Bar H Surry Hills @ Surry Hills

As a late birthday present one of my uni friends took me out to dinner. I had no clue on where we were going, but upon arrival I was super excited. The reason being, Bar H with chef Hamish appeared on MasterChef Australia, and I had only recently caught up on the episode. 

Duck Broth

This broth was extremely smooth and clean, and a great starter. The shitake mushrooms with the fresh coriander made the dish amazing. There were more asian styled mushrooms at the bottom of the soup which continued to add flavour and bite to the broth.

Pickled Cucumber Salad

A fresh change to the palette. The sauce provided with the cucumber was similar to nuoc mam which is an Asian dipping sauce. I wasn't a fan of the purple mint like herb.

Steamed pork wonton with shellfish oil

You can't go wrong with wonton. These were wonderfully made, and with comparing them to the ones my mum makes at home the key flavours were the same. The shellfish oil tasted like the dumpling sauce you get at Chinese restaurants.

Steamed Pork Buns

The waitress told us to eat this by breaking the pork bun in half, and putting some of the herbs in it, and then bite. I have never eaten pork buns like that, so I gave it a go and the herbs provided a boost in freshness, but I still prefer the traditional method of eating it without the herbs.

Cuttlefish salad

This was a salad served warm. The cuttlefish was lightly fried, and contained a light sauce that added a punch of flavour. It was one of my favourite dishes, with all the mushrooms within the salad that provided taste and texture.

Chicken with ginger & shallot, steamed rice and herb salad

The chicken was lightly fried and then topped with ginger, shallots and fresh herbs. The sauce resulted in the chicken losing its crispiness which didn't both me, since I wasn't in the mood for crispy chicken. This dish strongly reminded me of a lovely dinner at home, definitely brought the Asian flavours to the table.

Braised beef with Sichuan eggplant

The beef was perfectly braised where it was easy to eat and little chewing required. I think the eggplant made the dish with is delicately soft texture. The eggplant soaked up all the flavours of the sauce, which contained a hint of spice.

Left: Jasmine tea custard with sliced pear, fresh tea leaves and caramel
Right: Persimmon Parfait with rhubarb and passion fruit foam with fresh and crispy persimmon

The desserts were the best part of the night. I will start with the parfait, which was wonderful. I saw Hamish make it right in front of me for another table, and from then I knew we had to order it. The dish looked impeccable with such finesse. I normally don't like persimmon, but it worked really well with the parfait. The 2 fruit foams at the bottom provided balance to the dish.

Now to the Jasmine tea custard. This was added to the menu after Hamish had appeared in MasterChef Australia, upon Gary's advice. It was amazing. There was a prominent jasmine tea flavour, the caramel and fresh tea leaves caused a party in your mouth. The pear was underneath the caramel, that resulted in a slight difficulty in spooning the custard. In the end, it was still amazing where I would actual crave this.

The overall dining experience was exceptional. The atmosphere and ambience of the restaurant is comfortable, where it combines fine dining, with a bar like environment, fused with Asian flavours. A great place to eat and enjoy a few drinks with friends.

Good food, good times!