Three Clicks West, Booth Street, Annandale

Three Clicks West, Booth Street, Annandale
Tuesday 8 August, 2006

It's been several years since I've visited Three Clicks West. My only memory of it was we arrived with a bottle of wine and they refused to allow us to open it. They were fully licensed at the time but it more the way they dealt with it that left a bad taste in my mouth.

Tonight, I decided to let bygones be bygones and return. Well, thank goodness - tonight's experience was near flawless. Everything from the service, quality of the food and atmosphere was divine.

My dinner buddy lives nearby so we wanted to visit what is widely known as one of the best local restaurants. Three Clicks West is owned by Chris Woodyard, who is also the head chef. Chris has previously worked at Jaspers in Hunters Hill and Restaurant VII in the city. An interesting tid bit - Harunobu who also worked at Restaurant VII and is now the Head Chef at the Observatory Hotel (Galileo) has recently been asked to be the challenger on the TV series Iron Chef!

Three Clicks West has the look/ feel of a Parisian bistro - it is small and intimate with a raised level offering booth seating. We tried sitting here first but felt like our backs were in a back brace - the high backed seating makes you sit up so straight that your thighs start aching - you have been warned. We moved to the front nook and got to enjoy the view over the entire restaurant - low hung dim lighting, deep red lighting behind the bar, impeccably set tables etc.

The most impressive thing we noticed was the staff & the quality of the service. I was completely overwhelmed by their knowledge and their attention to detail. For example, each time any staff member refilled our water glasses or wine glasses they returned the bottle to the same spot and turned it so that the label was facing us - precisely. I love this attention to detail! Aside from this they were also really nice guys who knew the right balance between having a chat and sharing key information about our meals.

Without hesitation we decided to indulge and have the Three Clicks West Tasting Menu which comprised of:

- Daily amuse-gueule (Beetroot soup with thin potato wafer and sour cream)
- Truffled salmon - confit salmon fillet with truffled leeks, four herb dressing and truffle jus
- Pork belly and artichokes - slow braised pork belly with globe artichokes, cumquats and petit leaves
- 'French onion' our way - braised beef cheek parcel with parmesan crisp, beef consomme and a black onion beignet
- Matelote of jewfish - derived from a French tradition, with steamed Jewfish, smoked eel, rockfish quenelle, and a red wine sauce of speck, chestnut mushrooms and pearl onions
- Cumin spiced lamb - cumin rubbed loin of lamb, a spiced lamb sauce of almonds and raisins and cauliflower cooked two ways
- Pre-dessert - Gooseberry mousse, champagne jelly & gooseberry sorbet with a brandy snap
- Your choice of dessert - we ordered 2 and shared - Rhubarb pavlova (nougatine crusted pavlova with rhubarb compote and vanilla bean yoghurt sorbet) and Apples in Nightdress (cinnamon apples baked in puff pastry with vanilla apple compote, apple sorbet and toffee apples

As well as this the kitchen bake their own bread on the premises - honey sourdough - which was delivered to the table warm with soft butter! I was in heaven...... The dishes were sized perfectly and delivered with ample breaks between each course. We started at 6.30pm and walked out the door at 10pm and did not feel rushed.

My favourite dish was the Matelote of jewfish - it was a surprise package - the eel was smoked, the jewfish fell apart & was so tender and the rockfish quenelle was a great accompaniment.

We also decided against their matched wines and asked for a recommendation. They steered us in the direction of a French beaujolais that was superb. You couldn't have asked for a more suitable recommendation - it was absolutely perfect.

We chatted to the staff all evening, enjoyed their stories, background to the restaurant and food creations. On departure we thanked them for making our night so enjoyable and they turned back to my dinner buddy and I and thanked us for being great guests. Gotta love that...

Three Clicks West - 127 Booth Street, Annandale - (02) 9660 6652

http://www.threeclickswest.com.au/index.php?id=1