The egg added a richness to the utterly delicious ragout – Kent explained that this is one of his Mum’s dishes, which he knew he wanted to include on the menu here – I’d come back for this alone (once again, there I was scraping the sauce off the plate with my spoon!). We had two main plates – the crispy lamb ribs ($29) and the confit duck leg ($28). The ribs were a close second for my favourite dish – even my friend who doesn’t really like lamb loved them and has decided she can eat lamb if it’s cooked like this. The ribs are piled up in a tower, topped with corriander and Vietnamese mint, and coated in a gooey, sweet plum sauce, as well as XO’s housemade lemon oil, to cut through the richness. Whilst not elegant to eat, the ribs were tender and tasty – the herbs supercharged the flavours for me, elevating this into a really spectacular dish. Finally, we enjoyed the confit duck leg – this was a good last dish, given how spicy it was. The duck was perfectly cooked and tender, and I enjoyed the mushroom broth, but definitely needed some rice as a spice-balancer! XO ticks all the boxes, service included – absolutely worth a visit. Or two…
XO, 16 Iluka Street, Narrabundah ACT, http://www.xo-restaurant.com.au
