After drinks we went upstairs to est., the hotel's flagship restaurant. Sydney uses chef's hats rather than stars in its restaurant ratings, and est. is one of the half dozen Sydney restaurants awarded three hats. It's got the same Soho tin ceiling and pillared loft decor as the bar downstairs, but it's a much more rarefied environment. This happens to be one of our favorite restaurants, and we invariably bring our friends here who are visiting from out of town, but I guess I wasn't overwhelmed on this initial visit. Quoting from the journal, food was good but not very inventive or flavorful, and service was patchy and slow. I started with a very nice foie gras dish, but followed with a disappointingly bland barramundi. Somchai had a boring piece of swordfish for his main. (Food-13, Decor-18, Service-13). We did enjoy the wine though, a '92 Yalumba shiraz. Thailand has plenty of Australian wines, but usually dirt cheap, with French wines occupying the mid and upper ranges. I'm still a French wine fan, but it's fun to be introduced to a new world of high quality Australian wines here. And remember, the restaurant is much better than what I wrote here, I was probably just cranky from lack of sleep.