After a great weekend away at Hamilton Island for P-Day 2011, I was able to organize to catch up with a couple of other Paneristi’s for dinner while they were visiting Sydney. So I set Vikki a mission of getting us in to Tetsuya’s. A quick phone call and we were in.
Our little group consisted of 5 and we were in for a great night of dining.
The evening started with a torrential down pour around five, which meant that Vikki had to wade through a stream (otherwise known as our street) to get to the bus stop. Thankfully it settled down to a drizzle by the time she got in to the city
We met our first dining companion Asi at Zeta Bar for a pre dinner drink. We discussed the great time we had at Hamilton Island and of course watches. Asi even popped the back of his vintage Panerai for a few quick shots. I wore my Patek Philippe 3971 on it's first outing since coming back from being serviced. Nothing like a bit of vintage.
We made our way over to Tetsuya’s and were joined by our other two dining companions Luke and Alex from New York.
Our waiter bought us over a complementary glass of Larmandier-Bernier Champagne to get the night rolling and explained the extras we might have if we so desired. The guys ordered the oysters as Asi and Luke hadn’t tried Pacific oysters which on this night happened to be from South Australia. Tetsuya’s serves a 9 course degustation menu which you can have with your own choice of wines or you can opt for the matched wines, which is what we decided to do.
The bread with truffle butter was so good we all had seconds:
Our courses were:
Corn soup with soy cream
Pacific Oysters with rice vinegar and ginger
Savoury custard with sea urchin
Sashimi of king fish with blackbean and orange
Confit of Petuna ocean trout with shaved fennel and unpasteurised ocean trout caviar
Steamed Queensland spanner crab with bean curd, foie gras and junsai
Braised veal shank with broad beans and smoked bone marrow
(Alternative: Olive oil poached Bonito with onion petals)
Breast of quail with paleta iberico and garlic puree
Seared fillet of Cape Grim beef with wasabi and braised mustard seeds
(Alternative: De-boned rack of lamb with eggplant, white miso and blue cheese)
Hay infused ice cream with sorrel granita and bread and butter pudding
Chocolate pave with cream cheese ice cream and cinnamon twigs
The wines we had were a great selection and included one sake:
Tamano Hikari Tokusen Junmai Ginjo Sake, Kyoto, Japan
2009 Grosset Springvale Riesling, Clare Valley, SA
2008 Pierro Chardonnay for Tetsuya’s, Margaret River, WA
2008 Felton Road Pinot Noir for Tetsuya’s, Central Otago, NZ
2006 Torbreck Mataro for Tetsuya’s, Barossa Valley, SA
2010 Heggies Botrytis Riesling, Eden Valley, SA
Seppeltsfield Cellar No. 6 Tokay, Rutherglen, Vic
Having two New Yorkers at dinner gave us the chance to grill them on where to eat in New York in preparation for our trip next year. Great to quiz the locals on what restaurants to go to, which to avoid and things to do and see, that we might not have thought of. After a fabulous dinner with great company we headed home as I unfortunately had a 6am flight to Perth.
