The Botanist, Kirribilli

To celebrate our recent 2nd blog birthday, we decided to have a small dinner at The Botanist, Kirribilli. We tried to get a booking a week before our planned date, but to our dismay they were already booked out two weeks ago! Thankfully they reserve half the restaurant for walk-ins and we were able to nab a table at 6pm on a Saturday night, but it did fill up completely not long after.

Red Sangria – $30
Turbo Pimms – $3

The Botanist is located next to Milsons Point station and has a half bar/restaurant set up. It has quite a natural earthy feel inside with wooden furnishings, assorted flowers and pot plants decorating each table. We kick start the night with some cocktails jugs including sangria and pimms which are both sweet, light and refreshingly fruity.

Salt and pepper encrusted squid with chilli, fresh coriander & lime  – $18

After much deliberation we decide on several entrees, mains and share plates to share between our table of six. The food comes out really quickly with the salt and pepper squid up first. This is lightly battered and fried, and served with a creamy aioli. It is crispy and tasty, especially with the lime wedge adding some zest.

Pan-fried prosciutto wrapped bocconcini with tomato & lemon – $18

The bocconcini comes out next which is soft and wrapped with some crispy prosciutto. It has a great mixture of textures and is brought together by the rich tomato sauce served on the base.

Beer battered hot chips with aioli – $8

Our side of thick cut chips come out next. I don’t find these that crispy but the potato innards are mushy and soft. Despite this, I am in love with these chips! They have the perfect amount of salt and herb seasoning and are once again accompanied by the rich and creamy aioli which results in remarkable flavours that makes up for the fact that the chips aren’t super crispy.

Chilli prawn, roasted garlic, lemon & mint – $20

We try one of the pizzas next and out of the selection on the menu, we thought this one sounded the most interesting. The pizza had a crispy thin base with large prawns and whole cloves of garlic scattered throughout. Unfortunately the pizza was a bit too spicy for most of our tastebuds. I suppose it does say ‘chilli’ on the menu but it was much spicier than other chilli-based pizzas. It certainly did deliver a punch of flavours but I only wish there was a lemon wedge provided to cut through the chilli as the description said that lemon was an ingredient, but we couldn’t see or taste any.

Braised beef cheeks with potato puree & braising juices – $20

Apart from the seafood dishes, we had also opted for a more meaty option of beef cheeks. These were super soft and just melted in your mouth with the juicy, gravy-like sauce. The potato puree was also extremely soft and the dish itself was an instant group favourite.

Assorted tacos – $20 for 4
Assorted sliders – $20 for 4

Our last dishes for the night was assorted tacos and sliders, both at $20 for 4. For the tacos, we opted for the beef taco which contained soft mince meat with a tangy relish and spicy salsa, coupled with fresh lettuce and tomatoes. With the sliders, we couldn’t decide which ones to get so we got them all! The highlights were the pulled pork with a sweet apple chutney sauce and ranch chicken which was fried in a Southern style. Unfortunately the king crab slider was not as remarkable as its red meat variants so I would recommend you go for the pork/chicken options.

I was pleasantly surprised and blown away by the food at The Botanist. Although the menu isn’t that extensive compared to other restaurants, the food was very hearty and delicious, and even the not-so-good dishes only seemed that way as the other dishes were so tasty! The menu items are great for group sharing and I can’t wait to return and check out their brunch menu soon.

The Botanist
17 Willoughby St,  Kirribilli NSW
Ph: (02) 9954 4057


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