Walking back from Tetsuya's we encounter one of those signs we love......what are Euro-American Aromas and what happens if an Under 18 is exposed to them?
By the time we're home it is pouring - much to the delight of drought seared Sydney
The next day, our digestive juices primed by the Tetsuya experience, we head for Golden Century. Cab drivers, guide books, hotel concierges; all say it is the best Chinese Seafood in Sydney. One wall of the dining room is 24 tanks of crabs (multiple types and ranging close to 2 feet across), huge lobsters, live abalone, clams, shrimps and a variety of fish
We start with Hot and Sour Soup. Always amazed how much we enjoy this dish and this one is sufficiently flavourful to bring tears to our eyes
Then a plate of Pippi clams with XXX Hot Sauce. The clams were chewy (underdone, Liz thinks) but the sauce was devine. We save the sauce to pour on an order of fried rice
Then crab with green vegetables and wonderful deep fried garlic shrimp. The shrimps look as appetizing as styrofoam, but pack a wonderful combination of crispness and potent flavour. We eat until it starts getting silly and take the rest home to our hotel
We are loving Sydney a lot - especially the food!
Lunch at Quay:
We arrive back in Sydney after 4 days of diving the Great Barrier Reef . Wonderfully exhausted, hurt everywhere and are nearly deaf. We're two doddering retirement home inmates, cupping our ears to hear, while we hobble down the street in search of nourishment. But we're thrilled to be back in a favourite suites hotel in a city we are loving more and more. We'll inevitably return some year, rent a house and settile in for a few months. But now appetites must be satisfied. Off to "Quay", a highly recommended bistro overlooking the harbour.
We walk up from our hotel along Sydney's Bloor Street. The stroll by the harbour reminds us bitterly how Toronto has squandered its lakeside to development while Sydney has opened the city to the sea. Following pics are not beautiful, but give you some sense of the tasteful seafront access that Sydney offers everyone....not just condo dwellers ....and note that they accommodate trains, elevated roads, ground level roads, have lots of parks and not too much really bad art
The view from our table at Quay is a postcard quality shot of the Harbour, Bridge and Opera House. Ferries, water taxis and cruise ships bustle by in an ever entertaining water ballet.....synchronized swimming without the bathing caps.
We choose the 3 course menu, but negotiate a trade for an additional savoury starter in place of dessert - we just do not do sweets well.
Our knowledgeable waitperson delivers an excellent chardonnay and we're off and running.
The amuse geule was a shot glass of cauliflower zablione (sp?), topped with diced smoked salmon and seafood gelee. An unexpected pairing but an appropriately provocative opener. A definite promise of good things to follow.
We both chose "Sea Pearls" - 3 mouthful sized taste treats. From the left - abalone in seafood aspic, smoked branade in egg pearls (how they make the egg white pearls remains a mystery) and a succulent marinated tuna sashimi sphere.
Primed for the taste hunt, we move on to slow cooked quail breasts, baby radishes, spring onions, a truffle custard and baked milk skin
On to "Mud Crab Congee" - Liz's favourite crustacean. As Liz describes it - a broth of really loose risotto with succulent crab and a savoury creme brulee topping (but not terribly photogenic!)
On to the mains - Crisp Skin Murray Cod, braised oysters, lettuce puree, baby leeks and shaved cuttlefish. Too many ingredients? We think not. If chefs are also philosophers, then Peter Gilmore states his credo clearly with this dish. "Crisp" skin means "really crisp" - like potato chips - not chewy but truly crisp. Fish is cooked to arrive at the table in a state of perfection - meltingly firm....tasting of the sea. Oysters taste like oysters - not dried prunes and the lettuce puree is a distillation of lettuce-ness. All flavours retain their individuality while synthesizing to deliver a combined palate experience. A very good dish with the flexibility to mutate depending on ingredient availability - it is cuisine, not a recipe
Liz closed with a Crisp Confit of pressed Duck, white turnips, sea scallops and chive flowers.
Now we both love confit - we make it at home and Liz regards confit as the next best thing to Miss Vickie's potato chips. But this was confit unlike anything we had experienced. Physically unattractive, with a different flavour and texture profile, we of course asked and were advised that the chef ....
1) poaches the meat in fat
2) disassembles the meat and skin and bones and removes subcutaneous fat
3) reforms boneless meat in skin and press for extended period
4) roasts at high heat in oven to crisp the skin.
It was a taste revelation - Doritos for the truffled class - what you munch on while sampling the Widow. We love to eat, but love to snack more. This was snack nirvana......bring on the confit. Richard has agreed he'd even pretend to watch sports if this was the snack food.
Oh yes, there was the surround - turnips, scallops, chives - wonderful, savoury - not succumbing to the sweet side (as often happens with duck) - the crustaceans were successfully married with fowl
Quay delivered original and challenging flavour combinations while retaining ingredient individuality, plus excellent service, a postcard quality view and good value.
We'd go back tomorrow if we were not at the end of our Australian adventure.....but we'll return.
A Quay post script. One of the surprise attractions is watching the people on the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. Now, we enthusiastically do most absurd things, but we were amazed that you can take a walk over the Harbour Bridge. See the very, very tiny people at the top in the large scale shot of the bridge......and in blurry telescopic below. If we had time we'd probably do it!
Hi!
I saw your posting & link on Fodors - thank you -- I've spent some happy moments reading about your adventures in Oz & NZ & drooling over your amazing food shots! (also kicking myself that I've never done that on trips, so I'm going to be stealing that from you in the future)!
As a couple, you two could almost be a "clone" of my husband and I, as we have similiar styles, food/wine interests, etc!
We have a first time website chronicalling our last trip to Italy (btw, where IS that trip on your blog??), but I haven't really been happy with the format -- I love your pages though - would you be willing to share what program or how you set this up?
Thank you,
Melodie
Menlo Park, CA
(but has relatives in Burlington, Ontario)
Posted by: Melodie Kennedy | September 03, 2007 at 01:49 PM