To start, I have to say that, Marque was not planned on my list of circuit stops during my time in Sydney. During my night at Quay's, the front of house manager and 2 of my waiter/waitress( hello Barry, Amanda) recommend the places simultaneously, offering me to find me a table there. After numerous mentions and now a table, I gave in, at the expense of canceling my Rockpool reservation. Moments later my front of house team of resevationists come back, and told me I can have a table the next night for the duration of one hour and 45 minutes. So here we go.
Marque is located in the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills, a soho-esque neighborhood generous sprinklings of porn stores, vintage clothing shops, and wandering gay men. The owner of Marque, Mark Best, had been claimed as one of the most innovative, risk taking, play-his-customers-palette-for-toy chefs in the world. The exterior of the restaurant is quiet, with heavy doors and draperies blocking views from passerby. The interior of the restaurant has a very dark, clean overtone, with black rock tiles present in every direction one choose to look. The meal begins:
Restaurant: Marque Restaurant, Surry Hills, NSW
Tasting personnel: Dweeb, Dweeb's girlfriend.
Menu Selection: 9 Course Degustation Menu @AUD 145.00, Optional cheese course
Remarks: Sydney Morning Herald's good food guide 3 chef hat(toque) award
Course 1: Chaud-Froid Free Range EggRecipe by Alain Pissard, 1998
I suppose this is a course he picked up during his time under Alain Pissard, the legendary french chef. The course itself is rather self explanatory, either dip the bread stick in the egg, or eat the egg directly with the spoon. The taste of it was, well, strangely complex. It explores very many facets of the human taste, packing spicy(something like star anise powder or cinammon) sweet, salty, and that inexplicable taste of a very good raw egg yoke. All of these combined to make for a very cerebral bite. The damn egg got me thinking and thinking. Truth betold is I really don't know if I like it. I love the idea of it, i don't hate the taste of it. I think I am still thinking about it. Chef Best has got some iron balls to start a meal this way.
Course 2: Almond Jelly w/ Blue Swimmer Crabmeat, Almond Gazpacho, Sweet Corn and Herring Roe
An almost desert like second course. Somehow this reminded me of candy corn. anyway. another one of those course that I have difficulty wrapping my head around. By this time I am already knee deep in pondering and have almost completely ignored my girl. A wonderful night ensues.
Course 3: Spring Bay Scallop w/ "Fish Floss", Apple and Green Mango
An continuation of that desert like idea from the last course, this time slowly evolving to be like a actual dish. The scallop is, as you may have guessed, barely cooked. the inherent sweetness of it worked well with the green mango shred next to it. Coupled with the yellow custard like "apple next to it, the combination of a few different sort of sweetness makes for, again, a very desert like situation. The fish floss would have been a distraction, but in this case it sort of brings the substance and salt the course needed back as a complementing element. While this course is still being very difficult, I quite like this.
Course 4: Cured Ocean Trout with Cole Slaw, Lemon and Dill Jelly
Another departure from that previous course brings this one closer to an actual dish before desert. The fish is very lightly cured, so it's basically raw, but slightly drier. The cole slaw plays textural contrast, as the lemon dill jelly give the fish a much needed freshness. It's quite an substantial course, very stastifying, in a "Helena, Raul is your father" sort of shocking way.
Course 5: Duck Ham, Duck Liver, Asperagus, Sour Cherry and Young Coconut
Another Strange combination. In a way, sour cherry has no business being in the dish. Yet somehow the "greenness" of the young coconut somehow made the introduction for for the heady aroma of cured duckmeat and pungent flavor of sour cheery to melt together, making a very unconventional bond. As far as the duck parts go, the "duck ham" tastes very similar to Chinese cured whole pig leg, with some resemblence to porciutto. The liver? think foie.
Course 6: Roast Jurassic Quail, w/ Green Lip Abalone, Chocolate Feuilletage, Cauliflower
We are heading into the meaty portion of the meal. This is an almost quirk-free dish if one can overlook the pairing of abalone and quail. The Quail Breast was cooked to succulent perfection. The green lip abalone offered very good contrast both in the flavor and texture departments. the Chocolate Feuilletage is that piece of bread like substance set under the quail breast, soaking up all the juices the quail might want to let loose. The slight cholocate bitterness in the Feuilletage complements the rich, buttery cauliflower puree very well.
Course 7: Angus Short Rib, Roasted Cos Lettuce, Blackberries and Kombu
This is the meat dish of the meal. With the somewhat odd parings in the previous numbers, Chef Best offered an truly down to earth meat dish, making the saying of "I will shock you then I will feed you" all the more welcoming. The 24 hour cooked short rib somehow maintained its integrity and liquid content, raving in pungent, beefy flavor. Combined with the crisp, grease cutting texture of roasted lettuce and the incredibly fragrant kombu mixture on top, The beef is very, very satisfying. They could have served me a couple orders of these, collect the cash, and call it a day. As I am writing this weeks after the tasting, I can still remember that particular luring mouthfuls. Very good.
Course 8: Brunet w/ Turnips, Honey, Caramelized Apricot, Coffee and Apricot kernel shavings
This is the optional cheese course. Basically, think honey-cooked fruit served with very milky,supple cheese. A glass of Madeira, anyone?
Course 9: Sauternes Custard
As with most Sauternes deserts I've had, It was somewhat coying for my tired tastebuds. This desert did not change that fact. However, the texture was fantastic.
Course 10: Strawberries w/ Rasperries, Liquorice, Youghurt Sorbet and Vermouth
I can tell you one thing, and it's not about the dish. I really DO NOT LIKE licorice.
T
This is what I feel about Chef Best's menu. It's not normal, not safe(in concept). It pushes the human palettes to taste some unexpected combination of items, making them very difficult to understand, which sends the taster down a spiral of constant thinking for months. Like a old bottle of white wine, near the end of its life, loosing fruitiness, but developing something unique, something wild and animal like. It's difficult to say whether one likes such a bottle of wine, but surely the bottle will be finished, and the drinking still pondering. Chef Best is hands down, one of the most talented, if not overly so, chef working today.
Chef, Thank you for a wonderful meal.
An almost desert like second course. Somehow this reminded me of candy corn. anyway. another one of those course that I have difficulty wrapping my head around. By this time I am already knee deep in pondering and have almost completely ignored my girl. A wonderful night ensues.
Course 3: Spring Bay Scallop w/ "Fish Floss", Apple and Green MangoAn continuation of that desert like idea from the last course, this time slowly evolving to be like a actual dish. The scallop is, as you may have guessed, barely cooked. the inherent sweetness of it worked well with the green mango shred next to it. Coupled with the yellow custard like "apple next to it, the combination of a few different sort of sweetness makes for, again, a very desert like situation. The fish floss would have been a distraction, but in this case it sort of brings the substance and salt the course needed back as a complementing element. While this course is still being very difficult, I quite like this.
Course 4: Cured Ocean Trout with Cole Slaw, Lemon and Dill JellyAnother departure from that previous course brings this one closer to an actual dish before desert. The fish is very lightly cured, so it's basically raw, but slightly drier. The cole slaw plays textural contrast, as the lemon dill jelly give the fish a much needed freshness. It's quite an substantial course, very stastifying, in a "Helena, Raul is your father" sort of shocking way.
Course 5: Duck Ham, Duck Liver, Asperagus, Sour Cherry and Young CoconutAnother Strange combination. In a way, sour cherry has no business being in the dish. Yet somehow the "greenness" of the young coconut somehow made the introduction for for the heady aroma of cured duckmeat and pungent flavor of sour cheery to melt together, making a very unconventional bond. As far as the duck parts go, the "duck ham" tastes very similar to Chinese cured whole pig leg, with some resemblence to porciutto. The liver? think foie.
Course 6: Roast Jurassic Quail, w/ Green Lip Abalone, Chocolate Feuilletage, CauliflowerWe are heading into the meaty portion of the meal. This is an almost quirk-free dish if one can overlook the pairing of abalone and quail. The Quail Breast was cooked to succulent perfection. The green lip abalone offered very good contrast both in the flavor and texture departments. the Chocolate Feuilletage is that piece of bread like substance set under the quail breast, soaking up all the juices the quail might want to let loose. The slight cholocate bitterness in the Feuilletage complements the rich, buttery cauliflower puree very well.
Course 7: Angus Short Rib, Roasted Cos Lettuce, Blackberries and KombuThis is the meat dish of the meal. With the somewhat odd parings in the previous numbers, Chef Best offered an truly down to earth meat dish, making the saying of "I will shock you then I will feed you" all the more welcoming. The 24 hour cooked short rib somehow maintained its integrity and liquid content, raving in pungent, beefy flavor. Combined with the crisp, grease cutting texture of roasted lettuce and the incredibly fragrant kombu mixture on top, The beef is very, very satisfying. They could have served me a couple orders of these, collect the cash, and call it a day. As I am writing this weeks after the tasting, I can still remember that particular luring mouthfuls. Very good.
Course 8: Brunet w/ Turnips, Honey, Caramelized Apricot, Coffee and Apricot kernel shavingsThis is the optional cheese course. Basically, think honey-cooked fruit served with very milky,supple cheese. A glass of Madeira, anyone?
Course 9: Sauternes CustardAs with most Sauternes deserts I've had, It was somewhat coying for my tired tastebuds. This desert did not change that fact. However, the texture was fantastic.
Course 10: Strawberries w/ Rasperries, Liquorice, Youghurt Sorbet and VermouthI can tell you one thing, and it's not about the dish. I really DO NOT LIKE licorice.
T
This is what I feel about Chef Best's menu. It's not normal, not safe(in concept). It pushes the human palettes to taste some unexpected combination of items, making them very difficult to understand, which sends the taster down a spiral of constant thinking for months. Like a old bottle of white wine, near the end of its life, loosing fruitiness, but developing something unique, something wild and animal like. It's difficult to say whether one likes such a bottle of wine, but surely the bottle will be finished, and the drinking still pondering. Chef Best is hands down, one of the most talented, if not overly so, chef working today.
Chef, Thank you for a wonderful meal.
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