20th and 21st January 2011
After watching Adriano Zumbo on master chef and receiving his cookbook for Christmas, one of my priorities for the trip to Sydney was to go to his patisseries. Having got to Sydney fairly early i decided to go on the Friday night and grab some pastries for breakfast the next day. I also decided to grab a cake as a snack for myself as well.
Given the end of the day, i only had a few selections left. I decided to grab 2 berry brioche, 1 apple danish and a Pain aux raisins. I went with the berry brioche, fresh berries yogurt and a delicious sweet brioche. Excellent quality and superb taste.
I also had a cherry cherry bar. Consisting of a chocolate biscuit base and a chocolate outer casing with a edible Zumbo branded chocolate topping. Filled with a cherry compote, a cream filling and several other layers. Amazing flavours, highly complex and amazing technique
The Star restaurant also has a desert train (like a sushi train but for deserts) which we decided that we would go to on the Saturday. We headed back after lunch on the Saturday but unfortunately I didn't read the opening times and the desert train was not open at the time we visited. Instead we just had some of the cakes and pastries for take away.
I ended up choosing one cake and one pastry. The cake was a Christmas V8 cake. An 8 layer masterpiece of desert cooking with Cinnamon Creme Chantilly, Morello Cherry Jelly, Pain D'épices, Toasted Nougat Brulee, Vanilla Chiffon Cake, Vanilla Ganache, Pistachio Crunch and Pistachio Dacquoise. Topped off with coconut crusted into the base and a coconut ball on top. Technically incredible and amazing flavour.
I also went with a Pepito - a brioche feuilletage filled baked with custard, chocolate and orange zest. This was very good as but not as technically spectacular as the others but still quality.
My parents also had some macaroons that i tried. Redskin, Lime and Mint mojito and chocolate chili macaroons. These had amazing flavours and were bold in their flavour and tasted exactly like the decrisptions. The infusing of the flavours was extraordinary.
Everything at this store was done with an amazing level of dedication, a long thought process and technique above the level of ordinary deserts and pastries. Would love to return and recommend to anyone in Sydney who like cakes and pastries and to those who don't they will be converted.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Gastro Park (Sydney)
20th January 2012
With me meeting my family in Sydney and the need to sell my car for my potential apartment purchase, i decided to drive up to Sydney on the Friday and have my father drive the car the rest of the way back to Brisbane. As such i decided to make the most of the trip and go to one of the hat restaurants in Sydney. After a quick review of the 3 hat restaurants, including Quay, i found that they were booked out for several months in advance.
However having previous read an article over the Christmas break of a new and exciting restaurant in Sydney that had received 2 Hat, i decided to try Gastro Park. With a very average name and interesting location (in the middle of Kings Cross - possibly due to it being the chef's first self owned restaurant), a moderately simple dining room and a slight wait in the bar for my table, the food was required to make up for all these shortcomings.
And it really did! Having originally headed there for a simple 3 course but the waiter informed me that they also offered a 7 course and a 10 course degustation menu which offered a selection of the al a carte menu with 4 courses of snacks, 1 entree, 1 main and 1 desert (all three of the substantial courses being their signature dishes).
Before the first course arrived i was presented with a piece of sourdough bread with a smear of unsalted butter on a tile with a sprinkling of rock salt.Quality bread and the nice touch of being able to salt it as required.
Up first of the real courses was a 2 part 1st course. Place on the same plate was 2 puttanesca wafers intertwined with flavours of olive, tomato and Parmesan. Crunchy crisp and full of flavour and technique.
The other part was a grissini wrapped in cured thinly sliced blackmore short rib cover in shaved cheese. Simple but exquisite and a well thought out beginning to the meal.
The next course was a very intricate dish that combined many elements. First was a scallop carpaccio with thinly sliced pieces of scallop with some very finely sliced chives adorning them. Underneath was a olive oil and lime sauce with some black olive soil scattered around the edges. Beautifully balance intricately put together and a wondrous array of flavours that worked even better together than separately. To top off the dish was a long piece of crafted bone that was filled with a tuna bone marrow. Extravagantly and elegantly presented it lacked the magic flavour of the other parts of the dish but was still a great piece.
The third snack course was a alternating thin slices of hare and beetroot completely covered in a shaved fois gras snow and accompanied by a red cabbage granita. A wondrous display of technique and imagination, however the flavours were only good. I did like the red cabbage granita and the hare and beetroot but the fois gras snow was less than stellar and did not match that well with the other ingredients.
The final snack dish was served on a tile with a moist dense piece of swordfish glazed with soy and mustard and served with 3 textures of cucumber - granita, puree and pickled. The cucumber provided a good contrast and a freshness to the dense rich swordfish, although was not strong in flavour itself.
On to the entree and it consisted of liquid butternut gnocchi, floating in a mushroom consomme in a glass bowl with an added touch of a Parmesan crisp crown topped with enoki mushrooms sage and a couple of extra liquid gnocchi. The mushroom consomme was poured at the table adding a little theatre but the flavours and texture were the real standout. A rich and flavoursome mushroom consomme that worked well with the liquid centred, explode in your mouth gnocchi. The crisp crown had excellent flavour and was a nice little touch on top of a great dish.
The main course was a masterclass in imagination, technique and food artistry. A crispy scaled snapper (with the scales removed, deep fried and then embedded back into the fish), smoked potato puree blackened calamari crackling, calamari hoops and a piece of calamari and completed with a squid ink croquette and squid ink reduction. Masterful technique especially the scales, calamari crackling and squid ink croquette (all firsts for me) that pushed the boundaries but were underpinned by exceptional skill and produce of a perfectly cooked piece of fish.
The final course was desert and it was a great way to finish the meal. A white chocolate sphere that i was instructed to crack with the spoon and produced a flowing river of orange flavoured chocolate that ran out onto a bowl with a bed of nitrogen cooled honeycomb and cookies and cream pieces. An outstanding dish and the flavours matched the quality of the imagination of the chef.
A comparable restaurant to Verge in Melbourne (one of my favourites) where the food pushed boundaries and explored techniques but never forgot to encompass quality produce and flavour. Every part of each dish was thought out and had a purpose and everything matched well together. The service after the initial wait was jovial but professional and the dining experience was first rate. The degustation was comparable with other 2 hat restaurants and was expensive but reasonably good value. If you are in Sydney, this is very much worthy of a visit.
With me meeting my family in Sydney and the need to sell my car for my potential apartment purchase, i decided to drive up to Sydney on the Friday and have my father drive the car the rest of the way back to Brisbane. As such i decided to make the most of the trip and go to one of the hat restaurants in Sydney. After a quick review of the 3 hat restaurants, including Quay, i found that they were booked out for several months in advance.
However having previous read an article over the Christmas break of a new and exciting restaurant in Sydney that had received 2 Hat, i decided to try Gastro Park. With a very average name and interesting location (in the middle of Kings Cross - possibly due to it being the chef's first self owned restaurant), a moderately simple dining room and a slight wait in the bar for my table, the food was required to make up for all these shortcomings.
And it really did! Having originally headed there for a simple 3 course but the waiter informed me that they also offered a 7 course and a 10 course degustation menu which offered a selection of the al a carte menu with 4 courses of snacks, 1 entree, 1 main and 1 desert (all three of the substantial courses being their signature dishes).
Before the first course arrived i was presented with a piece of sourdough bread with a smear of unsalted butter on a tile with a sprinkling of rock salt.Quality bread and the nice touch of being able to salt it as required.
Up first of the real courses was a 2 part 1st course. Place on the same plate was 2 puttanesca wafers intertwined with flavours of olive, tomato and Parmesan. Crunchy crisp and full of flavour and technique.
The other part was a grissini wrapped in cured thinly sliced blackmore short rib cover in shaved cheese. Simple but exquisite and a well thought out beginning to the meal.
The next course was a very intricate dish that combined many elements. First was a scallop carpaccio with thinly sliced pieces of scallop with some very finely sliced chives adorning them. Underneath was a olive oil and lime sauce with some black olive soil scattered around the edges. Beautifully balance intricately put together and a wondrous array of flavours that worked even better together than separately. To top off the dish was a long piece of crafted bone that was filled with a tuna bone marrow. Extravagantly and elegantly presented it lacked the magic flavour of the other parts of the dish but was still a great piece.
The third snack course was a alternating thin slices of hare and beetroot completely covered in a shaved fois gras snow and accompanied by a red cabbage granita. A wondrous display of technique and imagination, however the flavours were only good. I did like the red cabbage granita and the hare and beetroot but the fois gras snow was less than stellar and did not match that well with the other ingredients.
The final snack dish was served on a tile with a moist dense piece of swordfish glazed with soy and mustard and served with 3 textures of cucumber - granita, puree and pickled. The cucumber provided a good contrast and a freshness to the dense rich swordfish, although was not strong in flavour itself.
On to the entree and it consisted of liquid butternut gnocchi, floating in a mushroom consomme in a glass bowl with an added touch of a Parmesan crisp crown topped with enoki mushrooms sage and a couple of extra liquid gnocchi. The mushroom consomme was poured at the table adding a little theatre but the flavours and texture were the real standout. A rich and flavoursome mushroom consomme that worked well with the liquid centred, explode in your mouth gnocchi. The crisp crown had excellent flavour and was a nice little touch on top of a great dish.
The main course was a masterclass in imagination, technique and food artistry. A crispy scaled snapper (with the scales removed, deep fried and then embedded back into the fish), smoked potato puree blackened calamari crackling, calamari hoops and a piece of calamari and completed with a squid ink croquette and squid ink reduction. Masterful technique especially the scales, calamari crackling and squid ink croquette (all firsts for me) that pushed the boundaries but were underpinned by exceptional skill and produce of a perfectly cooked piece of fish.
The final course was desert and it was a great way to finish the meal. A white chocolate sphere that i was instructed to crack with the spoon and produced a flowing river of orange flavoured chocolate that ran out onto a bowl with a bed of nitrogen cooled honeycomb and cookies and cream pieces. An outstanding dish and the flavours matched the quality of the imagination of the chef.
A comparable restaurant to Verge in Melbourne (one of my favourites) where the food pushed boundaries and explored techniques but never forgot to encompass quality produce and flavour. Every part of each dish was thought out and had a purpose and everything matched well together. The service after the initial wait was jovial but professional and the dining experience was first rate. The degustation was comparable with other 2 hat restaurants and was expensive but reasonably good value. If you are in Sydney, this is very much worthy of a visit.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Bonus Item - Restaurant 2 (Brisbane)
29th December 2011
After several previously attempts to go to Restaurant 2 (functions, bday parties), my parents surprised me and brother James with a trip the day before i headed back to Melbourne. A big high ceiling and spacious room with 2 distinct areas with a function area and bar on one side of the doors and the more formal sit down area on the left.
After being seated and being offered an extensive wine and drinks list, we were also offered a menu that had both degustation and al a carte options. Given the expense and need for at least 2 people to have the degustation menu, we all went for the al a carte options.
For entree i went with the chicken wing and porcini consomme accompanied with 2 little truffled mushroom tartlets. A rich and boldly flavoured consomme with strong porcini mushroom flavour with pieces of chicken in the consomme. The two tiny tartlets had great pastry and had good flavour of mushroom with an added nutty flavour from the truffle. A great dish especially the consomme. (other entrees tried were Moussaka of scallops and eggplant, Moroccan spiced quail and a salad of figs, Roquefort, prosciutto, pecans and pecan vinaigrette).
After much discussion and changing of minds, i went with the rare sealed venison, beetroot risotto, with pickled beetroots and onions with a horse radish foam and a spicy chocolate sauce. Perfectly cooked and flavoured venison with a very red inside but seared on the outside and not blood. The beetroot risotto was well cooked and worked well with the meat. The horse radish foam was subtle and the spicy chocolate sauce was barely noticeable but overall a great dish full of technique and quality produce.
(The three other main courses were 2 sirloins with confit potatoes, grilled bacon and red wine jus and eye fillet with Paris mash and a vegetable stew (tombe)).
For desert i finished with a dark chocolate fondant, which was rich and gooey in the centre and was made with quality dark chocolate. Accompanied with poached cherries and a cinnamon ice cream that worked well with the fondant. Great cooking but nothing spectacular or innovative cooking.
Overall great cooking and quality technique with amazing produce and sourcing of ingredients. Reasonably pricey but given a relative dearth of quality eating options in Brisbane (although improving at a rapid rate) it is comparable with the other high end places. Good service although with the usual slower pace of Queensland service and a very decent wine and drinks list. Well worth the wait after so many attempts to go.
After several previously attempts to go to Restaurant 2 (functions, bday parties), my parents surprised me and brother James with a trip the day before i headed back to Melbourne. A big high ceiling and spacious room with 2 distinct areas with a function area and bar on one side of the doors and the more formal sit down area on the left.
After being seated and being offered an extensive wine and drinks list, we were also offered a menu that had both degustation and al a carte options. Given the expense and need for at least 2 people to have the degustation menu, we all went for the al a carte options.
For entree i went with the chicken wing and porcini consomme accompanied with 2 little truffled mushroom tartlets. A rich and boldly flavoured consomme with strong porcini mushroom flavour with pieces of chicken in the consomme. The two tiny tartlets had great pastry and had good flavour of mushroom with an added nutty flavour from the truffle. A great dish especially the consomme. (other entrees tried were Moussaka of scallops and eggplant, Moroccan spiced quail and a salad of figs, Roquefort, prosciutto, pecans and pecan vinaigrette).
After much discussion and changing of minds, i went with the rare sealed venison, beetroot risotto, with pickled beetroots and onions with a horse radish foam and a spicy chocolate sauce. Perfectly cooked and flavoured venison with a very red inside but seared on the outside and not blood. The beetroot risotto was well cooked and worked well with the meat. The horse radish foam was subtle and the spicy chocolate sauce was barely noticeable but overall a great dish full of technique and quality produce.
(The three other main courses were 2 sirloins with confit potatoes, grilled bacon and red wine jus and eye fillet with Paris mash and a vegetable stew (tombe)).
For desert i finished with a dark chocolate fondant, which was rich and gooey in the centre and was made with quality dark chocolate. Accompanied with poached cherries and a cinnamon ice cream that worked well with the fondant. Great cooking but nothing spectacular or innovative cooking.
Overall great cooking and quality technique with amazing produce and sourcing of ingredients. Reasonably pricey but given a relative dearth of quality eating options in Brisbane (although improving at a rapid rate) it is comparable with the other high end places. Good service although with the usual slower pace of Queensland service and a very decent wine and drinks list. Well worth the wait after so many attempts to go.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Restaurants for 2012
With the list finished i have a few restaurants for next year that i still want to go to. They either didn't receive 15/20 and therefore didn't get hat status or are new restaurants that are rated highly or are in the country.
1. The Brix
2. Easy Tiger
3. Mamasita
4. Huxtable
5. St. Katherine's
6. Gingerboy
7. Chin Chin
8. French Brasserie
9. Desert Evenings @ Rosamond
10. Maris
11. Dandelion
12. Ten Minutes by Tractor
13. Loam
14. Royal Mail Hotel
1. The Brix
2. Easy Tiger
3. Mamasita
4. Huxtable
5. St. Katherine's
6. Gingerboy
7. Chin Chin
8. French Brasserie
9. Desert Evenings @ Rosamond
10. Maris
11. Dandelion
12. Ten Minutes by Tractor
13. Loam
14. Royal Mail Hotel
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)