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Monday, October 10, 2011

Pilu

To celebrate my milestone birthday, we went with a group of close friends to Pilu, a two chef hats restaurant located in Freshwater at Sydney Northern Beaches. We chose to have lunch so that we can enjoy the beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean and Freshwater (aka Freshie) Beach. The weather that day was the best we've had in Sydney for some time (after grey and cloudy days). The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the ocean sparkling blue green waters. The company was awesome.... lunch went on for 4.5 hours. Time just flew by when you're in great company. It was a wonderful opportunity to catch up with friends without the children, having adult conversations, enjoying the wine and meal.

From our table, we had a beautiful view of Freshie.

For entrees, we had:
De-boned quail wrapped in pancetta, stuffed with chicken livers, fennel and tarragon
Those who chose the quail enjoyed the different flavours from the salty pancetta to the chicken livers. I thought the quail was well-presented.

Saffron spaghettini, QLD Spanner Crab, crispy guanciale and pangrattato
I really enjoyed the saffron spaghettini. Guanciale is unsmoked Italian bacon prepared from pig's cheeks. It was not too salty and flavoursome. It was a good balance to the spanner crab.

Salt baked NZ King Salmon, saffron kipfler potatoes, baby leeks and beetroot puree
The salt-baked salmon was tender and smooth.

For mains, half the table ordered the Oven-roasted suckling pig.
Oven roasted suckling pig - various cuts, served on the bone with traditional
farm house suckling pig sausage
I enjoyed the suckling pig, with the crispy skin. It was a pity that the slices of pig sausage was so thin, it was difficult to taste the full flavour, would have preferred a slightly larger slice.

Tasmanian Wilderness beef sirloin, cavolo nero and bottarga butter

Slow cooked Coronga lamb, cous cous, olive and almond salad, pan juices
Chris had the lamb, which I thought was slightly overcooked, but he enjoyed it.

Unbeknownst to me, Cindy had pre-ordered my birthday cake from the restaurant. When she rang to enquire about bringing a cake, she was told that the chef could make a cake - and there were about 4 or 5 choices to choose from. Cindy chose the Almond and Orange amaretto cake. It was a good choice, the cake was dense but moist.  Thanks Cindy, you have good taste.

The cake was beautiful presented on a plate with gold flakes and flowers.


We finished this delicious meal with coffee and petit fours.
Do you spy a missing nougat piece?

"On the Beach", Moore Road
Freshwater NSW 2096
Telephone: (02) 9938 3331
E-mail: dining@piluatfreshwater.com.au 

Pilu at Freshwater on Urbanspoon

6 comments:

  1. The moist and juicy quail, plus the lovely delectable birthday cake, were tops to me. I reckon we all felt so relaxed and lost any sense of time on a rather beaut arvo - one of thew best Sundays I have ever had!

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  2. I am glad the cake turned out so well. Happy to have been part of your wonderful celebration.

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  3. So happy that both of you could be there. It was one of the best birthday celebrations I've had for some time, one that I will remember.

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  4. Happy Belated Birthday Charmaine,

    I was blog hopping and can't resist commenting on the food! Glorious food eh? Just wrote down one of your jam recipe...going to try it! :) Thanks!

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  5. that missing piece must have been stolen by the birthday girl? happy belated birthday to you!

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  6. That missing piece had nothing to do with the birthday gal. It was from an over eager fellow luncher.

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