Vacheron-Constantin Harmony Chronograph and Champagne Lunch at Black By Ezard

In a lucky roster rotation, Vikki got another Sunday off. Making the most of it, we decided to head into the city and stay at the Hilton again. After checking in we headed over to J Farren-Price to have a look at a new arrival from Vacheron Constantin, the rose gold Harmony Chronograph. This is a limited edition of 260 pieces in celebration of Vacheron’s 260 anniversary. Taking inspiration from a historical Vacheron Doctor's chronograph from 1928, this piece is certainly vintage inspired with its cushion shaped case, mono-pusher activation, and pulsation dial.

This watch is a beautiful piece and well finished. The 42 mm cushion case that houses the caliber 3300 movement is very elegant and not too large on the wrist, yet has a nice weight to it. The white dial features blue hour markers, and the chronograph markings in black and red. I love an oversized crown and this was a nice example without being annoying when moving your wrist around. 

The rose gold case is paired with a brown Mississippi alligator strap and rose gold deployant clasp.

While the Vacheron-Constantin Harmony Chronograph is a lovely watch, it sadly doesn’t quite fit with the other pieces in my collection.

After our visit  it was time for lunch. A quick discussion, found us heading across the Pyrmont Bridge to Black by Ezard, at The Star. 

Sunday at Black by Ezard is Champagne lunch day, with three courses and free flowing Moet and Chandon Champagne for $125. There are a couple of options that attract an extra charge but that is to be expected when you get such a great offer. Sunday lunch crowd is always buzzy and makes for good people watching.

There is nothing like a view of the city, water and luxury yachts while you dine. A sunny but partly cloudy day also helps.

After being seated, ordering and having our first glass of champagne poured a delicious mini loaf of house made brioche was bought to the table with Pepe Saya butter and Hawaiian black sea salt. Hawaiian black sea salt seems to be making an appearance everywhere as we also had it when we dined at Il Ristorante Luca Fantin in Tokyo.

I ordered the open ravioli of ox tail, smoked potato, walnut gremolata, bone marrow and watercress salad. A huge but tasty entrée that had me asking if it was my imagination or had food in Sydney improved a lot?

Vikki ordered the sautéed Spencer Gulf prawns, sweetcorn puree, watermelon, red onion, tomato, coriander, jalapeno peppers and crispy pancetta. Very colourful and Vikki said it was very tasty.

For my main I ordered the grass fed Angus fillet, roasted cauliflower and pearl onion salad with gremolata. A selection of mustards, sauces along with café de Paris butter accompanied the steak. Of course we had to order some chips with garlic, parmesan and rosemary salt.

Vikki ordered the roasted duck breast, Dutch carrots, spiced fennel chutney, Sichuan pepper sauce. I enjoyed this immensely. Vikki was very happy with her main, and slipped me a little taste,the fennel chutney was amazing with the duck, and the Dutch carrots done two ways was also very tasty. The fennel salad went well against the fattiness of the duck skin. Vikki was happy to see nasturtium leaves being used in a meal.

When the desserts came out we were really happy with our choices. I chose the cheesecake, lavender honey, blueberry sorbet and sable crumble.  The colour of the sorbet was astounding!! Deep and dark it looked like a jewel sitting on the cheesecake.

Vikki chose the coffee parfait, mascarpone mousse, orange crumble and spiced caramel. Vikki and I swapped plates for a bit so we got to try each other’s desserts.  The flavours were amazing and the dried orange pieces, a real textural and flavor loaded sensation when you popped one in your mouth.

We know Sydney has some great restaurants and many have had a long reputation of greatness, but somehow in the past year or two things seem to have really stepped up a notch or three.

We really enjoyed visiting Black By Ezard again, and look forward to returning for another visit in the future.