Tetsuya’s
Tetsuya’s – Beautiful Japanese-French fusion cuisine
Tetsuya's Confit Petuna Ocean Trout with Konbu
We waited impatiently for the big heavy gate to let us in. It rolled across slowly, revealing a low-key building. Walking up the driveway, we felt important as hosts dressed smartly in black and white stood waiting to greet us.
Taking our coats and then ushering us upstairs, the host warmly welcomed us to our night of degustation. To kick-off the night of indulgence, our host brought us warm freshly baked bread with some beautiful (beautiful!) truffle butter. Oh my! It was the creamiest butter we’ve ever had with soft hints of truffles. It was delectable! I suggested to our host to give me a doggy bag – didn’t work, but he came back with more truffle butter and warm bread!
Starting off our 13-course epicurean journey was a cup of warm chestnut soup – smooth and frothy, the light creamy soup was lovely with just the right touch of sweetness from the chestnuts.
As Tetsuya’s forte is creating dishes with seafood, the next five courses were an array of seafood dressed in French and Japanese influences. Being seafood lovers, we absolutely enjoyed every single course especially Tetsuya’s signature dish, confit petuna ocean trout with konbu, celery and apple.
The generous piece of konbu encrusted ocean trout sat majestically atop finely julienned celery and apple. I could tell why this is Tetsuya’s signature dish. The lightly seared ocean trout was soft to the bite; the fresh sweetness of the fish with the slightly salty taste of konbu gelled together harmoniously. That with the crisp celery and the sweet apples made it the perfect bite – that is why the dish is (always) on the menu.
The next three courses – ox tail, spatchcock, and beef – brought us towards the end of the main courses. Our favourite – well, we couldn’t really decide – was the perfectly cooked (to our liking) grass-fed Tasmanian Angus beef with swiss browns and porcini. The woody aromatic porcini coupled with the beautifully grilled meat played with my senses – I wondered if it was because it was my sixth glass of wine. It’s not, and I enjoyed every bite with the smooth creamy mash, getting a whiff of the woody aromas every now and again.
Tetsuya's Pear Sorbet with Bread and Butter Pudding
Our epicurean journey was closing in on us, and Tetsuya didn’t disappoint us just with one dessert. We had three! They were all beautiful, decadent and absolutely morish.
The pear sorbet with bread and butter pudding took the top prize. The sweet tangy pear sorbet with pieces of walnut worked really well with the creamy bread and butter pudding. The bread and butter pudding is unlike any other I’ve had. It mimicked a crème brulee in terms of appearance and texture, but was no doubt a bread and butter pudding with the bells and whistles of Christmas in it. It was a ‘Christmas in a cup’ for me – beautifully fragranced and flavoured with cinnamon and Madeira…and the secret ingredient, lightly toasted raisin bread!
As we took the last sip of our dessert wine and wiped the crumbs of macarons away, we gave each other knowing smiles of “ looking forward to coming back again”…
Reservations: definitely! – weeks ahead, if not months ahead to avoid disappointment.
Tetsuya’s
529 Kent Street
Sydney.
Phone: +61 2 9267 2900 or Fax: +61 2 9262 7099.
~Food Trails.net
(2010)
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