by GodlikeRoy » Wed Feb 20, 2008 12:11 pm
Sour Dough and Truffle Butter
Jesus Christ. This was without a doubt the best combination of bread and butter I have ever had in my life. It was even remotely close. This was ridiculously good.
Truffle Steak Tartare, Grilled Cheese and Truffle Sandwich
1996 Lanson Brut Vintage Reims France
This was good. The truffle sandwich sort of tasted a bit like a semi-salty/sour pancake with a really fluffy texture. It was nice. The Truffle steak tartare was very flavourful and intense. Neither of these were spectacular but both were good. They served champagne with this which was really great and one of the best glasses of champagne that I've had.
Chicken Consomme with Truffle Dumplings
No wine pairing
This was pretty interesting. It was served in a very miniature mug and to be drunk like soup. The taste to me tasted distinctly of champignons in liquid form which was actually pretty nice. The dumpling at the end was ok, not great. A little dry and I needed to drink some water to wash it down.
Mille Feuille of Leek, Truffle and Mushroom, Soft Quail Egg, Hollandaise Sauce
2005 Pierre Luneau-Papin Vielle Vignes Muscadet France
This was incredible. My favourite course of the meal. Like every course it was fairly small but absolutely spectacular. Each bite was a flavour explosion in my mouth. The texture was perfect and taste phenomenal. Each and every ingredient synergised perfectly together.
The wine was very acidic and bubbly, it really tasted almost like a champagne. Either way it was pretty good. I don't know a tonne about white wines (not a whole lot about reds either, but I feel my knowledge of red wines is significantly more extensive than that of whites) so I can't really compare it to others. It was unique, though.
Crab and Peach Salad, Truffle Mayonnaise
2005 Cape Mentelle Wallcliffe Sauvignon Blance, Semillon Margaret River WA
Again one of the better courses of the meal. I don't think the peach went THAT well with the crab and mayonnaise and would probably have been better if they substituted some more of the greens of the salad instead of the peach, but it was still pretty good overall. The peach did go well with the wine though.
Seared Scallop, Cauliflower, Breadcrumbs and Truffle Risotto
2006 Yalumba FDW 7c Chardonnay Adelaide Hills SA
I'm not sure about this dish. It's hard to review it from a fair perspective as I've really been 'off' seafood for the last few weeks. I just haven't felt like eating much of it and have been getting a little sick whenever I eat some types of seafood (scallops and oysters stand out). I really don't know why I feel this way as usually I love seafood but that's how I've been feeling lately. The meal did smell and taste pretty awesome but I felt a little sick as I ate it so I didn't enjoy it all that much. Harris really liked this course, more so than most of the others I felt. I guess I'll have to go back and try it again. I can't remember that much about the wine. It didn't stand out a whole lot, and as I said I am better at discussing details about red wines rather than whites.
Roasted Breast of Corn-fed Chicken, Sweetbread, Mushroom and Truffle En Croute, Buttered Cabbage, Fresh Peas, Sauce Périgueux
2006 Wooing Tree Pinot Noir Central Otago NZ
Jesus Christ wow. I'm not sure what they did but this was probably the best piece of chicken that I've ever eaten. It was served on the side of a small sausage roll with foie gras that was just really perfect. I was getting a little full at this point but the course was very delicious. I was a bit uncertain about the wine as I thought chicken usually went with white wine but my wine knowledge is limited. As I smelt the wine I got really excited, it was pungent and spicy and had an awesome aroma. This was definitely the best wine of the night. It really was spectacular.
Tournedo of Beef ‘Rossini’ with Sauce Périgueux
2005 Viette Perbacco Nebbiolo Langhe Italy
This was served with a small eye fillet on a bed of spinach served with a very small piece of foie gras on top. I was getting pretty full at this point but the serving was fairly small and super tender. It was delicious. I didn't feel that the wine went overly well with it (it just felt like any red wine paired with beef). The wine was pretty incredible imo but I feel it would be better served with something other than beef and a Shiraz served with this course. Though as I mentioned earlier I'm pretty noobish when it comes to wine, though I like to think I'm getting to know more with reds at least.
Fresh Truffle Cheese (Italy)
2004 Ramos Pinto Duas Quintas Douro Valley Portugal
This was definitely the best cheese that I've ever eaten. It might be a bit of a mis comparison as usually in the past when I've eaten cheese it's been in groups of 3-5 different types and either none stand out, or one might stand out but only because the others aren't too great. This one was really spectacular. I wish I could tell you the exact name or more details of it but a) I'm a cheese noob and b) i forgot to ask. It had a fairly intense smell and was quite bitter but god.. it was good. The wine went pretty well with the cheese.
Crème Brulee and Berries, Basil Yoghurt Sorbet
2006 Craggy Range Noble 06 Martinborough NZ
I haven't had a whole lot of Crème Brulee in my life, maybe 3-4 times in total. This one didn't stand out at all. The best I've had was a Strawberry Crème Brulee that was just...incredible. This seemed fairly standard and was quite small (though I appreciated that as I was pretty damn full at this point). It came with a few slices of strawberry, a couple of blueberries and blackberries. Again nothing really great, but it was all good. The wine didn't stand out at all.
Coffee and Chocolate Truffles
I had a pot of green tea with my truffle. I feel that I've become somewhat of an expert in green tea over the past few months and this tea was definitely the best that I've had since being overseas. I literally have like 5 or 6 different types of green tea at home but none were quite as good as this. It's probably a taste thing as most varieties of green tea probably have the same goodness value of anti-oxidants and what not, but whatever. The chocolate truffle was spectacular and probably the best I've had behind only to those which I got served as Bellevue in Prague.
Overall the meal was excellent. It's hard to compare the meal to say Nobu or a steak house as the experience is just so different. As far as contemporary degustation meals go, I've only had three and this would be the 2nd best. The first was at Bellevue in Prague and to be honest..this wasn't even all that close to that meal. I have no idea if my opinion is skewed because I hadn't eaten an excellent meal in a while or what not, but that meal in my mind was ridiculously spectacular and is still to this date the best meal I've eaten in my life. I'd love to go back there and re-evaluate, though.
Overall I give the meal and 8.5 - 9 out of 10. They change their degustation menu every month so we'll definitely be going back in March and I'll write up a new TR then. The restaurant gets like a 9.7/10 from me. It's definitely the best restaurant in Brisbane, by far.
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