epocha

one of the best tasting menus i have ever had and that includes vue de monde and ezards. friendly affable wait staff and an excellent array of food , catering also for our wheat intolerant guest. alovelylocation that is a go to place for a romantic dinner or special occasion. the only criticism is the very limited wine by glass selection which consist of a handful of european wines. we were offered two glasses of as local red normally available by bottle only. the cost was $44 . next time be sure to ask what the wine will cost!

best sunday lunch ever.. a totally quaint and rustic dining room - solovelyto discover this place through a friend who had her birthday lunch here yesterday. chef caroline's attention to detail and superb combinations of flavours were just simply amazing.
guy's service was fantastic and attentive.
we had the sunday lunch - it was a roasted goat but i had my dietary pescatarian request well looked after with alovelydish of skate. we had another friend who was gluten free and she was well catered for as well. everyone raved about the goat and the accompanying potatoes roasted in duck fat. i must say.. the best bread in town...lovelywith the caraway seed through it.
we were there from 1230pm to 4pm... and time just flew. such amazing food andlovelyservice.
thank you caroline and guy and the rest of the staff for such alovelyafternoon.
definitely coming back.

this place is killing it. best pana cotta and slow cooked lamb (not together!) we have ever eaten. our waiter was a triple threat - adorable, efficient and french :)lovelydining room, homely feel but still modern. bonus points for awesome pendants. the wine list was all old world which we thought was a bit over the top given the quality of australian wine but it does fit with their modern european theme. plus the floor staff know their stuff and are delighted to give you a hand in choosing. unusually for a restaurant, excellent coffee as well.  if i had to pick something that didn't exactly hit the mark, i would say that their sides are too small, especially for the prices. we thoroughly enjoyed our visit and we will be back.

we went for the 3 course meal, and needless to say, i was so full!

for my 3 course meal, i chose the beef tartare for entree, beef tenderloin for main and the chocolate ganache.
my partner has the razor prawns, pork, and white chocolate dessert), we also ordered the duck fat roasted potatoes.

everything was delicious! the potatoes matched perfectly with the pork and beef because they both had a gravy poured on top. every single potato was crispy!! although we were so full from our entrees and mains, we didn’t want to waste a single potato because we’ve never had such crispy potatoes! the pork and beef were salted well and very tender! the razor prawns were really really small, we weren’t sure whether the prawn head was to be eaten, so to have the body of the prawn only - it wasn’t much. other than that, i enjoyed my evening and the service waslovelyand attentive.

was looking forward to alovelydinner with friends. beautiful victorian home converted to a restaurant, the ambiance was beautiful. amazing place for a first date. we chose to go with the chefs menu. entree’s were a little bit of a let down, the fish with what i believe was pickled radish, was awful, but that’s my palate. the terrine was nice but wish the toasted bread had a little flavour of maybe garlic. the mains were amazing, we got the beef fillet which was really nice, tender and cooked perfectly, the roasted potatoes were also lovely. overall, good place but definitely needs improvement on the entrees. i wouldn’t mind going again and doing share plates rather then the chefs menu.

we went to epocha with a group of friends who had not been there before. needless to say they loved it. the food, the wine and exceptional service are a standout. there was a reasonable delay with our main meal due to a little accident but they were solovelyas to offer us complimentary cheese platter and dessert without our even mentioning it. we came away so impressed with the service - will definitely be back!

we had a beautiful valentine’s day dinner at this super cute restaurant.
the food was to die for and the staff were solovelyand attentive.
we will definitely be back!!!

pre-valentines dinner.
first impressions; booked at 6pm, was told my the waiter in the confirmation call to arrive 10 mins early. just as discussed we arrived at 5:55pm and walked into their pre-service team meeting which we were greeted by one of the chefs in white with a head shake and an unwelcoming expression.... so we stepped out of the restaurant and waited outside till they opened the door for us. mind you it’s not like the restaurant door had an open or closed sign to tell us if they were ready for service or not but according to google it’s open from 12pm-12am on a tuesday. would’ve been nice if one of the staff told us that they weren’t ready and to ask if we could wait.

ambience: romantic setting, dim lighting with lit up candles and fancy plates and cutlery. great for first dates.

service: our waitress waslovelyand attentive. the bar manager/manager (lady with short hair) was welcoming and we thoroughly enjoyed our non-alcoholic drinks. especially the drink ‘date me’.

food: we went with the chef’s tasting menu. the food was overall average with nothing special. my favourite would have been the spanner crab and avocado dish. the dessert was underwhelming. with a cheesecake in a jar and a pear tart where the base was very hard to cut.

overall: we had the entertainment book so got 25% off our total bill (max of $45 off) which was great. it wouldn’t have been worth it without the discount. food wasn’t anything special but besides our unwelcoming greeting by one of the chefs, the service by wait staff was nice. p.s skip the dessert!

i’d been wanting to try this place for several years and finally went there for dinner last week. i have to say i was quite disappointed. i did love the decor and atmosphere- the restaurant is in a victorian house, the lighting is dim with candle lights, there is a lot of wood, and it’s generally really cosy, warm and pretty.lovelysetting for a romantic dinner. the service was overall good too - very friendly and quite efficient. however they did charge us for some olives which we never got. 3 of the people i was with were really disappointed in their steak which they had asked to be cooked rare and got well done. other than that the food was quite good but a bit bland and underwhelming for the price and setting. i guess epocha just didn’t live up to our expectations.

dined here a couple of weeks ago with some friends. we were greeted with great service and placed at alovelytable by the fireplace. the staff were attentive the whole time we were there and really looked after a friend of ours who had some dietary requirements. the wine list itself took influence from many regions of europe which i like. the list itself had some great valued wines by the glass and bottle but also some that were at the higher price point which could suit most occasions. the menu itself is designed to be a shared with a selection of snacks, entrees, mains and sides which we were happy to order and share. we were happy with the entrees. the duck liver parfait was delicious and the pig ears were just as tasty. moving onto mains we were a little suprised. i am all for sharing but if you are going to share ossobuco and sell it as a share plate item you cant serve a singular piece of ossobuco (which mind you is 50% bone) on some polenta and share between 4 people. the flavours were there but the polenta itself was runny and not cooked properly so it became watery, gluggy and nearly inedible. the fish dish was nice with a canellini bean side. we also shared the steak which was once again small to share but flavours were there. if we had maybe been advised to order a main each rather than share we may have enjoyed the experience a little more, however it wasn't the fault of the waitress we had she was just doing her job. it was the direction of the business itself. we were happy to order more. we went for dessert which was a lemon tart and a friend of mine had a poached pear dish which was nice. all in all the service was great. the wine list was good. the share plate designed menu needs some work if your selling pitch is to share. we left content and happy with the overall experience but felt a little confused by the mixed european approach to the menu which sometimes too much can confuse what makes it to the plate. would visit again to see the next seasons menu has made some improvements to its share plate ideology.

oh man, why did you disappoint me? whyyy? had alovelycrawl and bite experience here with the mfwf a few years ago and couldn't wait to come back to explore the menu further. but alas, the wait wasn't worth it. food was ok. ok isn't good enough for those prices. i'm so underwhelmed i can't even go into detail. just *shrugs shoulders* meh. biggest disappointment? the dessert tray...i don't get it; it felt very 80's and some of the options looked like they still belonged there. also, a little unnecessarily pushy with the drinks menu. we'd had more than enough wine and were driving so felt they needed to back off. i will hold onto my first experience at epocha, but, sadly, not this one.

appalling.

i ate here and it was extremely expensive and compared to the first time gone down hill by 10 fold.

i tried to politely complain but received nothing....

i've been lucky enough to dine at your restaurant a few times now and always am extremely happy with the service and food. for a long time i was known to say, 'epocha is my favourite restaurant,' however last night i was extremely underwhelmed with the food, and was extremely embarrassed to have suggested your restaurant as one to go to and then expect my guests to pay 150 a head for what was received. 
as a table for 3 we without hesitance decided to go for the 90/ head chefs sharing menu, as i have had it before and loved it multiple times, however as 3 people in hospitality, including one chef we were seriously disappointed. the starters were really bad, capsicum cut up? with a bit of oil? just raw capsicum? some bland cooked peppers, with no flavour and some extremely mediocre salmon and creme fraiche. i was so embarrassed as the two gentlemen i was with were open about the embarrassing state of the starters however i didn't lose faith as i knew (or thought i knew) what was to come. from there the fish, meh, the absolute highlight was the broccolini. and then the sirloin and chicken with only a small side of roast potatoes? no greens? no veggies? meat and potatoes? .....as i said we are in hospitality and i know so is half the world but i really do understand that consistency is key. our waiter waslovelybut not super personable and all in all we were in good company each other so had a nice night but was so so so disappointed. so disappointed that i've found time to write an email, and no one has time to write complaint emails. 
anyway, just some feedback for you as i don't think we will be dining with you again for $150 a head for wine and raw capsicum and some meat and potatoes. thanks.

great food. great wine. great service.lovelydecor. desserts were especially good. whatever sauce they used on the broccoli was super delish too.

located on rathdowne number 49 lay charming lil house (literally) serving european cuisine. been wanting to try epocha for a really long time now recommended highly by a few colleagues unfortunately nothing major stood out for me in terms of the food choices beside the desserts andlovelysetting

we found a lil bug on our main dish - sirloin which we didn't spot until half way through the dish.. perhaps id the ambience of the restaurant wasnt too dark (and moody) we would have spotted it earlier.. perhaps there should be some more lighting rather then candles?

other dishes we tried include the tasty duck croquette, tender quails and slightly seared tuna.. servings were small hence they were called small dishes. everything was presented beautifully. the liver pate was an absolutely delight! it was smooth and not too overpowering. the main as mentioned was the 600g sirloin which came with the every so tasty bone marrow and the fried gnocchi was light and fluffy perfect as accompaniment. the star course of the night i would have to say the desserts! our dessert was not presented to us via a cart but rather a platter that took approx 20mins to arrived. we chose the smooth and tasty panacotta that came with grilled lil figs, the slightly burnt but tasty creme caramel and the very very sweet peanut butter sandwich parfait.

overall a pleasant experience. perhaps it was our bad luck with the slow service time on a thu night (we were there from 6.30-8.45pm) and lil bug on the beef dish. the manager did give us a complimentary dessert and a 25% discount from the entertainment book - but would i return again anytime soon...? ill try other places around the area first!

update september 2017: service is unparalleled.lovelyand attentive servers, who made our night so much more memorable. food was great as always. specially loved the brussels sprouts of all things. it was really good! so moist and juicy without a tinge of bitterness. loved the pate as well. extra bread was given without us even needing to ask from the server. would be back soon!

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we were at epocha for a wedding lunch not too long ago.

food was really really good. it was all beautifully presented and very flavorful. service was quick, attentive and very friendly.

i only managed to take photos of the entree and sides. only because by the time mains came, we were all actually already full. that was how generous their portions were!

would definitely be back again to try their usual menu.