the little snail @ murray st., pyrmont

To see mum off before she went to Tahiti, my aunt organised for a family lunch at The Little Snail at Pyrmont. They have a lunch special; 3 courses for $32 (would I be correct to say that it's the cheapest 3 course meal in Sydney?) Amongst us, a few of us had been and for the younger ones, they got quite excited, perused over the menu on their website and got there on the day and announced what they were having even before we had all sat down. It was actually my third time at The Little Snail but as always, wherever I go, I still had a good look through the menu and took my time to order.

If I had to pick out the best thing about the meal, it had to be this side of Chilli, cheese and honey bread. I questioned how this one would taste but it's one of those ones where you need to pop in your mouth and go 'Oh...this is good'.

Most of the table went for the Snails. I've had this before so didn't get it this time round. Should it be your first time at The Little Snail, my recommendation would be to try the snails, it only make sense if you have the Snails at The Little Snail!

Here's my entree - Carpaccio of fruitwood smoked salmon with lemon caviar aioli and vinaigrette dressed mixed leaves. Beautifully presented, simple and a great entree to balance some of the heavier second and third courses.

In the meantime, across the table, my cousin B ponders over the Pate du jour (homemade duck liver pate flavoured port and brandy served with Melba toast) he's ordered. There's definitely not enough toast for that pudding of Pate.

My main was meant to be the Slow Roasted Lamb set on ratatouille and mash with rosemary-infused port-wine demi-glaze. They advised that it was just a Roasted rack of lamb today with mash and peas. I still went for it; I was having a craving for lamb and this little baby did the trick.

Whilst eating my lamb, I scabbed off mum's Veal tenderloin with piquant cream sauce of smoked bacon, shallots, sun-ripened tomatoes, glazed potatoes and buttered beans. I found this one quite filling but lovely.

To my right was my cousin D who had the Grilled Tasmanian salmon on mascarpone enriched risotto and puree of sweet peas. I actually had this one last time (loved it, in particular the crispy layer of salmon skin!)

I told mum to get the Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce and vanilla ice-cream. The slice of pudding was huge the last time I had it, it was noticeably smaller this time but still enough to fill you up.

My choice of dessert was the Handmade profiteroles with creme patisserie, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. I like this photo, it'll remind me of how the cream flopped over when my cousin C sneezed across the table :D

Overall, a lovely lunch out with family. By the end of the meal, I was forgiving about my Ice Lemon Tea fiasco (sorry guys but 3 times to get me my drink is a poor effort when you took the order and new exactly what I ordered but 1. forgot to bring it and brought everyone else's drink 2. Then giving me a peach tea when you knew it was a lemon tea 3. Getting another waitress to tell me I ordered a peach tea when the order was taken down as a lemon tea.) Argh...but seems like it's the curse of the Lemon Tea at the moment, similar thing happened at another place I ate at. Just waiting for the third strike as all bad things happen to come in lots of 3. Watch this space.