‘A first-class restaurant in a shopping mall?’ you ask. I was a little dubious too. The surprisingly intimate experience starts at the front door—wrought iron covered in leafy vines. Guests are greeted at the door by a staff member who leads you down a long hallway, decorated with branches and vines. To me, it felt like being welcomed into an enchanted forest. The hall opens out into the elegant dining room, with a honey-hued sandstone feature wall, large arched windows and more branches and leafy vines amongst velvet-clad lounges. The atmosphere is very warm and inviting, at the same time it feels luxurious…and all this before the food and drinks begin!

The seven-course degustation actually ends up being about nine courses with the extra bits and pieces that are brought out as part of the dining experience. Our degustation included:

• Snacks—tapioca crisps, soubise mousseline, fried bread, cured lardo
• Becasse artisan bread, olive oil butter
• Local radish, melon, oloroso and green zebra gazpacho
• Chilled ocean consommé, Pacific oyster, scallop and octopus
• Spanner crab, chamomile, young coconut and crab jelly
• Flame-grilled mussels, caramelised calves sweetbread, duck prosciutto and kohl rabi
• Extra course (not on the menu so I don’t know precisely what to call it): a smashed potato gratin
• Slow-cooked lamb shoulder, pine smoked summer heirlooms, cardamom jus OR Slow-roasted pork, endive, olive, fennel and lemon myrtle
• Autumn still life
• 68% Alto Beni Zokoko chocolate cadeau, dulce de leche, peanut and milk sorbet OR Verbena crème caramel, golden peach, blueberry and lemon balm
• Petits fours.

The overall dining experience could only be described as decadent. The food is breathtakingly beautiful in presentation and, combined with the sommelier’s wine selection to complement each course, a foodie’s delight to eat. The flavours are delicate and refined as you would expect any good French restaurant to serve.

I’m not sure that I could pick a favourite course but I was pleasantly surprised by the calves’ sweetbreads. Having never eaten brains before, I wasn’t sure what to expect but they tasted like perfectly-cooked tender veal, although a bit softer in texture. Delicious…

At the end of the degustation it feels like you’ve been on a very exclusive journey with your fellow diners. Like a secret shared only with a select few. And taking excellent customer service to the extreme, when signing the bill we were given takeaway bags with lovely breakfast pastries from the Becasse Bakery. It certainly leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling about the evening. A very nice touch indeed.

This is a big commitment—amuse bouche, eight tasting plates then finished with tea, coffee and petits fours. But if you can spare the time (lunch was four hours) and the expense, it is well worth it. I can’t think of a better spot to while away an afternoon (or evening), overlooking Sydney Harbour, eating absolutely superb food.

The only downside is having to book well in advance. We booked five months in advance and still couldn’t get dinner booking, hence the long lunch instead. Thankfully, the tasting menu is the same for lunch and dinner. Here’s what we had:

Amuse bouche is the chef’s selection of a bite-size hors d’oeuvre—just a little something to whet the appetite. Ours was oyster cream, sustainable caviar and micro herbs.

Sashimi Hiramasa kingfish, pickled kohlrabi, octopus, nastursiums, white dashi jelly. This was a showstopper, not only beautifully presented (everything is at Quay), but with so many wonderful flavours.

Baby white heirloom cucumber gently braised in oyster and wakame juices, shaved black lipped abalone, oyster cream. I’d never eaten abalone before so wasn’t quite sure what to expect but the subtle seafood flavour with the crunch of cucumber was delicious.

Native freshwater marron, rose salt, organic pink turnips, jamon de bellota cream, oloroso caramel, green almonds, society garlic flowers. Yet another perfectly balanced dish with amazing flavours. I loved the crisp vegetables contrasted with the soft marron. Everything on the plate combined flawlessly.

Butter poached coturnix quail breast, pumpernickel, morel and ethical foie gras pudding, walnuts, quinoa, truffle custard, milk skin. I’m becoming a huge fan of quail and this one was tender and juicy. The dish was spectacular—so tasty—with the nuts and mushroom, like the essence of winter on the plate.

Slow braised Berkshire pig jowl, maltose crackling, prunes, cauliflower cream, perfumed with prune kernel oil. The pork was mouth-wateringly soft and savoury, beautifully complemented by the sweetness of the maltose crackling and prunes.

Glenloth squab breast, roasted cherries, banyuls, almond cream, bitter chocolate black pudding crumbs, tonka, beetroot chard. Yum, so rich and delicious! The squab was amazing! Words fail me it was so good—beyond description.

White nectarine snow egg. Pure perfection. Nectarines have such a lovely delicate flavour and the snow egg with its different components—ice cream, granita and nectarine fool—was too good to be true. Not too sweet and a great palate cleanser.

Preserved wild cherries, coconut cream, chuao chocolate crumble, cherry juice and chocolate sorbet. I’m not a massive cherry fan so I really thought this second dessert would be too much for me but I found it more chocolatey than fruity.

I particularly enjoy Peter Gilmore’s food philosophy “food inspired by nature”. Each dish is a work of art, not just in how it’s presented but how it tastes as well. There’s something to be said for using the best and freshest produce in innovative ways. We left thinking, yet again, that we simply have to come back.

Taste of Sydney is a great place to try signature dishes from some of Sydney’s best cafes and restaurants, not to mention Australian wines. There were also demonstration classes and chef’s tables where you could experience firsthand how these signature dishes are created, which is absolutely fascinating for motivated home cooks like us.

We only managed to squeeze in sample plates from five restaurants, but the offerings were incredible. If only we could have eaten more!

Here’s what we had…

Etch Dining

• Seared scallops with cauliflower puree, bhaji and curry

This was without a doubt our favourite of the day. The scallops were seared perfectly so that they were sweet and tender. The cauliflower puree was deliciously creamy, contrasting beautifully with the crunchy bhaji. The curry sauce was flavoursome but not overpowering—a tasty mix of sweet and savoury with just a hint of heat.

Restaurant Balzac

• Saddle of suckling pig with baby garden peas

The pork had obviously been slow-cooked for a very long time and any trace of fat had melted away. It literally fell apart in the mouth, so juicy and tender. The peas were sweet and minty, a refreshing cleanser after the richness of the meat. Fantastic!

Four in Hand

• 12-hour braised lamb shoulder with pea and feta salad

Minty peas seemed to be a common theme with the meat dishes. These peas were really yummy with feta melted through to make a sort of dressing. The lamb itself was amazing. So full of flavour, it reminded me of nana’s lamb roast—the one she’d cook slowly and lovingly for hours in her wood-fired oven. Divine!

Assiette & District Dining

• District Dining spicy free-range Lilydale chicken with lime aioli and coleslaw

So tasty! This dish was large pieces of tender chicken breast in a spicy, crispy batter. The coleslaw had lots of crunchy vegetables and a really light and zingy dressing. All served with lime aioli, which was creamy, with just the right amount of tang, and oh so more-ish. Think of it as a grown-up version of KFC’s crispy chicken strips…District Dining’s strips satisfy the kid within but are actually fresh and healthy.

Bilson’s & Number One Wine Bar

• Apple tarte tatin with calvados crème anglaise

You just don’t see enough calvados (a pear and/or apple brandy) on menus. So when we saw this dish on the tasting menu, we knew we had to have it. Soft, sweet apple, crisp pastry and rich cream—really, does it get any better than that? This was a lovely way to finish off the afternoon.

Taste of Sydney was a brilliant afternoon out. Being around others who love food and wine as much as we do, and chatting together about our experiences, it really heightened our excitement about food.

We’ll definitely be keeping 8–11 March 2012 free for the next festival.

Located at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Circular Quay, the restaurant offers views that simply cannot be beaten…big tick for location. We booked four months in advance (just after the awards were announced) and had uninhibited views of the Opera House on one side and the Harbour Bridge on the other, which are both magnificent all lit up at night.

Quay offers either a four-course table d’hôte or eight-course degustation menu. Jim and I opted for the four-course dinner, which had several appetising choices for each course. We also requested that the sommelier choose a glass of wine to accompany each of our courses. Definitely not the most cost effective way to order wine, but totally worth it for what sipping the right wine adds to the overall dining experience.

I chose food that was, for me, quintessential winter fare:

• Salad of pink turnips and breakfast radishes, pickled beetroot, goats curd, blood sorrel, olive, pine resin, balsamico
  Wine: 2009 Foster e Rocco Sangiovese
• Butter poached partridge breast, chestnuts, truffle, bitter chocolate black pudding, milk skin, walnuts
  Wine: 2007 Principia Pinot Noir
• Poached milk fed Riverina veal, young spinach, kabu turnips, Tasmanian wasabi, morels
  Wine: 2007 Domaine Saint-François-Xavier G.S.M.
• Eight texture chocolate cake featuring Amedei Chocolate
  Wine: Mas Amiel ‘Prestige’ 15 Ans D’Age Maury

This meal was nothing short of amazing! Every mouthful better than the last and the sommelier’s selections were perfect.

For me, the stand-out course was the partridge. I’m not afraid to eat game meat but I’d never tried partridge before and this was definitely the place to do so. The breasts were perfectly pink and melted in my mouth. And the subtle gamey flavour of the bird was beautifully complemented by the chestnut puree—is there anything that captures the spirit of winter more than chestnuts?—which was rich, nutty and creamy. Mmmmm, heaven on a plate!

We loved eating at Quay so much that we hope to make it an annual affair…and definitely an affair to remember.