The Tilbury Hotel
12-18 Nicholson St
Woolloomooloo, Sydney
For some seriously great tasting gastro pub food - you can't go wrong with The Tilbury. The food is really very good and they also have a very good wine selection too.
We had some lovely wines red and white (white for Sir as he can have both) throughout our very delicious meal. We had Petit Chablis William Fevre 2015, Reserve Mont - Redon 2014 Cotes du Rhone (this was an incredibly smooth wine), Tempranillo Tomfoolery Barossa (a lovely drop), Port Pfeiffer Rutherglen, Muscat De Beaumes DeVenise.
There was complimentary sourdough with butter to dip into olive oil with a splash of good balsamic in it. Such a nice tasty way to start our meal.
We commenced with a meat board which was stated on the menu as "To Share". It consisted of - Dry aged Wagyu beef, chicken liver parfait, duck rillettes, slow braised pig's head croquette, melba toast, pickles. This was such a lovely presentaion. The flavours were amazing and ever so tasty. Even Mlady commented just how good this meat board was. It was so deliciously more-ish. Sir does not usually steer towards parfait but this was outstanding and one of the best parfaits we have had. Even the little gherkins, or for those that call them cornichons, were yummy and these little gems complimented the goodies on the meat board. Incorporating them with as much of the different meats on your fork gave it a really good tasting sensation. But of course just eating each one of the goodies by themselves was mouth-watering. Sir actually thought the parfait was his favourite and one of the best he had ever had.
Next we had the Roasted pumpkin salad - smoked labneh, flaxseed crackers, watercress. How pretty was this! Oh wow that's good were our initial comments. It was crisp, so fresh and very yummy. The flaxseed crackers added a crunchy dimension and the lovely smoked labneh complimented so well with everything.
After this we had the Gin cured ocean trout - avocado, nori, wasabi, crispy skin. Well, Mlady is a HUGE fan of crispy skin and this was WOW! Loved that crispy skin - delish. It had a delicious, delicate taste sensation. The wasabi gave it a good kick but was in no way overpowering - was subtle but subtle enough to know that it was there, enhancing these great flavours.
For his main Sir had Chargrilled lamb backstrap - crispy belly, roasted dutch carrots, choy sum lamb jus. The lamb was perfectly pink and tender. It was a simple dish with quality ingredients that was well prepared and nicely presented. The Dutch carrots were so cute. Reminded us of when Bugs bunny walks along the fields pulling up those tasty carrots.
We also shared a serving of triple cooked chips with black garlic aioli. Oh - nice chunky chips. Oh my gosh - how good were these chips! Crispy outside, light and fluffy inside and dipping them in the black garlic aioli - divine! Some of the best we've had to be honest.
As a main Mlady chose the crispy skin barramundi - goolwa pippies, steamed kale, caramelised onion. Oh yes - the crispy skin - was delicious. Te barramundi was soft and moist and tasted so good. This dish had good flavours. The Kale added an earthiness and was vibrant in colour. There were nice flavours and textures with this appetising dish.
We did manage dessert and Sir also indulged in some cheese (oink).
Desserts were - Milk chocolate Delice - malted barley, hazelnut and chocolate ice-cream and Buttermilk pannacotta, fresh strawberries, strawberry and basil sorbet.
The milk chocolate delice was such a pretty dessert and Mlady being a bit of a chocoholic thoroughly enjoyed this. A very yummy dessert.
The buttermilk pannacotta was so smooth and silky - nice. Oh the combination of strawberries and basil - this really was so good. With this amazing sorbet you could taste both the strawberry and the delectable basil.
Sir's cheese was an Irish cheese from Castlebellingham Ireland. It was a very tasty mid strength blue. Sir enjoyed it - (he is a bit of a cheese fan).
The Tilbury serves incredibly delicious, fresh gastro food. The meals have great combinations with mouth watering flavours. Do yourself a favour!
Sir and Mlady dined as guests of The Tilbury. Huge thank you to Chef Mark Holland for taking time out from his schedule to sit and chat with us and share his passion and culinary vision. Big thanks to Kelly and Tanguy for taking such good care of us and we wish them all the very best in their future travels. Special thanks as always to Gez for arranging our visit.