Per Se
Per Se, the definition of traditional fine dining. Well, The French Laundry would be the ultimate goal, but any Thomas Keller restaurant is going to be of that calibre, that standard, that makes other chefs who they are.
This is also reflected in the fact that the famous blue doors of TFL are also present here, so I spent a few minutes, all dressed up, trying to get a good photo of myself, and of the doors, and then just being continually disppointed at how bad I looked! Lol! The staff waiting for us must have been mighty amused, because one of the waitstaff cheekily said that there was a 20 photo limit here, and I likewise responded with, "but what if I delete them and keep taking more!"
Wow. This place immediately feels more spacious than Eleven Madison Park, and for some unknown reason, also follows a stepped-level format - there's a slightly lower floor, and this upper floor after like, 4 stairs. How interesting, I wonder if it has something to do with the buildings themselves, or if there's a reason for this style.
Per Se, a high tech restaurant? No way! Are you serious, they have a digital wine list! What a great idea as a paper saving measure, though I kind of miss the massive phone book weighted stuff, like how Rockpool's wine list was just the biggest folder I've ever handled. This was quite easy to use, and it's always a good sign when the waitstaff breeze through this so easily to be able to guide you to certain pages.
Alas, there's no non alcoholic drink pairing here, but I was feeling special, so I decided to choose a nice red.
WOAH. ZALTOS! WHAT! Oh my goodness my dream has come true, I'm at a restaurant with these gorgeous Zalto stems I must be in heaven! This was a Rioja Alta 2009 Gran Reserva 904. I had mentioned that the barolo I saw on there was super tempting, but I also wanted to change the style of wine I drink and go for something super aged and mellowed out, instead of tannins that would potentially be very tongue-ripping halfway through. Good choice, this was very, very drinkable!
Some of the surroundings. You can see it overlooks Colombus Circle really nicely, and there's even a fireplace here! Wow!
And here's my drink posing with the fireplace. Cheers!
The starter starts out really strong! I mean, look at that plate! That is a big, bold, statement maker! Wow!
What a cute, super tiny little cone! I didn't catch exactly what this was, but afterwards I heard it mentioned at another table, so I think it's a kingfish tartare. It was delicious!
There were also some cheeky fancy cheese and biscuits!
More decor, this time the lamps because my friend noticed they were unusual. If you look really closely, those are actually laundry symbols. Another reference to their California home!
Wow. Look. At. That. This is their classic dish, the one that's been on their menu since the beginning. That is a beautiful quenelle of caviar in very lovely cream! The oysters were so soft too, and the tapioca pearls were quite subtle and worked really well to acccent the caviar for me, as if it made the caviar have texture on top of flavour! Look at the massive mound of plates too. That's pretty insane. In fact, a lot of the plating here at the beginning reminds me a lot that restaurants put a lot of thought into their servingware, as haute cuisine should. It's just something nice and really enhances the entire experience!
So I had actually interpreted the menu incorrectly. I thought that the menu was presented in a way that there was the Oysters and Pearls, and that the Royal Ossetra Caviar was an optional course. My friend and the staff quickly clarified and explained that it was a choice of either or, and that was something we'd need to decide for a few dishes, so we decided to alternate in order to experience every item on the menu. It was the easiest way, but also the most expensive! This cost an extra $60!
Salt for the next course. There was a lot of salt choices! And the tiniest spoon I've ever seen! I don't even remember what all the different salts were, something smoked, something French, something charcoal, and so on! This was for my next dish, and next dish only.
The way these guys put parentheses around certain terms of the menu is pretty quirky, as if they know it's not actually what they've made, but that it's similar enough or meant to be of that style, that they've decided to quote it!
This foie gras was pretty spectacular looking because of how it;'s been wrapped. If you look really closely, that foie is actually wrapped in a green striped, very soft textured outside! I actually had no idea what that was, but the whole thing tasted pretty good!
This little bundle of bread was to be paired with the foie gras, and it was a warm flakey little bun. I broke off pieces of this bread, spread the foie on, and then tried out a few different salts. The salt was mainly to add texture, said my waiter, and that he himself preferred to not add the salt, but that it was all down to personal preference. I also believed it didn't need the extra salt, but adding salt didn't detract from the experience either.
Anyway, as I was enjoying my foie covered bread, I had waitstaff come along and TAKE AWAY my remaining bread, only to replace it with a brand new fresh warm one! What? "Foie gras and the bread taste best when the bread is warm!" they claimed. Oh, ok... if you say so. I tore a piece off this new bread, and enjoyed more foie gras on it, but I ate it a little quicker for fear of it cooling down again and THEY CAME ALONG AND TOOK IT AWAY AND GAVE ME A NEW ONE AGAIN. I couldn't win! I felt really bad because I was enjoying it anyway and it wasn't like the bread was getting cold? I thought it was kind of wasteful, and really didn't know what was going on with this. Maybe this is just the formal style so everything is just absolutely perfect because it had to be?
"mousseline"
Green almonds! So this is how you use them in cooking! And I love that there were ramps being served in this dish. Ramps are a garlicky type green that taste pretty amazing, and I got really excited because again, it's not something you see in Aus. The trout was pretty up there too. It actually reminded me a lot of Tetsuya's confit ocean trout, in terms of how soft and melty it was. The two are completely different though, so I'm not comparing, rather, it's just interesting to see what foods at what restaurants, trigger memories of other restaurants I'd been to. I really liked this dish!
Yay langoustines! The base of this was a sort of risotto, and so I was a bit apprehensive as to whether or not I'd actually fully enjoy it, just because I find that I don't like risottos no matter how we'll they've been made. The langoustines felt a little over, but only because I've had an experience at Saint Peter where yabbies were so borderline *just* cooked that it's my benchmark for crustacea.
Bread course time! What a cute little soft bread. I love the flower shape, and it was designed in a way that made each "petal" easy to pull off. The butter was also really nice, but it was hard to see exactly how much butter there was in the dish. I think this one was a cultured butter, but I can't remember - I just know there was only one place I dined at that the "culturedness" was really prominent in the flavour. For some reason, when I saw this butter dish, I actually missed Sepia's perfect sphere of butter. I wonder why, could I be getting sentimental? I remember not really giving it much thought when I had it, but now, it just seems like it was a much more impressive shape to achieve!
Quail! I love quail! This was a cute little dish because it was essentially fried bird and onion, and it was a great combo! This one was cooked really nicely and I preferred it over the langoustine dish.
And the red meat dish. This was the standard option, while a sirloin of Miyazaki wagyu was the special option that cost an extra 100USD. Yeah. Imagine paying 100USD on top of the existing cost of the meal for a similar sized chunk of really, really good, fatty, lusciously melt in the mouth cow. Okay yeah it was also worth the money, and I liked it better than my lamb only after I got past the crust. Basically, I tried a bite of the outside of the wagyu, and it was like an ordinary steak, and I didn't think of it as anything too special. My initial reaction was, I felt that Japanese restaurants, like Waku Ghin prepared their beef far better. It wasn't until my friend reached the middle, where it was a nice and rare, that it became mindblowingly good. Woah. I had to take another taste and yes, now I see why it cost so much, it was definitely the elite level of deliciousness that I expected! Woooah definitely splurge on the wagyu if it's available!
The only comment I'll make about my lamb dish, in contrast, is that I'd been nursing my single glass of wine all the way through the dinner, since I can't pretty much at all without getting woozy. I knew that the last few sips would be perfect timing for my lamb, so I was getting excited to finish a glass, since I hadn't done that in ages.
Then along comes the waiter and he just tops up my glass! He refilled it back to almost a whole glass again! Oh no! He must have thought that I was stretching out a single drink, when in fact, I was just observing my own safety limits. Now I can't even say that I managed to finish a glass of wine here! I felt so bad! Ahahaha. I made an immense effort to drink as much as I could to do the wine justice, but I think I only made it to maybe 1.25 glasses worth before calling it a valiant effort.
I actually only remember this as a "donut" and honestly, couldn't tell you if it was sweet or savoury, or if it had a filling, or anything about it, really. However, good thing I have a copy of the menu for reference and it totally makes sense now! This is the transition-from-savoury-to-dessert cheese course!
I also didn't realise it at the time, but this meant the meal represented both winter and spring, for featuring truffles and ramps in the same sitting. Is that a thing? Imagine instead of a restaurant going through four seasons in their menu, making eight seasons instead, the four main ones, and then special, fleeting sets between then main seasons for super inventive hybrid flavours! Maybe that's what chef's specials are for! Now that's an interesting thought!
Woooah what. Yeah, you just got spammed with pictures. You know why? Because we got spammed with food. All of the above came out at once. What???
That is literally how our table looked for desserts. Where do we even start???
I am actually not going to write this in the order that the photos display in. The captioned desserts are displayed this way because that's the order the menu has it. I will instead, write about them in the order I feel like it! Hopefully the descriptions are clear so that no one gets confused about which dessert I'm on about.
Firstly, the ice cream. Being ice cream, I felt it was the most sensible option. It was quite a nice cream and I liked the thick, sticky marmalade on the side. Not too bad, but I was here for speed more than anything else.
The trifle was next, which was actually really delicious and followed the cream, sponge, jelly format. I believe the cream was actually coconut flavoured which was nice and I totally wasn't expecting it!
The cappucino cup looked pretty cool, and it was an espresso semifreddo inside, to be paired with the donuts. I think I kept calling it the espresso or cappucino cup and I actually tried to see what happened when I tried to drink the foam, and didn't really get much success out of that haha. Gotta spoon that semifreddo!
Lastly, the posset. I'd actually forgotten that's what it was because they pronounced it "poss-ay", where as at Dinner by Heston, I asked how it was pronounced and they said "poss-set". Who was right?!?!?! What a mystery! Okay, I really liked this one. It had a marshmallow, and that marshmallow was so cute, I found it fun to eat! I also loved the fact that there's jelly on top, because I love jelly. I sound like such a kid right now, describing my love of marshmallows and jellies. There were even limey-gummies, the very tiny, green looking cubes. They were a firmer jelly than the hibiscus jelly, and added a really nice zing to the dish. That was definitely really nice. And, the lemon posset itself. Yes, such great lemon flavour! It's super tangy, just the way I like it! The actual lemon itself was similar to how Dinner by Heston made it, and in my mind, they were equal. That one was also fun because it was encased in a pastry that I was warned about that would crack suddenly. This, was more fun because it was pretty and I felt young because the elements included "candy" type preparations. While they were vastly different in technique, tradition and whatnot, I liked this one better. This was my favourite dessert here!
The macarons were super small, so I ate mine, but I kept the nougat since it was wrapped, so that I could enjoy it another day.
But wait, there's more! So many sweets! Lastly, the waiter came out with a massive wooden box that absolutely glowed with the shine on these truffles. There were several selections, of all different colours, each of them perfectly made and super glossy. It was hard to decide choosing a flavour! Crazy me, I ended up getting this one. It was a miso and shichimi pepper flavoured truffle, and woah, it was nice and actually also packed a small punch! It was like a chilli chocolate but one that I could tolerate and the flavours worked really well! I do like this, it was a different kind of chocolate experience!
For tea, they actually had a much more interesting selection than Eleven Madison Park. Okay, I can't really say, I actually think both menus contained pu-erh. But this one had a very old vintage, so I asked about it, and they said something about the tea being healthy. Oh. Do I look like someone who cares about being healthy? No way, I just wanted to know what a super aged pu-er tastes like! So I ordered this.
Did you know that that's a teapot that looks like it's the Jing brand? If so, you'd be right! When I saw it, I thought to myself, that looks like a Jing pot! So I looked underneath, and yep, as I guessed! I can't believe I spotted a brand of teapot by how it looks!
This was like no tea I've had before. This tea tasted mushroomy. Like deep, earthy, and strong. Wooah. That was a cool flavour I've never tasted before! I'm so glad I got to try this pu-erh!
The waiter also offered us a kitchen tour, which was pretty cool! I am not sure if all diners got this offer, but it might have been to do with a little intermission we had (read: bathroom break) and the waiter chatted to me about my holiday here, how long I was spending, where I was planning on eating at, etc. He gave me a few extra options - a restaurant (Gramercy Tavern), a steakhouse (Keen's Steakhouse) and bars (I don't really remember the bar one, something about a rabbit?), so I kept those in mind, though I didn't really plan on spending insane amounts of money after this restaurant and wanted to keep it low key (spoiler alert: famous last words. Or thoughts, in this case).
I also wondered if it had to do with how long we'd spent at the restaurant. We'd been here four hours already, maybe the table was actually somehow booked after us? We had a 5:30pm booking, so maybe in some kind of extreme case, this table was booked for 9:30? Would they even risk a double table like that? I am not sure how these restaurants operate, but if it was booked, it might explain the rush of desserts all at once. That also really confused me, but I also then started thinking about the skill of the restaurant and waitstaff for being able to control these situations without creating a sense of urgency. What if the offer of a kitchen tour was a completely artful way of making us speed up without even hinting that there was a time constraint? I will continue running all these conspiracy simulations through my mind!
And here's the bill. Ouch. Wow, ouch. That's some real ouch right there. That was a one thousand dollar bill! For two! What! It says $800 because Per Se requires a $100 deposit per person during booking, hence you have to add that to the final total. That's crazy! I think Eleven Madison Park clocked in maybe a couple of hundred dollars cheaper. Man, fine dining outside of Australia really is expensive!
However, it was a wonderful experience and I love that these guys also do handwritten bills. Definitely worth the cost if you take in absolutely everything about the place, and understand the significance of the Thomas Keller name.
Once that was settled, we got our kitchen tour! Wow, the dining area was so serene that there was only a low hum of conversation, but here in the kitchen, it was controlled chaos. You could feel the energy and urgency, with the chefs and expeditors and all these other staff coordinating with each other to make sure that each dish was plated perfectly, and ready at just the right time. Such a busy place, and you wouldn't know it from how well everything just works in the dining room!
As I was leaving, the most crazy thing happened. The maitre d' who'd initially joked about the 20 photo limit was here and spotted us leaving! He even checked in again and was like "did you stick to the limit????" and I was like... what if I don't tell you! Ahahaha. That was kind of a surprise moment and I was impressed he remembered!
Speaking of cheeky interactions, Per Se is the only restaurant that I've been to, that enforces a formal dress code. Like, guys must wear suits, and ladies to match. This level of grooming and dress up almost made me back out of the restaurant because it sounded so daunting and almost too... posh and stiff. However, the actual staff were nothing like that. They were relaxed and super friendly! I think the dress code more controls the type of people that come in, which sets a certain demographic and a real sense of "I am here for a purpose" which works with the restaurant's aesthetics. Don't be afraid of the dress code and take pleasure in dressing up and and having a great night!
Thanks Per Se for a great meal, and thanks for the morning-after care package of chocolate biscuits!
Embla
Embla and Bar Liberty were both restaurants that I really wanted to go to (though I guess they're more wine bars, but that's a minor technicality since they serve up delicious grub), and about equal on my piority list. In the end, I made my decision via the restaurants' proximity to my location at a set time. As a result, Embla it was, since Bar Liberty appears to be out in Fitzroy.It was a win/win to make a short notice decision because they're walk-in only (my favourite type of restauant), and it was a Monday, which meant it was guaranteed to be less busy. We were seated at the kitchen counter, so away we ordered!
These are Wapengo oysters. I'm pretty sure it was our waitstaff who said that he wasn't usually a fan of Sydney rock oysters, but that these were really, really good. I wasn't a fan of Sydney rock oysters either, but I gave these a go. Oh yes. I am now a fan of Sydney rock oysters! These were superbly sweet and briny, they were so good! I found that on this trip, I really developed an appreciation for oysters that I traditionally didn't like. It also helps that these aren't just generic oysters from an area; it's been narrowed down even further, sort of like how single origin coffee became single estate coffee. Knowing that little bit more goes a long way! These were so enjoyable that we actually ordered a second round!
You could say that at a wine bar, the wine is a little bit obligatory, but it's also because this little Burgundy caught my eye - it's a Anne-Sophie Dubois "Paso Doble" 2015. Considering I just danced the paso, I had to get it, plus it's my second favourite varietal. The gentleness of this was a bit of a surprise only because I've been having super tannic (though equally light bodied) nebbiolos in the past, so this was like drinking really smooth, fruity stuff. Loved it! And I was sensible and only had half the glass.
What's this funny flat blob thing? Apparently one of their signature dishes. Snapper carpaccio with fermented red peppers. Look at how thin those snapper slices are! How impressive! And the pepper sauce was great, it wasn't spicy - more like capsicum.
Look, broad beans! I love broad beans! These pickled mussels were delicious because they weren't overly pickled, there was still a lot of natural flavour. The addition of wild rocket and elderflower made it a great and interesting dish. Haven't seen it done before and it totally works!
Mr Cannubi noix de jambon. Oooh, you gorgeous fatty thing. This was flavour packed but not overly salty, the fat was so melty while the meat carried great flavour! My goodness! Every time I order a charcuterie item, this is what I hope to get every time - I have a very specific flavour preference for cured meats that's more often a miss than a hit (though a miss is still tasty, just not my dream flavour), so this really stood out, so much so that I said it was my favourite, and the waiter laughed because it was the one dish that they didn't have to cook. Oops! Though... I can still say they have very good taste for putting it on their menu, right???Gosh it was so gorgeous.
I'm a sucker for burrata, so I ordered this dish, even though the waiter recommended dropping this for whatever else I was pondering over. I should have listened to him. The burrata was great, but the onions didn't work. The onions were nice, but the flavour clashed with the cheese. They should probably serve it without the onions.
Yeeeaaah pippies!!! In butter. Wow drenched in butter. Loads of butter, so much butter. These were so tasty and there totally wasn't enough bread to soak up the sauce, so we gladly accepted more bread.
I remembered that my brother made this awesome shell arrangement back when we had pippies at Firedoor, so I tried to do it here! So pretty! Except the waiter then asked me to put the shells in the dedicated shell bowl haha.
And lastly, Cherries, Cherries, Cherries. I knew I wanted this one as soon as I looked at the menu. This was fresh cherries, macerated cherries, and cherry ice cream made with cherry pits! Wow! The texture of the ice cream was subtly grainy, in a pleasant way, because you knew that all of the cherry had been used. The size of this was pretty small, but it was so gorgeous, that again, it reminded me a lot of Firedoor, for their Iced Vovo dessert. I didn't mind that it was small, it was a tiny powerhouse of flavour and awesomeness, which meant it was a fleeting but lasting memory. I will love this dish forever and ever! I'm so glad I came here!Overall I loved this place, very friendly staff and really tasty food. I was so happy with it that I tipped, I dunno, I just find that when I am really happy I start tipping so that restaurants can use the extra money to thrive (I say this a lot because I love restaurants and all the hard work that all the staff put in). He thanked us for our generosity and then asked if we were having a second dessert, when I said I wanted the crepe store, he recommended that we also go to Spring Street Grocer for their pistachio gelato. How cool! I love getting recommendations!Definitely a place I would go back to.
Petition Kitchen
Petition Kitchen is a brand new restaurant that opened in Perth, and so I had to check it out. I didn't know who the head chef was at the time, or the background to this place, and in its first two weeks of opening (up to 11 October), reservations were essential. From my observations of the Perth population, I wasn't sure that reservations were necessary, at least on non-Friday and Saturday nights. Turns out you can walk-in, too, during this time.What I love about visiting a brand new restaurant is actually seeing them seeing what works and what doesn't - watching something come to life and then grow is fascinating. So I booked two sessions, the first was a Sunday brunch (I thought I booked for lunch but they gave me a brunch menu? They didn't seem to be serving non-brunch until after about 1pm or so), and the second was a Friday night dinner.
First up, coffee. I wouldn't usually order coffee at a place like this, except that I found out about this place through their coffee provider (Mano a Mano), plus the waiter mentioned their coffee provider too. So why not! The only awkward moment was when I asked for an espresso afterwards, and when it arrived one of the waitresses said "Let me get you some sugar"... at which point I had to tell her I didn't need it. That's a minor detail though.
Smoked sardines, tomato escabeche, salted lemon
Their breakfast menu has a nice range, with the interesting items being: egg white omelettes, pancakes with grilled fruit, a thick-cut slab bacon dish, and sardines on toast. I might have chosen the pancakes or something else, but luckily I was seated in front of the kitchen (like right in front! If I sneezed it would go all over their prep kind of close! Awkward...), so my view was amazing. The waiter recommended the sardines on toast, and after seeing one plated up, I agreed to order it - and I'm so glad I did!What the menu didn't mention was the amazing, bright yellow saffron aioli. I couldn't figure out what the chefs were smearing and piping all over the dish, but the waiter explained it and oh my goodness, that flavour! Lightly fragrant (large amounts of any floral smell enrages me) and superbly garlicky in a mellow way, so that it blended so well with the sardines and toast. The combination of zucchini and tomato were so refreshing, and the sardines had the right amount of saltiness and weren't overly fishy. I didn't like the preserved lemon so much because it stood out, but it had to be there to make the dish work. I've only eaten fish on toast at a few places (Bar 9's tommy ruff escabeche, A Mother's Milk's portuguese sardines on toast), but this by far is the most oustanding version I've had because it's refreshing but doesn't leave you hungry.
Here is a shot of them plating up one of the sardines on toast dishes! That's how close I was sitting. I will elaborate further on my observations of the kitchen and staff dynamics later because it will be very gushingly wordspammy, what I will say for now is that it's totally mesmerising and I would come to this place again and again to the point where the staff would probably know I'd always want the kitchen seat!Okay, onto dinner service.
Oysters natural, lemon
Ah, sometimes I miss Adelaide. Perth restaurants seem to always source their oysters from South Australia! These are Smokey Bay oysters, and they were pretty superb. However, at the same cost as a Print Hall oyster, the Print Hall ones stand out - both in the quality and taste of the oyster as well as the condiments. But don't get me wrong - these are amazing - second best!
Organic beef tartare, harissa & sesame, sour cream, grilled bread
Okay, this restaurant has just served me a top 3 tartare in my tartare experiences. I don't have a "favourite" tartare but the ones I would recommend come from Felix, Fix St James, Petition Kitchen, and possibly a small little place in Adelaide called The Corner Bistrot. That's how good this is. Why? Though it's not a traditional tartare, my goodness, that flavour! The crunch was hybridised in the form of harissa shards, which tasted so good - enough heat to excite me but not enough to burn me - my favourite amount! There was a lovely dollop of sour cream to offset the chilli, and also helped to stick the beef onto the grilled bread (served on the side). The beef was more coarsely cut than the last two tartares I've eaten, but the flavour was so good! I totally did not care that this came pre-mixed, the presentation, flavours and textures were just so spot on, I'd recommend this dish as one of the must haves.
Squid, creamed buckwheat, celeriac, fennel & orange
I had totally missed the buckwheat on the menu, I ordered it because of the squid! So that's what one of the chefs was stirring... some black pasty mush thing that actually turned out to be squid ink buckwheat. It was so tender and delicious, but what made it fantastic was the toasted buckwheat that gave a crunchy texture to offset the softness of both the creamed buckwheat and the squid. I think my squid was on for slightly longer than subsequent orders (cause I was observing the whole time), but mine still came out tender. The orange pieces refreshed the palate with every bite, so it was an awesome addition to have!
Another snapshot of the kitchen in action. This guy, Duncan (I think that's his name), appears to be the sous chef. Amazing! I actually really enjoy watching him and his concentration and how he manages all dishes up to and including the pass.
And those are 1kg rib eyes, the special of the night. They were cooking for what felt like the longest time, then rested for the longest time, with I think the head chef coming to check on them every now and again. Due to the time it takes to cook one of these, they were prepared ahead of time, and fired up again once an order came through. And when they were sliced, it was a perfect medium rare. I would love to try one of these if I had people to share with!
Lemon leaf rice pudding, strawberry, pistachio, lavender
Service slowed way down just after my squid dish, as it was now entering the busiest couple of hours for the restaurant. I didn't mind so much, but it was noticeable, mainly because I was alone dining. It was pretty interesting because at first, all the staff would check up on me and ask how the food was, and even commenting about my seat in front of the kitchen, but then they couldn't keep it up anymore. That being said, they do look after "VIPs" - a couple ended up sitting next to me on the bench and looked to have been in the restaurant business, and the chefs and staff knew who they were, so they had a bit more interaction. That was an extra bonus for me because I could overhear their conversations and commentary!
I agonised over desserts because they all looked pretty good, and ended up choosing the rice pudding dish. This was an amazing rice pudding. The rice was super soft, but I believe it was intended that way (I like slightly firm rice), based on my rice pudding experience from Fix St James. That lemon leaf aroma! Wow! It definitely was leaf, and not lemon. I was very impressed. Taking a picture of this was interesting since the strawberry sorbet was melting so fast, it was because the rice pudding was slightly warm. An interesting contrast of temperatures that worked - I liked the rice warm, and the sorbet didn't actually melt all that quickly. And then there was the lavender. Little bulbs of lavender sprinkled sparingly through the dish that I loved it! It gave it such a nice floral fragrance without the flashiness of the currently overused edible flowers (yes I am guilty of that!). It's definitely the most unique rice pudding I've had, and probably my favourite too!
I totally enjoyed every dish I've had here so far, I'm very, very impressed. I don't know what it is, whether the dishes are "safe" or simply familiar to me and appeal to my tastes, but this stands out, and ranks way above Automata and Nel for me. I do have a good idea why, though. The flavours and textures just work. It's good, simple food. Plated with detail, but not trying too hard or having complex elements. Solid, clean flavours that stand up well on their own and also complement the rest of the dish. And how does this all come about? The head chef used to work at Cumulus Inc!
After I learned that vital piece of information, it all made sense to me. Cumulus is the restaurant I would revisit when in Melbourne, again and again and again. It's friendly, accessible, and has amazing food. It also explains the benches at the kitchen, Cumulus Inc had a very similar setup there. It probably also means that an alone dining experience here will be consistently enjoyable.
I definitely have to revisit a while later (Wildflower is next, when it opens!), to see how everything evolves - the food and the staff. There were some brilliant highlights from my prime table:
- Within the first few minutes of me being seated on my initial Sunday brunch visit, the chefs were upset about not having a bread knife because their one went missing. After a chef was having difficulty slicing some bread with a chef's knife, he went and asked for the one from the beer bar. They were reluctant to hand it over, but did so in the end. So I concluded that they only had two bread knives. They were Global knives, and I was happy that I recognised them, since I am now a proud owner of two Global knives. When I returned on my Friday night dinner, they were back to being bread knife-less and were using a regular chef's knife!
- The chefs are quite assertive, especially the sous chef. Most of the interesting dynamics were between Duncan and the waitstaff. The chef watching the pass seems to think like me - when handing the dishes out, the waitstaff had to ask for the table number of one of the plates again, and Duncan replied, "I already called it out, I don't remember which table. Which one did you send the previous dish to? I'll know where this one is going if you can tell me where the other one went." Paraphrased of course since my memory is terrible, but I was so happy inside watching all this! And then another time the waitstaff wanted the chef's marker, and he said he needed it for service. Teehee! I love watching that stuff and figure it's normal during service, and possibly because the restaurant is still within its review period. I know there's a bit of a divide between front of house and the kitchen, and it's great to see how it all works out.
- When Jesse (head chef, I think... I don't actually know what he looks like, I was mainly making an educated guess by his New Zealand accent!) brought out all the rib eyes, he was showing them off to his chefs! So I got a great view of three massive chunks of steak and watched the entire cooking process. I think even he was worried at one point that he'd messed one of his steaks up. There was a little concern that they weren't reaching internal temperature (he was aiming for 50), and he had to put one back on the flame twice before serving.
- Chefs like coffee and chug it. Again, shortly after I was seated, a whole round of coffees went out (milk coffees) and all the chefs grabbed one and literally gulped it down. Then came a combination of espresso shots and milk drinks, and the sous chef was so focussed on his job, he totally didn't realise a second round of coffees came out till Jesse called out the last chance, and he practically rushed to get another cup! It was so hilarious.
- It is absolutely fascinating watching the chefs keep track of all the different dishes that were going. Of course, I was a diner, so while I was eating my attention wasn't on what they were doing, and when I was waiting for a dish, I'd be observing the whole thing, rather than what each individual chef was doing, so I often lost track of what food was where, but they do such a good job of it (of course; it's their job)! It seriously is so fun to watch I could keep doing this forever, so much so that I even enjoyed watching a chef trying to peel potatoes with a cheap, dingy peeler, give up, and switch to a Global peeling knife which was so much faster. Who ever thought watching someone peel vegetables could be so fun!
That's a lot of words and pretty much sums up that my first impression of this place was mindblowingly good. I totally have to come back if it doesn't break the bank. Maybe here instead of having a cafe and barista, I'll have "my restaurant" and "my chef"?!?! One can dream!
Happy Easter, etc
I don't feel that I did too much over the last couple of weeks - it was a lot of rewatching Person of Interest and thinking up more characters for my amazing world. I also found out that there's a thing out there called technological singularity, and it's scarily close to what I was doing for my cyberpunk story, at which point I discovered that I really should read Neuromancer by William Gibson because it sounds amazing!In food news, I had my first shakshuka at Origin Artisan Roasters - it wasn't as salty as I had imagined it, but it had a lot of flavour so I really liked it and felt it was a healthy dish:
There was a visit to Camps Bay, a beachside with some very crazy winds. A group of us spent way too much money on tapas, and I was running to the beach every 10 minutes to capture the waves and the sunset. What made the waves particularly interesting was the fact that the wind was so strong and blew towards the sea, that the waves would be splattered with sand particles, making for some cool pictures, so here's some wave spam, courtesy of me discovering the continuous shooting function on my camera:
I also discovered the colourful area of Bo-Kaap and its bright, bold and even pastel coloured houses:
It had a cute little setup, and I managed to spot some nice soft shell crab which was quite costly relative to everything else on the menu, but was worth it!
Finally, a place that served bite sized pieces of sushi! This made me super happy, and all the white fish I've had here has been fairly tasty. I still miss Sydney and Japan's sushi like crazy, but this made do for now.
In terms of fine dining, I managed to find a few places in lieu of The Test Kitchen (I'm still crying over the fact that I missed out on booking a table - I found out too late that it's a San Pellegrino Top 50 restaurant but then decided to employ my snobbishness of having visited Dinner by Heston at #5 on the list) - places like Bizerca, Fork, and Borage Bistro. Bizerca was a really nice place with prompt service, Fork passed my magical refilling water service test, and Borage's chef worked under Heston.
Tuna tartare, pork belly, sticky date pudding - Fork
I had my eye on this place since my early days in Cape Town, but I wanted to avoid if if possible because it's situated on a main street, and I'm too hipster for that. I found it weird that they always served their food in portions of four, but in terms of flavour, it was all very nice!
Seared tuna and tuna tartare, beef tartare - Bizerca Bistro
I only had one issue with Bizerca, and that was their presentation of their beef tartare. Sure it's chopped steak with spices, but I felt that this was presented like an uncooked burger rather than a dish that is intended to be eaten raw. It was very nicely flavoured though! This visit was when I realised I do eat a lot of raw things...
And here's Borage Bistro, where I managed to get pictures of every dish I ordered:
Beef tartare - parsley, quail egg yolk, gherkins, onion, croute
This beef tartare had a much nicer presentation than Bizerca. I still miss my little sculptured blobs with spices trailing out from the centre and mustard condiments on the side, but hey, this was pretty decent!
Chicken Livers and Foie Gras Parfait - "Gluehwein" gel, sourdough
This parfait had a lovely flavour to it, and I love the garnish of figs and what tasted like a red wine gel. I guess I've eaten so many nice things at nice places, this was very nice, but I've had better - but that just makes me sound like a snob. I guess I am one, but every now and again I feel bad for being so judgemental.
Duck - pomme dauphine, brussels sprouts, sprouting broccoli, spiced duck sauce
I love duck, and haven't consumed any recently, so this was my perfect chance since I'd eaten a decent amount of game here. The legs were nicely cooked, though the second piece was either a little overcooked, or I was getting very full with the two entrees I'd already eaten. I was also glad to finally eat brussels sprouts, since I hadn't had it for at least a decade.
Sticky Toffee Pudding - homemade vanilla ice cream, honeycomb
They seem to call these sticky toffee puddings here, though I'm sure they're sticky date puddings. Quite delicious indeed! If I may be snobby yet again, I would have liked the ice cream a bit smoother, as it broke off in chunks. Yep, I'm so judgemental with my food here. But overall, it was certainly a lovely place to dine - the others I took here definitely enjoyed the meal!
I discovered one more cafe recently, a place called Loading Bay, right next to Origin Artisan Roasters. The most hipster and trendy place I've found yet - a cafe, clothing store and the only stockist of Aesop in South Africa!
They use Microlab roasters, and have a very nice espresso. I love the lights and the plants! It's also considerably less busy than Origin, so I've taken a liking to this place - they also do burgers and have kombucha on tap.
And finally the end of this post. With a Hot Cross Bomb from Jason's Bakery - hot cross bun with bacon, cheese and egg! A sweet and savoury special easter breakfast.
My other bonus today was a savoury and a sweet bunny chow in a single day! Above - lamb curry bunny chow in brioche from Jason's Bakery, and below - banana bread bunny chow with chocolate sauce and ice cream from Honest Chocolate. I love special holidays!
