on a very special may day, m & l visit the famous quay, the most coveted restaurant in sydney, and one of the few to maintain it's three hat status . located on level three of the overseas passenger terminal, the restaurant has sweeping views of circular quay. we were seated at the far end of the restaurant, an intimate dining room with only 7 other tables, two waitstaff and of course, award winning views of two of australia's most famous man made landmarks - the sydney harbour bridge and the sydney opera house.
we start off by ordering drinks. quite an extensive wine and cocktail lists. was quite surprised to find they had a just as interesting mocktail list. wanting a clear tastebud and a clear mind, i decided to go alcohol free. m had a virgin mojito with ginger while i went for a lychee, pineapple, lime mocktail, a tangy, sweet and refreshing concoction.
we decided to go for the four course menu ($175 per person).
to start, the waiters presented us with an amuse bouche of finely chopped cucumber salad with sunflower seed and other garnishes. a basket of sour dough bread was also offered. now i'm not much of a bread person, so i took one and lathered it generously with butter and a sprinkle of sea salt. the tangy bread was wonderfully soft and had a springy elastic texture like cheese. i enthusiastically accepted another piece when the basket was recirculated and resisted a third to leave room for our actual meal.
one
my first dish was the congee of mud crab, palm heart, egg yolk emulsion. now being asian, i am pretty familiar with congee. and this was unlike anything i'd ever tasted before. the rice porridge was cooked until smooth in a seafood consommé, each bite packed full of flavours. sweet fragrant pieces of crab are nestled on the bottom and is delicious mixed with the salty, foamy egg yolk and crunchy palm hearts. it was extremely refined and i had to admit, i really wanted more.
m ordered the raw smoked blackmore wagyu, horseradish soured cream, fermented rye crisps, raw fungi. elegantly presented as a round disk, it looked much like an asian fusion version of the classic beef tartar. a wonderful marriage of flavours and textures, the crunchy fungi has a deep earthy taste which matches well against the smokey, smooth and finely chopped pieces of premium raw wagyu.
two
my second course was the xo marron with crispy radish. a bowl of juicy pieces of marron adorned with thinly shaped baby radishes is presented along with. the waiter then theatrically pours an ornamented iron kettle over the dish lathering the marron in a rich xo sauce. the marron is quite similar in taste and texture to baby lobster, although more tender, deeper, melt in your mouth flavour. amongst it are also smaller pieces of abalone, scallop, octopus, prawns. the xo sauce is extremely rich and a bit on the salty side, but works well with the lightly flavoured maroon.
m had the slow braised quail, black lipped abalone, fermented chestnut mushroom chawanmushi, cultured black barley. a nice enough dish on its own though didn't stand out as much against the succulent marron.
three
it felt like our roles were reversed today as i ordered yet another seafood dish while m had another meat dish, our preferences usually being the other way around.
for my third i had the steamed pink snapper, shaved southern squid, pink turnips, with umami juices. a beautifully presented dish. snapper was nicely cooked though i preferred the squid. simple, nice flavours. i am still a bit reserved about flowers in dishes.
m had the flinders island lamb, with native coastal greens, hatsuka radish, eggplant, capers, smoked oyster crackling. it tasted as beautiful as it looked. perfectly cooked, tantalising pieces of lamb packed full of flavour. this was m's pick for favourite dish so far. also one i could happily dream about.
four
but no time for dreaming yet as we came to our final dishes and boy did they save the best for last. i had fantasised about this moment ever since peter gilmour appeared on the finale of masterchef season 2 with his masterpiece thesnowegg.
a brilliant product of superior dessert engineering. poached hemispherical meringue, filled with apple custard icecream in its centre and then reconstructed into a perfect sphere. a maltose tuile (thin crispy wafer) with flaked almonds is then melted over the sphere and finished with icing sugar. this then sits atop a bed of fruit purée, with custard and double cream and fruit granita. the base flavour is said to change seasonally and i was quite happy that this time it was strawberry guava. this is certainly one of those dishes which you stop for a moment just to visually admire it, a perfectsnowball sitting atop a bed of deep strawberry pink crystals.
so the taste. oh. double oh. maybe even triple oh. it was far more than anything i had ever imagined. the meringue was unlike anything i'd ever had. it was rich, and yet light as a feather and thankfully not overly sweet. when paired with the aromatic custard apple icecream and exotic strawberry guava, it was heavenly. even writing about it now, i can feel my mind floating with warm, happy feelings.
m and i (reluctantly) swapped dishes. being a chocolate fan, he couldn't go pass the chocolate ethereal. another visually stunning dish and said to be even more technically complex than thesnowegg. paper thin sheets of tempered amedei, milk skin, pulled chocolate, pulled butter toffee and starch sheet sit neatly and yet artistically on a bed of oloroso sherry flavoured cream and nought. the waitress kindly informed us that the best way to eat it was to simply mash it all up, which we happily did. a very interesting mix of flavours and textures. i enjoyed it though i suppose my eyes must've gravitated towards m'ssnowegg and he offered me the last bite. my heart skipped a beat, i hesitated a little but the pull for one more bite was just too strong and i bashfully accepted.
by the end of our meal, the room had filled up and it had become a little noisy. at one point, one particular voice boomed across the room and i was a tad annoyed until i heard the name peter and looked up and saw that it was none other than the peter gilmour, the mastermind behind quay. he was greeting a friend who sat at a table two tables down. i was a bit shy to asked him for a photo but when another patron did so, i snapped up the opportunity. he graciously accepted and i was also able to tell him my admiration for his work.