Back in Sydney after a rather fun few days in Melbourne attending a rather lovely wedding, catching up with old friends and doing a lot of eating. Here we were last Thursday, fresh off the plane at one of my favourite French cafes, Creperie Le Triskel on Hardware Lane, where they serve the best Breton buckwheat galettes (try the La Broceliandre!), Manoir du Kinkiz cider and Orangina in a bottle!
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From top – St Jacques grillées, assiette de charcuterie maison, joues de bœuf braisées et panais rôti, bavette grillé et frites maison, assiette mignardises
W and I had a lovely lunch at Baroque Bistro when I got back – the beef cheeks were to die for! And look at that dessert plate.. it’s been hard keeping off the pounds I’ve lost in Greece..
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Last Saturday me and Raymond made a trip to Altitude in Shangri-la as special guest Michel Roux (of the 3 Michelin-star Waterside Inn) was in town for Cuisine Now. I am a huge fan of French cuisine in general so we were pretty hyped up over this lunch and it didn’t disappoint! Here are some pictures of the food that I took with my new camera; totally digging my new G11!
Chilled avocado soup with sea trout tartar and yellow peach with a charolais soft cheese crouton
Flaked spanner crab with melon and fresh almonds and marinated prawns
My favourite course was this spanner crab masterpiece. It was wrapped in a very thin slice of watermelon and the combination of flavours and textures were simply amazing.
Pan fried scallops served on a bed of lime scented carrot mousseline and satay sauce
The scallops were SO PLUMP AND JUICY ZOMG!
Roasted loin of lamb stuffed with aubergine confit and grilled pine kernels, gateau of moussaka and light saffron flavoured jus
Lemon dessert on crisp biscuit base, sweet basil sorbet
The chef came out to greet every table (which was unexpected but nice!) and I told him how much I enjoyed the crab. He then told me that I would definitely like the dessert that was about to be served, and I did. The basil sorbet was especially good!
Petit Fours
I am a total sucker for a plate of well presented petit fours! To be fair we went halves on everything that we only had one of :)
Myself and Raymond with the legendary Michel Roux!
We had decided to go with the wine pairing and started off the meal with a glass of 2003 M&C grand vintage. I can’t recall the rest of it right now but it all went uphill from there and finished off with a 2006 Wellington Iced Riesling from Tasmania which was rather memorable; I am a fan of dessert wines as well!
Did I mention the view? It was such a nice complement to the lunch, food, wine and company.
View from the top
I can only imagine what it looks like at night.
Finally got a chance to check out Tabou. It has been on my list for Steak Tartare for a few months now and it was only by chance we went there this time! Tokonoma Shochu Bar was packed out and there was a two hour wait (and was told, “Oh, we don’t take numbers so just come back in two hours and hopefully we will have something for you by then”), so Raymond suggested Il Baretto which had an hour wait (they took numbers), but we didn’t feel like waiting!
In the end I think Tabou made for a better night than either of the other two initial places would have!
(PS: I am not a food blogger, just someone who likes to eat :))
Blue swimmer crab broth, rouget, scampi, almond cream
Twice baked gruyere and goat’s cheese soufflé
Roast Kingfish, petit artichoke, haricot and broad beans, aioli
Roast veal cutlet, sautéed spring vegetables
Classic steak tartare, sour dough toast and accompaniments
Chocolate mousse, biscuit, truffle, macaroon, sorbet
Blancmange, raspberry cream, almond milk sorbet
Vanilla creme brulée
Adored the melt-in-your-mouth soufflé. It was just the right amount of airy and just the right amount of cheese. So good! Steak tartare was also good, and just spicy enough. My Blancmange was a divine combination of flavours and textures and the almond milk sorbet was a very nice touch. Raymond and Siti both enjoyed their dinners (though I missed taking a picture of Siti’s escargot entree) – the veal was cooked to perfection and chocolate mousse was devoured with much abandon. I am a big fan of creme brulées, and from the one bite I stole from Siti’s, I can say I wish I had room for one all to myself! Too bad Greg couldn’t make it, otherwise we would have been able to sample more French bistro goodness!
There was also a truffle pomme puree that we ordered as a side dish. I could eat that forever! But maybe not, at $16 a serve. It is worth every cent though, it was really good and for something as simple as a potato puree this one had amazing texture and balance and was just salty enough to stand its own. The additional dollop of truffle butter on top was fabulous.
I must say we were pretty happy campers when we left the restaurant. On top of all that the prices were pretty reasonable for the quality of the food we were served. I will be back to try the blood sausages and steak frites, there was a bone marrow sauce that caught my eye..
