The Atlantic - Beautiful Seafood Dishes

Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of the restaurant.

I started this post ages ago and for whatever reasons I never got round to finishing it. Rather than just delete it, I thought I may as well post it and give you a feel for what The Atlantic Restaurant is like. The restaurant is located in the Crown Entertainment Complex along many other fine dining establishments. Whilst some people have an aversion to going to the Crown casino complex, for me, I'm happy to go there for good food. The Atlantic is owned and run by Donovan Cooke, the man behind many a fine establishment in the past. This restaurant has a focus on sustainable seafood, so the menu has a good selection of seafood.

I was lucky enough to be seated with Sarah, I-Hua, Aaron and my friend Eliott, who were willing to share their dishes. Hence I got a taste of every dish that we ordered.

The entrees were all really good, and I'm sure you'll find one dish to your liking. I think the standouts for me were the super fresh oysters and the crab mousse dish.

Despite the restaurant being more a seafood place, it does also serve steaks, and really good steaks at that. Of course, it's hard to go past the fish dishes, with the signature confit salmon dish being a highlight, along with hapuka, barramundi and whatever is fresh at the time and sustainably caught.

Deserts were all really good, with my favourite being the pistachio cassonade dessert which were a remainder of the time Philippa Sibley was the dessert chef.

We got to have a chat with Donovan and from the short conversation with him, I can see that he is still passionate about cooking, as well as his pursuit of quality, both in the ingredients and execution. Whilst he seems a hard man, he did tell us some funny stories and laughed really hard with us, which made me see the man behind the chef.

Overall, I thought the food was good and the restaurant would make a great location for any occasion. The decor is really beautiful and the view outside of the glass windows onto the Yarra is pretty spectacular. Obviously, the meal is priced towards the high end and expect to pay $150 or so if you have three courses with drinks. It's not for everyday but as an occasional visit, it's worth it, especially if you love seafood.