My birthday week of celebrations couldn't really bypass a Press Club visit. Kat and Emma (friends from Sydney) were in town and the four of us enjoyed a Sunday night at the Chef's Table.
As always we were so well looked after and I received a birthday card from George and the team and there was bubbly all round as we settled in.
This is a tomato and olive cocktail - a clear consomme that was cold with dehydrated olive and a skewer of halloumi and a slug of gin. Pretty interesting and tasty.
As always we were so well looked after and I received a birthday card from George and the team and there was bubbly all round as we settled in.
This is a tomato and olive cocktail - a clear consomme that was cold with dehydrated olive and a skewer of halloumi and a slug of gin. Pretty interesting and tasty.
Deconstructed Greek salad with a capsicum terrine, tomato jelly, dehydrated olive and fetta cheese sorbet. We remembered the capsicum terrine from a Masterchef pressure test. Clean flavours and no complaints.
Next was a crab dish with charred corn and a LOT of butter. Incredibly rich, sweet, intense and naturally buttery. A standout for Kat and Steve.
Next was a crab dish with charred corn and a LOT of butter. Incredibly rich, sweet, intense and naturally buttery. A standout for Kat and Steve.
Spring Bay mussed "spanakopita" ie stuffed with cheese and spinach with braised chickpeas. This was Emma's favourite but enjoyed by everyone.
Salmon poaced in olive oil with squid ink prawn cracker; delicately cooked salmon tasting just the way salmon should. Pure flavours, no fancy stuff.
Salmon poaced in olive oil with squid ink prawn cracker; delicately cooked salmon tasting just the way salmon should. Pure flavours, no fancy stuff.
Quail dolmades - always love quail.
Pasta cooked in a mushroom broth with black truffle - oh this was my favourite dish and was matched with a slightly sweet amontillado sherry. So homely yet decadent. So savoury and with dense textures and intense earthy flavours. And then a note of sweetness cutting through the savoury flavours from the sherry. Genius! Well done Spanish sommelier Marc. I dream about eating this again.
Pasta cooked in a mushroom broth with black truffle - oh this was my favourite dish and was matched with a slightly sweet amontillado sherry. So homely yet decadent. So savoury and with dense textures and intense earthy flavours. And then a note of sweetness cutting through the savoury flavours from the sherry. Genius! Well done Spanish sommelier Marc. I dream about eating this again.
No Greek meal is complete without lamb and we had tender tender lamb with mashed potato. Simple and delicious.
Dessert was incredible decadent. We had the usual blackcurrant meringue, lime gel and lychee sorbet refresher which is so incredibly good at cleansing the palette and removing those feeling of bloatedness just enough that dessert cam be conquered.
Our first dessert was berries and cherries with some chocolate soil and a raspberry dome. I tend to prefer a fruit based dessert especially with berries and this was perfect for me.
As if that wasn't enough we were served the mastic panna cotta with Greek donuts, berries and strawberry ice cream. Another winning fruit based dessert. Admittedly the panna cotta by itself wasn't my favourite with the mastic aniseedy taste but mixed with the honeyed donuts and berries and ice cream it was delicious.
Our first dessert was berries and cherries with some chocolate soil and a raspberry dome. I tend to prefer a fruit based dessert especially with berries and this was perfect for me.
As if that wasn't enough we were served the mastic panna cotta with Greek donuts, berries and strawberry ice cream. Another winning fruit based dessert. Admittedly the panna cotta by itself wasn't my favourite with the mastic aniseedy taste but mixed with the honeyed donuts and berries and ice cream it was delicious.
Our two berry dessert were quite similar and Emma is a chocolate dessert girl so a brief conversation later and she had her chocolate fix. Well we all had it - salted caramel, chocolate and banana bread. In spite of all that we had eaten, it was still demolished.
Three espresso martinis and a port later, our last petit fours dish arrived with a well meaning candle to blow out. This time the meal was a lot simpler and traditional in flavours and styles of the dishes. All still very enjoyable still of course. I'm definitely sad that the Press Club will soon be no more but excited to support whatever happens next.
Three espresso martinis and a port later, our last petit fours dish arrived with a well meaning candle to blow out. This time the meal was a lot simpler and traditional in flavours and styles of the dishes. All still very enjoyable still of course. I'm definitely sad that the Press Club will soon be no more but excited to support whatever happens next.
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