Macleay St Bistro, Potts Point

Pate is one of those magical foods that arise from otherwise ordinary ingredients. A handful of panfried livers blitzed with butter and cream yields a smooth and elegant paste that demands to be slathered on thin crisp shards of toast.

And yet it's the pickled red grapes on our chicken liver pate starter ($12) that steals the spotlight during our dinner at Macleay St Bistro. Plump and juicy,