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Awards
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2009 |
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SMH Good Food Guide 2009 - Three Chef's Hats |
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2008 |
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SMH Good Food Guide 2008 - Three Chef's Hats |
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2007 |
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SMH Good Food Guide 2007 - Three Chef's Hats |
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User Reviews on Bilson's Restaurant
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 114 comments
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall |
 
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Recommended |
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Food 8 |
Ambience 8 |
Service 5 |
Value 7 |
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We went to Bilson's for our one year anniversary but found the restaurant quite disappointing. Overall I think it's overrated. The food was quite nice with the entrée and dessert being extraordinarily lovey and well presented, however, service is not up to expectation. We ordered the Fine Bouche, which all together took them 4 hours to bring up to our tables.
Way too long for a 9 course. Especially when compared to the next table, they ordered the same food at the same time as us, but were severed 3 dishes ahead of us! Not a good feeling. Lucky the restaurant also employed other nice and polite waiters who knows to smile to their customers.
Overall it's a good dine out experience, however, I won't go back again.
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Kingfish -
See my reviews 1 , 31 May 2009
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall |
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Highly Recommended |
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Food 9 |
Ambience 8 |
Service 10 |
Value 9 |
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Loved this place. Can't wait till my boyfriend forks out again. We had the 10 courses without matching wines. The waiter and sommelier were both very chatty and made the experience even better. They had no problem with describing the food and gave cute little anecdotes about certain special ingredients like the mushrooms from france and the stolen oranges.
Yum yum yum. Beautifully cooked amazingly unique dishes. Manu is the king, too bad he is not staying there forever.
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Maanie87 -
See my reviews 3, 13 May 2009
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| Overall |
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Recommended |
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Food 9 |
Ambience 7 |
Service 8 |
Value 7 |
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A very good surprise. We tried the degustation menu "Fine Bouche" with 8 dishes. Each dish is elaborate and well presented. Taste is definitely there too. My favorite being the Boudin of red mullet, squid ink jelly, and bouillabaisse sauce. The sommelier was very knowledgeable and entertaining, Chef Manu left but Alfonso Ales did a very good job. Well done!
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michaeldawson -
See my reviews 5, 22 April 2009
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| Overall |
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Highly Recommended |
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Food 9 |
Ambience 8 |
Service 10 |
Value 8 |
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The food is sublime french cooking and the service outstanding and not snooty. The wait staff are knowledgeable and patient while the sommelier had an extremely good grasp of food and wine matching which all combine for a brilliant dining experience. Intelligently challenge the sommelier on his suggestions and the wines just get better (don't read more expensive). I would encourage you to do wine by the glass, course by course. It will save you cash as the wine bottle list pricing is great but in the nose bleed territory. If you want to tone down your gournet experience, then save with BYO and have the same wine across all dishes, but you will be missing the fun. Oh and get someone else to pay to round off a perfect evening.
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ftrooper -
See my reviews 22, 19 March 2009
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| Overall |
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Highly Recommended |
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Food 10 |
Ambience 7 |
Service 9 |
Value 9 |
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I recently wrote a review that trashed Bilson's restaurant, and this is a follow up review to that one. The first time we dined at Bilson's, on Christmas Eve, we had the nine course Fine Bouche tasting menu with accompanying international wine selection. Other than the desserts, the food was awful and the serving staff compounded the bad evening by making a few, but significant mistakes.
The entire experience was so bad that we left feeling robbed and we wrote a letter to Tony Bilson describing our experience, something we have never done before and hope to never have to do again. He replied to our letter and invited us back to try again. We were reluctant to do so, but given the reputation of Bilson's we decided to give it another go.
The second time through the entire meal was divine. It was exactly the same menu (with slight variations to individual dishes), but was orders of magnitude tastier. For example, the oxtail and oyster dish which on the first go around was, simply put, disgusting: tasting of rotten oysters, was this time through the highlight of the dinner and simply stated, exquisite: tasting of the ocean and meaty oxtail. I'm drooling as I write this.
Perhaps, the only disappointment we had on the second go was when we asked why we had such a poor experience Christmas Eve we were never given a truly satisfactory answer. A series of unfortunate events? Doubtful, since we are talking about five courses in row either were terrible or had significant problems.
Nevertheless, the second time through was absolutely perfect, it was the dining experience we should have had on Christmas Eve. Our complaint was handled with class and we were extremely impressed. Nothing was said to us on our second visit until our meat dishes were finished, and then it became apparent that everyone knew who we were and why were there. We did note the kitchen staff come out to look at our table on more than one occasion.
Normally I would have averaged my former rating with the rating of the second experience, but since the restaurant handled us so well, and the food was so sublime, we rated them solely on the second experience. Simply: one of Sydney's best fine dining establishments, food and service are excellent value considering the type of dining (if in Europe it would be Michelin Star rated), but the ambience is, as many other reviewers expressed, a bit of a let down and the restaurant has no view.
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jmgerard -
See my reviews 9, 03 March 2009
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| Overall |
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Recommended |
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Food 7 |
Ambience 6 |
Service 8 |
Value 5 |
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I've heard so much of Bilson's and have always been a big fan of Manu but was quite disappointed. The food was good but not worth the hype, interesting combinations. The service was very attentive, however, the atmosphere of the restaurant was a bit tacky though the little vase ornament on each table sets quite a nice touch.
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theresa_w6387 -
See my reviews 6, 27 February 2009
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| Overall |
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Highly Recommended |
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Food 10 |
Ambience 9 |
Service 9 |
Value 9 |
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Amazing restaurant with simply fantastic food. Did the 10 course degustation with matching wines, it's a pity the Australian/New Zealand wines were fairly boring but we were there for the food. Very friendly staff and professional all round. Worth the money, a great choice for a special occasion or to impress overseas visitors looking for truly inspired food.
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SydneyMax -
See my reviews 40, 26 January 2009
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| Overall |
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Highly Recommended |
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Food 10 |
Ambience 10 |
Service 10 |
Value 8 |
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Have been here several times and this place makes my heart sing. I love everything about it. More recently we had the Fine Bouche with matching French wines - heavenly. Highlights were the oxtail and oyster with the tiny mollusk transporting me immediately to salty shores. The Wagyu was sublime. Of course we will be back.
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florizal -
See my reviews 29, 13 January 2009
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| Overall |
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Recommended |
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Food 7 |
Ambience 4 |
Service 9 |
Value 7 |
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Despite the hype, Bilson's failed to meet expectations on a number of levels, but most surprisingly and, unfortunately, with its food.
We started with the fricassee of mushrooms and the scallops with foie gras mousse. The fricassee offered some unique herbal tastes with a tasteless foam, poached egg was excellent. Scallops were cooked perfectly and matched well with a rich sauce. The foie gras mousse with chocolate tuile was good but not memorable.
For mains we had the pig's trotter and the assiette of angus beef. Well prepared and tasty but nothing more. Dessert was by far the biggest let down. Both the chocolate assiette and the souffle were too rich. The souffle's accompanying sorbet was a good thought but did little to settle the palate. The chocolate was just over the top.
Service was what is to be expected of a fine dining establishment, excellent but pretentious. A minimalist decor and dim lighting fail to create any ambience. Cutlery could use an upgrade...
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csun0364 -
See my reviews 1, 09 January 2009
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| Overall |
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Recommended |
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Food 9 |
Ambience 6 |
Service 10 |
Value 7 |
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Like a lot of the reviewers, I found the ambience and the room in the Radisson quite bland. But, to be honest, I was too busy enjoying 9.5 courses of amazing food with matched wines to notice! The food is really special, erring as usual in french restaurants to meat, meat, meat, but wonderful, deep flavours, excellent combinations and great presentation. Service was impeccable, relaxed for a french joint, and the sommelier's knowledge in particular was impressive.
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timmah -
See my reviews 67, 08 January 2009
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