Selah

A colleague was leaving and we decided on Selah for the farewell dinner. Hearing the name of the restaurant my impressions were high, and upon being seated in the restaurant my mood improved and I couldn't wait for the food to be serve.

Entree - Seared scallops with cucumber, daikon, snow pea salad & ponzu dressing $16

Entree - Spaghettini with chorizo, prawns, concasse, pinenuts & basil pesto $16

As an entree, I had the seared scallops. It was rather cold and tough. The salad was an interesting mix which didn't quite compliment the scallop but didn't clash with it either (I thought the salad would have been better if there were less plain greens. It was lacking in a driving flavour which was partially compensated by an underlying herb whose taste was rather non complimentary to the scallop).

Main - Slow roast lamb rump with cannellini bean, thyme & tomato ragu, salsa verde $28

A friend of mine ordered the slow roast lamb rump. His comment was that he was fully aware that the lamb was medium done but didn’t anticipate that it was also going to be rather tough for something that is medium cooked. Despite looking rather lean, the lamb fat certainly flood through the leaner parts of the meat. Normally a fan of lamb and can definitely appreciate how the fat of lamb if done right can add to the flavours of the meat. The cut of the lamb rump was clearly of low quality or ill-prepared because it was still rather tough and absorbed the bad flavours of it host animal’s fat… The beans were still hard and the thyme & tomato ragu (that was simmered with the beans) was plain tasting turning the whole tomato beans combo into something rather very plain tasting and difficult to swallow because the beans was still hard! He found the salsa verde rather oily as well.

  Main - Boneless chicken confit with potato fondant, watercress, mushroom & tarragon duxelle $28

I had the chicken confit as the main. I know that chicken confit meant that it was cooked in fat but that was more fat that the chicken meat. I was cutting away tons of chicken fat from the meat. The potato fondant and the rest of the ingredients was rather complimentary with the right texture and the potato fondant wasn’t too bad as a base to the chicken. With better quality chicken the dish could have been something.

We had a rather large group (25 of us) and the service was as accommodating as a group of that size could ask for considering some of us were just walking from table to table talking which was rather hectic. So commendations for the staff’s patience and the reasonable warm ambience that the restaurant provided.

(Shared review with T.B)

Total Score ~ 11/25
[Taste - 3 (10) , Presentation - 2.5 (5), Service - 3.5 (5), Value for Money - 2 (5)]

Location:Selah

12 Loftus Street
Circular Quay
Tel : 92470097