Le Louis XV (Alain Ducasse)

Address: Hotel de Paris, Place du Casion, Monte-Carlo
Tel: +377 98 06 88 64
Website: www.alain-ducasse.com

 Below: Amuse Bouche

Above: Entree

Below: Signature French Switchblade Cutlery Knife

 

Below: Main - Fois Gras (the liver looking protein with char marks), sweet breads, roasted peaches & pigeon. Comes with the little potato puffs you see delicately wrapped in the napkin - I call them reverse potato chips because they appear to be 'popped' from the inside. 

 Above: Main - Pork with seasonal vegetables (pork was served in its own saucepan and cut up infront of patron, and sauced at the table).

 Below: Macarons - not sure what flavour but a guess would be hazelnut or some sort of creme.

Above: Dessert - Wild Strawberries in own sauce/coulis with mascarpone sorbet. 

Below: Chocolate gold 'bar'. Very rich inside with multiple layers & textures. 

La Cantina

Address: 4 Iluka St, Narrabundah ACT 2604
Tel: (02) 6239 5556
Website: http://www.la-cantina.com.au/

A highly recommended Italian restaurant, carefully tucked away in Suburban Canberra.

Sauces are made with warmth, heart & soul and true to the traditional flavours respecting produce and cuisine.

I had the gnocchi which was a bite-sized,  more doughy version, but it was the Neapolitan sauce which brought the texture alive.

I enviously eyed off my dining companions' marinara & pizza - both of which looked more than palatable.

Reasonably priced, quiet, white tablecloth location perfect for catching up with old friends over a bottle of wine. Highly recommended as a Canberra destination.

Sepia Restaurant

Address: Darling Park, 201 Sussex Street Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02)9283 1990
Website: http://www.sepiarestaurant.com.au/

So I got dragged into coming into trying this new restaurant, without knowing anything about the menu by my beloved sister who knows more about the world of fine cuisine much better than I. I believe this won the award in 2012 (or end of 2011) for best upcoming restaurant.

It was only later did I find out the genius behind this menu was no other than one of the head chefs who had spent years at Tetsuya's. Sepia is clearly a distinct style - deeper, heavier flavours and focusing more on artistic presentation & more experimental desserts.












The standout was definitely the venison, and desserts - who knew chocolate imitating dirt/twigs/tree bark tasted so good!

The service here is superb - attentive, courteous and not pretentious at all. Meals are well-priced and this is definitely somewhere I would take interstate travellers or overseas guests for a taste of modern Australian cuisine, showcasing our produce and creative spirit.

Cha Cha Char (Brisbane)

Address: Shop 5, Plaza Level, Eagle St Pier, Brisbane QLD
Ph: (07) 3211 9944
Website: www.chachachar.com.au

Highlights - must try the 'moo juice'which has now been renamed to 'beef jus dipping sauce'. It is reminiscent of a thin veil of vegemite reduced with beef stock... love that yeasty-bite of flavour!

Cha Cha Char prides itself on doing good steaks, but of late it has really ramped up its menu to include a diverse range of mains featuring modern Australian cuisine. A really nice place with non-pretentious staff with views of the river and well-executed meals.

Dieci e Mezzo

Address: Corner Bunda and Mort Sts, Canberra City ACT 2601 (Inside ACTEW AGL Building)
Tel: 02) 62483142
Website: http://www.dieciemezzo.com.au/

TRADING HOURS

Breakfast
Monday to Friday from 7.30am

Lunch
Monday to Friday from 11.00am

Dinner
Monday - Saturday from 6.00pm

I first heard of Dieci e Mezzo from an out-of-towner (namely my sister who I instructed to research Canberra restaurants she'd like to try so I can take her there for a birthday dinner) - obviously many big city folk with foodie in their blood have rated this restaurant as a preferred destination. As a truffle affectionado [my sister], Dieci e Mezzo seem to have a commitment to truffle as a cuisine in itself and its place in fine dining.

Below: Special of the day - a 3-mushroom/truffle risotto with freshly shaved black truffle. No joke - they brought out the whole truffle with a slice grater and did it right before our eyes (I suppose with a $20 surcharge for the freshly shaved truffle you'd want to make sure it was the real deal). Sister was impressed with this dish - the risotto had a lightly creamy flavour but the shaved truffle folded through the warm risotto gave it uniquely luxurious texture.


Above: Osso Bucco Milanese; slow braised veal shin, saffron risotto, gremolata - wow this was so fantastic. As you know Ossu Bucco is a very cheap cut of meat and requires cooking with tender-loving-care to bring out the flavour (derived from the bone marrow) and tenderness in the meat. What a perfect rendition - fall-off-the-bone meat, a fantastic jus/reduction which was light but rich in flavour and the saffron risotto - OH THE SAFFRON RISOTTO! It was creamy like a risotto was born to be, complexly cheesy and cooked just al dente. Would definitely come back for this dish!

Below: Apple & Raspberry Crumble w/ Raspberry Icecream - I think in my head I had very different expectations to what I thought this dish would look like - I was reminiscing about my berry dessert in Adelaide and thought this might be similar (the crumble being more pie-like). The apple and raspberry was way too sour - with some chunks of heated crumble sitting on top. Am disappointed the crumble wasn't broken down finer and the scoop of icecream looked suspiciously like the Peters Icecream ad I walked past in the shopping centre...


Above: This Dark Chocolate Fondant was much more unique and glamourous than my dessert. Made with Amedei Toscano dark chocolate (I think this is meant to be some fancy brand) and served with marmalade icecream it was certainly out of the blue. Having tried to cook fondant, its either hit-or-miss so this was a delightfully sized well-cooked portion with a rich dark choc flavour which was offset by the strong citrus notes in the marmalade icecream which looked like an in-house affair.

Great, hearty winter food - reasonably priced fine dining experience in Canberra with the Italian dishes done well. Especially love the emphasis on local produce and supporting their suppliers.

Quay

Address: Upper Level, Overseas Passenger Terminal, The Rocks, Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9251 5600
Website: www.quay.com.au

After 5 months of waiting for a table at this highly-coveted Sydney restaurant (voted #26 of San Pellegrino's Top 50 restaurants in the world), the day has finally come for me to sample the delicate works of genius of Chef Peter Gilmore.

I first witnessed the frustration and technique involved in his delicate creations, more famously his signature dessert "Snow egg" on Masterchef as the contestants tried to recreate a complex dish, encased in a shallow glass. That gave away my pick for dessert.

I love Gilmore's philosophy - he doesn't like to create things that diners can cook at home - and in that simple statement, he backs up with intricate and highly detailed unique dishes that appeal to more than the sense of taste.

Before I go any further and you view the appalingly-shocking photos I took in the dim lighting and then my badly retouched photos, I urge you to visit this link which contains much better photos and a inspiration video for some of the dishes reviewed below: http://www.quay.com.au/page/inspirations1.html. That being said please refrain from taking flash photography as some obnoxious diners at another table did because the restaurant walls are either glass (spectacular view of Circular Quay, Opera House & Harbour Bridge) or paved with mirrors and will blind other patrons.

Below: Mocktails - virgin Pina Colada (left) and Lychee (right) which was lychee syrup with a squeeze of lime juice in soda water. They weren't great value but they weren't bad value with considering you'd pay the equivalent at any other random CBD bar.


Below: Amuse Bouche - this is a tradition for most fine dining restaurants - the literal translation meaning "mouth amuser" in French. The aim is to 'excite' the taste buds and prepare the diner for the chef's approach to cooking. It's hard to describe what this was - it was a mixture of a breadcrumb-like texture with some translucent white jelly blobs inside. The flavour? A slightly salty, very savoury mix which remindly me strangely of the crunchy offcuts of a cheese & bacon roll. A very peasant description I know, but that was the strongest, most overwhelming flavour.

Course One

Below: Mud Crab Congee - 'Fresh palm heart, Hand shelled mud crab, Chinese inspired split rice porridge'. You could see the mud crab meat in the centre of the dish - the creamy substance in the middle is definitely a very Western twist on this traditional dish. The congee itself was quite multi-textured - towards the centre of the dish it was quite thick and in the outer circumference the consistency became more watery. The crab flavour was present but not overwhelming - I've had seafood congee before and I think a white fish could have perhaps lifted the flavour to become more intense.


Above: Signature dish - Sea Pearls: "Sashimi tuna, sea scallop, crab, smoked eel, octopus".This is the beginning of a long-obsession with circular things and all-things shaped like balls. Each of those balls encased a creamy filling - each unique and richly moorish in their own right. I was quite suprised by this dish - I am not usually a fan of raw-ish octopus and eel, but these little pearls were almost melt-in-your-mouth. Definite props to the chef hollowing out a scallop! The 2nd one from the left was encased in - what I believe - to be tiny ball bearings of egg white. How on earth they did that I would have no clue. But a splendid exhibit of skill nevertheless.

Course Two

Above: "Butter poached coturnix quail breast, pumpernickel & ethical foie gras pudding, walnuts, quinoa, truffle custard, milk skin". This was an interesting dish as it was quail, cooked medium rare. When it came out I thought it looked awfully like a raw piece of pig's kidney, and cutting through it made me more apprehensive (the sinewy consistency had me alarmed) but the combination of purees and what not made for a unique dish combination. I was especially impressed with the use of toasted quinoa (which reminded me of rice puffs) that added a lovely nutty flavour and added texture to this multi-dimensional dish.

Course Three

Below: "Berkshire pig jowl, maltose crackling, prunes, cauliflower cream, perfumed with prune kernel oil" - guess what a pig jowl is? Pig Chin! Or as I like to call it - 'Pig's double chin'. I was advised just to take a few moments to 'inhale the aroma' - think pork belly but more tender, more fatty and the meat slightly leaner & stringier. The caramelised pork crackle/fat was such an intriguing combination - really lifted the dish to become something spectacular (and different). The prune was a fresh, fruity accompaniment. Who knew such a small piece of pork could do so much damage - I got through half and the heaviness was too overwhelming. So I hijacked the lamb instead...

Below: "Confit of Suffolk lamb loin, smoked white carrot cream, fennel infused milk curd, Pantelleria capers, nasturtiums, fennel pollen". I really enjoyed this - the lamb was cooked medium rare (but perfectly!) with a slighty salty flavour. It didn't retain that horrible lamb-y smell & taste like some undercooked rendition do and it was only towards the end it had that lamb aroma which was pleasant as opposed to gamey. I think I was genuinely pleased with how well it was cooked (not under or overcooked) and seasoned.

Course Four

These were some knockout desserts - the best courses of the night!!!

Below: "Quay's Eight texture chocolate cake" - four words: BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE EVER. My sister who was my fellow dining companion on this occasion never eats chocolate cake. In fact, she hates chocolate. But I saw her devour this devilish creation - it must have come straight from hell it was that good. It is served with a chocolate tasting sauce, that, upon impact with the created an amazing sinking hole in the cake. I didn't count all 8 layers but there was biscuit, paper thin layers of chocolate, a spongy cake, mousse. I loved the bitterness of chocolate - to me, that dessert epitomized how chocolate should taste and showcased all the chocolate sins in one neat little package.


Above: Apple Custard & Guava Snow Egg - this dish was what inspired me to try Quay - it is a meringue ball, encasing a apple custard icecream/cream, with a sliver of toffee blowtorched over the meringue ball, topped with icing sugar - resting on a bed of guava sorbet. I'm not a huge fan of meringue and the toffee kept getting stuck in my teeth but this was one of the 'lighter' desserts which cleansed the palate. The dallop of guava nectar that held the ball to the sorbet was the highlight for me. Lovely fruity flavour, but you gotta love your toffee to have the patience to tackle this...

A sensational culinary & sensory experience - the smells don't overwhelm, all the dishes are delicately packaged and the skills involved just wow.

Golden Century Seafood Restaurant (Chinese)

Address: 393-399 Sussex St, SydneyNSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9212 3901
Website: http://www.goldencentury.com.au/
Trading hours: 12pm to 4am

If there was one restaurant to sum up the genre of 'Chinese' food in the heart of Sydney's Chinatown, there is none other that matches the rich history and tradition of Golden Century.

The theme of Golden Century is fresh, live seafood, served Cantonese style (fragrant, stirfried) as exhibited by the array of live tanks in the entrance and front wall of the restaurant.

Above: One of those green-lipped abalone was going to be sacrificed for my dinner...

I recall distinctly having a distinctly unforgettable dish here - that is, the Sliced Live Green-Lip Abalone in Steam-boat. I love this dish because it is something you couldn't replicate at home - and can feel good about leaving to the experts.

Below: Tissue-thin slices of live abalone, sitting on a bed of lettuce. I note that fresh seafood doesn't have that stinky, saltwater, sewerage smell.

The waiter brings out a butane gas-powered cooktop with a clear peppery broth. The broth is brought to boil, and then the cooking begins.

Slices are cooked 2-3 at a time, tossed through the broth for about 30 seconds then served.

Below: the result - a light 'seafood' ham. The meat has a fresh, light sweetness with a hint of saltiness (like a cured ham). Abalone has an unmatched flavour to anything else in the world.

The raw lettuce is then cooked in the broth, and served to us in soup. I like the broth - I suspect its wonton soup though with some pepper through it. At this point I was ready to go home because this dish just hit the nail on the head and I was more than content.

But there was more food:

Below: Season special - Sticky rice with preserved meat. Sticky rice is like the opposite of risotto - the rice particles remain separate and quite 'al dente' to the taste bud (kind of chewy). You can tell a skilled Cantonese chef where oil just coats the ingredients to give it a radiant glean & fragrant taste. I love thinly sliced & chopped scrambled egg as a garnish - great technique.


Below: Yam (Taro) with pork spare rib hot pot - this was not a winner. I have had this dish more traditionally with a vinegary, sticky soy base marinade but this was cooked with coconut milk and lemongrass - a very strange combination. The coconut milk started separating and the use of frozen yam did not help the cause.

Above & below: Live Morwong (fish) served 2 ways - stir fried above, and steamed below. There is nothing like live fish - the texture & flavour is almost completely different. Fresh fish has a natural sweetness and no stinky fishy smell.

The stirfried version has been lightly starched to maintain the structure of the fillet pieces and are melt-in-your-mouth, with a light gingery flavour.

The steamed version below were all the offcuts - fins, bones and other. I didn't try these but I believe people like to suck on these offcuts as a savoury, morish treat.



Above: Dessert time! This was complimentary - peanut dessert porridge which I thought was the wrong texture (I like mine more grainy but this one tasted like it once had sago balls which melted during the course of cooking into the dessert) - too gelatinous. I did enjoy those fried egg wonton skins and sesame balls - not too sweet, and just a lovely after-dinner accompaniment.

If you want to go to Golden Century to order Sweet & Sour pork or Honey Chicken - don't insult the menu and pay $7 at your local takeaway shop instead. Do a bit of research and look at the chef's recommendation on the website as there are some other treats like XO pippies, roast duck and others.

I've seen some $11,800 bottles of red wine dating back to 1920 on the menu, so you can really spend up big here.

As Sydney's only Chinese restaurant with a chef hat, this is not a bad place that has lived up to all the hype.