Bistro Nido is a Japanese and French fusion restaurant located in Regents Place in Sydney CBD, and one of the few restaurants that caught our attention online. There’s actually been an explosion of new restaurants this year so we’re on a mission to try them all and update our ‘Sydney recommendation’ list 🤗.
Food
We started off with the duck croquette and golden raisin for $9 each. These were moderately-sized puffs with perfectly-fried, crispy panko battered shells filled with a delicious savoury duck filling. The duck was rendered, on the dryer and blander side. The golden raisin complimented the croquette amazingly, giving it stark contrast of refreshing sweetness.
This steak tartare ($28) was delicious and the first favourite dish of the night. It had Japanese plum, red miso and cured yolk, with crispy noriten (salted tempura seaweed snack). The balance of salt, umami and beefy savouriness was heavenly. It was a smooth bite, simple and done right.
Mick thought the noriten was fresh (because he attempted this for Xmas 2022) but alas, it was a good thing Bistro Nido’s one came from a packet otherwise the tartare would have been dripping in oil.
Mick thought the noriten was fresh (because he attempted this for Xmas 2022) but alas, it was a good thing Bistro Nido’s one came from a packet otherwise the tartare would have been dripping in oil.
This was half shell scallop with black garlic and nduja for $9 each. The savouriness of the nduja (sausage oil) balanced the creamy sweetness of the scallop, while the aromatics of the black garlic enhanced the entire bite. The scallop was soft but not super tender.
The second favourite dish of the night was the casarecce with ceps, mushroom, egg yolk and Parmesan cheese for $28. This was sooo delicious!! 😍 With the al dente pasta and composite flavour profile of savoury mushrooms, we found ourselves going back for more bites and licking up the creamy sauce. The egg yolk really tied everything together.
Finally we had the roasted duck breast with pickled Kyoho grapes and jus for $48. The duck was rendered, cooked well with a finely crispy skin and tenderized meat. We found the pickled grapes a little too sweet when eaten with the duck. They should have halved the amount of grapes.
Service
The service was a little whack. It started off decent, but then they kept putting dishes/drinks on the wrong table and claiming it was correct. They put our wines on the table next to ours, and someone else’s takeaway food on ours. It was very messy, which was frustrating because the seating layout was really tight.
Review
The food was delicious but the service was ok. We would return for a quick bite of the casarecce and steak tartare.
Thanks for reading. Happy eating!
Thanks for reading. Happy eating!