It was my birthday recently, and lucky for me it falls during the Sydney International Food Festival, and for the second year in a row I’ve gone to Quay for lunch with one of my closest buddies. This year, even though I called as early as I could, all Let’s Do Lunch bookings were sold out. So we booked a regular lunch and I’m so glad we did…A quick note, my friend is quite pregnant, and I commend the staff at Quay for adjusting everything necessary to suit her requirements. We really, really appreciated that level of attention to detail…
As you can see, we got one hell of a table! Bridge on one side, Opera house on the other, and the most perfect Spring day….
We are served our amuse bouche and my friend is served a fig compote with almonds, while I receive smoked eel caviar. We take ages to order our mains, only because we can’t decide, but we end up settling different items. I go the full three courses, while my friend opts for two, main and dessert.
For entree, I order the legendary Sea Pearls. I had read about them, seen pictures of them, but could never imagine the taste!
The Sea Pearls consist of scallop with the silver foil, behind it the abalone, then the octopus and last the tuna…Beautifully presented and very tasty, my favourite being the interesting textures of the octopus.
My friend, erring on the side of caution during her pregnancy forgoes the seafood and order the free range chicken breast, with truffle butter, savoy cabbage, baby radish, young onions, pea shoots and garlic cream:
We both delight in the presentation of the delicate baby vegetables but neither of us detect the truffle…no matter it satisfies in anticipation of dessert!
My lamb with baby carrots and olives is a riot of colour, and is some of the most tender, succulent lamb I’ve ever had. I practically licked my plate clean!
Dessert! For those of you that follow me on Twitter, you may already be familiar with the Eight Texture Chocolate cake that features as my twitter background…This year I gave the chocolate cake a miss but my friend did have it, and it was as delightfully luxe as it was last time I tried it…
I decide to try their other legendary dessert, the Snow Egg, on this particular day jackfruit and custard apple
I was skeptical at first. This dessert looked too light to satisfy my voracious sweet tooth. But yet, it delivered. The shell is made from toffee and conceals poached meringue inside, with it resting on a bed of what I can only describe as a fruity, custardy slushie with pieces of fruit through it….More! More! More!
I really wanted another one of those, but by this stage we both had to get back to the office…There was coffee and petit fours, but they were strangely disappointing in comparison to the rest of the meal…
Chef Peter Gilmore is renowned for his attention to detail and his passion for homegrown produce, with the restaurant boasting it’s own “Growing Room” within the kitchen for some of it’s herbs. Quay is reliable, classy and elegant with beautifully presented and conceived food.
Stay tuned for part two of birthday adventures…..
Quay
Overseas Passenger Terminal
The Rocks
02 9251 5600
reservations@quay.com.au
