Sunday, January 22, 2012
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I'm a huge fan of Andy Bunn's cooking. It's brilliant and honest cooking and you really can't go wrong with Italian, well done with good ingredients. That's what his ex-venture, Sopra, achieved. Half produce store, half cafe, you get quality fresh ingredients, kitchen standbys to take home and delicious food all in the one place. With that, it's hard not to achieve a loyal customer base, one being Neil Perry who I spotted a couple of times eating there and me; where I was a regular there and even had one of his cookbooks. It was a sunny day when I came out to dine at Honeycomb and I had even brighter hopes about his new restaurant.
Admittedly, my parents weren't the most ecstatic when coming out to Kings Cross at night. I guess repeated sessions of Underbelly really does give it that undesirable vibe so fortunately, Honeycomb is located down a peaceful and much more quiet road. We started off with a sourdough on the house from Sonoma and fruity olive oil.
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| Cabbage Salad with Regianno and Aged Balsamic 18 |
You're thinking cabbage salad is bland and so was I, but this salad showed less is more. The aged balsamic is not as acidic as store bought ones and has a real depth in flavour but the real hero in my opinion was the generous shavings of reggiano which gave it a sharp, distinctive bite.
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| Oriecchiette with Yellow Fin Tuna, Chilli, Garlic, Lemon 26 |
Orecchiette was the most perfect pasta to use, sucking up all the beautiful flavours resulting from the chilli, tomato, garlic, lemon and parsley infused oil. Chilli is remarkably absent from a lot of Italian eateries which is quite sad because it gives any dish quite an enjoyable kick and warmth. A very simple dish with generous hunks of meaty tuna makes this a mouthwatering pasta favourite.
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| Lamb ragu, Chilli, Rosemary 26 |
Full of huge meaty, bold flavours made an incredibly hearty dish. Rosemary and lamb are best friends and you can't go wrong with them two, all covered up with a deeply intense tomato sauce. Scrumptious.
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| Banoffee Pie 15 |
I was a little disappointed when they said they didn't have honeycomb semifroddo they're quite known for but it's not exactly the worst thing choosing their banoffee pie instead! I have this everytime I go to Sopra and it's one of my favourite desserts of all time. A hard yet short biscuit pastry is topped with a thick condense milk caramel tempered out with sweet, ripe bananas and lashings of chantilly cream and shavings of chocolate. Nothing's overpowered and I'd go back there again and again just to have this.
You don't get anything new or different here at Honeycomb which isn't particularly a bad thing at all. A lot of my past favourites are on the menu and i'm definitely not complaining. The food was undeniably simple yet good however my qualm is with the setting. It's not as rushed and much more laid back then Sopra but there's something about me that misses that blackboard where daily selections come and go while being written and rubbed off and a shop where you can look for great produce. Service was friendly and efficient and food came out in a flash. It's not as packed as say, the multiple Sopra restaurants but it's still early days and Honeycomb has a bright future under the helm of a great chef.
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