Confit, Saying goodbye to an old friend is never easy

confit.com.au

Last week delivered some extremely sad news, in fact news that has inspired me to write this food blog.  Confit Bistro will close its door permanently on Sunday 30th of September. 

Confit has only been around the Brisbane scene for just over three years, not long enough to become a Brisbane institution, but long enough to develop a small but faithful following.  The brainchild of Jason Peppler, formerly of Isis fame, Confit was a lovely little French bistro in Doggett Street in NewFarm. 

To say its my favourite restaurant is an understatement.  I love this place and SC and I have made it our default place to eat.  We must have been 60 or 70 times in the three years its been open and I will miss it when it's gone.

So, with only a few opportunities to eat at Confit I have booked in for for the final sitting on Sunday.  However, before the final dinner service is breakfast :)

There are many classic and imaginative items on the menu, the  Croque Madame is a beautiful dish, as is the savoury crepes with confit duck.  

On my last breakfast here, I went with a simple but lovely bacon, scrambled eggs and roasted tomato.  The scrambled eggs have a touch of goats cheese which gives it a silky smooth texture and devine to eat.

Best scrambled eggs in Brisbane

SC likes her breakfast a little sweeter than I do and went with the Vanilla scented pancakes, raspberry ice cream, Persian fairy floss, dark chocolate sauce and fresh local strawberries.  It sounds decedent and let me tell you, it looks the part as well.

The pancakes are bigger than SC

We finished the meal commiserating with Daniel and Katie about what they would do now.  Both agreed that they would likely leave the industry as it would be heartbreaking working in another restaurant.

Well, thats breakfast over and out.  Next will be the final dinner service........ Back soon

Right, its now the morning after the final dinner and I am happy to say the final dinner service at Confit was a joyous yet sad occasion of all who attended.  There was a real party atmosphere all night, with plenty of food and wine on offer.

The back room was the location for the final meal, which was fitting, so all could see the kitchen and Jason and the team circulated with the guests much of the night.

It was a double date occasion and SC and I had Chris and his date Tiffany along with us.  This is fortunate because as usual for Jason, the amount of food that came to the table was significant.  There was no menu on the night, but food just kept coming to the table.

First out was a huge plate of breads and dips (including chicken liver parfait and pedro ximinez jelly), along with a carpaccio of wagyu beef, capers and pumpkin seed oil.  The carpaccio was light and flavoursome and was quickly devoured by the table.  There was a long wait between this course and the next series of plates coming out, which gave us all a good opportunity to get to know Chris' date.

By the time the plates started flowing to the table, we were all really quite famished.  When I say the plates started flowing, this was an understatement, as plate after plate of food came to the table.

Pork belly, chilli & nashi pear chutney, honey glazed pork ribs, roast port shoulder, celeriac puree, seared scollops, pork crackling and roast pears.  This was hard to split between four of us, we all wanted more of the pork belly :)

Prawn penne pasta, with Sicilian olives, chilli & tom seafood bisque.  There were plenty of prawns and just enough heat from the chilli.  This plate of pasta was huge and between four of us, we barely made a dent.

Pheasant with wild mushroom and polenta.  This was delicious, really rich and gamey in flavour, with sweet undertones.  There was plenty of pheasant to go around to all and there was an empty bowl with all really enjoying this dish.

This was the fish dish.  This was a simple roasted reef fish, with a salad of blood orange and greens. The fish was a very sweet fish and roasted to perfection. it was offset well by the tartness of the blood orange.  There was another fish dish on the night, flash fried cuttle fish with lemon aioli.  I really enjoyed the cuttle fish, it was simple and a classic Jason dish.  It did not last long :)

Just when we thought we could eat no more, the desserts started coming out.  All I can say is wow! While I was really hoping for one last soufflé from Jason, it was not to be tonight.  I was still not disappointed with the fare that came out.

First out was the biggest vanilla creme brulee that I have ever seen. This is good as it was a favorite for us all so there was enough to go around.  The absolute standout for the desserts however was the Eaton's Mess, essentially a deconstructed pavlova.  It was sweet and creamy and very rich, but never over the top

Also on offer was a chocolate brownie with white chocolate panna cotta.  The panna cotta had a real coffee taste to it as well.  It was smooth and well constructed, but also understated at the same time. The last dessert was a big plate of chocolate mousse.  It was rich and decadent and totally over the top.  By the time it came to this dish, I was all sugared out :)

Total meal time for the night was 4 hours, which went really quickly.  There was lots of time to talk to the team at the end of the meal, talking about all of the high points over the years.  There were hugs and tears at the end and we all knew that something special was coming to an end.  We left with the restaurant mostly empty and with an empty feeling deep inside.  Sure, there will be other restaurants and other fabulous meals, but will there be another place that will feel like a second home........  I'm not so sure.

I hope that Jason will have a good rest, but you could see the glint in his eye at the end of the night. Food is in his blood, if I were a betting man, I am sure we will see Jason Peppler's name against a new establishment at some point.

FoodMeUpScotty

Recently awarded a prestigious Chefts
Hat, its ironic that it did not save Confit.

@FoodMeUpScotty