Fairchild

Madison is a small city; some might call it a college town, yet the food scene in Madison is incredible. This is my first time dining at Fairchild, and it’s easily become one of my favorite restaurants. The entire dinner was amazing, from beginning to end, from the food to the drinks. For the first time in a long time, I ordered two alcoholic drinks for dinner, proving that not only the food but also the drinks were amazing. 

We were happy to have seafood options for seafood lovers like us on the menu. Fairchild was a medium-sized cozy, inviting restaurant, and our waitress was very experienced and knowledgeable about the menu. For our snacking, we obviously chose oysters, which were their Grilled Pink Moon Oysters, with Hendricks mignonette, cucumber, and Meyer lemon. The oysters were small, yet very sweet, and it was East Coast oysters, my favorite. This condiment usually goes on raw oysters, but this is the first time we had it with grilled ones. For our second snack, we choose the Hamachi, with jalapeno, Squashington Farm kohlrabi, and blueberry. The hamachi was fresh, and the freshness from the fish brought out its natural sweetness. We took a bite of a little bit of everything, and even if someone cannot eat raw fish, this dish should be something to start with. 

We chose Seven Seeds Pork Trotter for our third dish, which had Don’s Produce tomato and cucumber nuoc cham, and smoked quail egg. I could confidently say: “This is the best pork trotter I have ever had”. The pork was juicy, the sauce tightened everything together. Although I don’t understand the intention of the quail egg, I guess the decor was nice, even though, they could take that out and it still looked very together. We also ordered a pasta dish called Cappelletti, with Peterson Craftsman oxtail, Green Barn cauliflower, and Sarvecchio. It's simple yet tasted extraordinary. 

For our main dish, we ordered the Monkfish, with Ge Moua broccolini, San Daniele prosciatto, and brown butter. The monkfish was chewy, firm, and meaty, sweet flavor without a fishy taste; combined with a brown butter sauce made the fish even sweeter. This was the first time, I had monkfish, and I was as how I heard other people describe it, we completely fell in love with the meat. Some might say that it tastes kinda like lobster tails, but for me, the taste and texture were very different and kinda special: chewy but soft, sweet but creamy. 

By the end of dinner, we were too full to do anything else, but we took a risk and ordered some dessert. Honestly, with a perfect dinner, it’s easy for us to expect a more perfect dessert, but our dessert was just ok. Nothing too special, maybe because we were too full for dessert. 

Fairchild is one of my favorite restaurants in Madison. I recommend this place to anyone who visits Madison. It was a perfect date for us, from the environment, the service, the food, and the drinks. We ended dinner with a happy tummy and a happy feeling. Now that I'm back in Saigon, I still miss the food there from time to time.