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.

Tetsuya’s

Rating:

9.5 / 10
Taste: 9.5/10

10-course Degustation: $210

Place: 9.5/10

Review:

Tetsuya’s used to be in the Top 50 restaurants in the world. Over the last couple of years they’ve slid down the ladder, but still in the Top 100. Critics mentioned lack of ‘innovation’ as one of the reasons. Tetsuya’s serve 10 courses of French-style Japanese Cuisine. They also had the best view of replica Japanese Garden and situated on a heritage-listed building.

Sourdough and White Bread with Truffle Butter

Throughout the night, these breads were offered for those of you needing extra carbs. The truffle butter was to die for. The smoothness of spiced butter infused with truffle was so amazing that I couldn’t stop asking for it. My little baby loved it so much too!

Chilled Pea Soup with Mint Ice Cream

Our first course of the night was chilled sweet peas blended to perfect smoothness. It was a very nice and interesting way to start the special night. A refreshing taste combination between pureed pea soup and mint ice cream cleansed our palate before the first savoury dish.

Steamed Savoury Custard with Dashi (Seaweed stock) and Avruga Caviar

Our second course was Tetsuya’s own interpretation of chawan mushi. The delicate taste and the smooth texture of the custard was a perfect harmony, as it melted directly in my mouth. The seafood taste from dashi and avruga caviar completed its beauty.

Marinated Yellow-Fin Tuna with Shishito Pepper and Garlic Chips

The third course was another simple dish of Tuna sashimi with a nice and sweet marinade and shishito pepper. As an Indonesian, I found it really weird to actually mention garlic chips on my dish since we normally put heaps on them in an Indonesian dish. Some leaves of garlic chips gave different texture and accentuation to this dish.

Grilled NZ Scampi Tail with Chicken Liver Parfait & Walnut Vinaigrette

Scampi and chicken liver, all time favourite ingredients! Another delicately simple dish Tetsuya’s presented. It’s interesting to have the walnut vinaigrette to accentuate Scampi’s already-sweet taste. Yumm, such a spoiling moment for my tastebud!

Confit of Petuna Ocean Trout with Shaved Fennel, Unpasteurised Ocean Trout Caviar and Konbu – Tetsuya’s Signature Dish

The fifth course was the legendary signature dish, Ocean Trout. It always lives up to anyone’s expectations. The confit tasted perfect, as the softness of the ocean trout harmoniously combined with the fennel, caviar, and konbu. Definitely one of the best dishes I ever tasted!

Steamed Queensland Spanner Crab with Bean Curd, Foie Gras, and Junsai

Presentation wise, it was plain – just looked like one white cylinder steamed tofu (bean curd). However, we could taste the delicacy of the spanner crab since the first bite! The beautiful foie gras and junsai completed its sweet taste.

Breast of Quail with Quail Leg Rillettes and Hammond

The seventh dish was very nice, with the exception of its size. I am not a big fan of the spring onion, so I had to separate it from the rest of the elements. The dish still worked really well.

Slow roasted De-Boned Rack of Lamb with Sheep’s Yoghurt and Kale

The last savoury dish of the day was a medium-rare, glossy, no-smell rack of lamb with the always perfect accompaniment of yoghurt. It was then softened up with Kale (wiki: cabbage’s family).

Pione Grapes with Grape Sorbet + Bread & Butter Pudding

Our first dessert of the day was a double treat. I really loved the sweet taste of grape sorbet. It was highly refreshing, especially after a nice array of savoury dishes. The pudding was glazed with brulee and it was slightly heavier than the sorbet which I think was perfect, considering most of the bread and butter pudding was very heavy.

Double Chocolate Pave with Cream Cheese Ice Cream & Cinnamon Twigs

The last dish of the day was chocolate. I was amazed by the techniques presented on this dish and I thought the cream cheese softened the pave considerably. Unfortunately, I’m still not a big fan of chocolate. There’s no chocolate that can make me ecstatic.

Chocolate Fondant with Hazelnut and Praline – Birthday Cake

Tetsuya’s gave us a different dish for people who celebrated their birthdays there. On this occasion it was a chocolate fondant. It was softer in taste than the pave but it was still a bit too strong for me.

Petit Fours and Café Latte

Lastly, we also received complimentary dish of Petit Fours (although it’s technically only one) and Café Latte.

The final verdict for Tetsuya’s Restaurant:

Critics can say whatever they want, but for first time visitors (and even return visitor like me), Tetsuya’s still presents the best dining experience in Sydney. Tetsuya’s delivered the 10-degustation without any of them being ‘average’.

Did you know?

Despite being in the Top 100, Tetsuya’s was not listed as three-hat in Sydney’s Good Food Guide this year. I found it weird since especially since only one restaurant in that three-hat category was higher than Tetsuya’s in the world’s list.

Details:

529 Kent Street, Sydney, NSW 2000

+61 2 9267 2900

http://www.tetsuyas.com/

Mar 7, 2012
Assiette

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Unfortunately, Assiette Restaurant has closed its doors in January 2013.

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Rating:

8.5 / 10

Taste: 8.5/10

8-course Degustation: $105

Place: 8.5/10

Review:

After last week’s record low, I will take you to one of the best restaurants there is in town. Opened in 2005, Restaurant Assiette has never missed a hatted status within the Australian culinary world. They serve 8 courses of French Cuisine.

Seasonal Oyster with Vietnamese dressing and baby coriander

It was a simplistic dish to start off the night. The crispy, fried shallot gave a different accentuation, but the dressings failed to present a notable taste. They also gave the option to use lime if you needed more sourness, although I would not advise you to.

Kataifi Quail Egg with mushrooms, duck consommé and crispy pig ears

The dish might look tiny but it packed a few punches. First sip of the consommé already blew my mind, so delicate and lovely. The quail egg was perfectly soft-boiled and blanketed with the crispy kataifi. The additionof brown mushroom paste made the overall dish to be more savoury with a hint of sweetness.

Sashimi Tuna with crustacea cream, pickled octopus, hibiscus and almonds

It was a straight-forward sashimi Tuna with a dried nori.There was a funny combination in the pickled octopus. I think it threw the balance off a little bit. The crustacean cream made the overall taste to be a bit too fishy. I reckon this one was the oddball. The sweet hibiscus and almonds actually saved the dish from the octopus.

Seared Mackerel with avruga, cucumber, cauliflower puree and dill emulsion

In contrast to the last one, a perfectly seared mackerel set our mood back in place (and further!). Crispy on the outside and soft in the inside, the mackerel tasted delightfully refreshing with the cauliflower puree, cucumber and dill emulsion. To top it off, avruga and crumbs introduced the savoury taste into the dish. It was simply fantastic.

Ballotine of quailand foie gras with croustillant of confit leg, braised salsify, walnuts and date puree

This scrumptious dish also had a great combination of taste.The combination of tasty outer ring of the ballotine with quail and foie gras was incredibly soft and smooth. Confit leg was cooked to perfection with a layer of golden brown croustillant. Walnut and date puree complemented the overall taste.

Roasted Denver leg ofvenison with boudin noir, dauphinoise potato and heirloom carrots

This was the final savoury dish of the day. The taste of medium-rare venison leg was wonderfully enhanced by the sweetness of beetroot puree. The softness of dauphinoise potato and sweetness of heirloom carrots complemented the strong taste of boudin noir. The addition of roasted rice gave an accentuation and an extra complexity for the dish.

Pre dessert of Lychee and Pineapple

Presented in a small cup, highly refreshing lychee combined with sweet pineapple gave such a clean feeling to the palate after series of savoury dishes. An extra hint of freshness was delivered by the sweet-sour lemon sprinkles, balanced by a nice serving of cream on top.

Strawberry and raspberry salad with yoghurt sorbet, vanilla doughnut and mint emulsion

This dessert closed what turned out to be a fantastic night.Yoghurt sorbet provided the sourness and refreshing taste of the dish with. It was made better with fresh strawberries and raspberries. The vanilla doughnut gave us the warm and soft feeling to the plate. There were also some delicious home-made marshmallows. The overall combination with the mint emulsion created a nice mixture of taste.

The final verdict for Restaurant Assiette

Assiette certainly delivered one of the best dining experiences for us. The degustation worked wonderfully, since they gradually gave us dishes that were getting better and better through the course of the night. The last meal of the day was fantastic and the dessert was noticeably big and delivered quite a range of fantastic taste.

Did you know?

Assiette is a French word forplate.

Unfortunately, Assiette lost its 2-hat status for the 2012 Good Food Guide. They were downgraded to 1-hat. Personally, I think they are equal to or better than some of the 2-hat restaurants in this year’s list, in terms of the food taste.

Details:

48 Albion Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010

+61 2 9212 7979

Oct 12, 2011
Bentley Restaurant and Bar

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Bentley Restaurant has moved to a new venue in Radisson Blu Hotel.

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Bentley Restaurant’s Rating:

8.5 / 10

Taste: 8.5 /10

Price: $85 per person

Place: 8.5/10

Review:

This is our anniversary week and we are in for a treat. We had the honour of experiencing Australia’s two-hat restaurant, Bentley Restaurant of Surry Hills. Once we stepped into the restaurant, it was a totally different experience. Instead of spotless white tablecloths and brightly lit rooms, we were taken to sort of dark bar décor with wooden tables and a simplistic table setting.

Duck Liver Foie Gras Parfait – with Puffed Rice & Pickled Raisin

We started off the night with this ‘Appetisers to share’. Beautifully decorated Foie Gras with Rose Petals ensured the night started off with a bang. The combination of strong duck flavour was complimented by the sweetness of the raisins. It was the ‘OMG-I-can’t-believe-it’s-very-good’ dish of the night.

Balmain Bug – with Lamb Sweetbread, Black Bean & Coconut Curd

The Entrée for the Mrs and another nicely arranged. We weren’t really paying attention on the details at first and thought the sweetbread could’ve been a brain. However, the overall combination was lovely and the sauce’s bitterness was just the right amount.

Ocean Trout – with Ocean Trout Mousse & Fennel Pollen

Unfortunately this one was less appealing, presentation-wise. My wife reminisced the sauce to be the same as Indonesian traditional’s pepes, which I wasn’t really fond of. The trout had a really nice texture and the mousse was really soft.

Brussel Sprouts – with Smoked Yoghurt

This was the side dish for the night and it added a little green in what otherwise be a ‘meaty’ night.

Roast Spatchcock – with Sweet Corn Polenta, Pistachio & Asparagus

The spatchcock was roasted to perfection. The polenta and pistachio further enhanced this Game bird’s taste with a hint of crispy texture from one element on the dish I couldn’t quite work out.

Slow Roast Duck Breast – with Cuttlefish & Mushroom

I always enjoy a good duck and – I know it could be disastrous if not handled properly – this one was definitely one of the good ones. The duck was really tender with a hint of sweetness. I’d have to guess that the black grainy thing was the mushroom, but it was very tasty. The combination of the three key ingredients created a unique experience.

Frozen Goats Cheese Mousse – with Violet, Buckwheat Praline & Passionfruit Ice Cream

There were quite a few elements on this plate, the cheese mousse, the sweet and sour passion fruit, the cake, the granules, and the sweet green sauce.

Our opinion was divided on this one. I think that the mousse was perfect without the overpowering taste of passion fruit, whilst she thinks that the passion fruit actually balanced the strong goats cheese’s taste. So you have to try and experience it yourself.

Malted Milk Marshmallow

Technically, it was just a well-burnt marshmallow on a stick, but they presented it in a nice board and a nice-looking stick with malt powder.

The final verdict for Bentley Restaurant

Bentley certainly had the complexity of a fine dining restaurant. Every dish was presented beautifully and tasted wonderfully. Love the different ambience and unique décor of the restaurant. Unfortunately the share plate, Foie Gras, was much better than the rest of the night.

Did you know?

There is also a degustation menu that they offered for $120, but I found it disappointing since it only listed one main and 4 entree from the regular menu, which is not an incentive for me to try.

Surry Hills is a suburb full of exciting restaurants. However, you are wise to check the reviews on these restaurants or you might be left with a high bill and feeling disappointed.

Location:

320 Crown Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010

+61 2 9332 2344

http://www.thebentley.com.au/

Apr 25, 2011
Kobe Jones

Rating:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 /10

Price: $69 per person

Place: 8.5/10

Kobe Jones review

This week is another special week, because we are going to travel to one of the nice places in Sydney and it’s also a specially limited menu that they offered only for a day (maybe in the future they’ll do it again). Kobe Jones had this ‘Sentou’ banquet menu consisted of 12 dishes and a dessert platter. Minimum of three people must be present to enjoy this menu. Without further ado, here are the 13 of them, along with their formal descriptions. FYI, this 2 – 7 were served at exactly the same time, thus making our table looked like a total chaos. Then dishes 8 to 11 came at also the same time.

Number One Special – Crab salad with avocado wrapped in kingfish and baked with Kobe Jones’ secret sauce

I know the title might be a bit cheesy, but I think it opened the night with a bang. It resembled a big white chocolate with slightly burnt top.

Anago Scallops – Tempura Hokkaido scallops stuffed with crab salad and asparagus, drizzled with a bittersweet soy sauce glaze

This time, there was neither crab nor sweet taste, because of the overpowering bitterness of the sauce. It was really a dish to forget.

Sashimi Salad – Garden greens topped with fresh sashimi, crab salad and drizzled with ponzu dressing

They omitted seaweed from the list here. It’s a nice and refreshing salad with overabundance of greens.

Wagyu Tenderloin Tataki – Seared and chilled, served rare with garlice, ginger and ponzu sauce

I kinda dislike the combination of tataki and ponzu, it created a sense of uncooked beef satay.

Seafood Poke – Hawaiian-style sashimi cubes marinated in poke sauce

Another funnily named dish and intentionally left seaweed out of the description. This one was nice tho. There was a hint of sesame in the sauce and tasted kind of Yukke sauce, without the egg yolk and the beef.

Sizzled Scallop Carpaccio – Scallop sashimi, sizzled with heated extra virgin oil, and drizzled with wasabi pepper sauce

My favourite dish of the first wave of food!Fresh-tasting sashimi with a hint of wasabi were a great combination and a must for scallop lovers!

Hawaiian Roll – Prawns, cucumber, burdock root and pineapple chilli jam topped with tuna and avocado and drizzled with poke sauce

It was an ok dish without any visible ‘mistakes’

Volcano Roll – Oven-baked scallops layered on a crab salad and avocado roll, with our special cream sauce and a sesame seed and shallot sprinkle

Another crab salad in a sushi, but this time it was covered by baked scallops. This was more decent than any of the previous dishes.

Chicken Kara Age – Do I really need to explain??

Well, not the best kara age I’ve ever tasted… ‘nuff said…

Alaskan Crab – Grilled to highlight the sweetness, then chilled and served in the shell with fresh lime

Finally… A dish truly worth to mention! Described perfectly, the meat of this crab could pop out easily from its shell. It had a nice sweet taste and great to be served chilled.A little bit of advice for you: Do not use the sauce if you don’t want to lose the sweet taste.

Vegetable Tempura – Seasonal vegetables served with dipping sauce

We kinda feel full at this point and I reckon they were just another vegetable tempuras.

Wagyu Hot Rock – Self-cook your wagyu just the way you like it, served with seasoning and two dipping sauces

At this point we already lost hope of actually getting something special out of this place. Then came this solid and sizzling black rock (witha caution from the waiter: DO NOT TOUCH). He then demonstrated how to cook the meat ON the rock! For a real connoisseur, you should be well aware that wagyu beef is best served lightly grilled. The sauce just accentuated the great taste of Wagyu.

Ama Ozen – Kobe Jones’ famous selection of dessert samplers with chocolate chopsticks

The platter was served while the Brulee was still flaming. If we go clock wise from the top we had: Strawberry Cheesecakes, Dark Chocolate cake with Green Tea Ice cream, Berry Yoghurt, Mango Sago, Green Tea Brulee, Strawberry cream with fairy floss, Green Tea macaroons, and the Dark Chocolate Chopsticks. Most of them can be rated as better than the other dishes (except for the crab and Hot Rock)

The final verdict: I must admit that I was thinking of putting off writing this review, because for the first 7 meals, they were all pretty average. However, after the Alaskan Crab onwards, I was convinced that I needed to write this straight away. Highlight of the night at Kobe Jones was definitely the Wagyu Hot Rock. Best dish of the day (or maybe the Ama Ozen for the ladies).

Did you know?

King Street Wharf is located next to Darling Harbour. They have a big selection of upper-market restaurants. However, you might want to be careful not to be trapped in an overpriced-yet-not-tasty restaurant. Best way is to research these restaurants before you make the reservation.

Location:

King Street Wharf, 29 Lime Street, Sydney NSW 2000

Website:

http://kobejones.com.au/locations/sydney/

Apr 12, 2011
Quay Restaurant

Rating:

9 / 10

10 for its Snow Egg!!

Taste: 9 /10

Price for Degustation: $210

Place: 8.5/10

Review:

Quay Restaurant is officially Australia’s best restaurant of 2010. It captured the crown from Tetsuya’s, which plunged on the world’s rating. One of its strengths was the restaurant’s location. It sits atop Sydney’s best spot with vintage view of both the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

We were indulged in eight exquisite tasting plates – with an additional appetiser, petits fours, and coffee and tea of our choice, from Sydney’s infamous chef, Peter Gilmore. We also specially requested to have their legendary Eight Texture Chocolate Cake since it was not on the degustation menu. There was also four types of sourdough bread that you could have as a side.

Amuse-bouche – Truffle and Consomme

This is the chef’s welcome plate. I am not sure what was in it or how the waiter exactly pronounced it, but this tiny plate packed up massive punch. Unfortunately for me, it tasted better than most of the entrees for the night.

Smoked eel & sea scallop pearl, horseradish

The name didn’t really reflect all of the ingredients of this plate. On top of the dish were two purple flower petals and edible silver foil. The next layer was the smoked eel and a ball of sea scallop pearl with a hint of horseradish sauce at the bottom. It was a simple and beautiful dish in a shell-like plate.

Salad of pink turnips & breakfast radishes, violets, olives, pine, resin, balsamico

Definitely my least favourite plate of the day! Basically, it’s a plate full of colourful vegetables in a bed of goat cheese. Granted that they must be the freshest and most exciting vegetables I’ve tasted, but at the end of the day, they’re still vegetables and I don’t like them. The goat cheese saved my day since it brought in flavour into the plate.

Gentle braise of pearl oyster, southern rock lobster, shaved squid, tapioca, lettuce heart, oyster cream, pea flowers

Our next entrée was a plate full of mashed up seafood. The seafood flavour was too rich to my liking and the vegetables did little help to neutralise it. There were slices of scallops that did not seem to be on the menu. It would have been much better if they would go easy on enhancing the seafood taste, since individually the seafood was excellent.

Butter poached coturnix quail breast, chestnuts, truffle, milk skin, and walnuts

The main course came in with a bang. Beautifully cooked and glazed quail breast was laid in a bed of chestnuts and a truffle with some nutty sauce. On its own the quail was pristine. Juicy, chewy, and yummy flavours all rolled into one. Combined with the nuts and truffle, it became unbelievable. One of my friend described eating it as ‘ I’m having my out-of-this-world moment’. It was just surreal.

Poached Blackmore wagyu fillet, Tasmanian wasabi, morels

The second main course was also breathtaking. Lightly poached marbled wagyu fillet accompanied by soft Tasmanian wasabi tasted extremely chewable and juicy. The soft meat was complemented by nice green spinach and green peas puree. I was amazed by the softness of the meat.

Braised Snapper Fillet (alt. Slow braised Berkshire pig jowl, maltose crackling, prunes, cauliflower cream, perfumed with prune kernel oil)

The pig jowl was in the degustation menu but we opted for the alternative Braised Snapper Fillet. Perfectly cooked fish fillet with white cucumber and tasty yellow sauce with a garnish of spinach. Although it was the least interesting of the three, the fish was very good. The alternative menu looked equally crackling.

Jackfruit Snow Egg

This one was made famous by the show Masterchef. Full-on gastronomy in action! It was an egg-shaped meringue with custard filling. Covering the egg was burnt caramel and sprinkles of powdered sugar. The glass’ base was filled with jackfruit granita (shaved ice with jackfruit flavour). This was a real stunner. You had to ‘crack’ the egg as if cracking a real egg. Then the soft egg whites would stick to the skin with ‘egg yolk’ dripping out of the egg. Taste wise? Heavenly refreshing!

Preserved wild cherry compote, coconut cream, chuao chocolate crumble, milk meringue crystals

This was supposed to be the heavy hitter that replaced their legendary cake. Presentation wise, it was great but it didn’t quite capture my tastebuds. The compote was excessively sweet. The combination of coconut and chocolate base was two of my least favourite dessert ingredients. We thought it was too heavy to be the last dish of the day.

Eight Texture Chocolate Cake

This one was out of the menu but we ordered it to fulfil our curiosity for Quay’s legendary cake. First it looked like a block of plain chocolate cake. Then melted chocolate was poured on top of it and created a concave into the cake.

Café Latte and Petits Fours

As a closure, there were café latte with 4 pieces of hazelnut chocolate and Bailey amaretto chocolate.

The final verdict: Quay totally deserved the title of this year’s best restaurant because of its innovative array of menu. Snow egg and Quail breast were my highlights of the day. I reckon they are much, much, better than the legendary Chocolate Cake. Decoration wise, the restaurant looked a bit out of date, but with a view like that, nobody would complaint.

Did you know?

As with any other ultra-famous restaurant, Booking is a necessity. You will not get a table if you just walk in – unless if you are Brad Pitt, I suppose. So, please book months in advance.

Unlike in Tetsuya’s, we actually did not meet Peter Gilmore in person.

Location:

Overseas Passenger Terminal, The Rocks, NSW, Australia

http://www.quay.com.au/

+61 2 9251 5600

Nov 1, 2010