La Tratt

Inside Fairfield RSL

14 Anzac Avenue
Fairfield NSW 2165
(02) 9727 5000

Open Wed-Sat 6pm-9:30pm

Fairfield RSL has apparently been super re-vamped over the years, to become one of few stylish RSL clubs, a sports club that is swanky and fancy that doesn't require a long trip out of the area. I have been inside to dine at "Pho" and wasn't very impressed, actually none of our party of 8 liked any of the food.. Pho is best eaten in Cabra at one of the various restaurants that offer pho on their menu.

However, La Tratt really impressed me. The service, the food, and the ambience all exceeded my expectations, and great value for money as well. The prices mentioned below are ala carte, on both the nights i was there it was $49 for bread olives and olive oil dip, entree, main, & dessert. Really cheap in my opinion!

So to start, we were given olive bread, normal bread with olive oil to dip, and a small bowl of olives & garlic. I always try not to eat too much bread but i love my carbs! haha :)

The first time i came here i had the $49 deal, and started off with the tart as my entree. The puff pastry was hot, crispy and soaked with a really tasty sauce from the mushrooms and eschallots. It was nice to have the rocket on top and the fetta on the side, made the dish look very appealing.

Wild mushroom and eschallot tart with rocket and persian feta

$15.90

Fried zucchini flowers with white polenta, tomato, capers and salsa verde

$18.90

Polenta cake (not on the menu but it comes with the

Cape Grim Black Angus fillet with confit garlic puree, fried polenta cake, wild mushrooms

and veal demi glaze $34.90)

$2.00

My dining companion had been warning me about this 'polenta cake' and had had these every single time she's come to La tratt (i think on this occasion it was her 3rd of 4th visit!)

As i mentioned above, the polenta cake only comes with the angus main, but if you ask nicely they can serve it alone for you. At first i thought "really? that good?"

But after a third bite i was hooked, there's something about the buttery and creamy insides that melt in your mouth paired with the crisp and crunchy outer shell. Definitely addictive!

The 2nd visit however, had left us with two slightly browner polenta cakes, i much prefer the lighter colour but they both still tasted pretty darn good.

Twisted pasta with slipper lobster, chilli, tomato and cream

$17.90/$27.00

On my second visit i decided to dine ala carte, so i can cover a bit more of the menu rather then have the same dishes again I i had already covered the vegetarian and pesketarian options on the specials menu)

The sauce in this dish i really enjoyed, but it was slightly over salted, but had decent pieces of lobster throughout. Not overly chilli, i would've prefered the sauce to be a bit thicker so that it coated the pasta better.

Lemon marinated spatchcock with sweet corn puree, char-grilled witlof, pine nuts

and sweet wine sauce

$29.90

Northern territory wild barrimundi fillet with spring bay mussels, herb risotto and saffron sauce

$29.90

My friend and i both had this seafood dish for our mains, which was delicious! However, we both fell sick that same night right after we got home. Neither of us get sick often, so i rang up the next day to inform them. My message was left, and a few days later the restaurant manager rang me to ask about it.

He was at first a bit defensive, saying that no one else had fallen sick that night and they were really busy as well (how many people actually come forward to admit that they got sick?)

I stood my ground and disagreed, saying that it was definitely something we ate no matter how nice it tasted, we somehow both fell sick and most of our dinner came back up again.

He said he would like us to come back again, and offered us a dining voucher worth $100. This was really generous of him, despite getting sick, and even if i had no voucher, i was still keen to come back and try other things on the menu.

yummy steamed greens

onto dessert ..!

White chocolate pannacotta with poached blueberries, passionfruit jelly, meringue

and mint syrup

$14.90

Chocolate fondant with apple compote, mascarpone cream and hazelnuts

$14.90

I really wish i had taken a shot of the fondant insides, really gooey and chocolatey i enjoyed eating this immensely, and ate it really slowly so that the experience would last longer :P

Lemon and mascarpone tart with vanilla cream, citrus and blood orange candy

$13.50

The tart was nice and tangy, a really great way to finish a meal, & i really liked the crunchy toffee coating.

On my first visit we were offered tea or coffee or biscuits, but on the 2nd visit we weren't. A little bit inconsistent!

All in all, i very much enjoyed both my dining experiences here at La tratt. I recommend coming here, it's really unexpected that a sports club would have something so fancy on the inside, you really do forget that you're in a RSL.

Also don't forget, the special 3 course price is valid Wednesdays and Thursday nights only.

They were featured in Sydney goodweekender as well check it out here :O)

& also featured in SMH here.