Ben had gone away on a work trip for 10 days to Central Australia, leaving me alone with the Devil Spawn. It was my first time alone with the puppy, as you can imagine, I was pretty knackered by the time he’d come home, especially as I had instituted a very strict toilet training regime while he was away.
So as a little reward for me, Ben took me out to XO so that we could try their July menu out.
We went on a Monday night, I was surprised the restaurant was packed!
The menu hadn’t really changed much from last time, but we did order some new dishes.
Overall, the experience was good, but we were not seated at the bar this time, so we did not have entertaining young bartenders.
Hiramasa Kingfish, miso cured with pineapple relish, wasabi nori, spelt and freeze dried raspberry – $18
I really enjoyed this dish, the fish was cured very nicely, and it all tasted very nice. I didn’t really get any wasabi taste from the nori. I question if this dish was worth $18. Maybe $15 might have been better.
Sexy Fried Squid with sweet chilli salt – $16
I liked this dish as a whole, but ultimately it was just fried squid, I did not pick up any chilli salt at all.
Asian bolognese – $21
We had to have the Asian bolognese again, it was just so good!!! no regrets on this one.
Duck Kut Teh, risotto with shredded duck leg, porcini and baby king mushroom in a herbal broth – $32
This was the star of the meal for me. Essentially a play on bak kut teh, which is typically made with pork and is a soup, this dish used duck and cooked the risotto rice in the broth. It was packed full of flavour and was something really special for me, having grown up with bak kut teh.
Green peas, snow peas, sugar snap peas tossed in garlic and ginger – $10
We really needed some greens, so we ordered this side dish. I was quite surprised by the serving, it was actually too much for 2 people, we didn’t finish it. That’s not to say it wasn’t tasty, it was delicious, there was just too much of it, and we were stuffed! Was a very simple vegetable, I really liked how crunchy the vegetables were.
Chengdu Snow, chilli white chocolate mousse, sichuan, goma and freeze dried mandarin – $16
I was really looking forward to dessert, because the previous dessert had been so completely mind blowing. I have to say, when this dessert arrived, I felt a bit deflated. my mood did not change after we’d tucked in. I felt that the dish was quite powder-y, too many “soils”, and the presentation was quite lacking. It was also incredibly spicy! Too much Sichuan. I have no idea where the freeze dried mandarins were, it may have been able to balance out the dish. Overall, quite a disappointing dessert, I will not be ordering it again.
I would rate the food a 6 out of 10 for this visit. This review will not deter me from visiting again for the next menu, I have to believe they will rally!
Thanks for reading!
The Sausage Dog 