So now we come to the final post from our Sydney 2012 trip: Dinner at Tetsuya's!

Tetsuya's
529 Kent Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9267-2900
Website

We have a tradition with our friend An, where we shout each other dinner for our birthdays each year. (Last year he took us to Vue De Monde, and we took him to Embrasse). And this year, he decided on Tetsuya's. Wow! I know, we're super lucky! An's a very organised guy - it was at the start of the year that we said: "Hey, want to come to Sydney for a weekend in August?", and in less than a day he'd organised his flights, our hotel and the dinner booking. Wow! He says his love of fine dining started when I suggested we go to Rockpool Sydney back in 2005... looks like I've been a good (or bad) influence on him over the years!

The ambience was very old school - the type of place I imagine my dad would have frequented on his corporate card back in the eighties. The restaurant is on two levels, separated into many rooms, with the tables widely spaced apart, and carpeted floors! (I can't think of any new restaurants with carpet). Our table, on the second floor, overlooked a little Japanese garden - very House of Blue Leaves! The effect was one of privacy and intimacy, without feeling cold or isolated. The service was fantastic too, with all staff members coming across as completely capable, but also very warm and friendly. Love!

We did the full ten-course degustation (which I'm pretty sure is the only option). I obviously didn't quiz An about the cost on the evening (how ungracious would that have been!), but afterwards I looked it up to provide some context for this blog post - it's $210 per person, with wine progression starting at $95. I wasn't in the mood for a big night, so asked the sommelier to recommend two glasses of wine for the evening - he suggested a white to go with the seafood courses, and a red for the meat courses. Unfortunately I can't remember the names (or even varietals!) of the wines, but they complimented the meals perfectly, and I was happy to leave my wine choices in his capable hands!

I must admit I was a little worried about how Sandra, our non-seafood eater, would fare at Tetsuya's, but I needn't have been apprehensive. We informed them about the dietary requirements way in advance, and the chefs did a mixture of amazing vegetarian and meat dishes for her. They looked stunning and, I'm told, tasted beautiful. It certainly wasn't a lesser version of the normal degustation, and there were quite a few courses where I had serious dish-envy!

Ok, so given that this was such a long meal - seven savoury courses, two dessert courses, plus amuses bouches and petits fours, I'm gonna stop with the full sentences now and let the pictures and captions do all the talking. Rest assured, everything was delicious, made of incredibly high quality ingredients, and beautifully put together. I literally said "Wow!" and "Oh yum yum yum!" at each and every course. Enjoy!

Warm bread rolls

Tetsuya's truffle butter with parmesan cheese

The butter was so addictive!

Drinkies

One of Tetsuya's signature dishes - the trout was amazingly creamy and tender. Total bliss!

Salad

And inside... cute surprise! Chocolate sauce!

... and another surprise of berry sauce!

Aaah... too pretty! I loved the caramelized hazelnuts, and look at the perfect consistency of that filling!

Short macchiato

Cafe latte

Petits fours - meringues and macarons

This is the fifth and final post in my 2012 Sydney Trip series. Other posts are: The Sydney Weekend!; The Bar at Momofuku Seiobo; Adriano Zumbo at The Star; Flour & Stone, Woolloomooloo; and White Hart, Neutral Bay.

How cute is that? Little patch of astroturf, a mini watering can with "the aroma of freshly cut grass", and a little pile of chocolate cookie "dirt" with little jelly worms inside. This was part of the "British Summer Garden Martini" at White Hart in Neutral Bay, where we took advantage of Sydney's great late-winter weather by enjoying drinks and a light lunch in the sun.

White Hart
19-21 Grosvenor Street
Neutral Bay, NSW
Ph: (02) 8021 2115
Website

I'd read about White Hart and their crazy cocktails on ChocolateSuze's blog, and thought it looked like a lot of fun! It was a little far from our hotel (near Hyde Park), so we took a cab to Neutral Bay, and I had a little touristy squeee moment when I realised we were crossing the Harbour Bridge and I could see the Opera House from the cab! But my enthusiasm was a bit dented when I realised that Sydney cabs charge you three bucks to cross the Harbour Bridge! THREE BUCKS! Oh well!

I wasn't sure if we'd need to make a booking for lunch - I called earlier that day, shortly after they opened, to check, but it went straight to a recorded message explaining how to book online. However, but it seemed to be a pretty chillaxed place, and we easily got a prime outdoor seat in the sunshine.

Some yummy brown bread to soak up all the upcoming alcohol...

We all ordered drinks from the "Just Plain Strange..." section of the cocktail list. An and Sandra shared the rather malevolent looking Breakfast Mojito.

Breakfast Mojito - homemade mojito toothpaste + imbibe of rum + mouthwash + candied mint - a deconstructed mojito with an invigorating-morning-feel (serves 2) - $20

You start by brushing your teeth with the mojito "toothpaste" (I shudder to think how sugary that "toothpaste" must be!), drink the blue mouthwash, crunch on the little candied mint, drink the pure rum (!) from the syringe and, finally, suck on the lime. It was pretty strong, but they both liked it, and I thought it was pretty good value for $20!

My cocktail was pretty trippy too, with all the elements designed to recreate an English summer. First came a slab of astroturf, with a watering can filled with the scent of cut grass, mini garden utensils and a pile of chocolate cookie crumbs and absinthe jelly worms... there was even an eye mask, and an iPod playing the sounds of a cricket match to add to the atmosphere. Such fun! (I saved the cookie crumbs and jelly for dessert!)

British Summer Garden Martini - london dry gin + fresh pressed cucumbers + devonshire cider + camomille tea syrup + elderflower cordial - served straight up in a vintage coupet on turf slate with edible soil, absinth warms, cut grass "fog", mini garden tools, cider flagon and the smells and sounds of summer - all the ingredients of an English country garden - $19

The cocktail itself was a refreshing mixture of gin, cucumber, elderflower, cider and camomille tea syrup. I loved it!

london dry gin + fresh preshed cucumbers + devonshire cider + camomille tea syrup + elderflower cordial - served straight up in a vintage coupet

Seeing as we'd had a big breakfast at Flour and Stone, and that we were due at Testuya's for the full degustation later that night, we only went for a light lunch. In keeping with the British theme, I had a Ploughman's for lunch - it was a solid, but not spectacular version. I particularly liked the different cheeses, the fatty salami and the sharp pickled onions.

Ploughman's and Cider Platter - a classic ploughman's with English cheeses, brown bread roll, pickle and onion, served with a cider - $25

The platter also comes with a flagon of cider - super cute! I did find it interesting though, that the Ploughman's is listed as a dish "to share", but you only get one cider with it.

Cider

An had a couple of seafood-based dishes. The first was a lovely, light kingfish ceviche with a little pop of sweetness from watermelon. I wouldn't have thought to pair fish with watermelon, but it worked really well!

Kingfish ceviche, lime, chilli, coriander & watermelon - $10

The oysters were very fresh, and complimented, but not overpowered, by the light cucumber and mint salsa.

Freshly shucked oysters with cucumber and mint salsa - $10 for 3

Ok, I did say "light lunch", but I think "light lunch" must be a relative term! Sandra ordered a wagyu burger, which looked heart-stoppingly delicious! I stole a few chips (to ensure a fair critique for the blog, you see) and they were fantastic!

"White Hart Wagyu Burger", confit tomatoes, beetroot, pickled onions & lettuce - $23

The burger itself was charred and juicy, on a light and fluffy toasted bun. This was definitely the best dish that we ordered, and I must admit I had a serious case of dish-envy when I saw it!

The White Hart was a great spot to spend a leisurely afternoon. They have a good range of different foods, ranging from little snacks to full on meals. The "weird" cocktails were a lot of fun, and from what I saw on their menu, they serve quite a few tempting "normal" cocktails too! It's worth the three dollars to venture across the bridge!

This is the fourth post in my 2012 Sydney Trip series.

Flour and Stone
53 Riley Street
Woolloomooloo, NSW 2011
Ph: (02) 8068-8818
Website

I heard about Flour and Stone a few months ago, when I saw super-blogger Penny from Jeroxie upload a picture of their chocolate and salted caramel tart to Instagram. Zomg! I swiftly googled Flour and Stone, saw it was in walking distance from our hotel and added it to our Sydney itinerary!

We arrived at about 11 on a Saturday morning. I was worried they'd be crazy busy, but luckily we were able to get a table and there was still heaps of cake left. Phew! (N.B. they're not open on Sundays!)

Flour and Stone, Woolloomooloo

In addition to those cakes, they sell cute iced cookies (yay for rainbows!), breads, savoury tarts and sandwiches, as well as breakfasty items like eggs and soldiers, granola, and toast. However, it appeared that we were all in the mood for coffee and cake.

Breakfast at Flour and Stone, Woolloomooloo

Cafe Latte - $3.00

The coffees were a little hotter than I usually like, but other than that it was a good, rich latte.

Check out their amazing apple tart!

Fine apple tart - $5.00

It's just puff pastry and very thinly sliced apples, packed in nice and close in a pretty pattern. A simple idea, executed perfectly. I thought the caramelised edges of apple pieces looked so beautiful, and beneath them the apples had cooked to a tender filling. Love! (It looked so much nicer than my previous attempt at a tarte fine aux pommes, so I reckon I better get practising!)

Lemon Capri Torte - $5.00

After much indecision, I decided on a lemon Capri torte: a gluten-free polenta and almond meal cake, with a sharp hit of lemon. The cake was lovely and moist, and I particularly liked the gritty texture that the polenta provided. The icing sugar on top also made a pleasing thin crust - I think it the cake must have been dusted with icing sugar whilst still hot. I'm totally on the lookout for a similar recipe - if anyone has a good lemon polenta cake recipe that looks like the one above, please share!

Pear Bran Muffin - $4.50

An's bran muffin was also a winner. The name "Bran muffin" gives the impression of a dry, virtuous snack, but this was really delicious. It was both moist and toothsome, with a nice texture from the bran. It also contained a couple of juicy pear slices, some crunchy sunflower seeds and a white cheese (I'm thinking ricotta or fromage frais?). Very nice!

This is the fourth post in my 2012 Sydney Trip series.

Zumbo wasn't on our original itinerary for Sydney - in fact, I have to say the famous patissier is barely on my culinary radar. (I'm not a big Masterchef fan, you see). However, there happens to be a Zumbo patisserie just opposite Momofuku Seiōbo, and we couldn't resist popping in for dessert! I like bright colours and shiny things...

Adriano Zumbo Pâtissier
The Star
80 Pyrmont St, Level G
Pyrmont, NSW 2009
Website

Zumbo at The Star

They have a dessert train (think: sushi train but with cake!), which we thought would be a bit of fun, but there was a huge queue and we were tired. Instead, we bought a selection of cakes and macarons from the super pretty, whimsically-designed, retail section, and brought them back to the hotel to eat with tea. Yay for holiday indulgences!

Macarons! From left to right: Salted Butter Popcorn, Pancake Maple Syrup, Malted Milk, Peach Ice Tea, Salted Butter Caramel, Custard Crunch

The macarons (or "Zumbarons", as he likes to call them) all looked beautiful, and the shells had a great texture - nice and soft, with only a slight crunch. We were really impressed by the peach ice tea macaron: it had a lovely pure peachy flavour. However, we weren't really enamoured of the others - the buttercream filling of the malted milk macaron, for example, had an odd, slightly curdled texture, and wasn't particularly malty. Overall, we agreed that the macarons we tasted were made with novelty in mind rather than taste! I think they were all made skilfully, but the odd flavours just didn't work. If I were to go back to Zumbo, I'd definitely go for simple, classic flavours!

Peach Iced Tea Macaron

We each ordered a little gâteau too! (We were on holiday, after all!)

St Honore - nougat pate sablee, nougat creme chantilly, apricot & pear compote, caramel glacage, sable breton crunch - $9.00

I nearly ordered the St. Honoré myself, but after tasting a bit of An's one, I'm glad I didn't. It looked beautiful, and the description sounded promising - pâte sablée and sablé breton in the one dessert? Yes please! - but again, the flavour combination wasn't great. Between the piped nougat crème chantilly and choux puffs were some little jelly (?) pieces that had a strong floral flavour, almost like lavender. I think I'd have much preferred a classic St. Honoré gateau!

A much more successful choice was the chocolate mousse.

Chocolate Mousse - francesco chocolate mousse, flourless chocolate biscuit, creme brulee aux the, berry fruits compote, berry meringue sticks - $9.00

Look at that super shiny chocolate coating! So shiny! Underneath that perfect coating was a lusciously light-textured chocolate mouuse, a flourless chocolate sponge and some berries, which provided a nice refreshing contrast to the rich chocolate.


My choice was one of the more "boring" ones: a simple passionfruit tart.

Tarte aux fruits de la passion - Passionfruit curd and pâte sucrée - $6

I really liked it - the sweet pastry was pleasingly crisp, and the filling had a wonderful smooth texture. Sandra found it overwhelmingly eggy, but I thought it was a well made tart.

Fabulous texture!

Phew...

Sugary goodness

And that was our Zumbo experience! After all the hype and publicity surrounding the patisserie, I'm definitely glad we got a chance to try it, and it was so fun to visit the store! (And to eat the cakes in our hotel room, hehe). However, we weren't blown away by the quality of the product. Whilst they were all skilfully made (as evidenced by the lovely textures and gorgeous presentation) most things we tried seemed to be made with prettiness and wackiness as a priority, rather than taste. Admittedly, I generally do prefer a more rustic, homestyle type of pastry, but if I am blowing out (the wallet and the waistline) eating those perfect, high-end French-style cakes, I want them to be perfect. (You know, like Ladurée or Pierre Hermé). Closer to home, I think Burch and Purchese do an amazing job and would definitely choose them over Zumbo any day.



This is the third post in my 2012 Sydney Trip series.