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| kingfish tartare |
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| Avocado roll |
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| beef short rib |
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| gorgonzola cheesecake |
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| Sour cherry cloud |
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| foie gras creme brulee |
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| zucchini flowers |
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| King salmon |
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| chicken and squid |
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| Muscoy duck |
Wine:
Heidsieck and Co Monopole blue Top Champagne Burt
Barkly Durif, Campbells 1992
Lark Hill Chardonnay 2008
Ron decided that we should go upmarket to Sage because I had been there for Jule's 21st and raved about it and he didn't want to miss out. It did not disappoint, totally came up to expectation, a memorable night with fabulous food.
Firstly, Sage had just changed their menu and this was the first night they were trying it. The waitress was keen on any feedback that we could give, said that they had been tasting, discussing various combinations of food before they put this together. And it was a very experimental menu. As Karen said, they had put lots of flavours on each plate, and one had to combine all of them and taste them together to get the full flavour.
We chose the 4 course meal (despite Ron wanting the 10 course degustation, for once he did not get his way). Entrees of kingfish tartare (mango, black olive, fennel jalapeno) was delicate and delightful: zucchini blossom (goats curd, tomato and basil) was surprising, woke up the taste bud: the foie gras though (summer berries, hibiscus, sesame. lemon balm) was a strange combination. The foie was too light and couldn't handle the sweetness of the berries.
For the next course, the chicken and squid (samphire, wild rice, rouille chorizo (what is a samphire?)) was beautiful, moist, which is hard to do with chicken with what seemed pork skin on top. The avocado (sheeps yoghurt, beetroot, black cherry, pinenet, wood sorrel) was to die for, enough said. But the marron (iced tea, spiced carrot, young coconut, nori merinque) was according to Ron very plain, bland, looked good but needed something. The iced tea added something, but not enough. The coconut blob at the bottom was nice.
Mains: Duck (orange, carrot, pickled red cabbage, liquorice), beautiful, the liquorice was strong but good mixed together: beef (maple soy, turnip, pearle onion parsley root) was superb, good strong flavour. The meat was very dense and "meaty" (well it would be wouldn't it) and really needed a steak knife to cut through. The king salmon (prawn, papaya, cucumber, soybean, vanilla) melted, was well cooked.
The desserts, well, not as spectacular. The cheesecake (gorgonzola, apricot, souterns, vine leaf) just did not work, very strange taste. Needed more sweetness perhaps. The cheery cloud (toasted coconut icecream, cocolate variations) was not sweet enought, too tart without richness. The coconut was lovely. And the lemon tart (cinnamon basil, sorbet, shortcake, raspberry meringue) was beautiful.
A great night, fabulous wine as always (thanks to Jim)
