Citrico - FITZROY NORTH

Cassava chips are amazing. The tiger milk dish is also very yum! The only bad thing about this place is that the food does take a big while to be served.

The only bad thing I have to say is the octopus entree dish was a little too salty. Otherwise food and service was phenomenal. Best steak I’ve had since visiting South America. The owner is lovely

I’ve been here 3 times and it has always been great. My partner and I normally get a cocktail, share 3 entrees and then order one main with 2/3 sides. I definitely recommend that as you get to try more dishes. Food is always good and the service is always great too.

Overall an excellent place to indulge the taste buds of South American cuisine and enjoy fine wine excellent Malbec at $50 is always welcome! . The food has a subtle finesse to it and its great to try out new tastes. There are a few inconsistencies that prevented a 5 star review, though.Nice ambience, friendly and knowledgeable staff who are happy to guide you through the menu and with its huge, opened window frontage, whilst cosy in the winter, is likely to be incredibly popular in the summer.Food generally excellent a barrage of flavours! The one downfall is that portions are not huge and for a group of five sharing, it can get a little pricey. The abrebocas and la cervicheria are $10 $20 per plate: we ordered 8 plus a bife de chorizo, fish of the day snapper and 2 sides. With the exception of the cassava chips tasted like cardboard and a dessert of rather greasy doughnuts with chocolate sauce, the food was magnificent particularly the snapper . But we still left feeling we hadn't eaten very much. $300 on food and 2 bottles of wine $100 . If you're hungry, go for the sides and mains: if you pick at food and happy to go for an explosion of tastes, abrebocas is the part of the menu for you.  We'd still go back though.

Citrico Concina is a South American restaurant blending in many cuisines, Chilean, Peruvian and Argentinean were the ones that stood out for me the most. In conversation with the waitress, we mentioned having been to Harley House not too long ago (as we saw some similarities) and to my surprise, the head chef had previously worked there also.<br/ <br/ We start off with their regular Pisco Sour which was well made and strong. Later during the night I got a Machurita which is based off Inca Kola (Peruvian soft drink and pretty much popular throughout South America). Is was light so if you want to get the full experience drink it by the bottle (pricey at $7). Unbeknownst to me the cocktail was made incorrectly and they brought out a new one which was more vibrantly yellow and strong. Good pick up (their main barman was away).<br/ <br/ We started off with some oysters in tiger milk and finger lime. Strong start, none of the ingredients used detracted from creamy oyster and the sourness wasn't overwhelming even with an additional squeeze of lime. We also had some ceviche prepared nikkei style (Peruvian/Japanese) which saw pairings of unlikely ingredients together (ponzu and leche de tigre). The scallop were slightly seared and the kingfish tasted really fresh.<br/ <br/ We could not get enough of scallops we also got conchitas, scallops cooked in Pisco-yellow chilli butter, puffed rice, cherry tomatoes and rounded off with lomo saltado sauce (which is mostly soy sauce and vinegar). Excellent. On the side we got some anticucho verdura which was a melody of vegetables in a Kapallaq sauce, well cooked but I didn't manage to dig up any mushrooms.<br/ <br/ Snacking on we also got some pollo Chifa (Peruvian/Cantonese) which unfortunately was their only Chifa item. I'm guessing it's their take on salt and pepper chicken which was served with a lovely salsa which gave it a brightness.<br/ <br/ For mains we got a bit of surf and turf. We go for their 500g rib eye (40 days dry aged) served with lemon and chimichurri on side. Tasty (especially the fat) and well seasoned, more medium than medium rare (preferred) and not as melt in your mouth as expected. Walking past the kitchen (to the toilets) you can take note of their cooking station and usage of charcoal. That brings us to the grilled octopus and squid which had a slight char and smokiness to it, to octopus tentacles especially tender. Not to be outshone by the protein, we couldn't stop picking at the side of cauliflower with Manchego cheese and walnuts, soft yet crispy and the natural sweetness from the cauliflower came through.<br/ <br/ Finishing up we had some passion fruit sorbet with fruits, chocolate dust and a purple corn tuile, very refreshing. The sweet potato pumpkin doughnuts were coated with a fig sugar syrup and chocolate sauce on the side for dipping. This fried snack was bouncy and chewy, it's difficult to dislike such a dessert.<br/ <br/ The premise of this visit was to grab some Pisco Sours somewhere (I think my friend is addicted) but it soon became an exploration into South American cuisine. You'd be hard pressed finding many restaurants doing this kind of food yet alone obtaining the ingredients they utilise, no doubt they'd have to import some down. Front of house staff were engaging and accommodating which resulted in a positive experience.