Fico
I visited a bunch of restaurants and wine bars during my hobart visit, including a fantastic dinner at Sonny where I had a lovely conversation with two other solo diners, but Fico was the only one I had booked in advance since it seemed interesting. It was fantastic!
The best thing about going to a restaurant and seeing an oyster fork, but no oysters on the menu? It means oysters are on the menu! Most of the oysters in restaurants these days are from Boomer Bay, whereas last time it was all from Flirty Bay, how interesting! Tassie oysters are so delicious!
Carrot gazpacho - it was so creamy but apparently doesn't have any cream in it! Was it really all made from carrots? Because that's incredible!
This funny looking plate was a super tasty fig leaf oil, balsamic vinegar and sea salt dip for some tasty bread! How is it that this tasted so good? That balsamic vinegar was fantastic!
My favourite dish of the night flavour and texture wise, tuna and heirloom tomatoes with horseradish cream and dashi. That tuna was amazing, and apparently there was a tomatillo in the tomato mix too! The horseradish cream was quite potent, not too bad though! Some nose fuzziness but not enough to disrupt my enjoyment of the dish.
Fico has European influences and a baby sister pasta bar, so it's no surprise there's pasta on the menu - tagliolini with calamari. I think my opinion that Lulu La Delizia makes the best pasta hasn't changed, but this was quite nice!
Haha ok this dish was awesome. It's listed as flathead royale, but they've made it so it looks like a creme caramel! The texture and flavour were so good, this was my other favourite dish! The texture of the flathead mousse was like that of a steamed egg tart or silken tofu - nice, soft and creamy, and the soy based sauce went so well with it!
Of course I said yes to adding 5g of truffle for $20 onto the duck agnolotti! I am so illiterate when it comes to Italian food that I was expecting duck on the outside rather than duck on the inside of a pasta!
Yes, venison time! Venison backstrap, venison mince en croute, and some beetroot and olive garnishes. Venison is a pest here so it's always great to see it on the menu. That pastry was done really well!
This funky looking dessert was mandarin sorbet, milk gelato, and sabayon. They even poured the sabayon tableside so it slowly blobbed downwards. When I tasted it, all elements together tasted better than each individual part, and it looks like I'm on the same page as the staff, because that's what the waiter said too! I love food that tastes different as a whole compared to the individual parts!
Lastly, a cute little choux! Filled with praline and grand marnier, what a great way to finish dinner!
Overall this was a very nice place, I'm so glad I booked it! The service was so professional, I hadn't fine dined in so long that it was super refreshing! Oh yeah, the drinks - I had two drinks, a cold pressed sour cherry juice which was lovely and tart, and then also a very fragrant raspberry kombucha. Oh, the decor is excellent too, including a hacksaw on one of the walls haha!
Since I probably won't be making posts about the other places I ate at, I wanted to mention here that Hobart has some great non alcoholic options, even at the wine bars! It's so great to see, it means I don't feel out of place regardless of what kind of eatery I'm at!
Quay 2.0
Quay was the second fine dining restaurant I visited back in 2011. I really enjoyed the first experience, from the view, to the decor, to the food, especially the pork jowl dish! And everything else. To this day, some of the dishes I had then are are still prominent in my memory and a lot of other restaurants trigger the memories of that visit, notably the marron with grapefruit, the congee, and the pork jowl.
Recently they renovated, and started featuring crumpets on their menu instead of the usual bread options. There'd been a crumpet craze, and I joined in that craze when Saint Peter did uni on crumpets (which are SOOOO good!). So, I decided, now's the time to revisit!
The thing is, I've been so behind on writing up my Sydney adventures that I've forgotten what this amuse bouche is! All I know is that it was tasty, but that's a given!
I had booked the shorter course as that was the only thing available on their website, but on the day, they advised we had the entire table so we opted for the full menu! We still received the complimentary drink. Since I'm no good with alcohol I chose their tea instead, which was a savoury style tea, tomato consomme style! I thought that was really cool!
Look at the texture on that bowl! It kind of reminds me of oyster shells, which is fitting since the first dish is about seafood! We even got tweezers to eat this with, that's how delicate the food is!
Juice pairing time! The first beverage was a non alcoholic wine, made by an ex-Noma staff member, how cool!
Yeah. So many interesting things about this dish! This was my favourite for the night (and so early in the meal too!). The caviar itself I've had to death in my New York trip, but the smoked eel cream was absolutely spectacular. It was rich, strong, smooth, full of flavour, it was just so good! Wow! And the sea cucumber crackling was a great way to transform an ingredient that I don't like! I love it when restaurants use things like sea cucumber, fish eyes, beef tendons etc to make crackling because it makes so much sense!
This was the pairing with the caviar. A very light matcha flavour, which is good since I'm not a fan of most matchas and very refreshing!
The next drink was out, and I love this flavour combination. I do love tea based drinks and when they feature oils, it reminds me a lot of how Noma infuse an insane amount of flavour and texture into their juices!
Man those red pea flowers are gorgeous. What is really great is that Peter Gilmore is really into heirloom varieties and breeding interesting vegetables. Most pea flowers I see are white, and occasionally purple, so seeing these red ones were a treat! Plus one can never go wrong with a tartare dish!
A mini snack in between courses, this was so cute because it reminded me of a pot plant - that little succulent sticking out like it was growing from the mountain of peas! All my favourite ingredients in one, I loved this little tart!
Yep, this looks like a concentrated shot! Given that Seedlip was used, this was meant to resemble spirits!
Ah, this is like their new congee dish! Well ok, I should actually describe it as a crab dish rather than the congee since that's the main ingredient. Chawan mushi-like with some tasty broth!
Ah yes, the moment I was waiting for! The entire reason (ok well maybe not entire reason) I booked Quay! It's crumpet time! The smoked roe was so good though there totally wasn't enough cream haha. Very enjoyable, even though it didn't actually turn out to be my favourite dish haha. I still think Mr. Niland's crumpets are the tastiest, but admittedly those are fried so they're hard to beat!
I seem to have either taken the photos out of order or there were an uneven number of drinks to courses? Haha oh well. One day I'll get this blogging thing right. Until then, I'll just assume this is the corresponding picture. A beer-mimicking drink to go with the crumpets!
Woah! Pasta! Infused with bone marrow! Yeah! Nice and al dente, this had a great texture! I really enjoyed this one!
Okay I am guessing a bit here so apologies if I've done it in the wrong order. I think this was the buckwheat drink to pair with the pasta. I love herbacious flavours in drinks too, and I think it really complements the roastiness of the buckwheat!
The almighty smoked pork jowl dish! How it's changed so much but still very much a similar concept! Personally I liked the 2011 version better, but I mean, that was a pretty high bar and it's not like this was bad, I just liked how the textures came together better on my previous visit. Still a very good set of ingredients and such soft pork!
Haha I loved the presentation of this drink! A pear shaped frozen thing! But softly frozen, like fine granita that would melt into the drink. Pear, like apple, seems to be a good pairing for pork!
I love that Peter Gilmore loves peas! Speckled peas this time! But let's talk about the duck. I love duck and have had a few recently, including the one at Eleven Madison Park, and that one didn't actually impress me (sorry guys!). This, on the other hand. WOW. It's been a very long time since I've been surprised by a duck dish and this was GOOD!!! The duck was tender, well flavoured and the reason this is a winner - that skin was thin and perfectly crispy! Woah! I really was not expecting this to be next level crispy skin! What!!!! Yeah this was absolutely mind blowing!!! Ok so I didn't mention it at the beginning of my post as one of my favourite dishes but yes if you ever wonder whether or not you should choose this duck the answer is yes! Definitely! It is so good!!!
Yeah after the food I don't remember much about the drink haha.
After that mindblowingly amazing duck dish, it was time to move onto dessert. Look at the foamy thing on top! Visually this reminded me a lot of Noma Australia's rum lamington, but this had a harder texture and was less melty. There was also a lovely berry ice cream hiding underneath!
This is such an adorably presented dessert! So-called for the jersey milk cream that was so delicious. I'm an absolute sucker for cream so this was a real winner! Super rich and creamy! Plus those biscuits were super thin, and I am always impressed by super thin stuff! There was also some tasty caramel hiding underneath.
I liked this round of desserts better than the ones in 2011 (yes, even surpassing the snow egg!), but that's probably because I have a strong bias towards cream haha.
Ok, so it looks like I am missing a drink photo. There were 10 listed on the menu but I only seem to have 9 shots. Oops! I think this was the pairing with the white coral. I must not have gotten a photo of the Moo pairing, which was apricot, cola, pepper and coffee. Man that last drink was actually quite tasty!
And finally petit fours. I was so full after this! My friend had to leave early so I had to eat all four fours! Ahaha but they were good, and while the caneles look really dark on the outside, they were pretty good!
Overall my second visit to Quay was just as fantastic as the first! Very different food experiences and it's interesting to see how main ingredients have carried through but in very different iterations. Comparing the dishes was really fun and I really should revisit restaurants more often because a lot of the fun is in watching them evolve!
Poly
Oh, I only have 4 photos for Poly? Oh dear. I should go back and take more...
I visited this place during my Sydney trip last year; it was a restaurant that seemed very interesting and had tasty food, so I had to go.
They even had a non alcoholic wine!! What a dream come true!! It was very tasty! This was a kakadu wine that wasn't overly sweet, had a good acidity and a lovely coconut aroma. It reminded me a lot of my EMP visit, and did very well as a non alcoholic drink!
Ooooh yeah look at this gilda!!! Woah!!! This was absolutely fantastic!! I love olives, peppers, anchovies and quail egg. The biggest surprise for me was that the egg was gooey in the middle. I mean, it should have been obvious but I've not been to a place that has done a soft boiled quail egg before so I was really impressed! Yes I want more of this!
There were some interesting things on the menu like a beef dish that seemed small ($20?) but the waitstaff said I shouldn't order it as a solo diner because the flavours were too big? What? Lol I am not exactly sure what this means but I trust waitstaff. This crudites caught my eye so I ordered it and man those veges tasted so good! Forking out money for vegetables seems really weird but these were actually next level and taste better than the ones I buy....
And lo and behold, the scarlet prawn. yeah. That is one MASSIVE prawn. It was as big as a marron!! Oh man I was so excited and it tasted so good!!! It even came with a slice of bread to absorb the brain juice and sauce it was sooo good. I really need more scarlet prawns in my life!!
I did order a dessert too but it was super dark and the lighting wasn't good so I didn't get a decent photo of it. It was a creamy pudding of some sort, really tasty but I remember it being a tad heavy, oh well!
Poly definitely has some super crazy tasty stuff. They keep posting about delicious morsels like anchovies on toast, lardo, all these other things, and they even had a pea and seaweed dish that sounded amazing!! And if you stay at the Paramount Hotel, these guys are the one that do the room service snacks so you're definitely in good hands!
Momofuku Ko (bar)
Originally I was going to incorporate Momofuku Ko into my normal posts, but considering that Ko is a big name/high end restaurant, it's getting its own post! I didn't actually dine in the restaurant, but rather, took a seat at their bar for some grub.
The menus are handwritten! Wow!!! I'd actually read about this ahead of time since I had to see if walk ins were okay and what kind of food they had, but seeing it in real life is pretty cool! I was a bit sad that the uni addons were crossed out for today though.
Took a few photos of the chefs. Action shots are difficult to take but this was fun to do!
First up, I had the sea bass with pickles. The sea bass is quite a nice fish, and those were Japanese style pickles. By that I mean that they were the salty kind, though they had the vinegared ones too. How interesting!
Teehee, lots of pictures of some cute fried prawns! What amazing tiger prawns. Heads deep fried, bodies sashimid, what more can I ask for? Plus look at those eyes! This was an excellent dish, I loved eating the prawn heads, and that sashimi was really nice, super sweet flesh, and it was also topped with dashi that was super addictive!
Ooo the buns!
Fried chicken! Well actually, it's cold fried chicken. Taken straight out of the fridge. It does seem a little odd to not serve a hot version, but it's David's Chang idea so why not! There was actually still some crispness to the chicken which was good, meaning it's not a completely soggified fridge chicken. The sweet glaze on it was also nice! However, the refrigerated version loses the hot juices that usually come out after a bite and that makes all the difference, so I missed that a lot as I bit into the drumstick. Undecided as to whether or not I like this, but the skin texture was something I actually appreciated!
More chef action, on pithivers and prawns!
And here it is, the David Chang version of the hamburger. Pattie and hot dog bun, with added foie gras. No leaves, no cheese, nothing else. And it was GOOD. Look that the inside of that pattie! The beef was full of flavour, it reminded me of why I love Burger Project and the David Blackmore full blood wagyu burger so much - it's the beef that makes the burger. The foie was also pretty tasty and added so much fatty goodness to this! So even if David Chang doesn't like Aussie burgers, I like both his and Aussie burgers!
I decided not to get dessert because it looked massive when I saw another table order it. Sure it was Japanese cheesecake with maple syrup, but I just felt like it would have been a bit too much, plus, if I wanted some, I could always try and find some in Japan itself later on.
The other thing I didn't get a picture of was the fact that these guys use Zalto glasses. Oh yeah. I actually wanted to order a drink just to handle one of those glasses again, but I also needed to be sensible! So no glass for me. Oh well. Maybe one day I'll come back to the main restaurant just so I can order a fancy glass of wine to go along with the food!
Lastly, these guys have a Japanese toilet! Seems weird to point out but when you walk in and the toilet seat cover automatically opens and you're not used to it! It was like, woosh! It also flushed the non-American way too! The things I notice XD
The bar was a cool place to be, and it was great that service was included so I didn't quite get bill shock at the end. Would love to come back and experience the restaurant!
Contra
My main goal on this trip was to visit Wildair because it was easier to get in without a reservation. However, since I had trouble getting my second EMP visit, I decided to visit Contra since they do have space for walk ins!
What a cool wall! It turns out the restaurant had some tables available, so I was seated there instead of at the bar.
They didn't have a whole lot of non alcoholic options, so I asked the waiter for her opinion, and she pointed out this kombucha as being quite nice.
Up first was an amuse bouche of lobster and shiso. I love the cute crinkled paper wrapper that it comes on! That lobster mince was very finely done, and went well with the shiso flavour!
Hey look it's a quenelle of butter! I've missed quenelles of butter. And look at that bread. Woah. That BREAD! It's hard, crusty sourdough, like the kind you get back in Aus, and this was soooo good! Eating this reminded me of how much more I like this stuff than the soft fluffy buns I got at other restaurants (yes, I'm looking at you, EMP and Per Se!).
What's interesting to note is that when I say hard crusty bread, this reminded me of the one time I got my mouth shredded by bread crust. I *think* it was at Single O, but it was so long ago I could be wrong. This didn't quite reach that stage but it got close, which makes me wonder if this is always intentionally done or if people sometimes struggle to eat this. Personally I like this style!
Okay, finally starting the first course! I recognise the vegetables here! I'd eaten both of these when I did my first visit of the farmers market! That was pretty cool. It was a great starter!
Fresh tofu, with caviar and.. maple syrup? That's an unusual combo! Though technically not any more unusual than say, maple bacon, right? My brain couldn't quite process it though. Don't get me wrong - the tofu was great, and there was a nice dollop of caviar, but the maple syrup seemed super light and I wasn't sure how it was contributing to the flavours of the dish, if that makes any sense. Overall though, it still tasted nice, just not magically amazing.
Salsify!! One of those super rare ingredients that I don't see very often. I'm fairly sure this isn't the first time I've eaten it, but given that the occurrence happens so seldom happens, it always feels like my first time. I'm not quite sure I can identify salsify just by the flavour though, but this was fun to eat and the squid was tasty!
Yes! This trout. Wow. It was so soft and melty! In fact, I felt these guys did the trout dish better than Per Se, the flavours and textures together were more of what I liked. The flavours and presentation of this were different from that of Tetsuya's, but the texture of the confit trout reminded me of the confit ocean trout, in a good way! This was quite the standout!
The meat knife came out. What an interesting knife, with its pastel flecked handle. There's actually a great and embarrassing story that comes with this knife. I found it interesting, so I moved it to take a picture of it. I always take pictures with the blade pointing down. I also noticed rivet-like things on the handle, not where they usually are, so I took a photo of them too, because rivets belong on the back of the knife if they're not already on the side, right?
And the duck dish to go with the knife. Morels!!! Morels stuffed with deliciousness (I can no longer remember what the deliciousness was)! These morels were pretty amazing, super large and plump. That duck was really nice too! I thought it was a bit tough though, as I was cutting into it. I know there's a line of sinew through the breast so I figured it was just hard to cut because of that, plus last night's beef dish was about the same level of difficulty to cut, so maybe that was the limit of the knife's sharpness?
That's when the waitstaff noticed me and said... I had the knife the wrong way. I'd been using the flat edge instead of the sharp side. What??? But the shape of the knife! On a normal dining knife, straight edge is back and curved side cuts, right?!
But if you take a look at the pictures again, the waiter was right. I'd taken a picture of the knife upside down, and looked at the "inside" edge instead of the outside edge. Woooow. How could I have gotten this so wrong haha! That was a mortifying experience, especially as I realised that the other staff who passed had actually corrected me too, earlier, after I'd put the knife down after taking photos. I hadn't heard all of what he'd said, just something about the sharp side and flipping the knife over. Now I realised he was trying to tell me that the sharp side was the other side! Wow. Once I flipped it over, the knife cut so easily!
Woah. You know how usually when you order a cheese course, and you get a slice of cheese? I didn't expect pretty curled ribbons! That's a really nice way of presenting cheese! How come no one else does this? This was a sheep's milk gouda with date paste. The flavours here were fantastic and the dates went so well with the cheese! Best cheese dish ever!
Compared to the previous dish, this dessert ain't a looker. However, it was made of some of my favourite things! Meyer lemon! Also I love having that heap of cream on there too!
These two are funky looking blobs, but also very delicious! I'm always wary of desserts that feature chocolate because they can be a bit heavy, but this one was just right.
I can't say if I like Contra or Wildair more because they are quite different restaurants. Contra has some amazing dishes while Wildair was actually more "perfect", whereas I had thought that Contra would be the more technical restaurant, but they are their own restaurants and both are really enjoyable! So glad I made the visit here!