I had meant to blog about this immediately after visiting Quay, but the world cup took over my life! Better now than never I guess.
The one thing that hits you when you're seated at Quay is the gorgeous view!
Since we couldn't decide on what to order, we went with the Tasting Menu to keep things simple. Plus it means I get to try more food!
Yes.....I have an obsession with Cutlery, and Quay has awesome cutlery!
Amuse BoucheThe Amuse Bouche was a tuna tartare with tapioca and horseradish creme friache. Wonderfully light and complex, definitely kick started our appetite!
Signature Quay cocktailI ordered the Quay Signature cocktail even though I don't like half of the liquors in it. I guess I should've chosen something else because I didn't really enjoy the cocktail. Its not really Quay's fault though, I should've known to choose something else.
Malted sourdough breadI have a confession to make. I hate sourdough bread. The fact that the bread is sour makes my brain think its off. However, I was plesantly surprised that the bread at Quay actually went down quite well! So well in fact, that I tried one of each of their types of bread!
It helps that they had awesome butter as well:
Sea PearlsStarting from the bottom and going anti-clockwise, we have:
- Crab and yuzu pearl
- Octopus Pearl
- Tuna with a creme friache centre
- Sea Scallop
- Abalone
The crab pearl was a bit too bland for my liking. It needed a bit of seasoning and maybe a bit more yuzu kick. Octopus pearl was surprisingly delicate in taste and given a big thumbs up by my friends. My favorite would have to be the Tuna pearl, the rich fatty tuna with the creamy centre really hit the spot for me. Sea Scallop would have to be my second favourite. The Abalone pearl had a very rich and almost overpowering dashi and soya sauce taste.
Check out the see through abalone one!
Mud Crab CongeeThe moment they place this down infront of you, you get hit by a gorgeous waft of congee. It smelled incredibly rich and complex, but was surprisingly light and delicate in taste. I loved the fact that there are big chunks of crab meat in it. My only complaint would be that I needed a bigger bowl! A huge bowl infact!
Confit of pork belly, abalone, mushrooms and silken tofuHonestly, who can say no to crisp crackling and melt in your mouth pork belly? But the pork belly was not the star of the dish. The tofu and the mushroom not only outshone the pork belly, but also the abalone! Infact, I forgot there was abalone on the dish altogether!! That's how good Peter Gilmore can make tofu and mushrooms!
Butter poached Quail, Bitter chocolate black pudding, milk skin and jamonOf the whole tasting menu, this dish had the least appeal to me. But after tasting this dish, it was my favourite savoury meal of the entire night! The quail was incredibly tender and juicy, the chocolate black pudding was soft and packed a punch of flavour. I wanted more more more!
Wagyu beef with quinoa and nutsI was so incredibly full by the time this dish came out. I still remember the beef being tender and juicy, but didn't remember much besides that. I was starting to slowly slip into a food coma.
Check out Quay's awesome plates
Strawberry Guava and custard apple snow eggYes I was full, but I didn't know I had a seperate stomach just for snow eggs! This is the famous version that was shown in the MasterChef finals. We were quite lucky that we went in late May when they were still serving this. Because when the episode aired, Quay was serving just a Guava version. I'm so glad I got to taste this as I can hands down say, this is one of the best desserts I've ever tasted in my entire life. The thin crispy maltose shell, the soft fluffy meringue, creamy custard apple ice cream all ontop of a bed of granita and cream.
I know my friends loved the snow egg, but my favourite was waiting til the end. When the slightly melted granita mixed with the cream and guava puree. It kind of resembled a vietnamese ice slushee drink.
I would've licked the inside if my tongue was long enough!
8 textured chocolate cakeLooks pretty average of a dessert, until the waiter comes with a pot of melted chocolate and proceeds to pour it ontop. The hot chocolate basically melts a hole through the dessert.
Melting...
melting...
Melting......
Ready to eat!If you're a chocoholic, you would be in chocolate heaven after eating this. Me? I'm not a big fan of chocolate and basically went into a catatonic state after a chocolate overdose. I forced myself to eat this, and had to give up after I got through 1/3 of the cake. This was way too rich and basically smashed me into a food wall.
Peppermint tea to help aid digestion
Petite foursI can understand why Peter Gilmore is one of the best Chefs not only in Australia, but in the world. The food is simple, complex, delicate and rich all at the same time. The snow egg more than deserves the fame its received since MasterChef. I just can't wait til Guava and Custard apples are in season again!
Quay
Overseas Passenger Terminal
The Rocks, Sydney
Ph: (02) 9251 5600
http://www.quay.com.au
View Larger Map
Overseas Passenger Terminal
The Rocks, Sydney
Ph: (02) 9251 5600
http://www.quay.com.au
View Larger Map
10 comments:
Always wanted to try the snow egg (after seeing it on MasterChef). *sigh* Just out of my price range though.
yum yum i must try all the signature dishes one day. so what was in the signature cocktail? :-)
SK: If you go for the lunch time a la carte, its $75 for 2 courses or $95 for 3 courses. Although, I went to Quay again last week and had the Jackfruit snowegg and it was not as good as the Strawberry Guava Custard apple version. (will blog about it soon!)
Simon: From memory it had campari (Which I don't like) and Tequila? (Which I can't without gagging after a huge xmas one year!) I knew I probably wouldn't like it, but was hoping for a Peter Gilmore Miracle.
oh yummy- everything looks great, i have yet to come here since i became vegetarian so not sure if its worth going for just for the vegetarian degu?
Hmmm.....price wise, I think Vegetarian Degustation is a bit expensive (Brain says veggies = cheap). But he does have vegetarian dishes and if is vegetarian mains are as good as the vegetarian sides, I would go vegetarian as well!!!
Can't decide whether the Snow Egg or the Chocolate Cake looked better as they both look amazing!
You need to be a real chocaholic to order that cake! I had a chocolate overdose and felt so sick after forcing myself to eat it! hehe
Oh this looks so fabulous!
I'm hoping to take hubby as a treat before a show at the Opera house. Do you remember how long the meal took?
We visited Fat Duck, Heston Blumenthal's restaurant in England earlier this year and we were there for 4 hours! Should I allow this kind of time?
From memory dinner was at 6:30-7, and we left around 10:30? I reckon you would need 3-4 hours if you do the full tasting menu. Hope you have a great time there! :)
Hey,
I love your blog, I wish I could goto Australia to check out this yummy food! That chocolate cake looks so amazing, I almost want to eat my screen :P
I was hoping you would let me use one of your pictures on my blog post on tea, I used the one about Peppermint Tea. You can check out the post on http://www.lololol.ca/2011/02/if-i-was-king-midas-and-i-had-choice.html
Please let me know if you want me to cite you and I will take the picture down if you don't like how its being represented.
Thanks, and keep updating!
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