’t ever been asked that before.

I was not very thrilled with my dish.  The potatoes were really quite boring, just ... disks of potatoes.  Not seemingly roasted nor seared, just boiled and sliced.  Soft.  There was segments of extremely bitter citrus throughout, that I’m not sure what it was, as it wasn’t listed on the menu as a component.  The octopus, which should be the star, was the most lackluster part.  It wasn’t rubbery at least, but it wasn’t charred or smoky or interesting in any way.  It was cut into small pieces, and there wasn’t much of it.  

The entire dish was covered in the espelette vinaigrette, which, despite its color and name, really lacked spice or dimension.  It was just oily.  So, overall, boring potatoes, nothing cooked particularly well, covered in oil, and no interesting flavors besides the too bitter citrus that I didn’t care for.  **.

I salvaged the octopus by dunking it in the aioli that came with my tablemate's frites, but even that made it just passable.

Poisson de Jour (Big Eye). $52.

"Pan roasted market fish, fennel, lemon confit, tomato vinaigrette."

Two co-workers both got the fish of the day, which was big eye tevally.  If I had gotten a proper main, this is what I would have gotten.

One came out cooked properly, the other was quite underdone, raw in the center.  At first I thought perhaps she was mistaken, but, it really was rare, and really shouldn't be.  She was able to get the server's attention quickly, and it was replaced with an entirely new piece (totally different shape, rather than thin and long it was wide and short) but it took a very, very long time.  Everyone else had finished eating, even though we were trying to be polite and eat slowly, before she finally got the re-fire.  No real apology was given by the staff.  The skin looked nicely crisp at least?

Minute Steak.  $65.

"220g pasture fed scotch fillet, Bordelaise butter, witlof, watercress, pickled shallots."

One colleague got the minute steak, served the recommended medium-rare.  He said it was good.  (Another got the steak frites, which was a slightly bigger cut (250g compared to 220g), wagyu, and came with fries and jus instead of the veg and butter garnish (and was $15 more).  He seemed to think it was fine, but not particularly great).

Pithivier de Canard. $45.

"Pie of confit duck leg, pomme purée, thyme jus."

I encouraged another colleague to get the duck pie, because I really wanted to try it, but I don't love duck enough to really commit to it.  I knew it was going to at least visually be a showstopper (and it was!).

I'm fairly certain this was the best dish of the meal.  The pastry was very, very good.  Perfectly crispy exterior, ridiculous rich and decadent.  Likely lard heavy, and that is not a bad thing.  It made me very hopeful for the dessert round.  **** pastry.

The duck confit was good, tender, flavorful.  I didn't try the other components.  But, yes, definitely the best dish at the table.

Gnocchis aux herbs. $42.

"Sauteed herb gnocchi, corn, pickled mushroom, tomato, green herbs."

The vegetarian had only one option: gnocchi.  It actually looked good, nice sear on the gnocchi, but I didn't hear her review in any way.

Garnitures

We mostly skipped the side dishes, but the vegetarian throw on an order of fries, er, frites, to round out their meal, which they shared with table.

Pommes Frites. $14.

"French fries, tarragon mayonnaise."

Since these were sitting on the table, I tried one.  They were thin, crispy enough, but pretty boring, and lukewarm even when first served.  Nothing special about these. ***.

The aioli was good, creamy, lightly herby.  It helped my octopus out considerably. ***+.

Dessert

In general, it doesn't matter how lackluster a meal is, I'm always excited for dessert.  In Felix's case though I was more excited than usual, as I wanted many of the options, and I'd seen good reviews for all.

Dessert.

The dessert lineup was, well, very french.  Soufflé.  Profiteroles.  Crème brûlée.  Tart tatin.  A token light fruit tart.  No chocolate mousse, or actually, no chocolate dessert of any kind (some had chocolate elements, but nothing dominant), a slight surprise.  Also interesting is that every dessert included a ice cream/sorbet component, e.g. the soufflé, which was Grand Marnier flavored, came with milk chocolate ice cream, the profiteroles with vanilla ice cream, the fruit tart with coconut sorbet, even the crème brûlée came with a sorbet.  You could also order these on their own of course.

I truly would have been happy to try all of them, but my stack ranking was the epic tart tatin first (designed to serve 2+), the crème brûlée second, and souffle a close third (only slightly deterred by the choice of Grand Marnier, sight).  Our group of 7 had two people who didn't want dessert, two more who only wanted a bite or two, and two more who each really wanted their own crème brûlée.  And thus, I had to narrow my choices down considerably.

Crème Brûlée. $20.

"Vanilla crème brûlée, oat crumble, strawberry pomegranate sorbet."

Regular readers of my blog know that I have a thing for crème brûlée.  For all pudding, really.  There is a reason they both have labels on my blog.  This also means of course that I have, um, strong opinions on my crème brûlée.

This one wins for uniqueness, I can't say I've had it served with a fruit sorbet before.  I'm all about pairing cold scoops with most desserts, but it did seem a bit odd here.  The menu also said there was an oat crumble, but neither of ours seemed to have that.  

I gleefully dug in first (yes, to the one belonging to someone else - no shame!).  First up, the tap test.  It was underwhelming.  It was torched, clearly, but it was a thin layer, and didn't impart any real caramelization flavor.  The base flavor was equally underwhelming - no vanilla bean, no real flavor besides cream and sugar.  But it was perfectly set, very creamy, no grainy consistency.  Great execution on the pudding itself, but, just not very flavorful.  ***.

Tart Tatin (for two). $42.

"Apple tart, calvados cream, cinnamon ice cream."

I was so excited for this.  For many reasons.  First, I love a warm dessert with cold ice cream pairing.  Second, while I don't generally get excited for tart tatin (or apple pie), I had strangely been craving it for about two weeks.  And third, well, I'd seen all the photos of it, and knew what a signature dessert it was.  Intended for two (or more), and served in a big skillet.  OMG.

The giant skillet was put into the center of our table.  I wish I had something for scale so you understood how big it was.  But, yes, massive.  A scoop of calvados cream was added tableside.  We were each given our own scoops of cinnamon ice cream.  I was ready.

But ... it let each and every one of us down, even those without expectations.  There was no real caramelization.  It was very runny.  Some of the pastry underneath was raw.  The pastry that was at least cooked was soggy, and nothing like the glorious pastry from the duck pie.  The apples were at least ok, not too mushy.  Spicing reasonable.  But really, it just wasn't very good.  5 of us split it, and much went unfinished.  I wished I hadn't taken such a big slice originally.  *.

The cinnamon ice cream was very good though, perfectly creamy, very smooth.  It paired well.  **** for the ice cream only.

A fitting letdown of a dessert, for a letdown of a meal.