"Much a hype about nothing"
I have always been highly sceptical / cynical about anything that attracts a lot of hype - from Hollywood blockbusters to books, to bars and restaurants - I have often found this hype to be unwarranted. I should have taken my own advice and avoided the hype surrounding Fish Face, because here is one example where a restaurant fell well short of the expectations.
The menu has a painting of a Blue Trevalla on it, and so I took this to mean that it was the restaurants signature dish. Big mistake. Blue Trevalla, when cooked well, is juicy, succulent and requires minimal effort with the fork to break it apart. The piece of fish I was served, was undercooked and tough - requiring considerable effort to break it up into cold chewy mouthfuls.
I enjoy a slightly raw piece of salmon or tuna that melts in your mouth, but this is a white fish - and should not have been served like that. The fish came on a bed of spinach and pickled lemon, and was topped with a crackling of shaved potatoes which was delicious but not substantive, so you would certainly need to order some sides on top. At $40 for the main - even if it was prepared well - it would not have represented good value.
The restaurant had a nice atmosphere, and a good selection of wines - I had the Pino Gritio at $12 a glass - but none of this made up for the poor performance of their signature dish. With "The Sardine Room" just around the corner in Potts Point offering much better value and infinitely better food - I will certainly not be returning anytime soon.
Not the worst, but very far from the best, especially considering the prices.
1.5/5
132 Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst NSW, 2010
