For this year's Good Food Month, we decided to do something a little different. We skipped our usual Sugar Hits, Cocktails and Hands On classes for something that I'd always wanted to do but never managed to, the famous Hats Off dinners. For those who don't know, this is the philosophy behind the Hats Off dinner:
On selected Tuesday nights throughout October, The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide hatted chefs draw on their past, their favourite dishes and more to create an alternative menu to their award-winning fare.I was attracted to this description for the Guillaume event:
5 course degustation menu celebrates the best of Australian seafood, with matching wines.so got on the phone straight away and managed to snare a table. Yup, that's right, one of the reasons we've never managed to go to one of these before is that all the Hats Off dinners get booked out before the first day of the GFM events schedule is released.
Food
We started off with my favourite bread of all time, Infinity sourdough with some luscious butter (I didn't manage to stop a waiter to ask where the butter is from). The bread though, on the Amuse Bouche of Mini Crab Sandwich was suitably soft and white. The filling was creamy, the flesh of the crab quite firm.
An hour after we arrived, our first dish arrived, HIRAMASA KINGFISH SASHIMI with Sterling caviar and traditional accompaniments. This is on their regular menu, and consists of a circular disk of sashimi, sitting on a mayonnaise sauce, topped with caviar and sprinkles of vegetables and other things I can't identify. The fish had been marinated in a lemony vinaigrette, and tasted tangy but fresh, the flesh melt in your mouth.
It was a long time between courses, the next one up was the SEALED QUEENSLAND SCALLOPS in the shell with a confit of leek and ocean trout roe, 3 medium sized scallop (with the roe off :() were served lightly seared, topped with some crunchy roe. The leek reduction tastes like the leak soup I make at home (which means it tasted good!).
We thought that this might be a "main" style dish, but the ROASTED BARRAMUNDI with white asparagus, baby tomatoes and a lemon caper vinaigrette was still quite small. The barramundi was cooked just right so that it was still juicy. The baby tomato was the sweetest I've ever tasted. I am not as big a fan of white asparagus as green, I feel white lacks flavour. It is served softly cooked, tasting more like mash in texture. The vinaigrette smelled and tasted heavenly, and went along so well with the fish.
What followed was a sight to behold. For the LIGHTLY COOKED CLARENCE RIVER SCHOOL PRAWNS in a tomato consommé, a line of waiters carried some extravagent cocktail glasses filled with very very finely chopped up tomatoes and other vegetables, with 2 little, and I mean little, prawns in the middle. The next lot of waiters carried little white jugs with some brownish liquid, which they then poured into the cocktail glass. It was a spectacular display, but what's even better is, the consomme was the BEST consomme I've ever tasted, sweet and sour and balanced. I didn't know how the prawns added anything to it though, they tasted of nothing much - was it just to clear the seafood theme?
At this stage we weren't quite full yet as each dish had been delicious, but quite small. The LOCAL LOBSTER wrapped in Bangalow prosciutto with carnaroli risotto and a veal jus reduction though, was just the right size. A pretty generous piece of firm-fleshed lobster was wrapped in some absolutely delicious prosciutto that actually tasted like the stuff we had in Italy, a little sweet but tasting like REAL PORK! The thing that pushed this over the edge from great to extraordinary though, was the stunning sauce - which must be made from seafood stock, such is its depth of flavour!
After that last savoury dish, I was very satisfied, having just enough room left for the dessert. The PASSIONFRUIT SOUFFLE with passionfruit sorbet is probably my least favourite of the night, nowhere near as good as the one at Claudes. I found the passionfruit flavour too strong and too sweet, overwhelming the delicate texture of the souffle. I was disappointed that mine was on the darker side of brown. Slokky's though was perfect. I also found the passionfruit sorbet, presented on a Chinese soup spoon, too sweet to be a palate cleanser for the souffle.
Coffee (only latte was offered) was again a bit variable. Mine was absolutely spot-on whereas Slokky's had been pulled slightly too long. Our table was offered a plate of petit fours that we had to share amounst 6, which didn't work out well as there was only 4 of everything. Other people were sharing amoung 4 so we got the raw end of the deal. There was a chocolate coated pistachio cream (yum!), orange turkish delight (pretty ordinary), mini merigue (I'm not a fan of sugar and air so they NEVER wow me), strawberry on a cream tart (yum!), and lemon drops (I like these, but they are a bit normal, in fact they taste a lot like the lemon cake I make!). The meal finished after 11pm but it was definitely not just a meal, but an occasion.
Rating - 9
Atmosphere
The whole restaurant was filled for the occasion. It feels very special to dine in a Sydney icon. The architecture and layout looked very impressive, the restaurant laid-out over 3 levels. Although we were told that it wasn't very practical as the huge glass panes let in a lot of heat and light and becomes unbearable in summer. Of course none of that affected us tonight. We sat on a huge table in the middle of the bottom level, with views to the city out of the huge windows. We shared the table with 4 other couples, that's how huge the table was. All around us are little pods for groups of 5-6 and on the outer edge, the prime seats with tables for 2-4. Well, we didn't get the best seats in the house, but we did get to enjoy the conversation with some lovely foodies (a rarity) who totally understand taking photos of their food. They all shared our passion, but they were also a lot older than we were. I hope when I get old I can continue to enjoy these outings and to share it with my children like these couples are.
There were 2 things that I wasn't impressed though:
Rating - 2.5
Service
There were a lot of wait staff, and they were all professionals. We didn't have an assigned waiter tonight, so I missed that personal touch. No one really paused to talk to us, and they told us about the dish only if we inquired. I think on a normal occasion this would be different. I think it's funny though that the higher class you go, the less each waiter carries - but that's to give you more attention of course!
Rating - 4
C-factor
$130 without wine. Their normal menu costs $190 so I guess we saved. As usual, for the quality I got it was exceptional. I was just disappointed that Guillaume didn't come out at the end of the dinner to great diners and nothing out of the ordinary happened at all. There was also no talk about the philosophy behind the menu. Really the only indication that there was an event going on (besides everyone eating exactly the same thing of course) was the printed menu on each table setting.
Rating - 2
Brownie Points - 17.5
Info
Sydney Opera House,
Bennelong Point,
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9241 1999
Website
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