Review : Orto Trading Co

38 Waterloo Street
Surry Hills


0431 212 453
dine@ortotradingco.com.au 


Dinner - Tuesday to Saturday nights from 6pm.


Brunch & Casual Lunch - Thursday to Sunday 8am to 3pm


Orto Trading Co is another spot we have been meaning to visit for positively ages; you know how it is though....too many restaurants, too little money!


Anyway, as we near the end of our short holiday, we decide the time is right to pop in for a quiet mid-week lunch.


The restaurant has ample indoor & outdoor seating, and despite the very cute British bulldog sitting at an outdoor table, we choose to sit inside.

The room is light & airy thanks to all the glass; it is a very comfortable space with large tables sporting cute, little floral arrangements that suit the overall theme of the restaurant.


We order our food and kick back with a couple of beers.

First to arrive is Long red chilli stuffed with herbed labna. Truly delicious. The creamy herbed labna is perfectly offset by the slight 'kick' of the chilli.
Next please.

 

Cauliflower fritters with a curried pear sauce are a thing of beauty. The fritters are not remotely oily, the cauliflower retains some 'bite' & the curry pear sauce is sweet, yet slighlty spicy. Totally moreish.

 

Tarte tatin with caramelised spring onion, goats cheese and a lemon sorrel and fennel salad is spectacular. The flavours are truly harmonious.... and never, & I mean NEVER, have I seen such caramelisation, so gooey and divine.

Glazed duck with mustard mandarins, radicchio and hazelnuts is another winner. Firstly, this is a very generous serve.  The glazing is delicately sweet and the duck meat is cooked perfectly and falls from the bone with the gentlest of prods. Very good indeed.

 

Twice cooked yearling beef rib eye with horseradish, potato dumplings and a rich mushroom sauce.This is an interesting one. The rib eye seems to be sous vide first (I could well be wrong) & then finished on the grill. While this makes for a very tender piece of meat, it does give it an unusual texture, which I am not sure I am entirely happy with. The flavour is fantastic though. The mushroom sauce, while abundant, does not have a very strong flavour. The potato dumplings are sublime though and I could eat a truckload of these.

   

The accompanying watercress and blood orange salad is light, fresh and very summery.
 

To finish, dessert is a playful take on a 'Spring Garden'. Pound cake, jelly, chocolate soil, pineapple ribbons, lavender sherbet 'lollipop' & a pistachio 'ice-cream'. Beautiful to behold & easy to devour.

Service at Orto is incredibly friendly & relaxed and really adds to the enjoyment of the meal.
So while it may have taken us a while to get here, hopefully it won't take as long for us to return.

Squeak