Blancharu review

Trout with roasted pepper on the top and prawn ravioli with basil sauce on the bottom

For my birthday this year, I went to Blancharu for dinner as a treat. Blancharu is a Franco-Japanese restaurant run by chef Harunobu and it serves Japanese cuisine with French influence. The ambiance is warm and welcoming while staff are friendly and seems to know their stuff well.

Beef steak on potato

My friend and I had the 8 course degustation and the kitchen had kindly accomodated to my fussy eating preference of no pork, although in the future and for more sensitive customers perhaps they'd note that the bacon in carbonara sauce is still a pork product. The meals were beautifully presented and tasted wonderful! They even let me indulge in (and encouraged) my photo taking obsession. We tried to keep it to a minimum so not to disturb the other guests.

Warm apple struddle with apple ice cream

The head chef and owner, Harunobu, came out a few times, chatting to guests and after a quick mention that it was my birthday by my friend, my desert of warm apple struddle came decorated with a birthday wish in chocolate. I thought it was very sweet gesture from the kitchen.

I'm one happy birthday girl

The food was delicious. The degustation started with sashimi of four fishes which was fresh and light with beautiful sauce. The cold chicken and peach terrine (steamed) with pear (and walnut?) didn't really sit well with me because I'm not so fond of mixing my fruit with meat and I don't like cold dishes, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't finish such a beautiful dish. The bread rolls on offer were sourdough and black sesame rolls. What interesting ingredients! After long contemplation, I resisted the black sesame and opted for the sourdough. In my amateuristic opinion, the bread roll was a bit tough, probably due to short second fermetation. Despite that, the gorgeous flavour of the sourdough really stood out. My personal favourite was the prawn ravioli, the handmade fetucinne carbonara and the miso glazed trout on a bed of spinach.

I'd recommend this restaurant and if you'd like to get an overall taste of what this restaurant has to offer, I suggest trying the degustation. For me personally, I'll definately come back again to try the a la carte.

Blancharu is located on Shop 1, 21 Elizabeth Bay Rd, Elizabeth Bay, NSW 2011. Other reviews of this restaurant can be found on Eatability.