the little snail

In preparation for our European honeymoon, I'm learning French. Here are some of the words I know: "Bonjour!"; "Merci!"; "Mon dieu!"; "Au revoir!"; "Croissant!". Are you impressed yet? I thought so.

Last week, Caliban took me to The Little Snail (the French, if you're wondering, would refer to this as "Le Petit Escargot"...that's just a little something I picked up) in Pyrmont. He'd been before, but I hadn't. I was incredibly excited, as I love French food and I've heard good things about the restaurant. Also, I love escargots.

The restaurant was near empty when we arrived at 7pm, yet the waiter sat us right next to the piano...where the jazz singer was about to set up shop. Not a great sign. We asked to be moved, and the waiter whisked us upstairs. Much better.

We ordered a bottle of chardonnay and our entrees - escargots for me and salmon terrine for Caliban. Less than five minutes later, we had our first dishes. Again, not a great sign. The escargots were lovely - properly buttery and packed with herbs and garlic. My white dress didn't agree so much...so I took to wearing my napkin as a bib after the first splatter of butter hit the silk. Caliban's salmon terrine wasn't as good - slices of smoked salmon forged together with generous smears of cream cheese didn't quite live up to the lofty expectations of salmon terrine.

For our mains, Caliban ordered the seafood plate and I the kangaroo fillet. Again, they were at our table just minutes after we finished our entrees. I really love eating out, and so I want it to be an enjoyable, relaxing, even languid experience. I don't want to feel as though I'm being rushed...but that's exactly what this felt like. We took our time with our main dishes, though. Mine was superb. The kangaroo was served rare (as it should be) with a beautifully soft, flavoursome honey demi-glaze. The sweetness of the honey tempered the gamey bite of the kangaroo. Caliban, unfortunately, got the raw prawn again. Or should I say, the fried prawn. Almost everything on his seafood plate was fried, except the mussels. Quelle disappointment! I'm always puzzled why seafood plates are so often comprised of fried calamari, crab and prawns. Seafood in Australia - in Sydney, no less - is so fresh and tasty that you really don't need to do much to it. It's such a shame to deep-fry such gorgeous produce.

We requested a break between our mains and dessert, but again, our dishes were served within minutes of each other. My fresh, homemade profiteroles were great - beautifully light choux pastry filled with silky custard. Poor Caliban - his "Tasmanian brie with raisin puree and spiced carrot salad" just wasn't any good. And that's being kind. The "brie" was clearly from a supermarket and wasn't served at room temperature. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's cheese served incorrectly. I mean, how hard is it to take the cheese out of the fridge before serving? Sheesh. Feeling bad for poor Caliban, I gave him one of my profiteroles, which he loved.

At over $170 for the two of us, The Little Snail was overpriced and underwhelming. Je ne suis pas impressed.

The Little Snail
50 Murray St, Pyrmont
+61 2 9212 7512
www.thelittlesnail.com.au