Sydney#2

Master Chef Aventure number 2!!

So after a long wait, I finally got to go to the high anticipated restaurant Quay!!! : D

And it was even better, because Vico came with me too...

<3

To get a table at Quay, you have to book at least a few months before hand (for dinner), where as for our lunch date, I only had to book 2 weeks beforehand. It was also a week day that we went there.

 I was just trying out a photo combine function..so it's a dodgy photo...except it has Quay's menu in it!!

Anyways, let's start out course!!! 

A sashimi refresher to prime our taste buds? :)

This little refresher was very tasteful. A simple tuna sashimi, accompanied with a special soy sauce jelly. Later on in Quay's courses, they also use this similar cream to add a subtle touch to their dish!

Sashimi of Corner Inlet rock flathead,  Tasmanian trumpeter, salt cured wild oyster cream,
 black lipped abalone, raw sea cabbage, green radish, nasturtiums, warrigals, periwinkles

 I usually dislike any sashimi fish other than tuna or salmon, because I'm quite sensitive to any fishy taste that most white flesh fish would have.
Having said that, this sashimi dish was amazingly fresh! Its flavours were all purely derived from the different types on sashimi on the plate. What you see is what you eat. This dish was really a specialty, with little round, thinly sliced black lipped abalone sitting around, waiting for you to bite into it! To me this abalone was a subtle seasoning to the whole dish, as well as the oyster cream.

 The sea wave patterned plate also added another dimension to the experience!

Roasted partridge breast,
steamed truffle brioche, confit egg yolk, new season white walnuts, fumet of Vin Jaune 

This dish was tasteful, but it was a big let down when the partridge had an unpleasant layer of fat attached to it. I also think the walnuts should have been roasted a bit more. But on the other hand, the brioche was moist and fluffy, and most of all, eggs and truffle always give a creamy and rich taste. 

Smoked and confit pig cheek, shiitake, shaved scallop, Jerusalem artichoke, juniper, bay 

This was actually Vico's Entree. As well as some other ones in this post. I liked this entree, except she found the surrounding crisps a bit too oily. I thought they were fine and gave the whole dish a new level of delicacy so that when you eat it, you get the crunch first, the scallop, then the succulent pig cheek. : )

Poached Wagyu beef,
oxtail, morel, black pudding, farro, buckwheat, hazelnut, ezekiel

I loved everything that was in the beef. It was popping, crunchy and tasty : )

Except the beef quality wasn't exactly like what we anticipated...I thought Wagyu beef is usually fatter and less lean. 

Butter poached blue eye,
ginger scented milk curd, shaved abalone,
young leeks, fennel, kabu turnips, black radish, oyster and seaweed consommé

The blue eye was perfectly poached, and I LOVED the milk curd (which you can't see, it's under the fish)...it just adds another mouth watering texture to the dish. The consomme was freshly boiled and brought to our table in a pot, where the waiter poured it into the dish. 

Oyster is a always a main subtlety in our courses, and it adds such a sea freshness theme to the dishes of Quay. 

Then after a long meal of entrees and mains................

the time had come......

for the long awaited dessert...........

FINALLY

THE SNOW EGG, WE PICED OF COURSE :D

That was actually my whole point of wanting to go to Quay.

As a bonus.....we also saw PETER GILMORE!!!!!!!! >v

BAHAHAHAH Vico was so excited when she saw him first HAHAHAHA <3

Anyways, the dish was....true.to.Peter.Gilmore's.fame. If I'll have to describe it in one word, that would be perfect . I honestly have no idea that a dessert could be as delicate as this.....never ever had a dessert where the delicacy was even close to it...........( I know I love crisps things that totally contrast what's on the other side of the crunchiness)

So of course after watching Master Chef finals, and being as intelligent as we were ; ), we learnt to pick up our dessert spoons to do the 'cracking'. As expected of what should happen...the snow egg had a loud crack and it was unbelievable......how defined the layers were....

The bed of snow ice was so intense in guava flavour, yet because the fruit is light in nature, it didn't steal away the snow egg's flavour. The layer of meringue that wraps around the sorbet was not foamy at all, but fluffy. It's rare to have meringue that is not overly sweet and perfect in balance like this one.The surrounding caramel was unbelievably crunchy and thin, just like the way an egg shell should be. Little did we know there were fresh strawberry sauce and vanilla pod cream laid under the bed of snow. So when I dug my spoon further at once, my taste buds were so surprised that they could taste the distinctive layers of this dessert!!!! 

It's just so amazing how the layers were so distinctive in the way that parts where it was creamy wouldn't mix with the surrounding guava and sauce to make the taste messy. Yet the tastes were kept so close together that at one moment you can taste one thing, and quickly you can taste another!

AMAzING !!!! <3