Capital Grill, Circular Quay

One of the 4 Artworks by Tilo Kaiser

Another deal that I stumbled upon while browsing Eatability :) From now till the 1st November, Capital Grill is offering a special Taste of Sydney 5 Course Degustation menu. It is hard to pass when it is only $59 for a 5 course meal don't you think ?

I have been hearing / reading mixed reviews about Capital Grill, so I told my friends to not crucify me if the meals turns out to be unsatisfactory.

Thankfully, the negative reviews I've heard / read turned out to be unfounded !! *safe*

Wine Menu ; Cutleries (cute oyster fork)

When I rang to make a booking for the 6 of us, I've already mentioned that we will be having the degustation menu.

So once we were seated, we were only given the wine & bar menu to peruse. 

As soon as everyone has arrived, the waiter asked whether they can start bringing out the foods now.

Yes please ^_^

Warm Sourdough & Salted Butter

The sourdough was served warm and it was very fluffy, the salted butter was a perfect accompaniment.

Amouse Bouche
Cauliflower Soup with Pork Crackling

The amouse bouche was served in a tea cup with no spoon to go with it. So we just assume that we were to use the bread to soak up the soup. The soup was creamy and has a velvety texture, the crispy pork crackling add a touch of saltiness to it. A perfect start to a meal on a cold winter night.

Freshly Shucked Sydney Rock Oysters, Red Wine Vinegar Granita, Eschalot, Cracked Pepper

The oysters were from the South Coast Region of NSW and they are amazingly fresh, plump and juicy.

The waiter told us that the red wine vinegar granita is amazing, and he was right !

The icy and tart granita went very well with the fresh oysters, we wanted more just so we can use up all the granita.

Red Wine Vinegar Granita with Eschalot

NSW South Coast Snapper Carpaccio, Ponzu Sauce, Truffle Oil, Pork Crackling & Baby Herbs

The next to be served was the snapper carpaccio, the sashimi grade fish was fresh, sweet with firm texture. The ponzu sauce & truffle oil didn't overpower the delicate flavour of the snapper, the pork crackling was an odd but lovely addition to the dish. 

The whole table agreed that this was the best dish of the night and would definitely order it again :)

Twice Cooked Organic Pork Belly, Apple Puree, Radish & Watercress Salad, Cinnamon Jus

The pork used is from Pasture Perfect, a gourmet free range producers of organic Berkshire Pork in the Northern NSW town of Ashford.  While the meat was very tender, we found that the dish was quite salty and the skin was chewy and sticky (stubbornly stick to your teeth! ), not crispy as we had hoped for.

Roasted Baby Chicken, Caramelised Jerusalem Artichokes, Chestnuts, Bread Sauce & Jus Gras

Like the previous pork dish, the chicken is also sourced from a local NSW free range chicken growers, Game Farm in the upper Hunter Valley region.

When having a degustation, you would expect to have a small portion of food, so I was thinking maybe we'll get 1/4 of baby chicken, or maybe just a few slices of the white meat. 

But no....not 1/4 chicken....but.....(turn the plate slightly)....

Half (Baby) Chicken !!

Hellow half baby chicken !! It really took us by surprise that we were served half a chicken each, fine, it's a baby but it is still half a chicken nonetheless.

The meat was really sweet and very tender, while the others think it was bland, I certainly don't. Because it is just simply roasted, the flavour of the chicken does stands out.

I also love the creamy bread sauce, it's nice to see a different source of carb was used instead of the usual potatoes. I wished there were more of the caramelised jerusalem artichoke and chestnuts though, they went well with the roasted chicken.

The downside ? It was really hard to eat chicken on the bone with knife and fork. I must confess, the thought of abandoning the cutleries came across one too many times :P

But I persist and after about 15minutes, the bones were picked clean (-ish) with knife and fork !

Blood Orange Souffle, Vanilla Creme Chantilly

The menu on the website mentioned that the dessert would be Packham Pear Souffle, but we got a blood orange souffle instead. Not quite sure why it was switched.

The souffle was very good, there are times when I had souffle I dug into raw egg white, but not here. It was cooked right through while still retains it's cotton soft texture. It was then served with a drizzle of blood orange syrup and a side of creme chantilly.

The creme chantilly was amazingly good, just see the evidence in the photo below :)

Cleaned

The service I must say was superb ! Although the restaurant was packed and there was a large group of business men that arrived in the middle of our meal, the service remains friendly and attentive from the beginning to the end. 

The foods were great and the fact that they are using locally produced ingredients is a bonus. 

Shall be back to try out their steaks that looked so good (peeking at the table next to ours :P)

Outdoor Bar Area

There is also an outdoor bar area if you are just after some light meals and drinks after a long day at work :)