Tucked away in Federation Square at Gold Creek, Versatile is truly a hidden treasure. If you’ve never heard of it, but have been out that way, particularly to Adore Tea, you’ve actually walked past it lots of times—it sits right above Adore.

I was one of those people until I discovered it through an OutInDeals offer last year. Not really knowing what to expect, my friend and I rocked up with no preconceptions, and were pleasantly surprised. I’ve since been back a number of times, most recently last week with some friends who’d never been there before.

The first time you go out there, particularly if it’s dark, is a bit disconcerting, because nothing else is open and can really get quite dark out that way. If you’ve never been there or to Adore Tea before, you can get a little confused with the carparking, but it doesn’t take that long to figure out.

Walking in, the layout is quite simple, essentially a really big rectangular room with well-spaced tables (it’s also a function centre). On one end is a fireplace, the other, windows (I think—I actually haven’t looked that closely but on my most recent visit I saw sofas set up, presumably for people to sit and have a drink and a chat. I imagine it would be just lovely when the days get a bit longer). Because the space is quite open, even if it’s busy it’s not too noisy, but it can feel a little empty if there’s not that many diners in there. But if, like me, you’re there with good company, you really don’t notice. Especially when you start looking at the menu and when your food arrives.

Versatile’s menu works by courses, i.e. you can choose one, two or three courses for a set price. Being quite hungry, and, as usual, unable to decide whether to sacrifice an entrée for dessert or vice versa, my friends and I opted for the three course option for $65 per person. While we were deciding what to order, our stomachs were tided over with a yummy amuse bouche of root vegetable soup (above), and warm bread with a choice of butter or olive oil and balsamic (below).

There are three things that I will almost always go for if I see them on a menu: pork, duck and lamb. Luckily for me, that night two of those were on offer. Our group of three all chose the same entrée: a cider braised belly of pork, green apple puree, apple compote and drunken cherries. The pork belly, green apple puree and drunken cherries were delicious. We found the apple compote didn’t actually have that much flavour on its own but added some lovely texture to the rest of the dish.

For the mains, we went our separate ways. I ordered the French style confit duck leg on sweet potato mash, wilted cabbage, orange infused jus, while one of my friends chose the chicken roulade stuffed with sundried tomatoes, provolone cheese and aromatic herbs, served with sweet potato mash and red wine jus.

Our other friend ordered the fillet mignon with sautéed zucchini, chat potatoes and tomatoes, onion and capsicum jam, jus.

We were all pleased with our choices, and I loved my duck (below). The meat was tender and juicy, and the accompaniments were also delicious (did I mention I also love mash? Potato, sweet potato, I love it all).

We found we were satisfied but also had sufficient room for dessert without feeling overly full. One of my friends quickly decided on the warm chocolate fudge brownie, vanilla anglaise, chocolate sauce and tuile biscuit, while my other friend and I, unbeknownst to each other, silently struggled to choose between the same two options.

Thankfully we ended up discussing our dilemma before it came time to order, and came up with a solution: get both, and share (I know, so obvious, right? When you’re hungry rational thinking doesn’t always kick in right away).

So we got to try both the apple and rhubarb crumble with vanilla bean ice cream (above, which – fyi – passed my “black dots mean real vanilla bean” test) and the warm sticky date pudding with caramel sauce and ice cream (below). These turned out to be very good choices for a cold winter’s night (not that it was cold inside, but you know what I mean).

It was a lovely evening and a great venue for our dinner catch up. I should also make mention of the staff, who have always been pleasant, polite and attentive on all of my visits.

So, now you know where Versatile is, I highly recommend that you go and check it out for yourselves. Their menu is seasonal, so I think I might even have to go back myself to try other things on the current menu before it changes again.

the essentials

The place: Versatile restaurant
Where: Federation Square, O’Hanlon Place, Nicholls (Gold Creek, above Adore Tea)
When: Tuesday to Saturday from 5:00pm
Food: Dinner, coffee and drinks. Menus are seasonal and change regularly (a good excuse to keep going back!)
Drinks: Australian and European wines, beer and cider
Contact: Call 02 6230 9333, visit the website at www.versatilerestaurant.com.au or check out their Facebook page.