The Chef’s Tasting at Barley Swine is a must for Austin foodies! It pairs Austin’s culinary creativity with the city’s laid-back, local culture. It’s an evening full of great food, friendly service, and will leave you wanting to come back again and again.
Without any family in Austin, <3M and I have started making our own Christmas traditions and one of them is to head to Barley Swine to enjoy the 10-course Chef’s Tasting. It’s something he and I really look forward to each December, knowing it will be a night of great food, good wine, and friendly service. We also love comparing our meals from year to year and get excited to taste the latest menu.
View of the Barley Swine Kitchen
Barley Swine’s Chef, Bryce Gilmore, & his kitchen are also very accommodating to specific food preferences which makes the meal even more special as the menu avoids fish for <3M while ensure I don’t receive any beef & pork.
His and her custom menus
<3M and I typically do the Chef’s Tasting on Christmas Eve, but this year, Barley Swine chose to close on Christmas Eve to allow their staff to spend more time with their own friends and family, so Mayank and I chose to have our special dinner on Saturday, December 23rd.
<3
We started the meal with a glass of sparkling rose — because it always feels a bit fancy and I love starting a great meal with a special glass of bubbly. We also asked our server, Cruze (spelling?), if we could take the meal a bit slower than the normal pace as <3M and I I really like to enjoy the food, each other’s company, and watch the kitchen.
If you’re a fan of watching your food being assembled and seeing a variety of dishes, ask to be seated at the Chef’s Counter when making your reservation at Barley Swine — and yes, always make a reservation for dinner, they’re quite busy!
Cruze was great the entire night and 100% accommodating to our request for a super slow meal. He had a few bottle recommendations for us and brought us a tasting of each.
If you ever want to explore wine outside your comfort zone, I highly suggest doing a blind tasting then picking the bottle of wine that spoke to you most.
<3M and I did a blind tasting at Barley Swine and ended up choosing Mocavero Puteus, Negroamoro blend which is far from my typical California Cabernet Sauvignon pick. We loved it and it paired nicely with each course throughout the meal.
Chef, finishing up the plating
Once we had settled in for the evening with drinks, the tasting began!
Although there are 10 courses, the plates are well portioned and while we always leave feeling full, we never leave feeling like we just wrapped a Thanksgiving dinner which is more of a marathon of eating! Here’s a look at our menu!
Garden Cookies
Spanish mackerel, turnip slaw
Shishito pepper, onion dip – Best shishito I’ve ever had, it was such a wonderful sweet & spicy pairing!
Chicken Skin, deviled egg – How can you not love fried chicken skin with deviled egg filling?
Sweet Potato, brown butter, ricotta, seeds – I really loved all the seeds in here and the crisp bites of sweet potato
Creamed cabbage hand pie – my favorite dish of the evening. The pastry was out of this world perfection!
Red snapper, mushroom butter, bok choy
Grilled quail, carrot, pecan – such a unique preparation of quail, it’s a quail leg stuffed with sausage.
Oyster mushroom, potato, green bean – I loved the potato here and the meaty mushrooms!
Apple, lemongrass, chevre – I thought I’d love this but it was probably my least favorite of the night which doesn’t mean it wasn’t good, I simply had high expectations when reading the dish’s flavor combination on the menu.
Spiced sfingi, espresso, butternut squash — The espresso here was so mellow and paired nicely with the light sweetness of the squash. And in case you didn’t know, sfingi is a little Italian donut-like pastry!
I love all the pickled vegetable decor. There’s something so wonderful about food decorations.
Although <3M and I typically visit Barley Swine in December, they have an awesome menu year-round that changes with the season. I recommend visiting and checking out some of the menu items during their Swine Time happy hour Sunday-Friday from 5:00-6:30pm! It’s a great way to indulge on a budget while still enjoying Barley Swine’s culinary creations!
Barley Swine
6555 Burnet Rd #400
Austin, TX 78757
(512) 394-8150
Chef’s Tasting – $95
Gosh, I LOVE eating at Barley Swine! They always have impressive, creative dishes. Your meal looks fantastic. I think I would have loved that oyster mushroom dish. This is a fun tradition, Alyssa!
I need to try the Chefs Tasting! I adore Swine Time.