Ad Lib Bistro

By Franz Scheurer

5^th May 2010

Ad Lib Bistro incorporates everything you expect from a bistro and from a modern restaurant; good food, comfortable space and it is light and airy with lots of white and light colours. The chairs are very comfortable and the tables are clothed, then paper covered, and the serviettes are a good size, too. A floating ceiling over the bar area looks good and contributes to the sound dampening of the room. I am impressed with the lack of noise and the amount of privacy you have due to the very generous spacing of the tables.

I must say the free-standing, silver ice-buckets from Restaurant 41 look fantastic here and have to be one of the most practical items I have seen in a very long time.

Dietmar Sawyere is a terrific chef and a restaurateur who knows how to run cutting-edge restaurants, but he also proves here, that he is more than capable running a bistro, that caters for a different clientele. The food is hearty with generous portions, and the service is quick, efficient and friendly.

Last night we tried the ‘Onion Soup Gratinée’($10), a cracker of a soup with a fabulously rich and clean broth, the ‘Country Salad Mimosa’ ($15) is a lovely salad of frisée, a soft organic egg and succulent pieces of guanciale bacon with croutons. The salad also included some mushrooms, which were not on the menu description. The ‘Steak Tartare’ ($19 small + $29 large) was superb. Served pre-spiced with extra capers, cornichons and red Tabasco you can tune it to your liking and it was heaven on toast. A serving of ‘Pigs Trotters, Ear & Tail Croquette’ ($18) reminded me of some of the dishes Janni Kyritsis used to cook at MG Garage and the ‘Roast Pork Belly, Purée of Gratinated Pumpkin, Apples & Calvados’ ($32) featured perfect crackling with soft, gelatinous belly counterbalanced by the sweetness of the apples and the pumpkin. A side of ‘Roesti Potatoes’ ($10) and ‘Spaetzli Noodles with Fried Onions’ ($8) want the Swiss in me to eat there every meal. Sawyere’s Roesti is absolutely amazing and by far the best I’ve sampled in Australia and his Spaetzli are fried (Swiss style), served with onions and I could detect a fair amount of cheese in there, too. Glorious!

Dessert consisted of a ‘Raspberry Crème Brûlée’ ($12) and a ‘Dark Chocolate Mousse’ ($12). The crème brûlée was sensational and the mousse is so rich you better still be hungry.

A bottle of Grosset Polish Hill Riesling 2009 ($99) was a good match with the meal and a couple of ‘Bertrand Fleur de Bière’ eau-de-vie ($10 each) hit the spot and helped us digest. It’s great to see that they have a great selection of eau-de-vie and digestives.

We left, sated and with a big smile on our faces and I will be back just for the roesti and the spaetzli alone.

Did I like it: very much, easy comfort food

Would I go back: yes, hungry or not

Noise level: 68 db

Score: 7.5/10

For more information or bookings:

Ad Lib Bistro

1047 Pacific Highway

Pymble

Tel.: 02 9988 0120

Reservations by email: reservations@adlibbistro.com