What can’t be said about Circa. It simply excels in virtually all accolades.

First and foremost, they had at least 20 different selections of Chablis on the wine list. If you’ve read any of these posts, you know i’d sell my left testicle for a decent bottle of Premiere Cru. And they had it by the crate load! Their wine guy taught me a thing or three about the variety as well. Like Transport in Fed Square and plenty of places now, they had the wine FOLDER, not the wine list - and god bless them for it! Fortunately they had a Chablis Premiere Cru by the glass. $23 a pop but after two glasses you feel like you’ve been to Bordeaux.

One thing that I didn’t really get into was the ambience. It was a little too Sydney. Admitedly, I was facing window, looking at the bay and not the restaurant, but the minimalistic yet opulent decorum and upbeat mood music had me a little jumpy. This could be worked on.

Our mains were absolutely superb. I had a Moroccan inspired seafood combination dish on some huge cous cous that was far and away the best meal i’ve had in a while. There was some Mullet, some fish from WA and tiny mussels in the shell that compliented the tangine sauce beautifully. One thing is for certain, this was a reassuringly expensive meal, well worth the money. For you won’t find anything comparable to this dish just anywhere. The missus had something not too bad, but for once, I was the one that got lucky with the menu! This cous cous is far and away should be their trade mark.

Desert was a chocolate pudding, with a jaffa sauce filling, made fresh and piping hot. I found it a little dry, but especially on a winters night, what a great finish.

All in all, all the floor staff were down to earth, really knew what they were talking about and extremely top shelf. An expensive night, but also a content one. Circa is worth every cent! 5 out of 5, er, ’stars’.