Quay, The Rocks

Having made a reservation well over 8 months ago, I could not believe that the time had finally come. It felt so ridiculous that I had to book almost a year ahead but I am so glad and thankful that I did. It was finally time to celebrate the 24th birthday :)

Our booking was for the 8pm time slot (it was the only time available 8 months prior – wow!). We get greeted and taken to our table – we felt like we had the best seating in the house! Our table was right by the glass windows looking out into the Harbour. To my left was the gorgeous Harbour Bridge, and infront of me was the Sydney Opera House. We were in awe.

We of course opt for the degustation menu – there must be a good reason why the restaurant has 3 Chef’s Hats, right? That, and there was no way we could decide which of the dishes to choose from of the 4 course menu so the degustation was the best decision for us to make!

Amuse Bouche – goats cheese curd with a seaweed broth

 

The boy and I are chit chatting away and to our suprise our lovely waiter presents us with a complimentary amuse bouche. So this may not be the exact dish but from what I remember, it was a goats cheese curd with a seaweed broth. Despite the odd combination – it worked together fabulously. It was the perfect way to get the taste buds rolling for the next 8 dishes to come.

 

Raw, native freshwater marron, young almonds, bergamot marmalade, pomelo, green mango, elder, chamomile

 

And so our degustation begins! First up is the marron. The first and last time we had marron (cooked two ways) was at Momofuku Seiobo. The fish itself is really lovely, has a clean flavour and does not leave any fishy residue behind. It worked well with the young almonds and green mango. I really loved the pomelo – each piece would pop in your mouth and burst out a nice citrus-y flavour.

 

Mud crab congee, fresh palm heart

 

We get served this cute little bowl of “congee” which smells absolutely fantastic. At the bottom of the bowl is the puffy rice grains with the fresh mud crab; on top we have the sliced palm heart and an egg foam. The dish suprised me – the flavours were apparent and you could taste how fresh the mud crab was. We kept scooping and scooping until there was no more, down to the very last drop.

 

Gently poached southern rock lobster, hand caught Tasmanian squid, golden tapioca, lobster velvet

 

A (closed) white dome is placed in front of us. We patiently wait for the waiter to pop off the lid. We see some beautiful golden tapioca pearls placed on top of some thinly sliced squid, a juicy nugget of lobster and lobster velvet. Each element on its own was delicious so putting it altogether was superb. Both the lobster and squid melted in your mouth. The lobster velvet acted almost like a sauce so provided a creamy and rich element. This was one of my favourite dishes of the night.

 

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

 

Pig jowl is the meat from the lower jaw. I had no idea what to expect, turns out that the chunk of pig jowl was a very rich and fatty cut piece of meat. As it was cooked confit, it had absorbed plenty of flavour. It worked great with the shaved velvety scallop, the juicy shitake mushrooms and the crispness of the artichoke. Another one of my favourite dishes.

 

Slow cooked coturnix quail breast, stone ground semolina enriched with Alba truffle butter, buckwheat, faro, walnuts, pumpernickel, malt

 

I was a little suprised whent his dish came out. My initial thought was “where was the quail?”. Yes, it is beneath the buckwheat, faro, walnuts, pumpernickel and malt, but on top of the truffle infused semolina. The quail was cooked to absolute perfection – rare I would say. The crunchiness of the buckwheat and faro did help to cut back the richness of the quail. It was an absolute delight to eat.

 

David Blackmore’s full blood Wagyu, bitter chocolate black pudding, oxtail consomme

This is the last of our mains. Although this dish was the least visually appealing, I thought it was executed well. The wagyu steak was soft, tender and juicy. The chocolate black pudding was very subtle, as I think the oxtail consomme over powered it. You could not taste any chocolate but yet you did get a sense of creaminess on your palette.

White nectarine snow egg

And here it is – Quay’s infamous snow egg, which made an appearance on MasterChef. It looked absolutely stunning. I was so excited. I had so many emotions running through me. I didn’t even want to touch it because it looked so pretty. I just wanted to take it home and show everyone!

The waiter described the components of the dessert – granita (I forgot what flavour granita it was – I’m sorry guys – but most likely it was a white nectarine granita), white nectarine puree, custard at the base of the dessert, white nectarine ice cream encased inside a meringue and a biscuit (maltose tuiles) dusted in icing sugar.

White nectarine snow egg – the inside

Crack the biscuit and you see the “yolk” component of the snow egg, which in this case is the white nectarine ice cream. The meringue (the “egg white”) still holds its form. It may look stiff, but it is so totally not – it is soft and pillowy and melts in the mouth. The dessert as a whole definitely lived up to its hype and reputation – every component played a part and worked so well together. There was a lot of different textures which added to the greatness of the dessert. It was fan-friggen-tastic!

Ewe’s milk ice-cream, caramel, roasted walnuts, prune, Pedro Ximénez, chocolate bark, pulled toffee, vanilla milk skin

With so much to look at on such a unique shaped plate (even different to the boy’s), I did not know how this was going to go down. It worked wonderful, in fact. The ice cream was incredibly smooth and creamy. The walnuts, pulled toffee and caramel provided the crunch. The chocolate bark gave it that little bit of extra sweetness. And the vanilla milk skin gave a flakey sort of texture yet melted once it hit your mouth.

I do wish we had ended the 8 course meal with the snow egg, but I can also see why that was served first – it was the lighter dessert of the two.

Petits Fours

We end the dinner with some petits fours even though we didn’t have any tea or coffee. We have a tuscan chocolate truffle and a chocolate ganache ball. The tuscan truffle ball looks like it would have had a cripsy outter layer but to our suprise, it wasn’t. It was just chocolate and covered in a bitter coco. A little too bitter for my liking. The ganache ball was deliciously smooth and sweet.

The stunning view from our table

Despite the dent the dinner put in our wallets, it was definitely one of the most memorable dinners I have been to. Every dish was amazing in its own way and fell nothing short of being superb. Every dish was carefully thought out and was made with only the freshest produce. I definitely would recommend dining here. After all, there is a reason why Peter Gilmore received three chef’s hats at Quay again, for the 10th consecutive year now. Not only that, but Chef Peter Gilmore has been awarded Chef of the Year 2012 in the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide. Congratulations :)

Quay
Upper Level, Overseas Passenger Terminal
The Rocks, Sydney 2000
Tel: +61 2 9251 5600
Head Chef: Peter Gilmore

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