Culinary Cravings: Longrain

"It's nice. It's actually very nice." Any exclamation of praise is rare from my father but this double statement is right on the mark. The 'very nice' subject he's referring to is Longrain's Eggnet filled with pork, prawns, peanuts and bean sprouts and served with a cucumber relish. This was the dish we started with and what a start to a meal! Surprisingly cold, the dish has a superb flavour and texture. It definitely warrants its position on Terry Durack's top 50 dishes in Sydney.

Sitting across from each other at one end of the long wooden table (one of about 4 tables in Longrain, which stretched all the way down the length of the restaurant), I was slightly giddy with excitement to be finally dining here, Longrain being on my 'to do' list for quite some time.

With wooden tables, wooden floorboards and wood on the walls, the decor of the restaurant was stripped back and our focus was solely on the food. This happened to be a good thing as the service was in no way incredible (or what I expected from trendy Longrain). At one point, the waitress instead of asking me to move my bag, or picking it up and moving it for me, pushed my bag closer to the table using her foot. Fortunately this odd behaviour didn't put me off.

Our next dish was the trout, served warm with cool herb like vegetables. Again, we were hit with bursts of flavour - both sour and sweet.

So far, our dishes were large enough to share amongst the seven of us but the chicken dish was significantly smaller. The little drumsticks were crispy on the outside and tender and moist inside but the sauce they were served with was slightly too sour for my palate.

The sliced beef, served with crunchy green beans was steaming hot in temperature and very juicy.

The squid was another favourite. It cut like butter and was served with plenty of speck and crunchy snow peas in a sweet plum-like sauce.

Our last savoury dish was the silken tofu. The large hot cubes were lightly crunchy on the outside and very soft inside (and also very hot).

Whilst Longrain's lighting was a nightmare for food photography, it was very pleasant to dine by and bright enough to easily read the food menu, specials and extensive bar list.

Not completely full yet, we decided to order two dessert tasting plates to share between the six of us. It worked well, allowing us to try a little of everything. The tasting plate was a treat with some different and interesting dishes along with some more traditional desserts and a good mix of hot and cold. My personal favourite was the warm taro cake with peanut ice cream and coconut.

Unfortunately, Longrain doesn't take bookings for parties under 10 and recommended that we arrive at 6:00 to ensure we were seated, and seated together. It was lucky we took their advice as by 7pm, the place was full.

Lovely atmosphere, great food and indeed, the trendy place it was talked up to be.