Circa The Prince

25th September 2011

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon four of us headed to Circa The Prince in St. Kilda for a Sunday lunch menu and for me to complete No. 40 from my list. After entering through the first floor entrance and up some stairs, i passed through the restaurant and met up with two of my friends on the outdoor deck for a drink before heading in for lunch and to wait for our final member. The deck with a view over Fitzroy St. down to the beach it was a good place to hang and wait for people and have some cool drinks on a sunny Sunday.

After our last member of our party arrived we finished a drink and chatted for a while before heading into the main dining. A beautiful relaxed dining room with an open sun roof and comfy chairs and a very contemporary fit out. The Sunday lunch menu consisted of four courses with the first two courses being set and a choice of 4 main courses and 4 deserts. We also received some warm sourdough bread with some very nice butter. Was so good that we asked for seconds which i used to mop up the next course.

The first course consisted of a chestnut soup, with ham hock and artichoke chips. Firstly presented beautifully with just circular disk of ham hock covered in a batter with circular artichoke chips and some cubes of vegetable. The chestnut soup was poured over the top of of the other ingredients until they were swimming in a grayish soup. However the chestnut soup was delicious and rich in flavour and the ham hock disks were met with noises of appreciation. A great start to the meal.

The second course consisted of 4 smaller dishes to share. The first to come out was the cumin flavoured beetroot with goats curd and pine nuts. Beetroot is not normally my favourite food but it had good flavour and was well matched with the other elements.
The next dish was a shaved octopus with beans and a nice juice. The octopus was cooked well and tasted amazing with the beans.
The third dish was a suckling pig pieces, with slices of abalone and mini vegetables. Quality pieces of meat and the abalone was excellently cooked and not chewy. The final dish was braised hare with polenta. This could have been the best dish and smelled amazing but the hare was slightly over salted and needed a lot more of the polenta to combat the hare . However the dishes as a whole were of excellent quality.

For mains by accident we all ordered different main courses and sampled all the main courses on offer. I went with the slow cooked lamb with roasted artichoke, goat's cheese and vegetables. The lamb was perfectly cooked and i didn't need to cut the lamb as it fell apart when the knife was anywhere near it. The other elements of the dish were good but not great but the lamb was pure perfection.
The three other mains were salmon, mushroom risotto and a eye fillet (not cooked to the medium rare to rare specification). These mains however were cooked well and were met with approval.

The final course was desert with me and one other choosing the Queen of Pudding. A base of lemon curd sponge, with a layer of raspberry jam and topped with meringue. Accompanied with pouring jug of vanilla custard, it was a beautiful dish with every element being beautiful and a well balanced dish. The meringue was the best element as it was soft and slightly crisp. The other deserts were Nougat praline semi freddo with strawberries and mini doughnuts and a chocolate tart. All of these were definitely appreciated.

Four course of quality, exceptionally cooked food with a good mix of simple amazingly cooked food and complex high end technique food for $77. Excellent value and cooking and nobody left feeling hungry and with some of the members of the group that is always a surprise. The noises heard from our table would have told you everything you needed to know about the quality of the food. A great Sunday lunch and a exceptional restaurant.