POD: Smoked Ocean Trout @ Tetsuya’s

In a few hours I am leaving Sydney and getting on a plane back home, though not before stopping by Manresa for one final meal of this trip. No visit to Australia seems complete without an unfortunate a streak of disappointing meals, but unlike last year there were just as many great meals to balance them out.

Brent Savage at the Bentley Restaurant continues to be one of my favorite chefs anywhere. I love everything about Bentley, serious food served without the prerequisite bullshit that usually comes with it, truly creative dishes that let superior ingredients speak for themselves when the time is right, the fact that it can pull off a liquid nitrogen Hemingway without coming across as a gimmick,  and the very idea of a $50AU 8 course lunch in a city like Sydney. Or Houston, now that I think about it.

Quay was everything L2O should have been, with really strong dishes built around great fish and produce at the same level as Manresa (and better than L’Arpege). No one seems to have heard of Peter Gilmore outside of Australia and he deserves far more credit than he currently gets.

And finally, despite where the Restaurant Magazine ranks Tetsuya’s in comparison to others, I thought my meal there was better than French Laundry and one of the best I have had anywhere. Food should put you in your happy place and Tetsuya’s did just that. I am going back to all three next time I am back in these waters.

Smoked trout, avruga caviar, egg yolk

Until I get all the pictures up, you will have to make do with just one. The smoked trout and avruga caviar was one of the best dishes at Tetsuya’s. Avruga caviar is a bit of nonsense (it’s actually herring roe), but the real standout here was the frozen yolk that tasted as if it has been slowly poached to soft boiled egg consistency. The dish had the texture and flavor of perfectl breakfast of eggs, smoked fish and caviar.

More to come later.

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