Restaurant Review: Pearl

Next to a freeway exit and the Yarra River, A restaurant situated under a block of apartments in the design district of Church St, Richmond is about to celebrate it’s 10 year birthday. Pearl is a ModOz restaurant with an amazing head chef (Geoff Lindsay who is currently away from the kitchen writing the Pearl Cookbook) with strong international influences on their cuisine. They also have a sister restaurant in Hong Kong on the peak which over looks the city.

On the menu you’ll find dishes like White cooked chicken salad with cucumber and rose petal ajar, coriander and peanuts for lunch and Rosemary scented lamb rack with ricotta and katifi parcel, pine nut, currant and balsamic relish, chickpea shoots for dinner 

The restaurant has a very modern feel fitting in with the surrounding contemporary furniture dealers in the area. A lot of black and whites but with a slight warm homeliness which can only be achieved through years of settled experience, the dinning room is long with a bar up the front end and the rest of the dinning room running along the large floor to ceiling windows looking out on to a busy Church Street.

The night started with a offer of crusty bread with a citrus infused olive oil, which was delicate and almost over powered by our piece of crusty bread. The amouse-bouche was a prawn dumpling fried with bonito, which looked like a corn flake crusted croquette which i thought was pretty cool.

The staff here are very knowledgeable of the menu and friendly. we had a few question in regards to their signature dishes and what was 'miss l’s mam nem' on the entree i was about to order. 

Boned whole garfish, wrapped in rice paper and hot mint, stuffed with spicy 

pork and sticky rice, miss l’s mam nem with crushed pineapple and chilli 

This dish was tasty but in a strange way, the textures were familiar to me but the flavors were different but all worked well together. good entree size and beautifully presented. 

Baby blue mussels from spring bay with saffron and walnut butter, winter
vegetables and a sumak spiced bread stick

Mussels normally don't look that great and come in a piled heap of tangled mollusk, but at pearl the mussels are beautifully halved and stacked in a nice concentric circle. great entree size but I found one that wasn't so fresh. The bread stick was great as well it was much better than the bread served at the table. 

Rosemary scented lamb rack with ricotta and katifi parcel, pine nut,
currant and balsamic relish, chickpea shoots

I really enjoyed this, probably because I love currents, was a perfectly balanced dish with great flavors and simple. I wished there was more.

Slow braised baby back pork ribs with green papaya, longan and thai basil salad,
chilli, peanut and cucumber relish, thai sticky rice

Dry dry dry. is what these were, they didn't feel braised, it was like someone forgot and left em in the oven overnight or in the deep fryer for way too long. so far nobody does pork like Ezard.

Hand cut chips with mushroom and garlic salt

mmmm Chips...

Crispy fried taro dumplings with dark, milk and white selvatica chocolate,
vanilla custard and gold leaf 

These balls did it for me, the chocolate inside was just perfection, my girlfriend wasn't a fan but these small globes of bliss, just burst and flowed with rich oozy lava like chocolate. GIVE ME MORE!

Turkish delight and rose petal ice cream, glace ginger and Persian fairy floss

This thing just looked strange when it was placed in front of me. I wasn't really expecting this. I'm a huge Turkish delight fan, but this was a disappointment, i felt it to be too sweet and probably a little simple, it was just ice cream with some dried fruits.

Food? Intresting. Service? Ok. Atmosphere? Not really. Would I come back? Not in a hurry. Another hit and miss restaurant for me. I say give it a go, some of the other dishes sure look interesting and the menu changes seasonally. they have some cool events coming up like the Full Moon Mud Crab Celebration Monday 23rd & Tuesday 24th August 2010.

Address: 631–633 Church Street, Richmond Victoria 3121

Phone Number: (03) 9421 4599
Website: http://www.pearlrestaurant.com.au
Hours: 12PM-3PM Lunch & 6PM -11PM Dinner