Christmas at Erin: a sneak peek at the festive menu
Christmas food is mostly nostalgia. It's the gingerbread, the glazed ham, the prawns on the table at lunch. We love all of it. We just think it's better with gelato.
So this year, for the whole of December, Erin is doing a special Christmas menu. Half of it plays with the festive flavours you grew up with. The other half is simply delicious, no seasonal excuse needed. Every dish has gelato in it somewhere, usually the savoury part.
Here's a first look.
Ginger Spice 
Foie gras gelato, gingerbread, preserved persimmon, smoked daikon
The most Christmas thing on the menu and probably the most unhinged. Rich, savoury foie gras gelato with spiced gingerbread is our take on the old pâté-and-something-sweet pairing. Preserved persimmon brings sweetness and a bit of tang, and smoked daikon keeps it from getting too rich. The gingerbread man is there for nostalgia. Biting his head off first is tradition.
Cone Alone
Mustard gelato, wagyu beef tartare, pickled cuke, puffed mustard
Think of it as the Christmas-party canapé, rebuilt. Wagyu tartare sits on a cone with a scoop of mustard gelato, which does the job a dollop of hot mustard would on a cold cut, only colder and creamier. Pickled cucumber keeps it fresh and the puffed mustard seeds add crunch. It's a one-handed bite, which is exactly what you want with a drink in the other hand.
Ham Sandwich
Christmas ham gelato, ham caramel, fermented potato pavé bread
Every Aussie Christmas has a ham, usually followed by a week of ham sandwiches. This year ours is a gelato. Christmas ham gelato is salty and a little sweet, with a ham caramel on the side and fermented potato pavé bread for mopping it all up. Think of it as the Boxing Day ham sandwich, rebuilt by people who put gelato in everything.
Dashing Through the Roe 
Hawasabi gelato, yellow fin tuna, pickled watermelon, white soy, caviar. This is the one for a hot Sydney December. Yellow fin tuna, cold and clean, with hawasabi gelato bringing a gentle heat. Pickled watermelon adds a summery sweet-sour hit, white soy seasons it and a bit of caviar makes it feel like a celebration, which it is.
Christmas Roast
Mulled wine sorbet, honey-glazed roast duck, beetroot, red wine jus
Christmas roast, but make it duck. Honey-glazed roast duck comes with beetroot and a red wine jus, the kind of plate that belongs in the middle of the Christmas table. The twist is a scoop of mulled wine sorbet: all the warm spice of a Christmas glass, served cold. It cuts through the richness of the duck the way cranberry sauce would, only boozier.
Feliz Pavilad
Passionfruit sorbet, fromage blanc chantilly, lemon myrtle, passionfruit gel, nitro meringue
No Aussie Christmas is complete without a pav, so here’s ours. Passionfruit sorbet takes the place of the usual fruit on top, and fromage blanc chantilly stands in for whipped cream, lighter and a little tangy. Lemon myrtle adds a native citrus lift, the passionfruit gel brings a sharp hit, and the nitro meringue is ice-cold and crunchy. It’s the pav from Christmas lunch, made for a hot December night.
And the rest?
We're keeping the rest of the menu under wraps for a bit. Keep an eye on @erinatmessina and your inbox because we'll reveal it there first
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Planning a Christmas party?
You can take over all of Erin for the night. We do a set menu for up to 22 guests or a sharing menu for 23 to 30, Thursday to Saturday. Minimum spend is $3,500 on Thursdays and $4,000 on Fridays and Saturdays. For a smaller group, our private Messinaville factory tour with dinner at Erin takes up to 10 guests.
December private dates are filling up fast. Send us an enquiry and we'll get back to you with what's still available.
