Chiswick Woollahra

“Modern Australian food that is farm to table, and is just so good and yummy.” That was my colleague’s pitch for the food I was about to have at Chiswick in Sydney’s Woollahra. But firstly, I needed to figure out how to pronounce it correctly. Chiz-wick? Chiz-ick? Well, what is it? Sydneysiders know it as the latter, and everybody else thinks it’s the former. Regardless of how you say it, its name is well known, having been started by celebrity chef Matt Moran in 2012. One question remained: does the paddock successfully step up to the plate?

Chiswick has a chic country cottage set-up in the middle of a garden in the leafy, well-heeled suburb of Woollahra. The dining room has folding French windows running the length of the dining room on two sides; on my second visit one side was completely open to the garden giving the dining room the ultimate indoor-outdoor flow. I was very appreciative of the large array of non-alc drink options available, all house made, from sodas made with strawberry and garden thyme, to virgin amaretto sours and no-perol spritzes. The strawberry soda was nice and zingy with fresh, herbaceous notes.

I’m lucky enough to not have had the kind of childhood trauma that means I am unable to share food with others and I’ve always considered my preference of shared dining to be advantageous for trying new things. Except when the portions of some sharing plates fall a little short. For example, the Ora King salmon gravlax tartare with cucumber and horseradish ($32) was just large enough for the four adults at our table to each muster a bite. It was delicious, refreshing and spicy, with the surprise addition of perilla leaf and the cucumbers pickled, but I would have liked more. I felt the same way about the Vannella stracciatella, fire roasted peach, hazelnut and oregano ($28). Fantastic flavours, the peaches had taken on a wonderfully intense sweetness. But they had been so thinly sliced the dish felt flimsy. Could I have just a bit more peach, please? (As an aside, Vannella makes fantastic Italian cheeses in case you’re in the market for some good stuff in Sydney, and I am also proud as punch that they’re serving New Zealand’s Ora King salmon, which kicks Tassie salmon’s arse, I mean tail.)

My friend Annelien and I loved the bara-masalata ($20) so much the first time that we had to order it a second, for the benefit of our respective husbands. The kumara/sweet potato chips that accompanied the dip were super crispy and I liked how the tangy barramundi roe emulsion was pepped up by smoked paprika. A wise man or woman would also order the flatbread ($14). The term ‘flat’ is a misnomer as what arrives is a burnish puffy dough with a well-seasoned garlic and rosemary topping. Focaccia, the darling of every table is out and Chiswick’s flat bread is in. If I wasn’t watching my carbs I would happily eat the entire thing myself.

Chiswick’s name is synonymous with lamb. Ask anyone who has ever been there, and they’ll tell you to get the lamb. A whole lamb shoulder, slow roasted, and covered in the most sensational mint salsa, sitting on a bed of chickpea and quinoa garden salad ($115). One has to wonder how many lamb shoulders they have out back? This is not the kind of cookery you could belt out at a moment’s notice. Does the kitchen regularly run out of its famous lamb shoulder? My questions remain unanswered, but this much I know: their lamb shoulder is delicious. The meat is forkin’ tender, sauced with a rich, perhaps pomegranate-laden glaze, and the aforementioned zingy mint salsa. Peppery garden rocket accompanied it and the chickpea and quinoa salad was perfectly nubbly and ready to absorb the delicious pan juices.

We probably didn’t need to also order the chicken ($46/$76), but I had to relive eating the accompanying woodfired Kipfler potatoes that I’d had last time. They are a seminal potato moment in my life, the best tasting potatoes I have ever had, simply dressed in tonnes of good EVOO. They weren’t even crispy. They were an example of the simplest dish made with the very best, and how good that can be on its own. The chicken was juicy, brined beforehand I’m sure, with an almost syrupy jus. Dressed with some perilla leaves, it was very simple in its presentation and helpfully divided into portions already. I’m glad we only got half a chook because the lamb was more than enough for the four of us. We ordered a side of roasted carrots ($16) which came with a black garlic puree and toasted buckwheat. The finely chopped tarragon on top was a little smattering of genius, another example of the power of the humble garden herb.

Believe or not, after all of this, we ordered four desserts to share, because they all sounded so delicious it was too hard to choose. True story. The rich chocolate torte with preserved cherries and crème fraiche ($20) was the most promising dessert on paper but fell short because of its slightly gelatinous, stiff texture. I was rather hoping it would fall somewhere between a mousse and the fudgiest of chocolate brownies. I’m no pastry chef so I can’t tell you why it has turned out this way, only that it is, which let it down. The accompaniments however were perfect pairings, though I think subbing cultured cream for crème fraiche would really give this dish a wow factor. The classic pavlova with lemon curd, summer stone fruit and passionfruit ($18) was delicious and took full advantage of summer but it didn’t reinvent the wheel, or the pav so to speak.

The woodfired pineapple with coconut and lemon balm ($16) ended up being my favourite dessert. The sweetly caramelised coconut had a real smoky flavour to it almost making it akin to something savoury like a piece of smoked meat. It was served with a coconut sorbet which was creamy and cooling. And oh the lemon balm! Its flavour is so smooth and lemony, like lemon curd in a leaf. This dish has completely convinced me to start growing lemon balm in my garden, its flavour so transformative. Our final dessert was the summer berry pudding with buttermilk gelato ($18). Those familiar with summer pudding may be disappointed to find that this is not that but rather a riff on it, the base resembling a kind of bready custard. It was an ode to the strawberry and our friend lemon balm made an appearance again, the overall effect fresh and fantastic. The nuttiness of the tight crumb on top added a nice textural contrast, saving it from too much squishiness. Conceptually, I think this is an improvement on the original.

There are some restaurants I have visited in Sydney that I wish I hadn’t, and there are those that I wish to return to again. Chiswick is one of those restaurants that I had the rare pleasure of dining at twice. The paddock most definitely stepped up to the plate in its case.

Chiswick Woollahra
65 Ocean Street
Woollahra
Sydney NSW 2025
Australia
Ph. +61 2 8388 8688
@chiswickwoollahra
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