Brianemone

I really like Quay. After eating there last year I couldn't wait to get the book and flick through very often. I love Peter's use of custards. A huge inspiration in my cooking. As above, my only complaint is the silver writing that is hard to read on the small rice paper pages.

Has anyone else that ordered back in October from Amazon.ca not had theirs sent yet?

Chris, is this thread an attempt at putting off the inevitable purchase of a centrifuge? If so, just do it. Would save heating the cream to separate the oil.

Sounds like you had a busy week Leslie. I enjoyed reading through it, good work.

Taco Bell. I spent a bit of time in the US as a kid and had very fond memories of Taco Bell. Went back a few time in the last few years and was bitterly disappointed at how completely horrible it was. To think that I could have been eating some decent wholesome mexcal food. Blah.

I got my copy this morning. It's a beautiful book. There is a picture for every dish and everything is very easy to read, from the intro right through to the glossary.

What method did your sponge finger recipe use? Meringue with egg yolk folded followed by the dry ingredients? It look like it was over worked while folding in the flour, make sure you sift it in over three stages starting the next stage before the last is completely incorporated. Also, don't over fill your piping bag.

I was interested when I first heard about it, now? Must have! It's a shame it's releasing when it is though, I'll be staging in Australia for a month and won't have money for a while.

You will definitely be able to make pate with it but you might find that it is a little bitter (as with other large animals)

We walked past here a few weeks ago to attend our reservation at Marque. It was interesting to see people lining up to get in.

The professionalism of the front of house staff was far superior to any of the NZ restaurants I've visited. The food at Quay as the best looking presented food I've encountered and the Pork was one of the best things I've ever eaten anywhere. I'd say that if there was a big enough customer base in Auckland, both Meredith's and Sidart would be on par with Marque. As it stands they miss the little things like Petit four and optional extra courses. One thing that Sidart did have over both Quay and Marque was how almost every dish made me grin in delight. There was only one dish at Sidart that didn't hit the sweet spot and that was the blue cheese pre dessert which was a little too heavy to acheive that. I'd like to compare it to other restaurants around the world, but unfortunately my fine dining experience has been limited to NZ and now Sydney.

My Wife and I had a great time in Sydney. Our first dinner was at The Bentley Bar. My wife had the Vegetarian Tasting menu, I had the one with meat. Her first course (smoked potato foam and other things) was the most memorable from her food. The dessert was stunning, some inventive technique being shown in the freestanding Mandarin custard with a liquid chocolate interior. Porkbelly coated in a milk gel, dehydrated mushrooms. Very exciting food. Lots of great tastes and great service. Best lemon/lime/bitter from the three restaurants we visited as well. (my wifes drink of choice) Quay was second, stunning view from the Rotunda. The first three courses were subtle. All very well cooked and presented, the vegetables with little goats cheese filled tuile sticks as great from these. The last three savoury courses were phenomenal. The pork especially has seared its place in my mind forever. The guava egg was incredible as well. Marque was our third dinner. In contrast with Quay, the first three were among the most impressive of the evening. The paddle crab with almond and corn was superb, as was the cured mackeral and smoked foie gras (omg, smoked foie gras) and the Scampi with cos lettuce. The duck and veal were both good, but much more simple than the other courses. The sauterne custard pre dessert was the silkiest egg custard that I have ever had. An optional cheese course was offered that featured Vacche Rosse Parmegiano and a truffle stock, it was very good. We also had a great pizza at Ventuno for one of our lunches, I would happily return for another if I find myself in Sydney again. I was impressed by the level of service given at all of the restaurants. Very knowledgeable staff, and wonderful food all around.

Will be in Sydney next week. We have been planning this trip for the last 5 months so hopefully it will be an enjoyable trip. Our three dinners will be at The Bentley Bar, Quay and Marque. Hopefully we can try some quality, less expensive places for lunch/brunch.

I have heard good things about Bosley's. I won't be visiting any time soon, but if I were to make my way down to Wellington, it would probably be first on my list.

Shark/Lemon Fish is quiet good, but I usually avoid buying fish and chips and even then only buy fish from places I know and trust, which are few and far between.

After a day to recover........ Thinks started off pretty rough, the front of house girl that was supposed to be helping (the only person that was going to get paid for the night) didn't show up. My bosses wife got really sick, so they couldn't come, and the Celeriac wasn't ready yet (the grower overestimated their size when discussing the order) Some of my micro herbs also didn't arrive (Corriander/Spring Onion) as the same day courier failed. These issues got me a little worried but I think we coped with the speed bumps well. The guys helping me were real stars. We all chipped in taking drink orders and keeping the cutlery/plates cleared. And we got most of the prep done with about 30 minutes to spare. I find it comforting that while I didn't have time to check egullet in the days leading up that some of the suggestions made were things I actually did. I also went and spent a service at one of the top restaurant in the country to see how they structure their tasting menu service. This is how the final menu appeared as given to the guests. I asked some of the guests to write their thoughts about the dishes on the menu as the night went along so that I could have some specific details rather than hazy recollections once it was all finished. Here are some pics of some of the dishes that we threw together after everything was finished so that we could to take the pics, some of the herbs were a little sad by this point. The highlight for me was the tuna. I think it's concept was clean and simple with good flavours. The risotto for the quail looks a little over cooked in the pic as it was some left over rice that we wanted to try and there wasn't enough for a whole extra portion for the picture. My least favourite overall dish was the chicken, the consommé was great, crystal clear and tasty, the cucumber/mint/yogurt/peanuts all great, but I think it should have perhaps stopped there, the chicken didn't carry the flavour in the way I had hoped it would, the format was just wrong. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't memorable. The final dessert was perhaps also a little heavy to finish and might have been more suited to a smaller portion (I had plenty though and didn't want to skimp in case people wanted to eat lots of it), but was also one of my favourite parts of the night as we plated it at the table. People really seemed to enjoy the interactivity of some of the dishes ie the final dish being plated at the table, the consommé being poured table side, the hidden aioli under the black pudding, and the jus filled pasta on the steak dish that released the sauce as they ate it. Well worth the stress and effort in terms of what I got out of it, and everyone really enjoyed the overall experience even if there might have been one or two parts that they didn't like (one doesn't eat fish, another can't stomach cauliflower). Only one person left "hungry", but it was my brother in law, and I don't think I have ever known him to be full, ever. Everyone else seemed sated, perhaps a little too much in some cases. I don't think I would ever be 100% satisfied no matter what the feedback, but I tried to enjoy it as much as possible and make it a stress free night for the people attending. Thanks for the feed back from everyone about my initial plans, it gave me plenty to think about and helped a great deal.

Have you looked at changing the ratio of ingredients? Adding a little more butter would give a firmer finish when cooled

The tasting menu available Fri-Sat is great value at $100 Cherry tomatoes, gooseberry in a tomato broth and a white chocolate and sorrel sorbet, was so light and refreshing that it set off the start of the meal perfectly. The Tuna and Quail were stunning. Service was efficient, friendly and the setting is very relaxed but sophisticated as well.

Thanks for the input so far everyone. I really appreciate it, I am definitely trying to take on as much as I can from the advice given. The reason for wanting to do this is to stretch myself. I don't want to get to the end of school and be in exactly the same place as the other students. I am a lot older than the typical 17/18 yr old school leaver so this is a do or die career move for me. There aren't a lot of carbs per se but I feel that the balance of vegetables/fruits will be appropriate. I do however think you and Jon Tseng have a very valid point about the possible fatiguing of proteins, specifically with the chicken, that is getting changed now. Fair comment, have you attended culinary school? If so you might not have thought this given that the stuff that I am wanting to try haven't been touched on in the course. Consommes and Terrines get covered late in this last year but I will be using different techniques than they teach anyway. As for seasonality, I am in new Zealand, so my seasonality is a little different from yours, Celeriac is just coming in, basil and tomatoes are on their last run so I wanted to utilize them. Fair call, some of them are a little different, but the likes of the curry dish I feel are very faithful to the combinations of flavour profiles. It's also a little bit of nostalgia for the food I ate growing up in each of the dishes as well. I think you are spot on about the eye fillet having too many components, have changed that quite a bit now. New Zealand isn't exactly famous for a strong culinary heritage but I feel that some of the combinations pay homage to how we eat here, and might not make sense in other countries. Sorry, should have made that clearer. The BLT is a dessert (in this case) french toast/pan perdu with a sorbet. I can definitely appreciate this, but this is what I am doing at school, learning the fundamentals. It is also what I do at home when practicing and making family meals or dishes to take to other peoples houses. My favourite type of restaurants are the ones that use the best of what is available and combine them to make something new, exciting, and delicious. In saying that, I will be trying to keep that in mind, it's partly why I posted here because I do get carried away with idea and a little excited about what can be crammed onto a plate.

Hi eGulleteers. I am taking over the restaurant I work in for a night to put on a tasting menu. It's a completely different style of food to what we normally cook there and the boss (it's a small place and it's only Him and I in the kitchen) will be a guest along with friends/family and friends of the already mentioned. I am a student in my second year of culinary school and some of my fellow students will be helping me put everything together for the night. I would love some feedback on what I have already planned and input into techniques that I will be trying in some cases for the first time. Here is the current menu. Scallops and black pudding crumb, aoli, herb shoots Seared Tuna, olive puree, strawberry pudding, olive oil, cherry tomato, microherb Chicken Curry - Confit chicken terrine, Pumpkin tube w/peanut crust, curry chicken consomme, compressed cucumber, coriander shoots, coconut foam Quail, celeriac risotto, liquorice syrup, shaved fennel Steak and Chips - Eye Fillet, jus filled tortellini, horse radish potato tots, bacon jam, pea puree Drunken BLT - Brioche french toast, basil sorbet, candied bacon, sweet tomato powder, bourbon/maple reduction After Dinner Mint -chocolate mousse rocks, mint crème fraiche blini, freeze dried raspberry If you have any questions about specific elements I'll be back on after dinner service tonight. Any feedback about anything at all would be great. Cheers

If you are ever in Auckland and get the chance please visit Meredith's. I went there last friday with my Wife, Boss and Bosses wife for a fantastic meal. Great food, service and atmosphere.

Queenstown and the Nelson/Malborough areas are my favourite parts of the country scenery wise. The north island doesn't have as much happening in comparison.

Where do I start with this?

I still don't understand how people claiming to only support "classical cookery" are only really talking about techniques and concepts only around for a century or two. Flame on meat is classical to me, and that's still how I like my steak. But hell, if I can cook that steak sousvide to the perfect doneness before throwing it over the flame then I am sure going to do it. Personally when I go out to eat it is either to get something I can't make myself at home without investing an absurd amount of time creating. So that usually means a tasting menu, I find them enlivening and inspirational.

Because the other two places are both going to be big nights I wouldn't mind something more relaxed (or rather, less structured) for the third night. I'm completely open to any cuisine whether I've tried it before or not.