Dinner at 'Quay'

What can I say my husband really out did himself this year...I could not have asked for a better surprise and experience, dinner at Sydney's number one restaurant 'Quay'!  It was amazing.  He also surprised me by organizing one of my dearest Aussie girl friends to come in from out of town (7 hours away) to be my dinner date.  Sam is a fellow foodie, so this was also a special treat for her.

Sam and I dolled ourselves up and headed out to Sydney's finest... Pete dropped us off and we kicked off the night with two delicious drinks, mine had to be one of the best cocktails I have ever had (some type of vanilla infused martini).  We also had perfect seats right by the window looking out over the water.

Next we chose our four courses...Sam was a fabulous dining partner and was happy to share everything, so we both really got to have eight different things.  For our first course we settled on a 'salad of rhubarb, endive, beetroot, purple carrot, rosa radish, kohlrabi, goat's curd, pomegranate molasses and violet' and the other was a tuna dish which I cannot remember everything in it, but it was very good.  The salad had so many different textures it was just a beautiful sensation of taste and textures in your mouth.  Yummy. (Unfortunately my picture don't do any justice to the food!)

For the second course we chose 'Slow cooked coturnix quail breats, pumpernickel, walnuts, quinoa, truffle, chestnuts and milk skin.'  This was absolutely melt in your mouth amazing...I had never had quail before and was pleasantly surprised, the combination on this plate were perfect.  Our other dish was a little harder to swallow but we managed, it was 'Gently poached southern rock lobster, golden tapioca, shaved squid, lobster velvet and pea flowers'.  I am not a huge seafood fan so was not too surprised that the squid was a little overpowering for my liking, the lobster was melt in your mouth delicious, but sadly we both had to leave the squid on the plate.

Our third course was definitely the favorite (other than dessert).  We had one dish that was a risotto with white asparagus, truffle cream and I can't remember what else I just know it was phenomenal!  I think I could probably say this dish was one of the most incredible things I have ever eaten.  The other dish was 'Berkshire pig jowl, maltose crackling, prunes, cauliflower cream, perfumed with prune kernel oil'  I don't normally eat pork, but on this occasion I thought I better give it a shot.  It was very rich, but all the flavours together really were beautiful.  But the risotto was definitely the winner (I know my picture does not make it look that great, but I promise it was amazing!!)

And alas there was dessert...my ever awaited moment to try the 'real' Snow Egg!  As you might recall I attempted making this recipe at the end of last year and it was the hardest thing I have ever made.  Peter Gilmour (the chef) apparently changes the Snow Egg based on what fruits are in season, so I got to try the 'Jackfruit Snow Egg'.  The whole dessert experience is pretty incredible with the layers of texture and taste, but I think I would have to say the jackfruit flavor was not my favorite, it was by no means bad, just different and unfamiliar.

Our other dessert was the 'eight texture cake' which was absolutely divine, I think it will have to be my next major recipe attempt...I will keep you posted when I find the time to make this 8 recipe dessert that is seriously a chocolate lovers dream, it was the perfect thing to finish on.

It was an unforgettable evening indeed, so a big thank you to my husband and my dear friend Sam!  What a treat...and we even got to catch a glimpse of the chef himself (he came out to visit the table beside us).