Eat, Pray, Love: September 2014

September has been good to me, mainly because I am a September baby and it is the first month of my favourite spring season. Since today is the last day of my birthday month, I thought I can share with you my birthday dining experience at Georges on Waymouth. I have always wanted to dine at Georges due to rave reviews from other food bloggers. In addition, Georges has won the Best European Restaurant in Restaurant and Catering SA Awards for Excellence for 4 years in a row since 2010. All the more this restaurant is chosen to host my birthday dinner.

The name of the restaurant derives from its owner, George and Voula Kasimatis. Even though it looks small from the outside, Georges consists of 2 floors, whereby the upper section is opened for function and bigger group of people. The restaurant has a classic European ambience, with minimalist design, wooden floorboards, high ceilings and warm lighting.

Their professional service is truly commendable. Right from the booking until table service, Georges has shown dedication and great hospitality to our group. The staffs adopt the diner-centered approach, attending to our needs and preferences.

It took us a while to order our food because every single item on the menu was so appealing. Our waiting staff came to our help and recommended their popular offerings. Every single element in the menu was explained in details. The dishes on special were written on brown paper hung near to the entrance of the restaurant.

After putting our order, complimentary bread was served. The bread was soft and we dipped with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. I would be even happier if there was dukkah offered. Nevertheless, the bread was a great start to our meal.

Besides that, we were offered sesame bread sticks with green and black olives. The bread sticks were seasoned well with black and white sesame. Georges was considerate enough to offer us an empty plate to discard the pits from the olives.

Bread sticks and olives

The signature dish of Georges is the lamb press. The lamb shank was cooked more than 12 hours till tender. After that, the lamb was shredded and wrapped with pancetta. The lamb press was then pan fried, resulting in a golden and crispy covering of pancetta. The accompaniments were baba ganoush, tahini yoghurt and pomegranate.

The lamb press was the best lamb that I have ever had. The lamb was juicy, tender and literally melted in my mouth. The saltiness from pancetta, smokiness from baba ganoush, slight sourness from pomegranate and palate cleansing tahini yogurt just complemented the lamb so well. It was a marriage between Mediterranean and European food.

Lamb press

My friend also ordered the tortellini of local mushrooms with chestnut puree and native greens. Georges was generous in the contents of tortellini. Even though there was only 3-4 tortellini on the plate, my friend was pretty full at the end of the meal. The mushrooms were fresh and cooked well. The sauces and puree were rich in flavour, yet not subduing the star of the dish, the mushrooms.

Mushroom tortellini

The other offering that caught my eyes was the 24 hour cooked pork neck, served with granny smith apples, mustard, pork lard, morcilla (blood sausage) and potatoes. The pork neck was not fatty and again, it was cooked to perfection. The meat was tender due to the long hours of cooking.

Pork neck

The fish of the day was the grilled snapper with citrus salad. It was a refreshing dish as citrus never go wrong with fish.

Grilled snapper

The pasta chosen by our table was the pappardelle with rabbit ragout, pancetta and shaved pecorino, Compared to other dishes, this did not shine well.

Pappardelle with rabbit ragout

Besides the fish of the day, another seafood dish we ordered was the potato gnocchi with mussels, vongole, capsicum, fennel and saffron. The gnocchi was different from the ones from Italian restaurants as it was served in a long cone instead of cubes. I still prefer my gnocchi to be cut though.

Seafood gnocchi

There is always dessert time and hence one of my friends ordered the affogato as an extra boost of caffeine for him to prepare for his paper tomorrow. It consisted of house made ice cream, espresso and biscotti. The affogato was strong whereas the ice cream was smooth and creamy.

Affogato

I ordered the apple pie panna cotta with salted caramel crumble, pear cubes and vanilla pashmak. Guess what? Georges gave me a little surprise with the written birthday message on my dessert plate. Awwww! The panna cotta was absolutely delicious. Instead of the wobbly panna cotta, this panna cotta had a smooth and milky texture that melted in my mouth. The salted caramel crumble hit the spot with its balanced saltiness and sweetness. It was a dessert that I would go back for.

Apple pie panna cotta

For souvenirs, I baked matcha cupcakes with red bean frosting and Royce green tea chocolate as appreciation gifts for my friends who came for the dinner. The chocolate was amazing with melted green tea jelly in the middle. They can be bought from Royce store at Westfield Marion.

Matcha cupcake with red bean frosting and Royce chocolate

It was a great birthday dinner with nice company and amazing food. Thank you guys for coming and I hope you enjoyed the night just as I did. Thanks again for Ketan who served us well and made sure we had a fabulous dining experience. I definitely recommend Georges on Waymouth if you are thinking for a celebratory and intimate night out.