Amaru

Steve's 41st birthday dinner took place at Amaru in Armadale. It's been on our list for so long but we never got round to it. Chef Clinton McIver's recent appearance on Masterchef reminded us that it was high time we hauled ourselves to the ritzy suburb of Armadale.

I booked far enough in advance to secure seats at the Chef's Table which can accommodate around 6 people and provides a great view of all the activity in the kitchen. Lucky us had the end two seats so our entertainment for the evening was closer than the distance between TV and sofa at home! Even more importantly was that the bar seats are super comfortable and can hold the distance for the 11 course 'sensory menu'. Disclosure - sitting a the Chef's Table means going with the $155 per head sensory menu and accepting the supplementary item(s) at a cost and in our case it was Manjimup black truffle at an additional $35 per head - (I think I remember it at $35 per head.... but don't hold me to that!)

As is the trend, proceedings start with a range of snacks. We're well looked after throughout our meal as dishes are served to us by the chefs in the kitchen. Our first taste of Amaru's offerings is a prettily presented:

• Onion, garfish, sheep's milk yoghurt

The onion skin is dehydrated and made into a seemingly bland cracker but oh we're fooled. It's too pretty and delicate to pack such a flavour punch! But it does. There's salty fish, sweet fragrant onion finished with the tang of yoghurt.

​After that delightful punch to the palate we move onto:

• Crispy fermented carrot, lightly smoked duck ham
• Chicken liver, pine mushroom
• Pork, cabbage, black garlic, natural yeast

The duck ham is salty and cured to umami perfection. We love the chicken liver and pine mushroom with its nut shavings. The pork is actual a take on the infamous South Melbourne dim sim and comes on a skewer piping hot and like it's inspiration burns the roof of the mouth! 

These snacks are serious business. They may be small mouthfuls but the contrasting flavours and textures demonstrate creativity and so much deliciousness.

​We move from snacks to seafood:

• Mud crab, rock oyster, desert lime, cucumber, iced crab

It's a crab ice cream and it's sweet and creamy with the cucumber and desert lime adding freshness and a clean flavour note. It's a lot more delicate than the snacks we've had so far so it's a pleasant contrast to go from that to this delightful lightness.

​

• Pickled mussels, mineral baked celeriac, mussel juice, nasturtium leaf

And we continue with seafood and that delicate flavour touch. I'm not sure mussel juice sounds particularly appetising but this green tinged broth is certainly slurpworthy.

And then it's time to break bread; thick slices of amazing sourdough with a nutty crust. 

• Sourdough, roe emulsion, cultured butter, unfiltered olive oil

The olive oil doesn't even register with me! I'm all about the butter...butter is better. The roe emulsion is deliciously light and can be paired with the butter unlike the onion cream cheese and butter at St Crispin where it's too rich to have both and I have to make the painful decision.

And Amaru is generous enough to offer a second round of sensational sourdough.

​We're enjoying our sensory journey and I think we hit an all time high with the next course:

• Smoked prawn, caramelised yoghurt, yeast oil

So pretty in pink, this plump little number has soft sweet flesh and the crispy head is just such a great contrast.

​And now we move onto a vegetarian dish but it's no shrinking violet. 

• Otway shiitake, wild garlic oil, chawanmushi, truffle

Those little pickled mushroom beauties are seriously cheek suckingly powerful in flavour - not unpleasantly so and the milky soft chawanmushi just cleanses that astringency away.

​And now onto meat:

• Dry aged kangaroo, raw liquorice, quince, smoked onion, truffle

I'm not a fan of liquorice so mine is seasoned with kampot pepper. A single leaf of radicchio adds bitterness against the game meat flavour and the heady truffle.

As we move into dessert territory, we served:

• Dirty potato

Given the best potato I have ever had is Attica's "potato cooked in the earth it was grown" there has got to be a connection given Clinton McIver's chef history. However this potato is a potato ice cream with a potato skin shell and liberally dusted with a chocolate type powder. The ice cream is more milky than creamy and the chocolate covering is more nutty than sugary so the whole things stays light on the tummy which is important given what we have eaten and that there is more to come.

 The next two desserts soon follow:

• Decomposed apple leaves, artichoke, ginger
• Meredith cheesecake

Reminiscent of Brae's parsnip and apple dessert this one has the same autumnal hues of colour. I actually prefer this flavour pairing but that might come from the fact that I don't like parsnips rather than any gourmet finesse!

The Meredith Cheescake is a beautiful rose gold tile of goat's soap adorned with a citrussy sorbet and I think some sort of honeycomb for crunch and sweetness.

​And as if all that food wasn't enough...petit fours come:

• Tea ganache, wild rosella, cookie
• Strawberry gum delight
• Grass fed beef caramel

I avoid the strawberry gum delight as the jelly texture of Turkish Delight is not my bag. The grass fed beef caramel is as intriguing as it sounds. Buttery creamy caramel but yes with a distinct meaty undertone that isn't unpleasant but is certainly memorably interesting.

​So amidst the ball gowns and wedding dresses that adorn High Street Armadale, Amaru manages to hold its veiled head high as the beautiful bride worthy of all the guests' attention. We were well looked after by a pleasant and charming front of house staff that combine expertise with professionalism.