Watersedge - Canberra

Yey to the 100th post! Thanks to all of you who have been reading my blog and for leaving all the encouraging comments! I really appreciate it and yes, i do read ALL of them =)

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I have recently dined at the Watersedge (Commonwealth Place, 40 Parkes Place) and was delighted by the fact that now, i have tried all the sister restaurants of Courgette: Watersedge and Sabayon. Watersedge is a relatively small restaurant which boasts full-sized glass windows overlooking the scenic views of Lake Burley Griffin. The view at night is beautiful and it certainly made the overall dinner experience quite pleasant. Watersedge has recently been awarded one hat by the 2010 SMH Good Food Guide and it offers a Modern Australian menu.

The staff was polite and the service was efficient. Before our entrees arrived, we were served some amuse-bouche which was duck on a circular toasted bread served with apple chutney.

For entrees, we ordered:

Scallops boudin and scallop ceviche, fennel and squid salad with anise dressing: i was slightly disappointed with this entree because the amount of scallops were minimal. The scallop boudin had the texture of an Asian steamed egg and it didn't really enchance the dish overall. On the other hand, i quite liked the squid and fennel salad.  

Pan fried Salmon fillet cold smoked, pencils leek, baby fennel, steamed Kipfler potato, fish emulsion: this dish was quite similar to the one we had at Sabayon (main). The salmon was beautifully cooked and the skin was very crispy. The roe was quite scattered which made it hard to savour them with the rest of the dish.

Next up, were the mains.

Char grilled grange beef fillet, blue cheese gnocchi, confit garlic, porcini butter, watercress puree, red wine jus: The beef fillet was cooked to medium-rare and it was nicely pink and tender (just a tiny bit burnt on one side of the fillet though). i could definately taste the blue cheese in the gnocchi and gladly it wasn't overpowering.

Duck trio: Duck breast, pressed leg confit, foie gras with toasted brioche served with braised lentils, globe artichoke and kumquat marmalade: the duck breast was lovely (even by itself) and i also liked the pressed leg confit. I wasn't particularly fond of the foie gras in this dish though.

Duck Breast

Top: Foie Gras with toasted brioche Bottom: Pressed Leg Confit with globe artichoke

We were served a cardamon and tropical fruits sorbet before the arrival of our desserts:

Custard apple and coconut semi freddo, fresh strawberry and mint salad, glass biscuit, coconut and berry sorbets: I was truly amazed at the size of this dessert! It was quite big and with so many elements here and there, i really didn't know where to start. I started with the semi freddo in the middle and it was quite solid and cold. It tasted nice with pieces of fresh coconut and some nuts (maybe pistachios?). Loved the berry sorbet but wasn't too fond on the coconut one and the glass biscuits were nice and crisp!

Mandarin and White Chocolate mousse millefeuille, Mandarin caviar, Mandarin and Black pepper sorbet

I really liked this combination. The mandarin sorbet was good and refreshing but i couldn't really taste the black pepper in it. There weren't many layers to this millefeuille but the white chocolate made a good combo with the mandarin. Sadly, the mandarin still had seeds in them.

Overall we had a lovely dinner at Watersedge and the beautiful scenic views just added to the dinner experience.