Automata

Automata is an innovative, fine dining restaurant, that feels more casual, located in Chippendale. Living up to the name, the interior is complete with an industrial vibe. It's been on my list for a while and I finally took my bf here for his birthday. The tasting menu ($165pp) was lovely, they really seem to know how to play with flavours.

We started off with drinks and a scallop with oyster emulsion, marigold and caviar ($18pp). The scallop had quite the kick to it with all those flavours and the caviar.

The snacks were the highlight for me. We went for the spiced duck hearts with salsa verde & fried curry leaves first while it was still warm - it gave me yakitori vibes and I loved that salsa. Followed by, BBQ pumpkin, tamarind & goat curd tart - a tasty treat packaged into one bite. My favourite was the crispy seaweed with tiger prawn XO & taramasalata, I'm a sucker for flavours and textures and it had it all. We kept snacking on the crumbed anchovy olives too - the flavours!

The lightly pickled tomatoes in thyme oil and chilli tomato broth were a little disappointing for me. It just tasted like tomatoes in tomato juice, but I also don't really like tomatoes so that could be why 😂

The next dish was southern calamari with jalapeno & herb sauce, lardo & ink vinaigrette. This is probably one of the only times I enjoyed calamari, not in fried form.

The strozzapreti pasta with mussels, mustard greens & fennel pollen was so tasty. I loved the creaminess and the saltiness of the mussels, wish I could go back for seconds.

Let's talk about this WHIPPED CHICKEN & ANCHOVY BUTTER. I was soooo impressed, the flavour was impeccable. I spread as much butter as I could on the bread before each bite but there still wasn't enough bread to consume all this butter 😭

The blackmore wagyu tri-tip coated in a wasabi & lime sauce, and sprinkled with spring onion was perfection. So tender and easy to slice through. The flavours created a party in my mouth.

Dessert was an interesting experience, it contained some unexpected ingredients. Also, I'm so glad that we had two desserts 😍

My favourite dessert was the long pepper & vanilla custard, with vincotto, and olive oil and delicately adorned with slice sapphire grapes. It was fun to eat because it felt like the peppers stopped my taste buds from tasting the sugar once it hit my tongue.

We ended the evening with a yoghurt sorbet with soft meringue and preserved cherry & rosemary. This was a refreshing dessert, I've never had meringue so creamy.