127 Ledbury Road, London  UK W11 2AQ

Our final meal in the UK before boarding the plane back to Sydney. It was also my birthday. A return trip to The Ledbury was on the cards. They were accommodating enough to accept Nina (they’d probably seen a picture), but we had a kind relative who was happy to take her for the afternoon. It made for a very relaxing few hours together.

I was interested to see how The Ledbury has changed since my last visit 18 months ago. It’s reputation has certainly grown over that time. Unfortunately we didn’t really have enough time to dwell over the tasting menu, so we opt for the A la carte.

We start with a foie tartlet - good, creamy & rich.

The bread rolls as before – bacon brioche (never going to fail) and a decent sourdough.

Drinks-wise I can’t resist a gin & tonic, followed by a decent red. An interesting wine experience. I ask the sommelier to make the decision for us in a rough price range. He just brings his chosen bottle of Chianti and that’s it. No more choice or mention of price. He knows his stuff. It was lovely.

To begin my wife opts for Buffalo Milk Curd with Saint-Nectaire, Truffle Toast and a Broth of Grilled Onions

Not a list of ingredients to inspire, but everything about this dish is perfect from the presentation, to the swoon inducing creaminess, acidity and sweetness and then there’s the fir truffle toast. It is Autumn on a plate and should not be missed. Plate envy

Not that I have anything to complain about: Breast and Leg of Partridge with Chestnuts, Iberian Ham and Chanterelle

Again nailing the autumn theme it’s meaty and foresty with good nutty and woody tastes. A real boys starter.

Despite not always being the greatest fan of truffle, Vanessa wasn’t about to give up her truffle toast. I asked for a slice of my own. It was no trouble.

Two of the best starters we’d had all year had put us in terrific spirits and then a complimentary dish from the kitchen arrived:

Flame Grilled Mackerel with Smoked Eel, Celtic Mustard and Shiso

A house speciality of sorts – the fresh and oily mackeral with a gorgeous crust with more meatiness from the eel bolstering the dish. Shiso provided the balance and freshness. A beautifully simple dish.

And on to the mains – from partridge to Roasted Breast and Confit Legs of Pigeon with Red Leaves and Vegetables, Foie Gras and Plums

Over-dosing a little on the ‘game’ in London, but you don’t get this kind of quality in Australia. The presentation was a car accident, but not in a bad way. Plums and beetroot provided anger against the rare breast strewn across the plate. Little cubes of foie gras were sought out amongst it all.

A side plate of roasted legs and offal on a liquorice skewer made this a seriously hefty main. Delicious.

Vanessa hit pay-dirt again with Native Lobster with Broccoli Stem, Natural Yoghurt and Indian Spices in Brown Butter

Another generous plate of food. I normally consider it a sin to have lobster anything but naturally with butter, but there was a very steady hand here that lifted the dish with indian spices. Very British…. The broccoli were just stem with shavings as the florets. Again a dish that could not be faulted.

And so on to desserts…..I had agreed to order the souffle and tried to change my mind to the banana galette. I was convinced otherwise in front of our waiter….

The passion fruit souffle

As we’d had before sharp and sweet with the cream providing much needed contrast.

A mille-feuille special.

Decent, all about the pastry and pretty fine

And a third dessert – Banana Galette with Salted Caramel,
Passion Fruit and Peanut Oil Parfait. They sympathised with the birthday boy…

banana, salted caramel, peanuts all good.

We finish with some delightful petit fours and of course a double espresso.

Our last meal back in the UK and one of our best. The confidence is clear to see and it comes through in an easy style that creates good bonhomie. It speaks volumes about the staff. The food for the most partis  exceptional. The only critique being the desserts that were unchanged from my previous vist and actually a little pedestrian. But what made a lasting impression was the generosity. You’re spending a fair amount, but it’s the little things that make a difference – truffle toast at no cost, no problem. The dessert that was really wanted. It all adds up to a terrific meal. One of Londons must-go-to restaurants.

Westbury Hotel, Bond Street, London W1S 2YF

Lunch for one in London. Was on the lookout for some place new. Alyn Williams at the Westbury had opened a few days prior with good buzz, having been former head chef at the ambitious Marcus Wareing. It seemed the perfect place to try. Just my paper & I.

It’s not one of the most recognizable of hotels, but perfectly located off Bond Street. The dining room is cosy and inviting with lots of pastels. It’s a lunch time and not too busy. Attentive service is not going to be a problem.

The menu is extremely well priced for a restaurant with potential. The tasting menu has many delights, with no throwaway dishes to be found. The focus is on British regional food. In a conversation with the restaurant manager, he mentions that the success of Great British Menu has fuelled an interest in native food, making it possible to move away from modern French/European as the staple of fine dining. Wow. I guess it’s a price worth paying then to listen to the insufferable Oliver Peyton.

So the tasting menu it is.

Nibbles are the obligatory gougeres – if it works for Alain Ducasse….

A personal selection of bread to fill up on.

A broad selection including lavash, beer bread & caraway seed butter. All are excellent.

The first course: French onion consommé/crab/gruyere/potato wafer

So we’ve regressed back to France, but it’s a doozy. Deconstructed without being detrimental to flavour. Crab is a mixture of brown and white meat and it’s beautiful and subtle.

Next up: Orkney/Mersea/Aquitaine

A riff on the old classic – scallop and peas – no complaints.

To follow: Dorset snails/malt soil/chickweed

A dish of the country and ‘hedgerow’. Earthy and moreish. It’s a novelty to see snails on the menu and not just drenched in garlic. A pleasing imaginative dish.

Moving into the substantial part of the menu: Guernsey bass/watercress/truffle/Barolo

Pan fried and moist with hit of truffle. A watercress puree provided substantial bite. The combinations made the bass a meaty dish fitting with the autumnal/winter menu. Though not sure all the elements were singing from the same hymn sheet.

Next up: Cotswold white chicken/hen of the wood/smoked egg/charred leek

A complimentary dish from the kitchen. I’d chosen the beef as my main, but the chef said it was too good a dish not to miss. I could not argue. Continuing a run of pretty fine chicken dishes in the UK, this was a front runner. Yet what really stood out was the smoked egg yolk – twice cooked and finished in a smoker it was wonderfully gelatinous. The combination of elements made it an excellent dish. It was the highlight of the meal.

The final main: Devon red beef sirloin/red wine/turnip/oxtail/croutons

Again a triumph of English flavours, including the much under-rated turnip. It was mostly about the beef and everything else was a conduit. Good depth of flavour.

Pre-dessert: Crème Catalan/pear granita/pine sugar

I’m not have a good run of palate cleansers and this was a little vague. It contained all the elements, but nothing really stood out. Not something to dwell on.

To finish: Tiramisu/Nutella brioche

A mild interpretation with only a light coffee flavour. Particularly enjoyed the brioche – a novel twist with the hazelnut and chocolate working particularly well. A decent close.

A whopping espresso to finish with chocolate truffles

It was a fine lunch from the pleasant service to the memorable food. It’s a new opening, so the eagerness is clear to see. Meeting Alyn Williams – enthusiastic and personable, you can’t help to wish him all the best of luck with his venture. It’s a far cry from the noticeable pressure of perfection at Marcus Wareing, which had made our meals there good, but not so relaxing. It makes a big difference. Clearly there’s a lot of technique in the food, but I didn’t find it over the top of detracting from the flavours, which is good since the British produce is excellent. It’s terrific value, so it would be rude not to give it a go.

2011’s foodie pilgrimage. This was London’s most important restaurant opening and has been covered ad-nausem already. Important because it’s about an ingredient obsessive following his passion to its logical conclusion and showing the restaurant trade how it should be done. The only down-side is that it looks easy and will inevitably lead to a lot of heartbreak as other food obsessives follow suit. I believe it was Anthony Bourdain who said that if you love food, the last thing you should do is open a restaurant because your heart can too easily rule your head. Hedone is probably an exception and it should be an inspiration to many.

It was the first place I booked on my visit to London. Chiswick is a pain to get to, but it had to be done. It also gave me the chance to catch up with a good friend who appreciates the finer things in life. I was glad the opportunity to spend some quality time with him again.

I was only going to have the one chance to dine here and so we chose the tasting menu. It was never going to satisfy my curiosity. It’s the sort of restaurant where it pays to be a regular and have what’s been sourced that day. As well as the nagging sense of not being able to try it all, the tasting menu followed a trajectory that threatened to derail the meal.

We start with ‘jammie dodgers’ – cheese sable & red pepper

Bread is simple, solid & excellent. No funny business.

The amuse: Seaweed Umami Flan – Sweat and earthy. Very good.

The first course: poached oyster in watercress jelly

It was excellent, evoking the south coast. Yet the presentation made the dish hugely underwhelming, making the tiny serving look miserly on such a huge plate. It was actually embarrassing since I’d talked my friend into dining here (i.e. You’ve cycled from Highbury so that you can have 90s nouveau cuisine portions). Great concept, but another oyster can’t hurt and please change the plating.

This continued with the next dish.

A substitution: crab with cauliflower and lemon grass cream

Terrific ingredients, but miniscule on such on huge plate. The combinations essentially worked with the cauliflower balancing the dish. There’s no doubting the quality.

My friend stuck with the Cévennes Onion with Pear Shavings. This is the kind of dish that drives normal people nuts. “You charge me how much for half an onion? Has the world gone crazy etc.” It was worth it: sweet, buttery and refreshing. It speaks volumes how distanced we’ve become from tasting great quality ingredients that dishes like these can be served & appreciated. It’s something that will certainly continue as food production becomes more mechanized. A tomato worth it’s weight in gold, who knows….

For me the meal really got going with turbot, cockles & cavalo nero.

A dish to showcase the king of fishes designed to capture the essence of the sea, with the liquor providing a touch of saltiness. It sounds wanky, but it’s what it evokes. The turbot had an iridescent shine and was amazingly fresh, treated with the lightest of hands.

Then it all got a bit serious:

Silka Deer Royale with foie gras, ceps & cep ravioli.

It was a badass dish, very rich. Hardcore French cookery at its best. The sauce was amazingly dense – a combination of bones, blood and maybe a hint of vinegar. Bizarrely it tasted almost chocolately. (speaks volumes of my frame of reference). Even though the venison, foie gras, and mushrooms were terrifically indulgent, it’s the saucing that will be remembered for its incredible depth. Loved it. Truly memorable.

Another knock-out main – pigeon, salsa verde, smoked potatoes & offal sauce:

Well aged with a pleasing funk. Pigeon was beautiful. Again the saucing was incredible, elevating the dish to a level of quality and interest not often found in normal London dining. A shout out to the smoked potatoes. Glorious.

The previous dishes had turned the meal around, soothed the initial sense of disappointment and we looked forward to desserts.

First dessert – pineapple carpaccio

More of a palate cleanser. It did nothing to excite. We had expected more, but it was certainly a fine rendition of one…Moving swiftly on.

Final dessert – Chocolate Bar

As mentioned all the rage in restaurants at the moment – chocolate upon chocolate. It was excellent and brought the meal to a pleasurable end.

My main disappointment with this meal is based around the frustration that I live in Sydney. With many restaurants the tasting menu gives you all need to know about it – it’s philosophy, it’s renowned techniques and signature dishes. It doesn’t really change. Hedone is seemingly different. It is one of a few restaurants that will reward frequency of visits to aid (re)discovery of the best ingredients and classical food that is for many only found in the darkest and most expensive reaches of France.

It’s not a place for tasting menus – it’s for proper sized portions of the best sourced food. My meal was not perfect, but it’s easy to see how with more visits it could be.

26 West St  Marlow, Buckinghamshire SL7 2BP, United Kingdom

In the space of a year we’d gone from 3 close couples to 3 families. A short break in the Cotswolds was the opportunity to meet the new additions that we will hopefully see grow over many years. The break was over too soon with some decent home cooked meals, a memorable walk and drunken charades. Before venturing back to the city for dinner at Hedone, we had time for a pub lunch en route – The Hand & Flowers.

A renowned gastro-pub with the focus well and truly on the ‘gastro’ having being recently handed a 2^nd Michelin star (the only pub to have such an honour)…. It was worthy of a detour and it proved to be an enjoyable meal, let down by its new found status that sets impossible expectations for a pub, which seems to be doing its things without trying to be cheffy. In these circumstances the Michelin Guide does more harm than good and serves to highlight the inconsistencies in its judgments. This is probably due to a lack of education on what star ratings are meant to denote.

There were four of us for lunch (with two babies –accommodated with no fuss). Deep fried whitebait was the amuse served in ‘traditional’ newspaper. Very cute, crunchy and moreish.

Washed down with a nostalgic half-pint of Abbots Ale. Growing up, my father always seemed to have a case of them in the larder and I would sneak one every now and again, even if they were a good few years out of date. It was ale and I was 15. I had no cause to be fussy. It tasted good.

Menu wise with the starters there was little to get excited about in terms of imaginative dishes. We are in the realm of pub food – terrines & moules etc.. Two of us opted for soups and the rest salmon tartare.

The soups were very good – rich, velvety and flavoursome with a couple of nice touches. The pumpkin soup has blue cheese gougeres. My parsley, bacon and eel soup had parmesan tortellini. Certainly satisfying, and a cut above, but nothing to get excited about. (see it’s those bloody Michelin expectations).

Salmon Tartare with poppy seed crackers

The salmon tartare served with smoked salmon was fridge cold from being frozen and as we were told had to be left to thaw to be really enjoyed. I’m not sure any diner wants to be told to wait for their food to be edible. Again mildly irksome. I eventually had a taste. Again it was pleasant, but the temperature worked against the subtle flavours.

However, it’s the mains where this pub makes a statement.

Slow Cooked Duck Breast with Savoy Cabbage, Duck Fat Chips and Gravy

My wife had the Great British Menu famed roast duck – beautiful tranches of duck on the obligatory wooden board, served with duck sausage, cabbage & lardons and of course duck fat chips. Truly elevated pub food. No showy technique – just excellent ingredients and very well put together. It could not be faulted in terms of no-bullshit cuisine.

Breast of Suffolk Chicken with Pistachio Crumble, Lovage Poached Turnips, Soft Polenta and Winter Truffle

Two of us opted for the recommended chicken (ordering chicken again at a restaurant….). This was a glorious restaurant dish. A chicken that tasted of the country (i.e. not bland) served with chicken jus and freshly shaved black truffle. Every bite demanded to be savoured. With luscious polenta and an extra side of chips, that single dish was worthy of the (slight) detour.

The last dish was spiced Sea Bream with smoked aubergine and dahl. Indian food with finesse in a pub. nice. It was good.

We finished with three good desserts:

Tonka Bean Panna Cotta, Poached Plums, Honeycomb and Plum Sorbet

Warm Pistachio Sponge Cake with Melon Sorbet and Marzipan

Glazed Cox’s Apple Tart with Blackberry Sorbet

All good desserts each with a little something to get excited about. I particularly liked the pistachio cake – sweet and mildly nutty.

As a pub meal it was excellent, with very few pubs capable of equaling it. Food and cooking was generally terrific in a non-showy, traditional manner. The 2 star recognition is no doubt due to its best-in-class standing, but this will confuse people without proper context. It’s more about Michelin showing it’s populist and gets pubs. However if you’re going to recognise the best in pubs, give The Sportsman 2 stars for its unique approach to ingredients.

Go expecting as good a pub meal as you will get, but no showy Michelin tricks. It’s makes it a fine regional destination, but not necessarily a road trip in its own right.

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge, London

Back in London, lunch with a best friend and the chance to try out a new opening – Dinner at Heston Blumenthal. It’s been pulling in the crowds and therefore some planning ahead is needed for reservations. It’s certainly a slick money-making operation for all concerned. I get a phone call 5 days before my booking to confirm (5 days!).

I’ve got a lot of time for Heston because works at being unique. He’s carved out a clear positioning for himself with a competitive advantage – cutting edge geeky gastronomy meets old english heritage. And even though he’s more and more on TV, he’s not spreading himself so thin that the food seemingly comes secondary. His mantra is probably “don’t do what Gordon does.” So this brand extension focusing on ‘old english’ really stands outs.

It’s a big hotel restaurant with double the covers I expected. The waiters are young, European and efficient to the detriment of real personality. I’m also not sure if I’m in a concept restaurant or not. We get explained the concept – British dishes ‘resurrected’ from the past, but the only other nod to it is jelly moulds as light shades. It’s not quite gelling together in the cavernous, but striking room.

Oh and the wine list is odd in terms of length & pricing. I’m well used to the concept of relative positioning – using choice & pricing to influence decision-making. It’s practiced heavily in the pricing of wine to encourage purchasing of a more expensive wine. at Dinner there’s a house wine (well priced 20GBP), then the next choice is 60GBP+. So it’s cheap or expensive, not a compromise 45/50GBP choice in sight. Mildly irritating. It encourages us to go cheap and get two bottles. Fuck it and another starter why not….

Enough of that, it’s the food that really matters. It’s good. Not fancy, just really enjoyable.

Lovely crust on the bread. The almost radioactive butter is deliciously rich & creamy with a good slug of salt. I personally can’t understand why anybody would ever eat unsalted butter, even in desserts….

I order the Rice & Flesh with saffron, calves tail & red wine

A beautifully savoury and meaty risotto. It’s a significant portion and ideal to share. The rice has good bite with little explosions of red wine & tail. Creamy & intense.

Meat Fruit:

The signature dish. The marketing men at Mandarin Oriental must be squealing with delight – people are coming here to order a mandarin…. Look I’m not about to order chicken liver parfait at a restaurant, no matter how cute it looks. It’s like ordering a cheese sandwich. Nathan does the honours instead…and it’s really something. Smooth as silk, rich with the mandarin jelly providing the balance. It’s a complete dish. It’s even got greenery. Still not going to break my role, but it’s worth the hype

The extra starter: Salamugundy: Chicken Oysters, Salsify, tongue & horseradish cream

Providing a little bit of balance to proceedings, it’s a decent mellow dish with a pleasing punch from the horseradish – more a man-salad with lots of ingredients to get excited about. But no fireworks

The mains: Black Foot Pork Chop with Spelt & Robert Sauce

A gorgeous hunk of well bred meat, served nice and pink. (if only all pork was served this way). Sauce was full flavoured with mustard and onions without it being cloying or too intense. Interesting accompaniment with the spelt and lardons. Some cabbage on the side did the veg proud.

Chicken cooked with lettuces (c.1670)Spiced celeriac sauce & cabbage

Again another dining no-no, ordering chicken, but it was recommended….The chicken, normally devoid of flavour was sensational with the lightly of spiced purees and flavoursome lettuce (yes, lettuce does have flavour). It was kick-arse, even though sous-vide cooking normally removes textural joy.

On so on to puds:

Chocolate Bar with passion fruit jam and ginger ice cream

Even if Chocolate Bars had not been invented in 1730, I’m sure we would have seen it on the menu. It’s an Alain Ducasse thing and it’s doing the rounds – layered textures of chocolate is no bad thing and this was something to send one into a chocolate coma with ginger ice cream the only thing to rescue the soul. Passion fruit jam was the merest of nods to sweetness, but it was mostly ignored in the face of excess.

Speaking of excess, I went for the final must order cliche: Tipsy Cake with spit roast pineapple

If the chocolate bar was all richness, this dessert was all sugar. If you’re going to go down a certain path then you might as well go hell-for-leather. It was great. The brioche drenched in sweet liqueur with caramelised pineapple. It was a dish that had to finished.

We finish with double espressos, a cut chocolate pot and shortbread.

It was a fine meal with excellent ingredients and cooking. All decent substantial dishes, nothing twee. I guess cooking in the past catered for men first and Heston probably had to work hard to fine some subtle lighter dishes! It’s always good to eat at a place with raison d’etre away from the normal interpretation of modern French. It’s partly why this restaurant has done so well I suppose. I’m not sure I buy the whole concept, but all the good stuff is on the plate where it belongs. That’s why it’s no flash in the pan.

34 Charlotte Street, London W1T 2NH

A trip back to London in November for my sister’s wedding. The perfect opportunity for my family to meet Nina… and also to check out some new restaurants and some favourites.

Pied a Terre does not fit into either territory having been around several years, the most sophisticated place in media-land. I’d never managed going (probably because I’m not the most sophisticated of people in media-land). A change of chef has recently led to a demotion in michelin status, but with a strong rep, it worth’s checking out.

It’s a walk-in booking and I get a decent spacious table at the back of the restaurant. The dining area is spread over a few small rooms and it has a good clubby feel, tailored towards the kind of lunches that seek to avoid going back to the office. It’s relaxing. The menu has a modern European feel, which essentially means modern interpretation of classics. It’s familiar, interesting and makes you hungry. A good place to be.

I aim for a light lunch and go for the menu-du-jour – a relative bargain at £33.50. Service is formal and they don’t scrimp on the canapes. A worthy mention to the foie-gras mousse. So good to be re-acquainted.

First course: veal carpaccio, autumn mushrooms, onions, parmesan crisp, salsa verde.

A thoroughly decent entree. Not traditional – the veal is seared, but it’s a really pleasant plate. It’s well balanced with decent textures. Honourable mention, surprisingly to the onions

Main course: seared cod with herb crust and roasted beetroots.

Although autumnal it’s a perfect light lunch dish. Excellent cooking with the herb crust providing meatiness of flavours. The baby beetroots are intensely sweet with accompanying ‘reduction’.

To finish – hello cheese trolley.

Mediocre cheese costs an arm and a leg in Australia. Here, excellent unpasteurised (!) cheese from La Fromagerie is a steel. It’s served with homemade crisp bread with poppy seeds (I want one of those trees…), honey and grapes. I’d made a note of the cheeses. I’m sure I’ll discover it in 6 months.

To finish – double espresso with a shed-load of petit fours.

From nougat, bakewell tart, truffle to my favourite, caneles, they all excellent treats.

It brings to close a thoroughly enjoyable lunch. It’s only the fixed lunchtime menu, but the cooking is clearly competent with a good touch of imagination. What’s notable is the genorisity in terms of canapes, cheese and petit fours. Although it doesn’t have a high-profile it’s worth checking out.

201 Sussex Street Sydney 2000

Celebrating our 3rd anniversary and time to reflect on a momentous year, so we had to head somewhere decent – the recently 3-hatted Sepia. I’d been here before for a couple of good martinis, but had yet to experience what many people had raved about. A restaurant with a reputation for inventive food with a seafood bent.

I do like the room. It’s all dark woods, clubby and masculine. It’s the ground floor of a building that houses a bank and accountancy company, so they’re clearly appealing to a certain clientele. Nothing hip here. I like it.

We sit down and mindful we have baby-sitter decide not to linger on the decision-making and go straight for the degustation. It’s a no-brainer with a menu heavy on quality produce.

Straight in: Good warm sourdough rolls. Decent, salty butter.

It’s not the sort of place that’s going to sell roses to dining couples, but the nearest equivalent nowadays is the ‘oyster up-sell’. If you don’t go for the champagne, then it’s hard to go past the nelson bay oysters.

The fine citrus vinaigrette is superfluous with such fine, meaty and mellow oyster. A worthwhile choice.

The menu starts with a thoroughly decent amuse-bouche: Sea-urchin custard

Clearly fresh, it’s salty, rich and sweet. It’s a really pleasant taste.

Our first course: “Scallop sushi” Nori rolled scallop, pickled ginger, puffed sushi rice, avocado cream

A deconstructed sushi-roll. It’s a dish with verve and beautifully clean flavours. The scallop  is warm, almost translucent, covered immaculately in nori with accompanying creams and jellies. It’s so much more interesting than the run  of the mill sushi/sashimi courses often served (I mean you Rockpool).

Next up: Tartare of yellow fin tuna, poached egg yolk, soy and wasabi, sprouting caviar lentils, amaranth grains

A zeitgeisty dish. Slow-cooked egg yolk, sprouts & grains are so 2011. The tuna tartare is seriously meaty and it’s all really rather heavy. The egg yolk is gelatinous and there’s no lightness that calms everything down. It’s the sort of dish I generally love, but actually a little too intense.

The intensity continues with Queensland spanner crab and buckwheat risotto, mustard butter, shellfish essence

Of course, no rice, we’re continuing the seed theme. This is a kind of signature dish, capturing the ‘essence of the sea’ (of course). One is asked to mix the foam into the risotto for maximum flavour. It’s marvellous. Rich and satisfying without being overbearing.

Our 6th seafood course is roast hapuku (if I recall), scampi, shellfish custard, crystallised wakame, fennel, wild rice, licorice, shiso leaf

The cooking is excellent. It’s got the makings of a good main course. The fish is sweet and succulent, especially the scampi. The accompanying vegetables offer excellent contrasting flavours that keeps the dish constantly novel. Yet the shellfish custard is bruising. It seems you can have too much of a good thing….

And so on to the mains proper and we’ve got two (count them) hardcore meat courses:

1.Char grilled miso beef tenderloin, nameko mushroom, braised barley, smoked bone marrow, miso mustard white Barletta onions

Again, excellent quality, really interesting ingredients. The beef is perfectly cooked. We’ve got another foam and more grains. All good.

2. Cocoa and sansho seared Mandagery creek venison, baby beetroots, rhubarb, chocolate, beetroot

Venison with chocolate and beetroot. Love a bit of venison. Dark, intense with some much needed sweetness. With what’s come before it’s difficult to finish. We persevere.

Pre-dessert: Gin ‘n’ Tonic jelly

Whimsical and a bit jolly. Cutely British – Cubes of gin and tonic with cucumber ice (if I remember). It’s a much needed palate cleanser and brings us to the piece-de-resistance:

“Summer Chocolate forest” (deep breath) Soft chocolate, chestnut and praline, lavender cream, sour cherry sorbet, blackberry candy green tea, licorice, chocolate twigs, berries, crystallised fennel fronds

It’s a smorgasboard of a pudding – the detritus of a forest floor designed with cavalier nonchalance. Every spoonful discovers a new combination of tastes. It’s easy to applaud the imagination and effort, but not everything in forests taste that great, especially when there’s a huge menthol flavour that lurks like a crocodile in various parts of the plate. (It lingers for hours, even after wine & espresso). But there’s something about the textures at play…. the bits, the twigs that’s not altogether appetising. I’m not sure the idea of eating a forest really appeals. As much as I admire the concept, it’s not an idea to sow….I compare this to the chocolate textural pudding at Marque, which ticked all the boxes.

In summary, we had a lovely evening here. The cooking is certainly accomplished, and it was good to enjoy fine seafood cookery which is not as common as it should be in Sydney. The quality of ingredients were first class and clearly represent good value-for-money against other high-end places that are trying to reinvent secondary cuts. However, the cooking could lighten up. It was a sledgehammer meal with huge over-the-top intense elements, that occasionally made the food a bit of a challenge. However it’s better than the opposite of insipid lightness and it’s good to see a big heart on the plate. I would certainly go again, and try light(er) a la carte choices.

One of the most anticipated openings of the year and a restaurant to really get Sydney noticed. A lot has been seen and written of David Chang, the man behind Momofuku. My introduction to him as I took my seat at the open kitchen was him telling his brigade to: “kill, kill, kill”. A few days open and you’ve got to hit the ground running. Every evening is an opportunity to impress and convert.

Objective Achieved. I really enjoyed this meal, not only because the food was excellent, but because the restaurant had a real swagger and many elements that made for a social and stimulating experience. Food appreciation. was in hindsight only half of the appeal.

What appeals to me is brevity. I love the lack of menu and obsequious waiting staff. I can’t even remember seeing an indicator of menu cost. You’ve booked online. You were informed then, so why repeat? My kind of place.

We start the meal with a few snacks, while we get stuck into a decent reisling, from the brief (of course) wine list.

Snacks – shiitake chip, nori, mochi

More about textures than flavour it was perfectly pleasant, but honorable mention to the shiitake chip.

Next up: steamed pork bun- pork belly, cucumber, hoisin

A gorgeous slab of pork on the softest of buns. It’s strange to me that this is a signature dish, being just very well made, comfort food, but it is excellent. NB. It’s easy to get over-enthusiastic with the hot sauce, but I urge restraint in preparation for the delicate next course.

striped trumpeter belly, samphire, warrigal greens, furikake

The raw fish course, proudly using an under-rated Australian fish with strong garden (chlorophyl) and sea flavours. It’s great to be reunited with samphire again. A good find.

The meal moved up a gear with: white asparagus, marron, lemon, shallot

A lovely dish. Again excellent sweet and fresh local ingredients and a nice lemon sauce with a bit of bite from the shallots.

A bit of  a puzzlement this dish. The radish & black bean dominated the plate, with the beef a complimentary taste. Yet it came together a little bland and desperately needed salt to lift it. The quality of ingredients could not be faulted, but they were more muted than harmonious.

Subtle, delicate and light. A good contrast and change of direction from previous. The playing around of light and big flavours made the tasting menu quite a ride, instead of the normal linear progression.

One of the meal’s highlights. Crab rocks, butter sauce and yorkshire pudding, no explanation needed. The business.

Perfectly set, moreish and wobbly. Liked the subtle shards of rosemary. Japanese in execution, but seemed to fit perfectly into the cross-cultural journey.

We weren’t expecting much from this. It seemed random. Chef reminded us this was Asian in origin. We weren’t going to argue. It was sharp, sweet and intense. A bit of a pasta revelation. Haven’t had a pasta dish as good as this for a while.

Like a good comedian riffing and returning to a good gag, it was a welcome appearance. Also very much liking the accompanying ‘soups’. Adds greater variety and interest to the meal. A really good meaty texture.

A fatty cut with a sharp vegetable. Pickling always keeps the meal lively. It said a lot that this can be seen as just another dish, since there’s no sense of progression, more a collection of really interesting dish. Good lamb.

A welcome cheese course. Terrific flavours and like the radish course, hides a pleasing whack of pollen. Really nicely balanced

A truly great dessert. Great soft and nutty textures. It was an ice cream that you could really get your teeth into. Can’t wait to have this again.

Brought me back to my school days and having to eat rice pudding. Not a good thing. I love a bit of salt in my desserts, but the soy flavours or consistency didn’t work for me. Just as well that wasn’t the final taste of the meal….

Petit Four – bo ssam

As rock’n'roll as it gets. Gorgeous, indulgent; the sweetest of slow roasted pork. It was random and perfect, setting the benchmark for petit fours, that won’t be beaten any time soon. The glaze and crust was a thing of beauty. Something to tear and eat with your hands. This dish would have been worth the trip alone.

And so that was that. An exhilarating meal. A dining experience that was fresh, social and exciting, giving a wake-up call to the traditional notion of fine dining. A meal based on real skill and confidence that journeyed from US to Asia to Australia with a real focus on getting the most out of local ingredients. Sure there were dishes that didn’t totally work (in my opinion), but that’s part of restaurant that’s cooking for itself and you’re along for the ride. Yup, it’s pricey, but worth it. Just go.

107 George Street, Sydney

This was a cheeky meal. Vanessa was up the coast and I was home alone. A Tuesday night infront of the TV or a table for one at Rockpool? Vanessa’s not a huge fan of Chinese food, so being this Asian/Australia fusion, she wouldn’t have enjoyed it…..(a stretch of reasoning).

It was easy to get a table and only having an ipad for company. A 6pm booking suited. Of course I was going to go for the tasting menu. And while I’m here, why not the matching wines. In for a penny, in for a pound.

There was an excellent selection of bread – spelt, wheat etc. all were fine examples with good crust and decent texture. Of course the echire butter helped.

The meal began with an amuse: Sterling Caviar on Prawn Toast

The best amuse I’ve had in a long time. The salty caviar, sweet prawn and brittle crisp was a treat. Went perfectly with the accompanying champagne. Shame there was only one.

Another treat followed: Queensland spanner crab, broccoli and Jerusalem artichoke

I’m a sucker for crab and the meat went well with the velvety texture of the creamed artichoke. The broccoli was a welcome surprise, providing texture and some good contrasting flavours. Excellent.

The obligatory fish followed: Chirashi zushi of kingfish and tuna

This was not really a plate of food to excite. Decent sushi is commonplace and I don’t think there’s not a whole lot of value being added by Rockpool. There was good kimchi and red bean sauce which brought the rice into play, but it all looked a bit twee and mean. It ate well and certainly had a role to play in the tasting menu as we crossed Asia, but very little to remember.

Things got back on track with the next course: White cut chicken, crispy skin, smoked oyster, Jamon Iberico and five spice

A very pretty dish. All notable restaurants should have dishes that can be easily attributed to them and this was such a dish. The chicken, room temperature and shredded carried the ham and five spice well. It was nicely succulent even for essentially a dry dish. The oyster went missing in the dish, but it was none the worse for it. It was an interesting and tasty plate of food.

Back on to fish: John Dory, scampi, macadamia, paprika and basil pistou

I guess we’re heading back to Australia with this dish, though origin is a bit hard to gauge. This was a delicious plate of food, even though the dory was slightly anonymous. The scampi was lovely in the most subtle of pistous. But the real surprise was the macadamia nuts, that worked well in giving body to the dish and good texture.

Back to Asia with the next dish: Veal sweetbreads, ham, peanut, braised tripe and buckwheat noodles

You’ve got to have some balls to put tripe on to a fine dining menu. It’s a good offal dish with a soy spiked broth. It’s rich and intense, gearing up for the main course.

Rangers Valley beef short rib; braised and barbecued, red cabbage, carrots, enoki and mushroom tea (with rockpool salad)

Continuing the secondary cuts, it’s an excellent preparation – the most yielding of meat with good BBQ char. But everything else is kind of secondary. The other ingredients such as the carrot and mushroom tea pales in comparison to the intense beefiness of the short rib. The rockpool salad was also pleasant and a nice addition, but nothing to make it standout from other salads.

And so on to desserts – Rhubarb raviolo, parfait, raspberry and summer delight tea

It’s really a cornucopia of rhubarb. A cleverly put together dish. Even the ravioli is made from rhubarb. While there is good skill, it’s a little insipid and lacks wow factor when it comes to taste. If a palate cleanser, then it works, but not sure if this was meant to be more substantial.

And so onto the final course: Date Tart

This is certainly a dish that seeks to lower expectations at first sight. No adornments, just the simplest of tarts. But it wows. Two layers – custard & dates. It means nothing else is required. It’s gorgeous and justly famous.

And to finish with a good double espresso, some petit fours. It leaves me perfectly full.

On the whole a decent meal. With a strong Asian streak Rockpool is a novel fine dining experience, something that makes it stand out. The raison d’etre is flavours and their combination as opposed to showy technique or luxury ingredients. It has this down pat. The let-down dishes are the simplest ones in terms of taste, which it telling. The focus on fusion makes it interesting and adventurous and there are some brilliant plates. It’s deserving of its reputation, and every place needs institutions.

Whale Beach, Sydney

I’m quickly discovering that with a beautiful baby girl and the attention that is required, breakfast is the new dinner. You have the early morning feed and then it’s get out the house and see where you end up.

It’s a glorious opportunity to try Jonahs up in Whale Beach, a good 45 min trek. It’s worth it. This is the kind of spot that makes Sydney special and few places can match its view.

And again…

It’s a hotel for romantic weekends and weddings, but staff were happy to accommodate. It’s a $50 a head breakfast, but get there early, a table with a view, settle in for three courses and take it easy.

We share a couple of decent croissants, with good butter and good preserves.

I was tempted by the tropical fruit salad, but there’s what we think we should eat and what we want. Vanessa obliged…

and I went for the serrano ham on tomato baguette.

The main courses: english breakfast

smoked trout with herb omlette (for me)

and that view again…

For breakfast Jonah’s is well worth the effort. It has a location that can’t be beat and the food matches it. High quality ingredients, cooked with care. One shouldn’t get excited over an omlette, but it was pretty fine. No single element in our breakfast disappointed. But the most pleasant aspect was the ability to read the papers on the terrace after breakfast. It reminded us of quiet and peaceful times, not that we have anything to complain about.

So, if you get the opportunity, go. It costs, but not sure it can be beaten for the overall package. We even enquired if they had vacancies for that evening…. next time.