Antoine's Grill (Concord, Sydney)

Wow! I cannot believe this will be my 250th post. 3 years on, my blog is still very much alive! Here goes...

I felt like a good piece of steak and when it came time to organising a catch up with some dear friends of mine, I started looking at restaurants which offered quality steak.

Antoine's Grill caught my eye. A French restaurant located in Concord that had a rather nice menu was our choice. Antoine Moscovitz is the chef with a CV filled with having worked under Alain Ducasse, was private chef to the House of Roderer Cristal Champagne, and in Australia had worked at Salt and Bather's Pavilion. Not too bad I say!

Majors Bay Road in Concord is certainly getting busier and busier. And it looks like there are a couple of other restaurants I should bookmark to check out.

When we stepped into Antoine's Grill, I had a sense of being in an European restaurant. The front of house and wait team all had French accents, bar 1 Aussie lad. The tables were square and made of roughly hued wood. Quite rustic but not out of place.

We were seated at a table which looked out to the front and would be considered a private little nook. And little bits of decor accented the French theme.

We started off with an appetiser and entrees:

Toasted sourdough with aged olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The crustiness of the French style bread came through.

Confit diver scallops, green papaya and pickled asparagus, served with beetroot and sweet leek, and preserved Calypso mangoes. I cannot resist scallops and these were perfectly cooked. Succulent, sweet and beautifully offset by the julienned green papaya and asparagus. In terms of balance of portions, I felt there was a lot more of the beetroot puree than was necessary but the colours sure popped on my plate!

Crispy pork belly, sweet capsicum puree caramelised apple, lemon myrtle honey glaze. It went down a treat, NF finished off the plate and throughly enjoyed the dish.

Our mains were:

200g Eye fillet with green peppercorn sauce. The beef was from Darling Downs in Queensland and was 200 days naturally pasture fed. It definitely had a creamy, buttery texture. I had it medium rare and it was beautifully cooked. A very good piece of steak indeed! I forgot to take a picture of the middle of the fillet to display its lovely colour, sorry!

350g Rib eye (Scotch fillet) with house made red wine jus. This was also from Darling Downs but 200 days grain fed. NF stated this was the best piece of steak he had ever had. That says it all, doesn't it? Unfortunately my photo of the dish was not too clear. Sigh! :(

1/2 rack of lamb with red wine jus. This was from the Riverina region in NSW. Again it was another hit.

We also had some sides to accompany our mains:

Steakhouse chips - seriously good! Crunchy to the max and absolutely addictive! More please!

Signature oven baked mashed potato - beautifully creamy.

Broccoli heads with sweet onion and garlic jam - the onion jam lifted up the flavours.

And for dessert, I was the last person standing. I had the Bombe Alaska of Creme brûlée ice cream, strawberry compote, faux popcorn with Cointreau orange syrup. I loved how it was presented, in a glass domed lid. Then the young man gently poured the syrup around the dessert. It was definitely served with a touch of French flourish.

I would also like to point out how friendly the wait team was. They were constantly checking on how things were, and they were very happy for me to take as many photos as I wanted.

My eye fillet with sides on the plate

Would I come back? A definite yes! I am eyeing the crab soufflé and Charcuterie platter. The platter had so many things listed that were calling me but I refrained this time. How could I have resisted pork rillettes, petite terrine, and saucisson? Next time!! :)


Antoine's Grill
Shop 1, 122 Majors Bay Road
Concord
NSW 2137
Website: antoinesgrill.com.au