This has been a long plan in the making, but it was decided that my brother and I would take mum to have degustation dinner at Tetsuya's for her birthday. This was in October, doh. But before I get into the food, here are a few things I wish I knew before I entered the restaurant.
Firstly, service is impeccable. It is a fine restaurant so they will take your coat and/or purses, they are friendly, polite and not at all intrusive. Secondly, do not go to Tetsuya's if you are looking for delicious, moreish comfort food - that's not how it goes. Thirdly, the food can be described as delicate, exquisite, fine, sophisticated, tantalising, but not 'yummy'. I recommend Tetsuya's to people who have a mature palate and seek new, unique, gourmet food as an experience as opposed to making you happy and full. Not saying I have a mature palate, but definitely go/eat with an open mind/mouth. And lastly, go with friends. The atmosphere was a bit sterile with my family and there are fairly lengthy breaks in between each course for you to socialise and banter.
Now onto the restaurant and food!
There's a small zen garden with water feature and greenery, which lights up at night. It's a shame we didn't get to sit near the windows!
After the waiter comes around with drink requests, we receive the holy pot of truffle and Parmesan butter and a choice of warm sourdough or white bread. I pick the sourdough.
And it is bliss.
A large scoop of the earthy and creamy truffle butter, which is the consistency of thick whipped cream, with a sprinkle of sea salt. It is ah-maz-ing. I tried it later with white bread, GET THE WHITE BREAD. You taste so much more of the truffle. Trust me.
The rumours are true, Tetsuya's truffle butter is the most awesome thing on bread, right up there with chicken liver pate and real mayonnaise/Vietnamese 'butter'. We polished off about 3-4 pots of these and kept asking for more bread (which they are very generous in giving). Don't be shy!
This is the second pot, and we haven't even gotten our first course yet.
Potato soup with coddled quail egg and avruga.
This was one of the standout dishes of the evening. You really can't go wrong with creamy potato soup, which was served warm (I would have liked it hotter). I love runny eggs the most so this was a clear winner, and the avruga (a caviar substitute made from herring fish) lent a nice salty seafood taste and bubbly/crunchy texture. There was also a drizzle of truffle oil to finish it off. Love love love! Dip some bread and truffle butter into this and I can call that a meal. The waiter recommended to dig for the egg and pop it first so the egg yolk breaks into the soup. Drrroooolll.
Look at how velvety the soup was!
Sea urchin custard.
There was fanfare in presenting the dish, which I was not expecting. A thin cardboard was served with a wooden spoon to "lay the base" of the food artwork. Then the dish itself was presented normally with a brief description by the waiter.
Custard texture was amaze-balls. Excuse me for a moment, because I'm probably gonna use that word a few times in this post. This was satin smooth, like eating silk. It was silkier than silken tofu, which seems firm in comparison now. This was served with a dollop of sea urchin meat and a spring onion ring. The photo kind of shows how glossy and smooth it was.
This is most definitely one for the braver gastronomers. A strong taste of 'sea' and seafood, if you've never had urchin before this may...shock your tastebuds. This dish divided the table.
Sashimi of kingfish with blackbean and orange.
I enjoyed this refreshing dish. The kingfish was mild in flavour (no, it is not fishy), with a lightly tangy dressing from the orange. You can definitely taste the blackbean, which made the sashimi more savoury and salty but was not overpowering. However it was lacking some seasoning and I wasn't the only one reaching for the sea salt.
The sashimi came on a series of fun, wood-like plates.
Confit of Petuna ocean trout with shaved fennel and unpasteurised ocean trout caviar.
A spin on his signature dish, where Tetsuya Wakuda personally sourced ocean trout from Petuna (the supplier) in Tasmania. This season, the ocean trout was served with shaved fennel and ocean trout caviar. Unfortunately I was the only one in the family that likes raw fennel! Actually, my mum hates liquorice. The fennel is quite strong and somewhat overpowered the delicate, soft flavours of the ocean trout with aniseed/liquorice. If you ate the ocean trout on its own, it had a light flavour reminding me of cooked celery.
Now let me describe the ocean trout. It was buttery soft and springy, the knife sliced right through the tender flesh. The seaweed and chive (?) crust I liked as it gave the dish another texture. It was akin to eating a thick, juicy jelly, which is a weird way of describing jelly! Liked the caviar with the popping crunchy texture on your tongue.
Steamed Queensland spanner crab with bean curd, foie gras and junsai.
The cylinder thing in the middle there, that's the crab meat. The darker orange blob at the front is foie gras, which was bitter and savoury and taste like liver, but not quite. The white bit next to it is the bean curd/tofu. The clear jelly with brown 'shoots' on the left is the junsai.
Now that the fish is broken up, let me declare right now that I do not like junsai. I am well exposed to odd textures having grown up in an Asia family and visited various Asian countries in my life, but this was odd. Just odd. The clear jelly is tougher than it looks, slippery, and flavourless. The junsai inside (it's actually a type of Japanese mushroom) was crunchy, but also flavourless and I think it was the lack of (pleasant) flavour that turned me off. Other than the, loved the crab meat and foie gras and the sauce.
Some close ups:
On a bed of konbu seaweed, I like the rubbery feel of it.
Milk fed veal shanks with broad beans.
I was expecting something more meat-y, but this was so flakey and soft! Completely not what I was expecting when I thought veal. Admittedly, I was thinking along the lines of steak. A cylinder of soft, tender veal meat with crumbly broad beans. My favourite part was the bone marrow, which was delicious. The dish was delicate where I was expecting more flavour, and yes I did reach for the sea salt again.
Looks like someone doesn't like their beans! I took them :D
And our 3rd pot of gold.
A drink break; lemon lime and bitters.
Breast of partridge with nettles and hazelnut.
I was excited when our waiter told us that instead of spatchcock, we will be having partridge which they have just recently sourced and was in limited stock, very hard to find. Score!! Another favourite dish, I loved the gamey, meaty partridge breast, beautiful and pink. I like my meat raw, rawr.
The toasted hazelnuts were lovely and smokey, and the hazelnut cream was frothy with just a hint of hazelnut. I've never had nettles before and I'm not sure I fully enjoyed it, I'm thinking wilted spinach would have made this the best savoury course. The best part, I had a lot of crispy skin on mine. Double score!
Angus beef fillet with wasabi and mustard seeds.
Definitely the safe dish, this was consumed by all, every last drop. The wasabi was not the bright, neon green paste you're used to, but a viscous, almost gel with a very light wasabi flavour. It must've been made with fresh wasabi, which has a more 'green' taste. The crowd pleaser of a dish.
We were almost at an end to the degust, and the waiter lays down a variety of dessert spoons and forks for what was to become the best. Part. Of. The. Meal. And a white tray, hmm.
Hay-infused icecream with sorrel granita.
This was weird to describe to people (hay?!), but it was quite delicious! Wasn't a fan of the sorrel granita, which tasted like iced grass. I loved the hay icecream, and it absolutely tasted like sweet fresh/clean hay.
This was served alongside Tetsuya's pudding, the best dish of the day.
Tetsuya's bread and butter pudding.If I could lick the tiny ramekin, I would've. Instead I settled for polishing off as much of the pudding with the smallest spoon as I could. That good.
The top layer was delightfully creamy and you get hits of cinnamon, vanilla and sugar. At the bottom is the pudding, layers of cake with raisins. Or it might've actually been soaked raisin bread! I am salivating just reminiscing about this dessert...
Dark chocolate parfait, cream cheese icecream on chocolate soil and cinnamon batons.
Another great dessert course, the desserts were really knocking my tastebuds off. Glossy dark chocolate layer hiding a gorgeous mousse, not too sweet either. Cream cheese icecream was to die for, cheesy but not hearty, like a light cheesecake with more ricotta and less Philadelphia. Chocolate soil was like fine Milo, but with a heavier coco flavour. The cinnamon batons weren't sweet, but lent an earthen, bitterness to counter the sweet icecream and compliment the bittersweet dark chocolate.
Very clean plates afterwards. As it was my mum's birthday, she received a special dessert...
Chocolate fondant with coco dusted hazelnuts and cream cheese icecream.
So sweet of them to dim the lights and bring this out with a lit candle! It was everything a fondant/lava cake should be, soft and moist cake outside and molten lava inside. This was served with chocolate sauce and coco dusted hazelnuts and a quenelle of cream cheese icecream.
Coffee and raspberry macarons. Nuff said.
A nice end to a pleasant dining experience. Started off strong with the truffle butter, a bit of a let down in the middle with some of the more experimental dishes, but a strong finish with excellent desserts. Would I recommend people to go? Yes, I would, but only if you are the type that won't go and get KFC afterwards because the meal wasn't filling. Maybe as a treat once every few years and if you miss the truffle butter.
Oh, that truffle butter.
Which reminds me, my coworker makes a mean truffle risotto that gives me food envy every time. I can smell eet...
Address:
529 Kent St
Sydney (behind Events Cinemas, it's the pretty little Japanese-inspired house tuck away from the street)
Bookings essential.
3 comments:
Oooh, I hate fennel too... and celery...
Though you said "not yummy" (and I know what you mean about minamalist food) my out-take was YUM! Thanks for a straight-up account and an intriguing read.
A perfect place for couple that who wants to celebrate the special occasion in their life.
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