After watching Masterchef, I put Peter Gilmoreโs Quay restaurant in Sydney on my foodie bucket list. Going on to their website, I found out group bookings needed to be made at least 6 months in advance! So I decided to organise (very early) my next birthday dinner with some friends.ย Fast-forward 6 months and it was time to head to Sydney!
The restaurant is located right on the water at The Rocks. Entering Quay, I noticed the cool round bar with an assortment of alcohol and wine bottles, the plush carpet and perfect white tablecloths covering the tables. Itโs also hard to miss the spectacular views of both the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. Fortunately, our table was right next to the window.
The waitstaff carefully placed the linen napkins on our laps and were very attentive. Weโd decided on the 4 course dinner menu ($175 each) and it was difficult picking what dishes I wanted. They all sounded so good!
An amuse bouche of tomato, capers and yoghurt was served first.
Course 1 – The poached chicken was AMAZING. I have never had chicken cooked so tenderly soft like this before. As you can see in the photo โ the entire dish is so delicate. The chicken almost looks raw and translucent, but was warm and completely cooked. Such light flavours. It was culinary perfection.
Fragrant poached chicken, white radish, sea scallops, pea blossoms, smoked white eggplant cream, virgin black sesame oil
Course 2 โ the smoked and confit pig cheek worked well with the shaved scallops.
Smoked and confit pig cheek, shitake, shaved scallops, Jerusalem artichoke leaves
Course 3 – the lamb loin came out too bloody for me as I wasnโt asked how I liked the meat cooked. I gave most of the dish to my partner who loves his meat rare. This was the only hiccup of the night.
Suffolk lamb loin, eggplant skin and olive puree, sheeps milk creme fraiche, fresh and preserved flowers
Some more food porn photos of other dishes: My partner ordered the lobster sashimi. Another delicate looking dish. As the sashimi was cooked in ceviche (lemon juice), I found it a bit too sour/citrusy for me. Especially after trying my warm poached chicken, the cold sashimi was a bit of a shock. However, this was my partnerโs favourite dish of the night.
Sashimi of local lobster, bergamot, young almonds, grapefruit, elder flowers
Salad of preserved wild cherries, albino and chioggia beetroots, radish, creme fraiche, violets
Berkshire pig jowl, maltose crackling, prunes, cauliflower cream, perfumed with prune kernel oil
Poached Rangers Valley beef, bitter chocolate black pudding, morel, ezekiel crumbs, shaved mushrooms
Course 4 โ dessert! I convinced my partner to order the snow egg while I chose the 8-textured chocolate cake. Both were on Masterchef so I just had to try both ๐ (Btw, so disappointed with poor quality of iphone cameras in dim settings. Really need a better camera!)ย
The 8 textured chocolate cake takes hours to make. As one waiter placed the dish in front of me, another was coming around with a pot of warm liquid chocolate and ladled a bit on top of the cake. I held my breath and waited for the magic to happen โ the centre of the chocolate cake sunk in on itself just like it was meant to. Iโm a geek so I clapped. Hurray! I was expecting sweet milk chocolate but it was quite bitter. I can handle dark chocolate, but they must have used a lot more bitter chocolate so that disappointed me.ย
Eight texture chocolate cake
On to the coconut and cherry snow egg. I have no words to describe this but I will try my best.ย
Coconut and cherry snow egg
The first spoonful is cold with icy granita, kind of a shock to the system. As you adjust to the cold, you get to really taste the beautiful concoction of flavours that were undoubtedly selected carefully to make it work. Another mouthful and all of a sudden, a remarkable thing happens. For one perfect moment, itโs like the stars and planets align and everything makes sense. Your happiest memories past and present collide. This is a foodgasm. For a few seconds, you have one perfect moment. And you realise how much thought, effort and trials went into this one dessert and how lucky you are to have tried a masterpiece. It was foodgasmic.
Might I add the entire table was silent for a few minutes so I think everyone experienced the same thing.
A friend tried a different dessert which looked extravagant. Edit: this was on Masterchef in 2014 as the ‘Chocolate Ethereal’.
Jersey cream, salted caramel, prunes, walnuts, ethereal sheets
Major kudos to Peter Gilmore and Quay Restaurant for this amazing experience. All dishes were works of art and exquisitely presented. Great service with waitstaff that understand the food and wine.ย
The final bill!
I know this restaurant wonโt be to everyoneโs liking and is on the expensive side. (We were charged an additional service fee per person as the booking was for 6+ people). Nevertheless, if you love fine dining, beautifully presented food and want to spoil yourself or a loved one, I think Quay is a topnotch choice. Get the snow egg. Just do it.
Gorgeous views from Quay restaurant (apologies for the poor quality images!). You’ll just need to see it for yourself.
