It feels good to be out of lockdown and able to leave our 5km bubble, and so with that, we celebrated freedom and some personal milestones, with our first dine in experience in 4 months at Cirrus Dining. The weather blessed us with sunny blue skies and Barangaroo was buzzing with people out and about enjoying the restaurants along the wharf. With stomachs growling, we were hyped to see what Cirrus was all about.

Location: 23 Barangaroo Ave, Barangaroo NSW 2000
Price: $110 per person for set menu, drinks & extra side dish cost extra
Website: https://www.cirrusdining.com.au/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cirrus_dining/

James: 4.25 out of 5 – An awesome dining experience, a thoughtful set menu that left us very full and satisfied.

With the choice of a la carte or set menu, we opted for the set menu which were all servings for sharing, with additional drinks and an extra side dish not included in the $110 price. For drinks we went with two Easy Teas, the Classic Peach and the Chamomile, Lime, Lychee, both light on flavor but refreshing like your typical iced tea and perfect for the sizable feed ahead of us.

Often times these set menus start with bread so it’s important to set the tone for the rest of the meal, and boy did Cirrus deliver. The charcoal grilled bread was crisp on outside, fluffy on inside, but it was the whipped ricotta with crispy shallot and herb oil that really stood out. Despite a generous serving, we smashed through the dip which was a perfect combo with the bread giving it a light and creamy taste with a pesto-like blend from the herb oil.

Oysters don’t come included in the set menu and were an additional $5 each. This was closely followed up with the Abrlhos Scallop with Ebi Prawn and Brown Butter, perhaps a bit too sweet for my liking which took away from the scallop and prawn and could have used more savouriness but still an interesting and decent starter.

Next was the Raw Blue Fin Tuna with Cauliflower and Miso, which was a stand out dish and highlight of the entire meal. I love raw fish and Cirrus did not disappoint here, the tuna melting in your mouth with every forkful. The cauliflower was chopped up finely and layered on top giving a nice crunch and the miso added a delicious umami seasoning to really excel the dish. I could eat this for days! This came with Heirloom Tomatoes with Strawberry, Pine Nuts and Vincotto, a refreshing palette cleanser with different tomato types that were sweet and juicy.

The set menu comes with two mains, the Steamed Snapper with Malt Vingar Egg Sauce and Baby Spinach, and the Rangers Valley Black Tyde Striploin with Beef Jus. The Malt Vinegar Egg Sauce was certainly interesting, a creamy yet sour taste which we had mixed first impressions on but once all elements were combined, it went alright. The fish was cooked really well, soft and moist and the Baby Spinach added much needed savouriness. Overall an okay dish but felt like it was missing something to really take it to the next level.

The Striploin certainly got A+ for presentation, a generous serving of medium-rare steak dressed in Beef Jus. Another highlight dish, the steak was well cooked, well seasoned and had just enough fat to really bring out the marbled taste. The Beef Jus brought out the beefiness of the dish and added flavour that was quite enjoyable and prevented the steak from feeling dry. Would recommend trying this if you are ordering a la carte and if you enjoy your steaks.

Chips and Chicken Salt comes with the steak in the set menu and we ordered an additional side of Onion Rings. Both very generous servings and were just as delicious. The chips were hot and crispy with a satisfying potato filling on each bite. Delicious seasoning, a hint of sweetness from the chicken salt that made them addicitive and easy to down. The onion rings were a surprise as to how much I enjoyed them, well seasoned, lightly battered with the sweetness from the onion really coming through, much better than your average onion rings you’d find at fast food joint or steakhouse. I’d recommend either (or both) in a heartbeat, great for sharing in bigger groups.

To finish things off, dessert was a Dark Chocolate Pave with Mulberry and Vanilla Cream. Personally I’m not the biggest fan of dark chocolate but the mousse and crunchy bottom layer really balanced with the vanilla cream and made for an enjoyable final dish. A heavier dessert than you may typically find at the end of set menus, but at this point we were well stuffed from a sizable 5 course menu.

Overall I really enjoyed Cirrus Dining, a thoughtful variety of dishes that worked well and left us very full for a long time afterwards. The set menu was great and covered a number of dishes from their menu, but I’ll be visiting again and trying their other seafood options from a la carte, that they’re known for such as the Raw Seafood Plate. I recommend Cirrus with a few friends or family to share and enjoy the collection of popular dishes featuring both seafood and meat, while leaving satisfied from the generous food portions.