Australian Series 5. Marque Restaurant Surry Hills NSW

Marque was, in many ways, the most memorable restaurant on my trip. I can say this, for a few reasons. First, the restaurant came highly recommended. For multiple instances in multiple fine dining establishments, Marque was the only restaurant that came out from the waitstaff when being asked for a must-try restaurant in town. While Marque's not one of my originally planned circuit stops, the multiple recommendations can not go unnoticed. Second, Marque is, and remains so till today, the restaurant with most aggressive, difficult and intellectually amusing menu I have ever had the pleasure to taste.
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 Egg
Recipe 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.

Austrailian Series 4: Tetsuya Restaurant, Sydney, NSW

First of all, I would like to thank my mother, who had decided that we should show up 1 day earlier in Sydney(We were previously at Canberra), which in turn responsible for allowing to have a table at Tet's. We got in town, I called Tetsuya's to asked to be put onto waiting list for the nights I am in Sydney. An reservationist picked up and told me she could offer me a table the next night, which was the only night I have no reservation for any restaurants during my time in Sydney. I was aware that Tet's was a difficult place to get in. Little did I know how lucky I was until the next day.

Tetsuya's located behind a historic house in central Sydney, operated by the so very famous Tetsuya Wakuda A prominent structure, the restaurant's Japanese styled exteriors and entrance offers the unpenetrable yet calming opulence only a high end japanese establishment would have. For a structure like to be in downtown Sydney, in spitting distance to a protected historic house, is, some what strange to say the least. The interior of the restuarnt seemed to be the result of the clashing of two very different ideas. The long hallways and partially covered dining room seemed fairly Japaneseto me, yet the overall dirt-like, woody colors on walls and various art pieces suggests something native. The staff was friendly.

Restaurant: Tetsuya's Restaurant, Sydney, NSW
Tasting personnel: Dweeb, Dweeb's dearly loved girlfriend.
Menu Selection: 14 Course Degustation Menu @AUD 195.00, With the addition of an Oyster App. @ AUD 9.00
Remarks: Sydney Morning Herald's good food guide 3 chef hat(toque) award.

Restaurant interior

Table setting

Bread


Course 1
Cold Corn Soup with Saffron & Vanilla Ice Cream
Simple amuse/appetizer here. The quality of the corn was wonderful. the natural sweetness permeate. the ice cream offers delightly temperature contrast. This course does not proclaim the arrival of something great, nor does it screams for attention. It's simple, quiet and subtle. very good start for a proper meal.

Course 2
Pacific Oysters w/ Rice Vinegar & Ginger
Fantastic Oyster, from fairly cold waters offers a very firm, meaty texture. the rice vinegar sauce complimented the mineral, salty-ness of oyster perfectly. Another dozen would have been very nice.


Course 3
Smoked Ocean Trout & Avruga Caviar
Smoked trout has a fairly subtle smoky flavor. The texture of it was a bit sticky, which might have to do with the process of smoking itself. The carviar was, well, the carviar. There's very little I could say about it that I have not yet said about carviar before. The egg yoke was quite remarkable. it's not the typical runny egg served with tartare, nor is it cooked. it's somewhere in between. Try to inmagine a hybrid between the yoke of a Chinese salt perseved egg and the yoke of a slightly overcooked soft boiled egg, if you can. While the texture itself was firm, it doesn't have that crumply and light texture of a cooked egg yoke. Instead, it has a also waxy texture that almost resists knife cut, with an intensely golden orange hue. The mouthfeel was very smooth, coherent with texture of the trout and carviar. Very good.

Course 4
Leek & Crab Custard
Custard cooked perfectly. The green drip is chive oil, I believe.


Course 5
Shrimp trio:
Grilled Scampi Wrapped in Pancetta
Scampi in Sea Water & Melon Scented Olive Oil
Marinated Scampi with White Miso & Passion Fruit
The Shirmp in seawater was one remarkable setup. Instruction was given by the waitstaff to let to take out the shrimp slowly, allowing the beautiful olive oil to coat the shrimp. The texture of the shrimp itself feels barely cooked. Combined with the incredibly fragrant olive oil, and the spiky saltiness of the seawater, the shrimp makes for one incredibly rich and satisfying bite that both primal and elegant.


Course 6
Confit of Petuna Tasmanian Ocean Trout with Konbu, Daikon & Fennel
Green Apple Salad
Before tasting, I was told by the waitstaff that this is dish the house is known for. I am not sure if Confit in australia had caught on a new meaning, the trout is, well, raw. Given the thickness of the slab and it's natural oilyness, the is by far the most substantial fish app of the day. The quality of the fish is impeccable. Konbu, sea salt and fennel on top gave the fish a much needed texture contrast, as well as an attractive aroma. Green apple salad provided the proper conterpoint for the fish's oilyness, accentuating it's flavor. I can see why people consider it the house dish. It's Japanese, Indredients are great, and it's such an easily approachable dish that needed little to no thinking to be enjoyed fully.


Course 7
Terrine of Queensland Spanner Crab with Avocado
Tender, silky terrine reminiscent of fishcake found around asia.


Course 8
Grilled Fillet of Barramundi with Braised Baby Fennel
Very Tender and delicate barramundi filet here. With this dish, the menu is taking it's inadvertent turn. The texture of fish slowly goes from firm and oily to soft and delicate, Signifying the arrival of the heavier dishes after. This dish itself is quite well done. The fish is very tender, again, it's to the point where it's thin fibres can almost melt in your mouth. The Baby fennel was braised to equal softness to compliment the fish, the bitterness given by the fennel makes good counterpoint for the fish, this is almost like a palette cleansing dish, with delicate flavors within.


Course 9
Breast of Duck with Braised Witlof and Sansho, Walnut Jus


Course 10
Grass Fed Beef Fillet with Asian Mushrooms
At last, the meat and potato course arrive. The beef was very flavorful. As you can see in the picture, very well cooked as well. However, knowing that this is fillet, I would love to see a bit more fat in the beef. The mushrooms became the star of the dish, it's heady, earthy aroma filled the air, complementing the beef perfectly, elevating an otherwise not so stellar dish. Quite satisfying.


Course 11
Tasmanian Heidi Gruyere With Lentils
This is the possibly the one course closest to perfection. Simple, yet absolutely divine. The light gruyere somehow matched with the sweet cooked lentils perfectly, making this one indescribably sophistated mouthful that gave stellar unison between the very many contrasting textures and flavors aside from the obvious sweet and salty. This is master at work.

Course 12
White Peach Sorbet, Champagne Jelly, Straberry Shortcake
The meal could have stopped at the last course, and I would have gone home a very happy man. The remaining of courses were no where near the goodness offered by the earlier dishes, and therefore much less memorable.


Course 13
Lemon Scented Floating Island with Vanilla Bean Anglaise


Course 14
Chocolate Ganache with Green Tea and Red Beans


Petit Fours


Symbol on Men's room door


Symbol on women's room door


Gift from Chef


To sum up, The dining experience at Tetsuya was wonderful. While I do not think it is the French Laundry of Australia like the Doc described, It offered a very pleasant lasting memory with many sparkles that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Dear friends, if you know you will be in Sydney in 2 months time, start making reservations. It's worth the trip and a half.
Ah, little did I know at the time of making the resevation, Barry, my waiter at Quay, told me that Tetsuya opens the phone line for resevation "something like" "Once a month", and it's usually impossible to get a table even if you get through. He had very little to comment after hearing how I got my reservation. Hey, you never know.

Australian Series 3: Quay Restaurant, Sydney, NSW

"Here in Sydney, a restaurant needs a view to have 3 hats." My waiter approached, as I look out the windowed wall of the dining room.

While I don't always agree with the fact that a restaurant would require a view to excel, the view of Quay Restaurant is incredible. Situated on the top floor of the International Terminal, the restaurant overlooks the quintessential Australian landmark, The Sydney Opera House. The restaurant is cheffed by the famed Peter Gilmore. the dining room is dressed is fairly aquatic colors, ranging from dark purple to light watery blue. The glass exteriors of the terminal provided the dining the proper natural lighting needed for light, airy atmosphere, which somehow gave me an uplifting feeling toward the meal. As for the meal itself? It did not disappoint.

Restaurant: Quay Restaurant, Circular Quay, Sydney, NSW
Tasting personnel: Dweeb, Dweeb's girlfriend.
Menu Selection: 4 course A La Carte Menu, following the items on the 6 course tasting menu - $145.00 AUD per person, $25 supplement for sea pearls app.
Remarks: Sydney Morning Herald's good food guide 3 chef hat(toque) award

The dining room

Amuse Bouche
Trout Egg, Trout Consume Gelee, Trout, Creamed Cauliflower
First up, the Amuse. Trout seemed to be in season during summer months in Australia. As I have seen them time and again in this journey. However, I can comfortaly say that no trout application have even reach the level of trout-ness this one little dish provide. The flavor was intense, as various elements, each with their own unique texture and flavor, combine in my mouth to form a clash of ideas, which eventually settled down into a uniform, beautifully balanced bite. I personally have never worked with Aussie trout before, nor have I devour a single trout in one bite. Yet even mouthful of this little dish gave me the feeling of of just that, as different elements combine to form a complete trout experience. The cauliflower underneath is rich and velvety, which provides significant contrast to the trout bits on top, while giving the dish a very satisfying mouth feel. This is simply heavenly. As Amuse is used to gather attention and show case what's to come, it has done its job beautifully.

Course 1-1
Sea Pearls
Continued with the momentum from the amuse, we arrived at the first course. Apply name sea pearls, the dish features various seafood based elements. they are as following, top to bottom: Tuna | Sturgeon Caviar w/ scallop | Dashi Gelee w/ abalone | "Pearl Meat" w/ octopus
This alone can justify a visit to this restaurant by flying in. I am rendered almost speachless. The four pearls features vastly different textures and flavors to for form a progressive series of bites. Each evokes feeling and satisfaction different than the next. It's been a while since I returned, and even now when I look at the pictures, I can still taste the ethereal goodness offered by this four bites. Maybe a little later as I can be more composed, I will come back to sum up this dish. But not now. I am not done tasting it yet.

Course 1-2
Poached Western Australian Marron, White Tea and Seaweed Jelly, Cucumber, Jelly Fish, Fennel, Semphire, Lime Creme Fraiche
This course seemed to be all about lightness and delicate flavors. The marron(a large fresh water crayfish) was cooked beautifully, its texture dense and slightly resistant to bite. Not much was added to it, as itself has a very clean, delicate flavor. The rest of the composition on the dish was quite wonderful each on its own. Since there's no apparent guide as to how one should construct a bite with the material given on the plate, it can be slightly confusing at times. Again, this dish seemed to be all about lightness, Which in hindsight I wish to have tasted this before getting to the pearls. This is a wonderful dish as well.

Course 2-1
Confit of Squid, Octopus Coral, Garlic Custard, Radish, served in Roasted Squid Consume
Another very powerful dish. It's very pleasing to the palette as is to the eye. The radishes and garlic custard provides very good contrast to the shaved squid. The consume was beautifully done. However, it doesn't taste nearly as squid-ish as I have expected, which may be a good thing.

Course 2-2
Pig Bellly, Braised Green Lip Abalone, Silken Tofu, Chive Flowers and Mushroom
This is one of the dishes the restaurant is known for, or so I was told. The port belly was properly done, the skin was thin and crispy, contrasting the velety texture of layers of meat and fat found underneath. the tofu is there to balance with the otherwise overly rich pork belly, as the abalone give good textural bite. The overall tone is very pan-Asian, with fairly apparent Chinese seasonings, which for me, is a turn off. This may have to do with the fact that I am Chinese, or the familiarity I have with Chinese seasonings used. While many of the elements is properly cooked, I find it somewhat unpleasant and could find better dishes for the restraurant to be known for.

Course 3-1
Confit of Murray Cod, Rice, Green Tea, Periwinkles, Clam, Black Fungi, Kabu, Pursalane
The 2 reasons this dish is ordered are: 1. We saw this fish swimming the the Aquarium we visited earlier in the day. 2. The Squab on the tasting menu was out because of the heavy usage of squab during the Chinese new year season. The fish was poached just right, the texture was silky and soft. another dish for the light-paletted. Quite good.

Course 3-2
Roasted Loin of Australian Suffolk Lamb, Baby Carrots, Abequina Olives, Nasturtiums, Calendura, Sheep's Milk Formage
Meat and potato dish of the meal. and the meat is oh-so-fantastic. The lamb is cooked perfectly, with juices runing as knife was introduced to it. the thick layer of caramelized fat on top provided the meat a firm back bone to allow the meaty flavors to shine. This is possiby the very best lamb I have had.(Sorry Mr. Richard) As my waiter Barry puts it: "The meat itself is so wonderful that you stop caring what else is on the plate. You just want to eat the meat." I concour.

Course 4-1
Rasberries, Violet, Almond, Vanilla Cream
As my beautiful dining companion calls it one of her all time favorite desert app, this desert course is quite good. It's light, clean, and slightly perfumy. While the violets doesn't provide much of a flavor to the dish, it gave the dish its overwhelming impression, both flavor and image wise. So think what a lightly perfumed floral desert would taste like with the above ingredient, and you will have a pretty good idea.

Course 4-2
White Peach Snow Egg
Aptly named desert. My waitress Amanda said that this is the chef's favorite desert on menu. essentially, it's a caramel shelled ball of meringue like substance with a white peach based core, set atop a layer of shaved ice shower with peach juice. Again, it's a very light and refreshing desert, calming the palette from the lamb and pearls to signal the peaceful ending of a meal. While it doesn't look like much, it's the perfect ending to a meal. Bravo.

Petit Fours

Fresh Mint Tea

To sum up, this is possibly the best meal I have had in Australia. It's clean, intense and simple cooking philosophy was very apparent in the dishes offered, and It's truely sublime. Friends, go here. Have a proper meal. you will remember it for the rest of your life.
Oh, they still owe me a signed menu from the chef. The Maitre D' promised to put one in the mail, but it's been months, and I still don't have it. damn.