Pei Modern

14th June 2012

After being out on tuesday for a late dinner, i was back out again (this time slightly earlier) on thursday night this time in the city at Pei Modern with a friend. A new restaurant (opened in February) from renowned Sydney chef Mark Best (Marque - 3 hats) this was billed as more of a bistro rather than a fine dining extravaganza but with the quality of a exemplary chef. After having seen a review in the age (15/20 indicating a hat worthy restaurant) and having walked past a few times in the past month i felt i needed to give it a try.

Located at Collins plaza on the ground floor of the Sofitel lobby it was under the big canopy that covers the entrance way, allowing us to sit outside and watch poeple go by without a thought for the perpetual rain that seems to be aflicting Melbourne at this time.

The restaurant inside was split into 2 sections with a bar and casual bar snacks on one side and the rest of the restaurant to the other side with the bar splitting the 2 areas. Dark with soft lighting and edgy furniture. We opted for the alfresco dining area outside which offered the same level of comfort but with an open view.

After getting settled and asked by several of the staff if we wanted the heating turned on, we settled in with the wine menu, (i choose a glass of white that was very nice) and the reletively small but enticing menu.

After a few deliberations, i went with the whole 3 courses and settled in for a throughly enjoyable dining experience. After we selected our food, we received some housemade sourdough bread delivered in its own cloth bag with housemade. Very good quality and a great introduction.

For entree i setlled on the almond gazpacho with blue swimmer crab with red grapes and parsley. A vibrant flavoursome, rich and creamy gazpacho with hints of almond and lemon is matched with beautiful chunks of fresh and delicate crab. The grapes provide a different tangy flavour and the parsley added an additional freshness. A sublime dish.

The main course was a beautifully presented dish of roast rabbit, saltbush, wakame and jerusalem artichoke. The rabbit was clearly slow roasted and was beautifully moist on the inside (although a couple of pieces were the tiniest bit rubbery on the outside) and excellently paired with a mix of nutty and salty flavours. I choose to accompany this with a side of Dobson's chips which were amazingly crunchy on the outside and have great flavour.

Unfortunately my favourite course of any meal was a slight let down after the inspired cooking of the previous 2 courses. Good and well worth having but certainly not in the same class as the other 2 courses. I went with a mix of white chocolate, mandarins, sorrell sorbet and milk wafers. Extremely fresh and very good flavours indivudally and wonderfully presented but the sorrell sorbet drowned out and muted some of the other flavours especially the white chocolate. A reweighting of the different ingredient sizes could have lead to another winning dish but as it stands it was only above average.

Food that was certainly very much more hit than miss and several highlights acomapnied with great service meant it was worthy of the 1 hat that will likely be bestowed on it in the next Good Food Guide. For 3 courses and a side dish and a glass of wine for $100 was decent value and is well worth a visit.