Merivale madness: Lotus

It is a cold Thursday night in winter and 8 girls are out on the town. The wine list is 9 pages and the cocktail list bumps it out by another 5. Couple that with the $60 banquet menu, it is a recipe for schoolnighthangoverdisaster. Otherwise known as a great night out.

Until the end of July Lotus have a 6-7pm earlybird dining special where two courses is $30 and 3 courses is $39. We are too late for this, so we opt for the 8+ pax set menu consisting of NINE dishes for $60. That's right, nine. neuf. nove. chin. negen. siyam. 九. My mind is excited but my stomach knows the struggle ahead as my appetite was still MIA.

Merivale describes Lotus as "one of the jewels of Sydney's eastern suburbs... a sophisticated, award-winning bistro and cocktail bar with a reputation for outstanding service... Dan Hong's menu  marries European influences with fresh Asian flavours". Dan Hong, I am under severe European influence and some might describe me as a "fresh asian flavour". Marry me.


The bread just screams EAT ME I'M FRESH OUT THE OVEN. Resistance is futile. But do it if you can... because coming up is the sashimi of yellowfin tuna with sweet wasabi, soy & ginger. The tuna is delicious and fresh and the sweet wasabi so inviting that you might just forget about your minor dislike of wasabi. Don't let it fool you, wasabi is still wasabi, even as perfectly piped as this one.

Bread that you should try & avoid

yellowfin tuna sashimi

sea scallop ceviche

crispy king prawns

The vietnamese inspired sea scallop ceviche is one of my favourite dishes of the night. The scallops are partnered almost perfectly with spicy jalapenos, micro herbs and a perfectly balanced dressing. Next up we have the crispy king prawns with picked cabbage and bacon vinaigrette. These are tasty but the best prawn experience of my life would be the popcorn shrimp at sake - and unfortunately nothing measures up to those golden nuggets of pleasure.

clams & garlic butter

Lotus has, however, set new expectations for all future clam meals I consume. I am not the greatest seafood/shellfish/mollusc fan (so please take my prawn feedback with a 'punch' of salt) and this could be the first clam experience ever. They are cooked perfectly and not too "soft" (the biggest turn off of larger molluscs like mussels and oysters - yeeerrrch!) and more bread is served to mop up the lick-your-bowl worthy garlic butter. do it, do it, do it.

lamb rump, miso eggplant

pork chop, guacamole, beets

By the end of the clams I am well and truly fed, filled with bread regrets and dreading the substantial meals to come. The pork is served medium so it is still incredibly tender and melts into your mouth. Paired perfectly with the guacamole and baby beets, I wish I had more than one bite of pork, but my brain told me i had to move onto the lamb rump - also delicious, also bringing on severe food coma. I am really disappointed that I didn't try the miso eggplant, in the dark i thought these were grilled spring onions :(

THE CHEESEBURGER

 My highlight of the night, of the year, and the highlight of the table (bar the one vegetarian) was the cheeseburger. Lotus deserves its cheeseburger rep and i will continue to feed its fanfare. I am typing this up hungrily now and WISH i had a lotus cheeseburger to help give me some loving right now. Each person was served half a cheeseburger but by this stage i only managed to force feed myself half of my half. It is devastatingly good, so good that I could eat this 24/7 and I saw my life flashing before my eyes and my heart valves collapsing under the meaty pressure. I don't know how else to describe it - more like a greasy style burger (eg Paul's famous hamburgers) and definitely not a "gourmet" burger (eg Grill'd) but it is so tasty that it has managed to create its own category. The sauce and pickles remind me of a big mac but i am so anti-McDonalds that it surprises me - i can really only describe it as a prepoerly made, gourmet version of a greasy, one-hander big mac. It is so good that I am forced to pull myself up and show some loving to the chefs...

 And finally, our two desserts: choc chip cookie, vanilla ice cream, raspberry and butterscotch, and a lime sponge, watermelon, coconut sorbet and lime curd.The choc chip cookie is crispy on the outside and fresh out of the oven. This dish is a clear winner of the lime sponge, which takes a little getting used to as the sponge reminds me of the "Steamed" asian style sponges and the lime curd is rich, sweet and almost unexpected.

cookie, ice cream, raspberry, butterscotch

lime sponge, watermelon, coconut sorbet, lime curd

And so, following perhaps 4 bottles of wine and many, many cocktails (lotus martini with vodka, teichenne peach, passionfruit and apple juice and the celestial with gin, lime, elderflower, apple juie and kaffir lime for a slightly less sweeter pallete), 8 girls roll out of lotus heavier, happier, and ready for work on friday

xx emsy

Lotus Bistro
22 Challis Avenue
Potts Point 2011