The already mentioned Chaud-Froid amuse was the first thing to arrive, Claire (being pregnant) was given a tomato and basil foam in a martini glass as an alternative. The rich warm yolk for the hot, topped in a light slightly acidic froth for the cold all in the perfectly natural and logical casing of an open top egg shell, the presentation was simple and elegant. I enjoyed it, but it paled in comparison to what was coming up next.

Blue swimmer crab with almond, sweet corn and pod corn. God! It didn’t look like much when it arrived at the table, but the cone of almond covered the incredible crab, and while understated in its simplistic appearance, savoury, slightly sweet and full flavoured. I’ve never had crab like it before, but I hope at some point I get to either eat this same dish again or enjoy something on a similar level of crabby deliciousness.

The third course was almost as good as the crab, actually, it might have been better. It’s hard to be impartial when there is smoked foie gras on the plate, I’d bathe in that stuff if it were possible. The scampi that followed was superb, the lemon curd was a unique way of adding acidity to the plate, I’ve seen it used (and used it myself) in dessert applications, but this was different, less sweet, but still smooth and delicious.

Suffice to say that every course was delightful, the optional cheese course used a Parmigiano that I have been wanting to try for years but hadn’t found the opportunity, so when offered it along with fresh Australian truffles it’s not going to take much to twist my arm, actually, I made sure I asked a few courses before it was due to be offered. There aren’t many things that I like more than good cheese, I often comment in joking when talking about my relationship history that I broke off an engagement because my fiancé stole some of my imported  Parmigiano Reggiano. I joke because if people would probably think I was crazy if they thought it was the truth… I’ll leave it for you to decide how much is fact and how much is just colloquial story telling.

Custards can be good, bad and also absolutely heavenly, the sauternes custard was so smooth that it blew me away, while it held its shape when scooped out it offered no resistance when eaten. Silken and light the custard was topped with a slightly boozy sauternes sauce that gave a hint of indulgence, it wasn’t listed on the menu but why would anyone ever complain about receiving something so wonderfully crafted.

Every time I go to a restaurant and find them using an idea that I have had or used in the past I feel a little justified, the final dessert was a chocolate mousse that had been nitro frozen to change it’s texture and shape. I’m going to go ahead and call it a genius idea, great minds etc etc.

The encompassing theme derived from the meal at Marque was one of experimentation, progression, and good full flavours. The use of great product in inventive presentations, the pea and ham soup highlighting the fresh vegetables available from the blue mountains. The petit four involving four taste sensations (sweet, sour, bitter and salty) bringing home that Marque offers an experience, it’s not just food slapped on a plate, there is serious thought and technique on show.

When I find myself next visiting Sydney, Marque will be on the agenda again for sure. I just wish I could have expressed my feelings of thanks for the exceptional experience that they provided. From the front of house right back to the dish hand slogging through all of those plates – cheers!!!

Into the freezer you go.

The tickets are already booked and my first dinner reservation has been made, I’ll be eating solo, and I expect some long hours in my future but the potential to learn so much is incredible. Once in Melbourne I then have the exciting task of finding a more permanent job, hopefully in one of the other incredible eateries in the city, or outside it.

I haven’t found a New Zealand retailer offering it for pre-order yet, but it’s price tag is sure to be at least a respectable $500. Can you really put a price on knowledge?  

Claire wasn’t feeling up to the the weight of the tasting menu but the vegetarian option that as presented offered an attractive alternative. Each dish that was presented to each of us was meticulously plated, all involving multiple components to create something completely unique. The best example of the unique style would be the Pea and Black Sesame fondant, soft black sesame mousse filled with an almost liquid pea puree. There was also some goats cheese on the plate (but not nearly enough for my liking, not that there ever is) incredibly decadent for a vegetarian dish and deceptively piquant.

Quinoa in the style of Tabbouleh was very nice, something that was a little different while seeming perfectly natural. I really enjoyed the texture of it, the firmer structure of the Quinoa compared to Bulgur wheat was very pleasant, giving the eater less focus on the contrasting texture of the herbs (typically far courser than the grain) and drawing more towards their flavour.

The Pork belly covered in a milk gel was really good, but the dessert and my wife’s first course were the two stand out dishes of the night. Hers a smoked potato mousse was so savoury and rich that it could be served along side a steak with ease. The dessert, a warm self supporting mandarin custard pillow filled with a liquid chocolate, mandarin ice cream and pistachio crumble.

As it was our first night in Sydney and the style of cuisine is far more involved than the typical restaurant it is hard to remember more than this, but I do remember enjoying every dish, even the Ocean Trout with a mousse of the same covered in Bee pollen. The staff were friendly and Claire’s Lemon Lime and Bitters was the best of the bunch in Sydney, plus the fact that the waiter very successfully matched a beer with the cured venison was a huge plus in their favour.

My only qualm about our visit was the volume of the Jazz playing from the speakers above us (less of an issue for people not sitting right below it, perhaps it was the style of music that ended up being the problem but in spite of this I would love to visit The Bentley Bar again to sample their Tapas menu and some of their cocktails or even try out some of the a la carte options.

The setting for the entrance to The Grove is a church courtyard outside St Patricks Cathedral. Inside we were seated towards the rear of the restaurant that seats about 60 people, probably a little more at a pinch, and the decor is elegant while maintaining an approachable comfort level. The bench seat was actually ass-cradleingly excellent. Kind of important when you plan on sitting and eating for 3 hours.

The tasting menu costs 130 per person and consists of 8 courses and includes coffee/tea and petit four after the meal. Every course was good, while others were truly special. The goats cheese gnocchi to start were light and flavourful with some Jerusalem Artichoke and a puree of what I think was confit dates. The most intriguing thing about the Gnocchi was the shape, they were far more elegant than what I has anticipated.

Two other highlights of the evening were the Tuna and the Boar. The tuna went down the line of using sushi flavours, avocado puree and cucumber sorbet. There was a parcel wrapped in a cucumber gel that had shitake mushrooms in it along with some other delicious items that I didn’t take the time to identify.  The shiso dressing on the tuna enhanced the raw flavour, it was overall a very enjoyable combination of flavours textures and temperatures.Boar isn’t something I get to eat very often, this instance has me thinking I should make it a more frequent visitor to my dinner plate. Various textures of Celeriac accompanied the crispy liquid boar cake, the glaze that accompanied it was rich and sticky. Very good.

For the tasting menu that we put on a few months ago, I was planning on making a risotto from Celeriac, my supplier fell through however and we resorted to a traditional Arborio base. Ben uses fir potato for the risotto dish that is served with seared scallops crab and morels. It was light, elegant and a fitting combination. From the texture of the scallops I would assume that they were cooked sous-vide before being sealed on one side. I am growing to like crab more and more after the last two restaurants I have visited have used it without being over bearing.

As a cheese course a cheese cake with Tamarillo, then a pre dessert which was blood orange sabyon and a goats milk sorbet which sat on a persimon salad with passion fruit dressing. The goats milk sorbet was very good, light, cooling and with enough depth to counter balance the sweet sabayon.

For dessert a more traditional approach was taken. Lemon soufflé and a gingernut ice cream. The soufflé was served in a small ramekin and was dusted with icing sugar, the texture was light, and the interior still slightly gooey. Not exactly what I expected to follow the other very aesthetically driven dishes, but hell, where else can you go these days and get a freshly made soufflé of perfect execution.

A nice coffee and petit fours rounded off the evening before the bill was presented and the drive home initiated. I was worried that the food might not be up to par with other recent adventures, but The Grove did its self proud, and I enjoyed the whole experience. There wasn’t a single questionable dish. They were all very good and we were very satisfied by the end.

An amuse-bouche of creamy goats curd custard and venison consommé was presented to us upon arrival, the collagen rich consommé went well with the smooth curd. A selection of sourdough breads with butter was brought out before the first course arrived, which was a pared down version of the iconic sea pearl dish. Smoked eel covered in egg white pearls and horseradish flowers, soon followed by a variety of young vegetables, turnips, Chinese artichokes and radishes, some pickled, others were just cooked. The first two courses showed restraint and a lightness of flavours that at the time of eating had me a little worried (due to their lightness), but by the end of the night it was clear that it was a build up, a way of allowing the diner to enjoy the experience from start to finish with out over whelming.

The third course was my least favourite of the evening, I’m not a fish eater by any stretch of the imagination and I think this is ultimately what prevented me from fully appreciating this course. The next four courses though, my god, they rocked my socks off. The incredibly soft quail breast with a sweet chestnut puree, fresh truffle and other flavours were rich, well combined and yet not over powering. The Wagyu eye fillet that followed was also a great course, the horseradish butter that topped it was perfect, not too spicy, it’s what regular compound butters want to be when they grow up.

Pork is one of my favourite meats, the only jowl I have ever eaten in the past however has been in the form of Guanciale, about time I commit a portion of my culinary endeavours to rich succulent cheeks (a already love beef cheek). Maltose cracking enrobed the richest, most succulent piece of pork that I have ever eaten. Prunes and cauliflower puree accompanied it with magnificent success. Quay is easily worth visiting if only for this dish. Damn it.

Desserts were the famous snow egg (currently in Guava format) simple in presentation, but stunning with its combination of textures, contrasts in temperature and layering. The guava cream underneath the shaved ice combined to provide the effect that I find so appealing in combining a good granita with whipped cream. I am not sure if the maltose coating around the meringue is the same formula covering the Pork, but even if it is I didn’t suffer any palate fatigue from having it repeated, it was perfectly suited in both instances.

If the food wasn’t good enough alone, the service was a match worthy of the other aspects that makes Quay one of the best. The sommelier recommended a fantastic match for the Pork dish, and provided some insight to the wines history. Our waiter was attentive, friendly, helpful and, like the sommelier, very knowledgeable. The whole experience was polished from top to bottom, the price was the highest of the three restaurants we visited, but I could see where it was spent, and I appreciated every single little bit of it.

I’d love to say that I’ll be back to visit Quay soon, but given the distance of travel it looks like this is more likely to be a one off. An experience. A wonderful experience.

For the three nights that we will be there we have our dinners sorted. Thursday we will be visiting The Bentley Bar, their cuisine is modern and exciting, the style of food that I haven’t found in NZ. Friday is Quay, Peter Gilmore looks to be creating some stunning plates of food here and the view sounds spectacular. Saturday is Marque, European Australian from a Chef that started late in the game and has slogged away to create something all his own.

I’m excited about every single meal that we will be having there. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to meet some of the chefs and check out their digs. We still need to sort out our Lunches, but given that we will be eating fairly heavily in the evenings we might just play it as we go, some good Mexican if we can find it, perhaps some Chinese as I hear there is some exceptional eateries in China Town. Can’t wait.

This is my take on what it I think a Boil Up would want to be when it grew up (in the 21st century). First of all, it became less of a broth and more of a meal. The star of this dish is easily the pork glaze, thick, rich, mouth coatingly excellent, it has the rich pork flavour and the slight peppery flavour from the watercress stalks. A close second are the gnocchi, a little parmesan for savoury effect and a lot of watercress, replacing the heavy doughboys with something light and flavourful. Everything else in the dish is either due to a direct inspiration from the original dish or drawn from other culinary traditions that I associate with Porkdom.

Now, before you tell me that there are burnt bits on my plate, they are the black pudding croutons. Nasturtium leaves are the green lily looking things, they are related to watercress and share the sharp pepper taste with the nasturtium’s effect being somewhat more pronounced in the aftertaste. Rosemary flowers on the pork its self, and viola flowers for colour and lightness. The detergent looking bubbles are an apple foam, light, subtle and clean.

Here you get a better look at the gnocchi and the kumara, I like them turned and roasted. The pork is a simple loin that is pan fried and finished in the oven.

Here are the basic components of how to make this dish.

First up the pork glaze. This one doesn’t really require a lot of finesse, just patience and a watchful eye.

Firstly, make a Pork Stock
½ Leek
½ Celery
1 Onion
2 Carrots
3kg Pork Bones (browned in the oven)
10L Water

Make sure when you brown the bones that you drain the fat that has rendered. You don’t want it in the stock. Here’s a good background on how to prepare a stock, just ignore the part at the top where it says pork isn’t suitable, cause it’s great if you treat it right.

Reduce the stock down to a thick glaze that will coat a spoon, and hopefully your stomach. Put some water cress stalks into the glaze while its reducing.

For the gnocchi

60g Flour
125g Water
25g Butter
2g Salt
2 Eggs
30g Parmesan Cheese (grated)
40g Water Cress (chopped)

Make a pate au choux by mixing flour/parmesan/salt into the boiling water/butter. Beat and continue to cook until glossy and cooked out, cool a bit and then beat in the eggs bit by bit, this part takes some muscle, so get out the stand mixer if you prefer. Mix in the chopped watercress and put into a piping bag. Pipe into hot water and poach until swollen and cooked.

The apple foam isn’t really something that you can do at home without the upfront cost of finding a source of powdered soy lecithin, not hard to track down, but usually in package sizes far greater than you would ever hope to use in a domestic kitchen. Although the adventurous cook could quite happily serve foams and airs for meals instead of solid food to make good use of the powder.

600ml Apple Juice
3g Lecithin

Mix the two ingredients together and then foam with a hand wand. Let it sit and then scoop the top of the foam off with a spoon and dollop it onto the plate.

The other bits and pieces on the plate don’t really require a recipe, just some TLC and a little personalization.

The tapas menu offers plates of food suitable for sharing and sampling a variety of items without the price of a main meal. Great for grinks and as it seems becoming very popular elsewhere in the world but also in little old Hamilton. The pizza’s are another area of interest on the menu and Gothenburg easily outclass anyone else in town in this area. The bases are thin and crispy, the flavour combinations refined and varied, the ingredients? fresh and as should be the case with something like Pizza full of punch. Not quiet the nostalgic Italian pizza and jersey night fare that I enjoyed during my time in Italy, but I think the offerings are more in line with what is expected by most Kiwis out for a meal.

My most recent visit saw me trying the Pork Belly sandwich, I am nothing if not a glutton for all forms of simple pig meat and charcuterie, but it was not this that attracted me to ordering this. The description read as a Pork Belly Sandwich with wasabi mayo and pickled onions, or close enough to this, and it was the the pickled onions that caught my attention. Red Onions were used and after my first bite I was more than happy with my choice, the tang and light spice provided a perfect counterpoint to the warm rich and gloriously fatty pork. Some of the flavours where very Asian in their influence, the ginger vinaigrette, and I think I picked up a hint of five spice on the pork belly itself. The bread was a whole grain, nicely warmed with the portion size just enough to make me feel like taking a little nap afterwards before heading back to work. I’ve had a lot of sandwiches in my time, this was easily one of the best.

Pricing is appropriate and while we aren’t talking fast food type accessible levels, it isn’t going to force a second mortgage and after enjoying the food I have always felt that I’ve received value for money. Another plus that they have going for them is their Beer list, I haven’t come across another this comprehensive before.

My only problem with Gothenburg is it’s location, I would much prefer it was right down the road from my house, I don’t tend to get into town as much as I would like and so stopping in for a quick bite isn’t often an option. That’s life though isn’t it? If I want a good Taco I have to go to Auckland, and if I want a great pizza or a kick ass sandwich with a boutique lager or an imported Belgian I might have to go to Hood St.