I have finally been to the infamous Tetsuya's, world renowned restaurant and Sydney's fine dining institution! I went with my husband for our first year wedding anniversary. It really is a total experience from the moment you walk through the front door. If you haven't already you really need to experience Tetsuya's at least once. If I was rich I would go every time they change the menu. Everything about the night was fabulous.
We got, what I thought the best table in the restaurant in the larger of the two rooms and in the middle by the window overlooking the serene, peaceful and zen court-yard. "Ah the serenity" I kept saying every time I looked out there.
At the end of the night the waiter, who was very informative, attentive and friendly, gave us a print out of the menu with a little personal note on it, which they probably have a hundred already printed out in preparation for the many couples celebrating their "Anniversary's" and "Birthday's" haha! Anyway I thought it was a nice touch.
My husband had the 12 course degustation with matching wines. I had a glass of Champagne and a few sips of his wines throughout the night. There were a total of 7 wines, some lasting 2 courses.
I'm not going to rate each dish as I normally do as I feel I probably won't do the dishes justice with my amateur writing and ingredient descriptions. Oh and I also didn't take photos of all the courses, as I was too busy just enjoying the night!
Above is the prettiest dish of the night "Salad of the Sea". I've never had raw scallop before, it was beautifully sweet. I loved the caviar the best, the pops of saltiness were so tasty with the more subtle seafood.
Confit of ocean Petuna trout with fennel and unpasteurised ocean trout caviar. This is Tetsuya's signature dish. The waiter told us that when Tetsuya took it off the menu a few years back a lot of customers' complained and so he gave in to public demand and put it back on the degustation. I'm so glad he did! It seriously is one delicious piece of fish!
Steamed tian of Queensland spanner crab with bean curd, foie gras and junsai. A combination of subtle flavours but then it went up a notch with the rich foie gras. The junsai , a cultivated vegetable was very wierd. Green bits with a clear coating to it. It had no flavour and really wasn't adding anything good to the dish.
Roasted breast of duck with eggplant and almond. I should have asked about this dish more as the eggplant concoction was strong with spice and tasted incredible! I say almost overtaking the duck. . . which was super tender indeed.
Green apple and mint ice-cream and potato mille feulle. This was a dessert like no other that I have had before. Maybe because I don't really have a stomach for desserts. I'd rather have entree, main, main! The granita was so fresh and zingy packed with basil hits. The mint ice-cream was so nice and creamy. If I ate here every week I think I would develop a dessert stomach.
Floating island and creme anglaise, chocolate fondant with hazelnut and praline. OMG! As I said I am not a dessert person but this comes close to the fave dish of the night. The fluffiness and lightness of the meringue was so soft and melt in the mouth I could have eaten two more at least! Then as you dig in for the second spoonful you hit the chocolate inside and the hazelnut, wow! It's like a Fererro Rocher re-worked into a cloud. The custard is spotted with vanilla bean specks and was just the right amount of sweetness. I could've licked the bowl!
Other courses that I had that I still remember dancing on my tongue was the savoury custard with Avruga. That was so silky and the Avruga popped up to the surface with each wooden spoon mouthful.
The slow braised lamb shoulder was also incredibly tasty, tender and devoured quite quickly despite it being the eighth course, the last savoury course.
My friends asked me if I was full at the end and I can definitely say yes! Not my usual I've stuffed myself too much I'm going to vomit full, but a perfectly happy satisfied full. I definitely could not have done the wine degustation though.
Other courses that I had that I still remember dancing on my tongue was the savoury custard with Avruga. That was so silky and the Avruga popped up to the surface with each wooden spoon mouthful.
The slow braised lamb shoulder was also incredibly tasty, tender and devoured quite quickly despite it being the eighth course, the last savoury course.
My friends asked me if I was full at the end and I can definitely say yes! Not my usual I've stuffed myself too much I'm going to vomit full, but a perfectly happy satisfied full. I definitely could not have done the wine degustation though.
I definitely can't recommend enough that you have to go here and experience the impeccable service, amazing dishes and the all round workings of a top class restaurant that has been operating for 23 years. That in its' self says something about a restaurant in Sydney doesn't it?
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