Alvaro and I had one last dinner out before I took off. A $50 Dimmi voucher came in handy to try a restaurant that had been under my radar for more than 2 years: Bistro Bruno.

The waiter briefed us about the day’s specials; I asked if they were gluten-free and after checking with the kitchen, he said they were. Even so, bread and butter were brought to the table. Obviously I can’t comment on the bread, but the butter was pretty average (yes, we eat butter on its own).

Bread & butter

We shared the green tea smoked ocean trout, baby beets, sprout leaf & almond salad to share. The fish had a good taste, although I could not feel any green tea flavour. The mini salad was very nice, both aesthetically and flavour-wise.

Green tea smoked ocean trout, baby beets, sprout leaf & almond salad ($17.50)

We chose one main each because we thought it wouldn’t be classy to say “we’ll eat half each and then swap”. One was a special, the lamb mixed grill, with braised lamb rib, slow-cooked lamb breast, pan-fried lamb cutlet, pumpkin purée and red cabbage. Both the cutlet and rib were good but the slow-cooked breast was the star of the dish. The purée, cabbage and jus were worth noting, too.

Lamb mixed grill ($35.00)

The second main, ordered “for Alvaro” was the slow-cooked pork belly, cider braised pork rib, crispy pig’s ear, and celeriac purée. Because I was the one who asked if the dishes were gluten-free, the waiter assumed that Alvaro did eat gluten and didn’t mention the pig’s ear was crumbled. When we told him, he offered to ask the chef if he could swap it with something else and off he went with the ear (and the bread).

Slow cooked pork belly, cider braised pork rib, crispy pig’s ear, celeriac purée ($31.00)

While the lamb dish was very tasty, the pork dish was outstanding. The rib was a delicious melt-in-your-mouth piece of porcine goodness; the pork belly was very tasty as well, with a super crispy skin that was unfortunately was a bit hard to cut with the provided knife. The celeriac purée was, as expected, perfect.

Slow cooked pork belly, cider braised pork rib, celeriac purée

As much as I was dying to try the pig’s ear I didn’t mind to see that the chef replaced it with an extra cider-braised pork rib (on top of an extra dollop of purée).

Cider braised pork rib

Dinner at Bistro Bruno was a great experience, I will definitely be back.

Bistro Bruno
3 Beattie Street
Balmain NSW 2041
(02) 9810 7707
eat@bistrobruno.com.au
bistrobruno.com.au