Estelle Bistro, Northcote MELB

Reaching a milestone in age should be celebrated in the grandest fashion thinkable and for me, this year fell nothing short of surprises. When the fiance asked where would I like to celebrate dinner at, all I could think of was the numerous delicious meals I had overseas slightly over a month ago.

 A constant place much discussed about, we decided on dinner here and found the service faultless and attentive. So what do we think of Estelle?

Entree - quail, pear, mulberry and macadamia. A delicious entree to kick start our meal. Sweet and sour flavours contrast well on the palate and when paired with a crunchy element, this would have been my favourite dish for the night.

Baramundi - again, I have failed to take note of an accurate description of this main dish. A clever play on colours and textures when pairing fresh seafood with vegetables.

Spring lamb, asparagus, eggplant and hazelnuts - Once again, the vegetables were brilliantly showcased on the plate but I would have liked the lamb to have a share in the spotlight as I found it lacking when compared to the other characters.

Mayura station wagyu rump, wild garlic and nori - meat was well seasoned and cooked here and paired well with the subtle, sweeter flavour of the char grilled spring onion.

The staff were kind enough to present us with a mango, coconut pavlova dish as it was my birthday :) Simple and indeed a light way to sum up our meal.

Chocolate, hazelnut and mandarin - a little disappointed with this one as I felt it needed a little more love to make it a standout dish. Combination of flavours sounded promising but fell short upon presentation.