Category: Degustation

This option is only offered by the cream of the crop, the best of them all, and would guarantee an almost eternal happiness.

Ester Restaurant and Bar

Review:

Mat Lindsay, Ester Restaurant and Bar Chef

Ester was named new restaurant of the year in this year’s Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2015, so we are obviously here to put the claim to the test! Thanks to Miss Piggy on her review about Ester, we already have pre-defined list of what we want to eat there.

What we were not aware of was the fact that the food in the menu is meant to be shared for the whole table! They have the option of a la carte or a banquet menu of seven dishes for $65 pp. The six of us decided to have the a la carte option that ended up costing us $60 pp including drinks. We had four entrees, four main dishes and two desserts.

Entrees

Order the house baked bread if you do not plan to order chicken liver pate, because the chicken liver pate came with the house baked bread. I encouraged you to order this dish as the liver pate was smooth and tasty. They provided sliced beetroot to balance the strong pate taste.

house baked bread 3 p.p.

chicken liver pate 17

I had a mix feeling for the next two entrees. We had a massive expectation for the roasted oysters (you can order one, half or dozen). However, I think my expectation was a bit too high when comparing it to Tetsuya’s Oyster Vinaigrette. It’s still a nice oyster with quite a lot of garlic.

roasted oysters 4/22/40

The lobster sausage sanga on the other hand was awesome! Served on top of warm white bread, the sausage was incredibly juicy and obviously sharing one plate was not enough!

lobster sausage sanga 9 each

Our last entree was ricotta gnudi with lobster sauce. Gnudi is a variant of gnocchi with ricotta as its filling. I love the fluffy texture of the gnudi and they mixed really well with the strong tasting of lobster sauce. For the complete experience, I suggest you to order this dish with the next one on the main dishes part.

ricotta gnudi / lobster sauce 16

Main Dishes

King prawns, with brown butter and capers, is the name of the dish. They gave you three gigantic prawns per dish and you can also opt for an additional prawn depending on the number of guests on your table. The prawns were grilled to perfection and I think the dish was perfectly priced.

prawns / brown butter / capers 26

The only vegetables dish of the day came in the shape of cauliflower with almond and mint. The cauliflower was grilled maybe a bit too much but the mint sauce and almond worked quite well. It was actually quite refreshing!

cauliflower / almond / mint 16

As there were quite a few of us, we decided to order the whole snapper rather than the fillet. The snapper came with saltbush and vinegar. Luckily we have a skilled debone person in house, so we had no problem eating the fish.

whole snapper / saltbush / vinegar 45

The last main dish of the day was a special, off-the-menu item: Crispy Roast Duck with burnt honey and fennel seeds. I wonder why he doesn’t make this the mainstay on the menu because it was incredibly tasty! The duck was perfectly cooked with very crispy skin and very juicy meat. I really couldn’t get enough off it! I think this is the best value for your money!

Crispy Roast Duck / burnt honey / fennel seeds 39

Desserts

I hope you save your tummy for desserts as the two that we ordered were excellent. First we had three milks. I know the name sounded really lame and unappealing with a little hint of curiosity. “What is ‘three milks’?” might probably be the most frequently asked question at the restaurant. Three milks is a combination of dulce de leche (aka caramel), panna cotta and sheep’s milk foam. You get the crunchy caramel and crumbs, nice and sweet panna cotta and sour and airy sheep’s milk foam. If you love desserts, you would NOT want to share this!

three milks 11

Last, but definitely not least, is the salted caramel semi-freddo. I thought when they talked about freddo, it’s that frog from Cadbury. Semifreddo is an Italian word for half cold or semi-frozen. The salted caramel was quite sweet and flavoursome.

salted caramel semi-freddo 4

The final verdict for Ester Restaurant and Bar

There is no mistake that Ester Restaurant and Bar was crowned the 2014 Best New Restaurant in Sydney by Sydney Morning Herald. Everything we had there was terrific! Three milks is the one that you must order when you are there!

Did you know?

Ester changes their menu depending on the seasonal availability. Keep an eye on Bone marrow dish if it’s available at the restaurant when you dine there. We were unlucky as the dish was not on the menu when we were there.

Rating for Ester Restaurant and Bar:

8.5 / 10

Taste: 8.5 / 10

Price: $50-60 per person or $65 banquet menu

Place: 8.0 / 10

Details:

46 – 52 Meagher Street, Chippendale

+61 2 8068 8279

http://ester-restaurant.com.au/

Sep 29, 2014
Alchemy Restaurant and Bar

Review:

How many times have you seen chef prepare the dish in front of you in a restaurant? Possibly not that many.

How many times have you seen chef use liquid nitrogen in that preparation? Possibly almost none!

Alchemy restaurant did just that and with a pretty high standard! They call it the ‘Nitro Bomb’. For just a fraction of your total bill ($9), you can enjoy liquid nitrogen sweet gastronomic nibbles. The nibbles were also quite varied (but they were strictly adult-only): Honeycomb, vodka meringue, tia maria meringue, and blood orange ice cream.

‘Nitro Bomb’ liquid nitrogen sweet gastronomic nibbles – $9

Alchemy restaurant is located in a nice riverside walk in Brisbane. You can opt to choose from the usual menu or their daily specials that were explained by the waitress.

I had a couple of dishes for the Entree: an oyster and pork belly. It was a pretty simple oyster with some slices of cucumber and a hint of yuzu. The pork belly was originated from Northern Rivers with diced eggplant (aubergine), apple salad and crackling. My pork belly was still pretty hot when served.

Oysters with compressed cucumber and yuzu – $4.5

Northern Rivers Pork Belly with Yoghurt Spiced Aubergine, Apple Salad and Crackling – $28

For the main course, I ordered braised beef cheek. The beef cheek was accompanied by silky smooth mashed potatoes, diced bacon, and mushrooms with red wine reduction sauce. The beef cheek was near perfection! You do not really need to use your knife because the meat was so delicate! It was a beautifully balanced dish. However, this main course was also pretty hot when served.

Braised Beef Cheek – $44

Feeling already a bit full, I pushed myself for a dessert, because the waitress told me that the Nitro Bomb was just nibbles. My choice fell to my personal favourite, Souffle. Their unique rendition of the soufflé involved mixed berry inside and outside the pot. It gave a very rich berry flavour for the souffle. For an even added flavour, you can mix almond crumble into the pot. Depending on how you normally enjoy a soufflé, you can either have the white chocolate ice cream infused or have it on its own.

Mixed Berry Souffle with Almond Crumble and White Chocolate Ice Cream – $17

The verdict for Alchemy Restaurant and Bar

I left Alchemy Restaurant and Bar with a very full stomach and very happy feeling. Obviously, the highlight of the night was its nitro bomb and the beautiful display of craftsmanship.

Rating for Alchemy Restaurant and Bar:

8.5 / 10

Taste: 8.5 / 10

Price: $90 for three-course meal

Place: 9.0 / 10

Details:

175 Eagle Street, Brisbane 4000

07 3229 3175

http://www.alchemyrestaurant.com.au/

Jun 10, 2014
Rockpool

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Unfortunately, Rockpool has closed its doors in 2016. They are now rebranded as Eleven Bridge.

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Rating:

9.0 / 10 Taste: 9.5 / 10

Price: $79 for three courses

Place: 9.5 / 10

Review for lunch menu:

Neil Perry is probably one of the better known chefs in Australia, not only because he has quite a few up market restaurants in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne, but also Qantas’ consulting chef. We went to Neil Perry’s flagship restaurant, Rockpool, for a three-course lunch. Rockpool has just reintroduced lunch menu when they moved to Bridge Street at the end of last year. As expected, we won’t be doing the degustation menu for lunch.

Before any of the dishes arrive, customary (and complimentary) bread and butter were always served. There was also a side of ricotta cheese with a hint of olive oil for an added flavour. I really loved the combination of the butter with a hint of honey and sourdough bread. It really boosted the feeling that it was going to be a nice lunch.

Entrée

For the first entrée, we had rainbow trout ‘grenobloise’ with capers, lemon and butter sauce. The rainbow trout was excellent! The trout’s skin and the little grenobloise bits were really crunchy, but the meat itself was perfectly fried. However, the lemon butter sauce was too sour to my liking.

We also had chirashi zushi of squid, prawn, kingfish and tuna for our entree. The one thing stuck in my mind was this kimchi-looking thing that had very strong taste but without any lingering hot effects. The chirashi zushi had a beautifully balanced flavour.

Main

We originally ordered rib eye (that commanded an extra $20), but then the waiter apologetically said that the last rib eye was ordered just before he entered our order. Slightly not happy (but would have $20 cheaper bill), we then opted to go with Angus beef fillet, poached oysters, potato and prune terrine with a carpet bag sauce. After doing some ‘googling’ about carpetbag, oysters were actually a great combination for the steak.

The next dish was almost like eating a super fancy Chinese dish (that doesn’t involve shark’s fin or abalone), Suckling pig with shiitake oat porridge, preserved eggs, puff crackling and Ceylon spinach. The suckling pig was presented in a bread crumbs roll that resembled crackling skin of roast pork. It was quite a heavy dish with lots of meat and oat porridge. The heavenly bit was obviously when you reached its fat.

Sides

Since we switched the main dish, we also had a slight adjustment to the sides. Eventually, we ordered Rockpool salad with palm sugar vinaigrette. We were so happy that we made the switch! As a big fan of sweet stuff, I truly loved the palm sugar vinaigrette. It was so heavenly sweet and for salad haters like me, coming back for second was virtually impossible! … yet, I had my third and fourth bites!

Dessert

The ‘Strawberries and cream’ ricotta parfait with strawberry compote, crème Chantilly, sparkling wine was quite literally sparkling. I loved the sound of the parfait cracked open. It was actually a bit too sweet and I think that was because of the Moscato they used for the sparkling wine.

For the second dessert, we had Passionfruit soufflé with passionfruit ice cream. Delivered straight from the kitchen, I was recommended to cut a hole in the middle of the souffle and pop the ice cream into it. I loved how full of taste the souffle was. The combination of hot and cold also worked wonders!

The final verdict for Rockpool

Having lunch at Rockpool was probably one of the best lunches we had in life. Granted that having a three-course for lunch might be an overkill, but every dish was executed perfectly.

Did you know?

Rockpool Sydney has an interesting concept for its degustation menu. It starts at $125 for eight tasting item and one additional choice. They also have options for two and three choices as well as their wine matching.

Details:

11 Bridge Street, Sydney 2000

02 9252 1888

http://www.rockpool.com/sydney/

Apr 13, 2014
Marque Restaurant

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Unfortunately, Marque Restaurant has closed its doors in 2016.

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Rating:

9 / 10 Taste: 9/10

10-course Degustation: $160 + $5 non-optional water

Place: 9/10

Review:

Marque Restaurant is currently sitting at number 61 in the Top 50 restaurants in the world. They were the 2011 Restaurant of the year (by Good Food Guide). There were very minimum decorations outside the restaurant, a black slab with their logo on it. You could easily miss it when you walked down Crown Street.

As with most degustation restaurants, they don’t serve a la carte menu. You do have a choice to add Cheese dish in your 10 degustation courses with/without matching wines.

Potato Maxims with Oyster and Wakame

The first dish was potato chips! Quite frankly wasn’t the start I would expect from a three-hat / top restaurant. It did come with sprinkled wakame seaweed and a gastronomically-transformed oyster. Obviously crispy, golden brown chips as one would expect from this restaurant.

Blue Swimmer Crab with Almond Gazpacho, Almond Jelly, Sweet Corn and Avruga

The second dish looked more sophisticated (it was harder to see since the plate was also white). The top layer was some kind of mousse sweet corn, followed by almond gazpacho and blue swimmer crab at the bottom with a side of Avruga caviar. There was a strong seafood taste for this dish and enhanced by the almond gazpacho.

Tiger Prawn with Avocado, Buttermilk, Hazelnut and Sea Urchin

A simple-looking dish was our third course with a pretty complicated taste. You could notice straight away the grilled avocado from the burnt side and the seared tiger prawn. The avocado was drizzled with sea salt. Mix them up with the gooey mixture in the middle and you got yourself a sour, salty, charred and slightly sweet taste in your mouth.

S.A. Calamari with Celery, Apple and Mushroom Broth

For the fourth course, I wasn’t sure why it had to be mentioned as ‘S.A. Calamari’ as opposed to regular calamari. It was brought to our table nice and clean with a pitch black squid ink cube. The waiter/waitress would then pour the mushroom broth into the plate and the cube quickly dissolved. It was an interesting combo of crunchy apple and celery with soft calamari and refreshing mushroom broth.

John Dory with Cabbage, Green Strawberries, Fish Milk and Roe

Our fifth dish began with a question ‘pickled green strawberries???’ According to wiki, it actually exists! The second ingredient foreign to us in the menu was fish milk. I still couldn’t figure out what it was.

Back to the dish, this one was truly worthy three hat status. The fish was incredible, and the additional sour taste of green strawberries and cabbage was perfect.

Sourdough and Rye Bread

Nice and filling bread half way through the meal was just exactly what I needed! A bit burnt on the side, but I managed to get two for my oversized tummy…

Organic Free Range Chicken with Pate, Leek and Shallot

Back to business for sixth course and the dish kept getting better. It is interesting how they grilled a stalk of leek and just present it cleanly on the plate. The highlight for the dish was the perfectly poached chicken with long, deep fried shallots. It was accompanied by a very soft (and yummy) pate.

Mandagery Creek Venison with Smoked Beetroot, Egg Yolk, Cured and Jam

Best dish of the day (according to me) was the seventh course. It was a raw venison meat with some herbs with egg yolk and smoked beetroot. Don’t think about the yucky raw meat you see every day in your butcher. It was nicely prepared and it was kind of similar to the Japanese/Korean Yukke. The smoked beetroot gave an extra sweet and refreshing feeling to the meat and it also cleansed your palate.

Mandagery Creek is an Australian Venison Farm. More details can be seen here.

Apricot, Coffee and Lemongrass

The eighth course looked like a blob of cream. However, one would expect a whole lot more than a blob of cream in a three hat restaurant. As a starter, when we smelled the dish, it was heavenly! Then you tried to dig in and that’s when the fun started. The outer layer was soft lemongrass cream with an apricot jam base. Inside the cream was this exciting ice cold coffee cream.

Cherries, Blood, and Chocolate

It was really hard to describe this ninth course. I only could identify the cherry sorbet on top and the bitter dark chocolate in the middle. However it was a whole lot more in the dish. There was the crackling burnt-caramel sheet, processed fruits (cherry?) around the sheet and salty taste coming from inside the bitter dark chocolate.

It was exciting, even when I am not a big fan of dark chocolate!

Sauternes Custard

For our last dish, we were given what looked like a soft boiled egg. When you scooped it up, you would notice that it was definitely not egg! It was very nice and soft custard with strong flavour of Sauternes wine.

By the way, the outer casing was really an egg shell.

Coffee and Tea

The Custard was served alongside your choice of coffee or tea.

The final verdict: I can understand why Marque is a three hat restaurant. However, if I compare it against Quay and Tetsuya, I would definitely choose those two. Granted that all of the courses were nice and flawless, but it lacked a dish that could make us say ‘Wow, I couldn’t stop talking about or thinking about it’.

Did you know?

Although one of our guests was pretty late in coming to the restaurant, my wife didn’t appreciate the way head maître d’ (which was apparently Mark Best’s wife) treating her and our son. I think she didn’t really fancy kids in the restaurant and she might have thought kids were troublemakers.

It was a little dent in our otherwise enjoyable culinary experience.

Details:

5/355 Crown Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010

+61 2 9332 2225

Jan 15, 2013
Tomislav Restaurant

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Unfortunately, Tomislav has closed its doors for good.

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Rating:

8 / 10 Taste: 8/10

4-course degustation: $94

Place: 8/10

Review:

We went to Tomislav Restaurant for my birthday last week, that’s why this review was expedited instead of the one showing in ‘Next Week’s Menu’ 🙂

You have two options when dining at Tomislav: A four-course dinner or an eight-course dinner. Within the four-course menu, there are four options for each course. However, since there were eight of us, I had to take one of the options off the menu. It was good to see that the menu was specifically catered for us (i.e. only displaying three, instead of four, options).

To start

Luckily I glanced at other reviews before I went to Tomislav. Otherwise, I would’ve missed this delightful entrée. It was simply named Rice Crackers. Before you think about those supermarket brands, rest assured that it wasn’t. They were fine and delicate sheets of rice crackers. For an added sensation to the dining, the sea salt and vinegar option came in a mist spray bottle. We were quite playful with the mist spray and had a very high excitement level!

There were complimentary Bread and Butter before starting the courses. The butter was exceptionally smooth and soft with a hint of coffee! Unfortunately I was only given a tiny piece and that was the only piece I got for the whole night.

Course 1

I was over the moon when the first course arrived. It was Scampi Carpaccio with sour cream and pumpkin juice. The juice was poured from a test tube prior to us eating the course. We couldn’t really see the scampi since it was all covered by condiments. All of the elements worked so well together.

I also managed to try Venison Tartare with quail yolk, mint crumbs and crackers. I felt pretty bad in poaching the tartare from my wife as it was already very small to begin with. It was pretty in the presentation.

Course 2

Another pretty-but-small dish arrived for my second course, Poached Hen’s Yolk with foie gras and green peas. I am not quite sure why the Hen’s yolk was the highlight of the dish when the foie gras clearly dominated the plate.

I was a little bit envious with the people who ordered Grilled Blackmore’s tongue with beetroot and malt ice cream. Two perfectly grilled blackmore’s tongue with grilled onion were so good, especially with a touch of beetroot sauce.

Course 3

Roast Lamb Belly with wasabi and grilled pineapple was my next dish. The wasabi in this dish wasn’t hot at all. On the contrary, it was so smooth and there was no hurt-your-nose sensation after you tasted one. It was a generous serving of lamb belly, perfectly roasted so that you could feel its juice mixing with the sauce. It was an overall sweet and savoury dish.

Roast Veal Sweetbread with purple onions and popcorn milk was the other one I tasted. It was also quite a sweet dish, courtesy of the onions and milk.

Course 4

The least appealing of the three, my last course, Caramel Pudding with toasted walnuts and yoghurt sorbet, arrived. I think the burnt caramel taste over-powered the smooth yoghurt sorbet. I wasn’t too happy for it to be my last dish of the day.

The cheesecake in Vanilla Cheesecake with apple ice and roast apple ice cream was presented in two ways: a diced sturdy form and the more emulsified one. It was a nice combination of sour and cold apple with the heavier cheesecake.

Third set

For the last set of degustation, some of our friends ordered them but I didn’t have a chance to taste. Poached Yellow Fin Tuna looked a bit too tiny for me, but the Roast Quail looked pretty apetising.

Similarly, the braised beef short ribs wouldn’t stand a chance against my lamb belly. The milk chocolate cream cake on the other hand looked very interesting and I wish I could’ve ordered that instead of my caramel.

The final verdict for Tomislav Restaurant

Tomislav Restaurant earned the rights to be amongst the elite restaurants in Sydney. We had a mixed review of individual dishes, but the overall feeling was an enjoyable one. I would have loved it even more if I wasn’t still hungry at the end of the service, since they only served the bread once.

Did you know?

Although Tomislav is technically in Darlinghurst, It is actually located on the opposite of the big coca-cola sign in King’s Cross.

Just like any other top restaurants, don’t expect to see the same menu in a different season. They would keep rotating the menu to freshen up.

Details:

2/13 Kirketon Road, Darlinghurst NSW 2010

+61 2 9356 4535

http://www.tomislav.com.au/

Oct 7, 2012
Pier Restaurant

Update 17 September 2012: Unfortunately, Pier Restaurant has closed its doors in June.

Rating:

8 / 10 Taste: 8/10

Price: $100 pp ($119 degustation)

Place: 9/10

Review:

There are a few restaurants in Sydney with a more stunning view than Pier Restaurant whilst commanding a fantastic dining experience. Pier Restaurant is located in a posh suburb of Rose Bay with a view of the harbour and plenty of boats.

There were two choices of Market Menu or Six-Course Degustation menu. We thought that we would get more variety by ordering the Market Menu and I didn’t really fancy the degustation menu since they only served chocolate for dessert.

Cones of King Salmon – Ocean Trout

Our first dish was cones of king salmon and ocean trout. It was presented on a desk-like plate in a crispy cone. The fish was accompanied by capers, salt, and garlic. It was a really refreshing start to the day. I liked the trout better since it had more flavour than Salmon.

They could also serve kingfish or yellow fin tuna for this cone.

Whiting Carpaccio – soft herb leaves – lime water vinaigrette

Our first entrée of the day was whiting carpaccio. It was a very delicately and nicely decorated carpaccio with a surprisingly generous serving. The vinaigrette complemented the carpaccio well. It was light and had a touch of summer in this autumn season.

Spanner Crab Gazpacho – avocado mousse – almond oil

In contrast, the second entrée was a really heavy one. This was the chef’s representation of the Spanish Gazpacho. It was very rich in flavour and there was also this strong taste. The strong taste was softened by mixing the delicate avocado mousse. The centrepiece of it was soft-boiled spanner crab. It provided yet another dimension to the dish. Lastly, it was accentuated by green leaves and almond oil. Definitely not your typical Gazpacho!

Rangers Valley Sirloin – watercress – chips – bordelaise glaze

We ordered the only non-seafood main course in the menu, medium-rare sirloin. I was again amazed with the size of the sirloin. The steak was covered in black sauce and I had a suspicion that it was Indonesian’s traditional ‘Petis’ sauce. I am glad I was wrong and it turned out to be a nice complement to the steak.

Roasted Barramundi – braised cos – shimeji mushrooms – mushroom consommé

For the second main course, they poured the consommé after the dish was in front of us. This allowed the barramundi to be further roasted whilst on the plate. Cos was used to accentuate the plate on an otherwise monochromatic display. The fish was extra soft and perfectly cooked inside with a very crunchy skin.

Kiwi Fruit Vacherin – yoghurt meringue – apple sorbet – basil – mint

I didn’t need to ask the waiter what’s good for the dessert. The description said it all. It was just great, except for the meringue that looked a bit gooey. This dessert was a busy one. It showed multilayer of complexities, from the crunchy crumble, icy sorbet, basil seed and minty flavour.

Strawberry & Guava Soufflé – strawberry sauce – strawberry crème

My mind was made up even before I looked at the menu because I noticed it when the waiter brought this dish somewhere else. It was an eye-catching presentation with a little pre-serving routine. The waiter cut the soufflé open and poured the sauce in it. It literally melted in your mouth and was heavenly smooth. The cream provided an extra dimension of cold.

The final verdict: Pier restaurant’s dishes were surprisingly massive, compared to other degustation restaurants. It was a really long and satisfying lunch for us. High quality of food and service as expected from this one-hat restaurant. However, there wasn’t anything spectacular to warrant a comparison to a three-hat restaurant.

Did you know?

Pier was one of the top restaurants in Australia with three-hat status from 2007 to 2010. However, the unthinkable happened in 2011 where they lost two hats and had been a one-hat ever since.

Details:

594 New South Head Road, Rose Bay, NSW 2029

+61 2 9327 6561

http://www.pierrestaurant.com.au/ – The restaurant has closed and replaced by The Sailors Club

Apr 26, 2012