Husk & Vine Kitchen and Bar – The Only Place for Heritage Dining Experience in Parramatta

Husk & Vine Kitchen and Bar is the most exciting up and coming dining spot at the one and only heritage site hidden in the V by Crown Group apartments and SKYE Hotel Suites in Parramatta.

Husk & Vine is built on the 1840’s remains of the Wheatsheaf Hotel, inspiring both the concept by SITE Hospitality and interiors by Nic Graham & Associates, lead by culinary ambassador Stephen Seckold.

The menu is influenced by Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine, featuring a one-page of dishes using fresh ingredients and healthy elements, paired with wines from boutique Australian producers and cocktails made from native ingredients and house-blended syrups.

We were invited to a long-table to try their menu starting with a few starters, entrees, sides, and desserts, in their very warm and comfortable ambient.

Jerusalem artichoke & black truffle soup

The long table dinner kicked off with a delicate bowl of goodness. The velvety smooth soup covered with layers of thinly sliced flavourful truffle. The deep musky mushroom aroma just rushed into the whole dining area, turning the place into a truffle-perfumed heaven.

Rosemary and haloumi flatbreads/ dips

One of the selling point at Husk & Vine must be its custom-made Beech Oven. The high temperature oven is often used for its fresh airy flatbreads and some of the meat dishes. The flatbread here are very herby with a fluffy airy texture after being cooked with high heat. And who doesn’t like scrapping some healthy Mediterranean dip like hummous and baba ganoush with some delicious bread?

Za’atar fried chicken, oregano & garlic dip

Another flavourful herb heavy dish because those chicken bites are deep fried and rolled over with lots of earthy za’atar mixed herbs. The few bite size chicken pieces are juicy on the inside and just golden crunchy on the outside. A bit naughty but so delicious!

Burrata cheese, garlic bread, chermoula, raisins, pinenuts

Burrata is my personal favourite because this cheese is just divine! It’s so delicate that it is an even creamier and softer cheese than Mozzarella. It’s light and very silky, just great to go with any bread yet it is not going to make you feel too guilty about it.

Swordfish crudo, grapefruit, pink peppercorn, white balsamic

When it comes to raw fish, swordfish has a very subtle natural sweetness to it. Thus, the citric from the grapefruit brings out extra flavour from those thinly sliced fish. Surprisingly one of my favourite dishes of the night.

Crispy lamb ribs, date & tamarind glaze, labneh

These mini lamb ribs are almost too cute to eat. The seasonings are on point and the meat itself is perfectly tender and moist, while the outer layer is still just slightly crispy. A funky twist to the dish would be the tamerind and labneh that go with it. This combination is much more complex than the traditional yogurt or mint dip that we get.

Hand cut pappardelle w’ butternut, goats cheese, pine nuts

Coming to one of the most anticipated dishes from the restaurant which is their freshly made hand cut flat pasta, pappardelle. The pasta is very yellow in colour and full of egg flavour. The soft pasta is coated with butternut and cheese sauce, with a tough of nuttiness from the toaste pine nuts. A must order from the restaurant.

Whole butterflied chicken, chilli, lemon, paprika sweet potato

Using the Beech oven in the house, the grilled meat remained juicy and moist even in the chicken breast part. The skin almost charred which promoted an enjoyable smokiness to butterflied chicken. The portion size is very generous, just a great family kind of dish to share with a group of people.

Lamb shoulder, harrisa, okra, chickpea stew

The lamb shoulder acme out even tenderer than the chicken. The meat literally just fell off from the bone. The lamb was not too gamey but it does have a strong meaty flavour to it. The smokey okra and cooked chickpea gave a little bit of smoother texture to the meat, I would say it was quite an interesting combination but the whole thing just worked well together.

You can’t have too much meat without some veggies trimmings so we had three of the classics and they are just as what we can expect. Simple and healthy.

Lettuce, sourdough croutons, gruyere, Dijon vinaigrette

Chat potatoes, black garlic, sour cream

Carrots, cumin, honey, Persian feta

Though our stomachs were highly satisfied at this point but when it comes to desserts, you won’t be disappointed with their sweet dishes you definitely don’t want to miss that out! We tried three desserts and they sounded very classic but the level of expectation should be elevated after their savoury dishes.

Pistachio & raspberry bombe alaska

Starting from my favourite, the alaska is nothing like what I was expecting because it was too almost too good to be true. That light fluffy torched egg white shell was covering a good layer cold refreshing tart and lightly sour raspberry sorbet-like and a layer of nutty pistachio cake-like base. This dome shaped dessert was everything I wanted after a big meal!

Chocolate mousse, salted caramel, quince

The silky smooth mousse melted in your mouth and the salted caramel was something to die for because sweet and salted taste always work well together. The quince was a creative element on the dish to sort of cut through that complexity between every single tastebud.

Pavlova, orange blossom cream, tangelo

Lastly, a traditional British that is very light and airy and the citric from the orange and tangelo just counterbalanced with the sweetness from the meringue. It was just fun to break that white block to discover that crunchy shell and melt-in-your-mouth fillings.

Overall, we had a very scrumptious dining experience and we would definitely come back again for more as the place is just perfect for any occasions. SKYE hotel is opening on 1 August so it comes handy if you have friends or business partners visiting you.

Address: 7/45 Macquarie Street, Parramatta

Phone: (02) 7803 2323