Furneaux
Furneaux - French Style in St Helens
One of the reasons we chose St Helens as a destination was to visit the French restaurant, Furneaux, as we had heard wonderful reports about it. In fact, several people contacted us on social media when they heard we were in St Helens to suggest we make a booking quick smart if we didn't already have one! Luckily, we did!
The restaurant is located in a very unassuming building in the heart of St Helens. We received a very warm welcome from the staff and were seated at a table right in the window, looking out over the water which was very pleasant, despite the rain. They were very busy and we were the last table to be seated. This was good as we got a glimpse of what was to come throughout the evening.
Once seated we were handed the drinks menu which featured mainly Tasmanian wines as well as a few good mainland names. I was hoping to start the meal with a glass of bubbles but sadly they did not have an option for any sparkling by the glass. After consulting with the staff about a good alternative, we decided to go for the chardonnay. I have to say it was a blessing in disguise as we got to taste a lovely wine which we would have otherwise overlooked and it went beautifully with our entrees!
The wine was The Ridge Lilydale 2019 Petit Chardonnay, Tasmania - very crisp and refreshing
Here is the salad which was absolutely amazing. I had to take a photo with the egg cracked open to show how perfectly it was cooked. The tuna was lightly seared and beautifully presented. John was very happy with his choice.
The ravioli was gorgeous - the colour was just so beautiful and golden! Look at that!! It was a very rich and luscious dish. The sauce was creamy and the pasta cooked al dente. It tasted as good as it looked!
While we were waiting for our main we watched the rain fall and dinner being served to other tables. We were anticipating our steaks arriving as they looked so good! This photo shows the main dining area near the bar. We were in the annex area which has the better view. The bathrooms are on the other side of the bar and there is an accessible bathroom at the bottom of the stairs.
We also selected a wine to accompany our steaks. We went with the Serafino 2018 Shiraz which was delicious - very full-bodied and smooth.
When our steaks arrived, we were very impressed with the presentation and aromas. It was served with asparagus and potato rosti. It was all very tasty.
We were looking forward to dessert as we had watched a table next to us enjoying crepe suzette and it looked divine! Unfortunately they had run our of this option by the time we got to dessert but there were five other options which all sounded wonderful so this actually helped us to narrow our choices! Both of us had trouble deciding on one final option. We decided to share so that we got to taste two :-) I opted for the Religieuse tout Citron as it reminded me of a dessert I had eaten in France while we were on our canal boat cruise. John opted for the Nougat Glace as he can't resist ice cream!
Before our dessert we were given a lovely little lychee sorbet palate cleanser.
John's nougat glace was a nougat parfait served with Grand Marnier caramel and pistachio praline. These were all flavours that he really enjoys so he thought this was a good choice.
My dessert had two components that I love - custard and lemon! It was seriously impressive dish to look at. The lemon flavours were delicious.
After dinner we both chose to finish with a tea - they had an impressive tea menu! It was a lovely accompaniment to the hand made chocolates which were served at the end.
We both thoroughly enjoyed our meal at Furneaux and were impressed with the warm and helpful service. As it was still raining when we left, we were walked out to our car with umbrellas held over our heads! Definitely service above and beyond!!
Furneaux website:
https://www.furneauxrestaurant.com.au/
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