Blanco Restaurant, Potts Point

I love finishing off the working week with a nice drink, and luckily on this dreary, rainy Friday night as we headed to Potts Point for dinner at Blanco Restaurant, we were presented with page of refreshing sounding cocktails to kick-start the weekend as we were seated in the restaurant.

Bloody Passion: blood orange, 42 Below passionfruit vodka, lime, sugar - $12

Blanco is situated in a stark white building studded with mosaic tiles off the main street in Potts Point and is run by Damien Pignolet and Ron White, formerly of Bistro Moncur. Pushing open the door, we're greeted with a bar at the front and a sparsely decorated restaurant bathed in red light, with a little bookcase and reading area at the back of the room. It's still early so we're the only ones there and have the full attention of the waitstaff who help us choose some drinks from the cocktail list which prominently features blood oranges.

Bloody Stringer Bellini: Paul Louis French sparkling, blood orange juice, peach liqueur - $10 (left); Crispy Portuguese chicken wings - $15 (right)

We start off with the crispy Portuguese chicken wings which actually turned out to be little drummettes of chicken but were tasty nonetheless. These were coated in a salty, slightly spicy batter and were crunchy on the outside with juicy, tender chicken on the inside. Perfect with a squeeze of lime.

Braised  beef cheek, red wine, mashed potatoes and red cabbage - $28

For mains, Sir D chose the braised beef cheek, red wine, mashed potatoes and red cabbage. Although there were a few gristly bits, the beef cheek was braised until super tender and went well with the red wine sauce. The mushrooms were so flavoursome I think I may have even enjoyed these more than the beef itself! Sir D wasn't a fan of the red cabbage but I didn't think there was anything wrong with it and gladly finished it up for him.

Seared ocean trout, kipfler potatoes and bisque sauce - $30

I chose the seared ocean trout with kipfler potatoes and bisque sauce. The ocean trout was cooked to perfection with it being only a little overcooked at the thinner end of the fillet. The skin was awesomely crispy and I took the skin off the fish and relished it by itself! I did find a few bones remaining in the fish which weren't a big deal but it was just a bit annoying to have to pick them out. The bisque sauce was rich and flavoursome and Sir D loved this and tried to get every drop of it from the plate.

Chocolate and strawberry marshmallow sandwich - $10

I had made sure I saved room for dessert because I was eyeing the chocolate and strawberry marshmallow sandwich from the beginning! I thought the price was a bit steep for the size of the dessert (it was smaller than a SAO biscuit) but it was delicious and the marshmallow was warm and gooey on the inside. I would have liked it to be a bit more burnt on the outside so the marshmallow was crunchy but that's just my personal preference.

Brandy snaps with passionfruit and caramel creams - $15

We finished off with the brandy snaps with passionfruit and caramel creams. They came in a pretty little glass and had one end of the cigar shape filled with caramel cream and the other with passionfruit. The caramel cream was not too sweet which was good but we thought the passionfruit cream tasted more like yoghurt without much passionfruit flavour. It was disappointing to not finish on a good note but I liked the atmosphere of the restaurant and the service, and I would happily sit there with a cocktail in hand, some nibbles on the table and while away the night in the restaurant.

Blanco Restaurant
5-9 Roslyn Street
Potts Point NSW 2011
Ph: + 61 2 9332 3663
Opening hours:
Tuesday - Thursday and Saturday from 6pm
Friday from noon
Sunday from 5pm


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