Honeycomb is a compact little restaurant on the corner of Liverpool Street and Boundary Road. Open since September 2011, it serves up ‘generous’ portions of modern and classic Italian cuisine.
It’s a buzzy space more suited to a table of friends than a table of two if you need to talk. The wine list continues the compact theme (fine with me) offering 6-8 options of red and white wine ($50-80 range) and Italian beers. We had a bottle of Alan Corkandale Sauvignon from Marlboro.
There are two sittings for dinner – 6 and 8pm. Council restrictions mean that the restaurant has to be cleared out by 10pm.
We started with Deep Fried Zuchini Flowers Stuffed with 5 Italians Cheeses and a Pan Fried Sardine Bruschettta with Pesto and Tomatoes. Both dishes were delicious – the combination of pesto and Sardines was genius.
I had Ossobuco for my main (for the first time as far as I can remember). It was amazing, slow cooked veal in a citrus and chili soup. My companion had Baby Chicken with a Mustard Style Dressing on Mash, which she also enjoyed. To accompany, we had a Wild Rocket Salad with Aged Balsanic and Pecorino Cheese.
The food was very good quality and reasonably priced. Entrees and mains ranged from 20-35 dollars. The Stuffed Zuchini Flowers were $5.50 each. The menu offered around ten choices for each course plus two specials options. Half of the main were pasta. Our mains were both specials.
If we had one complaint about the food then it was portion size. They were enormous, the food itself was fantastic as I mentioned, but large portions detract from the overall experience of eating out I think. Feeling overwhelmed by the volume of food in front of you takes away from the sense of satisfaction that should come from making a great discovery by going to a restaurant for the first time. It also feels wasteful.
The wait staff did advise that we had ordered ‘enough’ . A little more menu advice would have been appreciated but that’s not to fault our waiter who was great. My advice to a couple eating at Honeycomb would be to have an entree each and then share a main with a salad or side order. This might still leave some room for a dessert.
We had to pass; but the menu was fantastic – very indulgent options (e.g. Eton Mess) and again huge portions.
The overall experience was great. The service was excellent – warm, efficient and fast.
In summary, Honeycomb is all about the food, which is big in every way. Skip breakfast and lunch breakfast to enjoy a reasonably priced, high quality modern Italian meal in a relaxed and unpretentious environment.
Tags: darlinghurst, honeycomb
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