Ezard

For Dad's 47th Birthday Gift I treated him and Anthi to dinner at Ezard. Ryan and I had great food and service there the last time we went, so we hoped we would be in for the same this time round. Dad arrived 45mins late so the waiters were a little slow in returning to take our orders.

Details: Ezard

• 187 Flinders Lane
  Melbourne 3000 VIC
• www.ezard.com.au
  

Starters: Anthi had: rice crusted kurobuta pork cheek with spiced apples, yellow bean soy, tamarind and peanuts for $23.50. Dad was extremely hesitant to try it ('Ew, pigs cheek, yuk') but after he tasted it he did a complete 180 and raved about it ('it's like a dessert'). Both Ryan and Anthi also thought it was really lovely.

Dad and I both had: gratinated potato gnocchi, caramelised shallots, pear, walnuts and parmesan cheese crumble for $21.50. Whilst I thought it was decent, dad found it quite bitter, which I thought may have been because the gnocci was gratinated, which also made it quite heavy and bland. There wasn't enough pear for there to be a flavour to cut through the heavy potato and cheese.

Ryan had: open wagyu beef burger with quail egg, onion jam, cresses, smoked tomato and truffle oil mayonnaise for $25.50. In Ryan's words: It was pretty good.Mains: Dad had: The daily special which was a mulloway in a plum sauce (don't remember the details). The fish was really tender as it was steamed and dad enjoyed it.

Anthi had: seven + score wagyu beef two ways, truffle creamed potato, celeriac remoulade and pea puree for $64. The meat was really tender and both Dad and Anthi enjoyed it.

Ryan had: sichuan peppered duck with coconut rice, stir fried witlof, blood plum and ginger dressing for $45.50. As I tried the coconut rice, I can comment and say that it was the most creamy coconut rice I have ever had, almost like rizogalo. Ryan's comments on the duck: It was really nice.

I had: red roasted barossa chicken, pea and mint frtiters, chiang kiang and shallot caramel, roasted garlic foam for $43. I had the largest serving out of all the mains. I was disappointed in my main as it had coriander leaves in it, which I can't stand as I inherited Dad's genetic trait where I have an enzyme that changes the taste of the leaves into a metallic, almost chemical taste on my tongue. So I couldn't really eat enough to comment on it.

Sides: fried potatoes with dukkah salt and lemon yoghurt for $11.50. These were yum, there weren't heavily coated with the dukkah salt, but the lemon yoghurt complemented the potatoes well.

Desserts: Dad and Anthi had: roasted bananas with chocolate cheese and caramel ice cream for $22. They weren't too impressed with this dish. The serving was quite small and compared to the tasting platter we had it didn't compare value wise.

Ryan and I had the dessert tasting plate which had the following: warm quince meringue pie with five spice custard and pistachio icecream, honeycrunch icecream with toasted gingerbread and sugar swirls, tea parfait with beurre bosc pears and pomegranate molasses, bitter sweet dark chocolate torte with macaroon and mandarin sorbet, Jerusalem artichoke and truffle creme brulee, roasted bananas with chocolate cheese and caramel ice cream, and a granny smith apple rice dish for $45.50.

Ok, firstly, the quince pie was decent, the meringue was fairly runny and I couldn't taste the five spice custard.

• The honeycrunch ice cream was yum, but the gingerbread was soggy and not strong in flavour - the sugar swirl was delicious though.
• The tea parfait was my 2nd favourites - the parfait was very refreshing and pleasing, whilst the pear with the pomegranate added a sweet and sour dimension to the dessert.
• The bitter sweet chocolate tart was mine and dad's favourite - the mandarin sorbet was amazing, like eating 10 fresh mandarins, lovely burst of flavour that helped to cut through the rich chocolate macaroon torte.
• The creme brulee was disgusting - couldn't get past the truffle, artichoke flavour in the creme brulee.
  
• The banana dish wasn't really enjoyed by anyone.
• The granny smith rice dish was also a little lackluster.

By this stage we were absolutely stuffed, and couldn't fit all of the desserts in, but we made a fair go of it.
Whilst the food was great, the service was lacking. We had multiple waiters throughout the night, and had dirty dishes left on our tables for much too long. Trying to order dessert, after we received the menus, took around 20mins which was much too long. The menu features much more Asian options, which is a little disappointing as I prefer their mod oz dishes much more.

Food: 4.5/5. The chicken brought the score down for the coriander leaf.

Service: 2.5/5. Really disappointed in the amount of time spent waiting for plates to be cleared and orders to be taken.

Atmosphere: 3/5. The tables are situated a little to closely together, the table hook to hang bags on was a nice touch though. The booths are much nicer and more intimate.