SIFF 2010 - Dan Hong's Degustation Lunch - Lotus, Potts Point

Finally, the most anticipated Sydney International Food Festival 2010 has arrived ! This is the time of the year where there are food festivals everywhere in town and many restaurants are having special dining events, be it dessert nights, brunches, high tea, lunches or dinners.

When I read in the Merivale newsletter that Chef Dan Hong of Lotus Bar & Bistro in Potts Point is doing a special degustation lunches again for the SIFF 2010, I knew I just have to book myself in. 

There wasn't much information given on this special lunch, except that it will be a suprise and the only hint we got is this from the chef ( from the Merivale Food Festival webpage ) :

"The magic won't just be on the plate" and "Creatures of The Deep"

With just that as a hint, I had no doubt that I will not be dissapointed as I had an impressive degustation lunch here during the Merivale's Feast for The Senses back in July.

The Power of Magic @ Lotus 

We arrived way to early for our booking and we saw Chef Dan Hong himself writing today's lunch  theme on the blackboard when we got there

We were so early that the restaurant is not ready to open yet, LOL ! So we were asked to wait a few minutes outside while the staff are doing the final touches to the table settings.

First question that popped into my mind when I read the board, who is Liam Power ? Is it going to be a collaboration lunch today ? Then the second question is how is the magic part of the theme is going to be incorporated into the lunch ?

I found it really fun and exciting when you just don't know what to expect :)

At the least we now know what we are having for lunch, as promised, the menu revolved around creatures of the deep - seafoods that are currently in season.

Sparkling water gone couture ; Warm sourdough

Wow...even water companies has gone into collaboration with couture designers ! Missoni in this case has made special edition bottles with San Pellegrino. Pretty bottles :)

While we wait for the first course, we were served a freshly baked warm sourdough bread, fluffy centre and crispy crust. 

Ceviche of Sea Scallops with Vietnamese Flavours

The first dish of 5 course degustation lunch was a very nicely plated ceviche of sea scallops with a spicy and refreshing consomme. The consomme itself has a very distinct taste and aroma of fish sauce, which is of course the must have condiments of Vietnamese cuisine.

The sea scallops were so fresh, sweet, tender yet still firm. There was a pretty scattering of salted dried konbu strips, fried diced garlic, slices of jalapeno, micro herbs : shisho and coriander.

To our delight the serving size was quite generous as we just couldn't get enough of it.

This is definitely a great start to our lunch.

Say Hi ! to Liam Power 

The mystery is solved !! The magic part of today's lunch comes in form of magic tricks by Liam Power, magician extraordinaire !!

So he is not a chef as I speculated earlier , but I'm not 100% incorrect as he had trained as a chef before he decided to that magic is what he really wanted to do ( info gathered from his webpage of course :P).

Liam performed his magic at every table, which was so much fun ! Even after asking him to repeat a few tricks several times, we were still amazed and gobsmacked each time. The waiter who was standing behind him kept grinning at us, our faces must have looked so ridiculous hahahahahahahaha !!

Thank you for entertaining us while we wait for the next course Liam !

Kimchi Consomme with Octopus, Black Mussels & Silken Tofu

The consomme was poured out of a jug onto the plate on the table, but I was distracted by the magic that by the time I turn around it has been poured onto our plates :(

Isn't this such a pretty dish ? The brightly coloured flowers and the seafood is just stunning.

The kimchi consomme was another refreshing and tangy broth, which was thankfully not as spicy as the first dish. The flavour was quite subtle as not to overpower the more delicate flavours of the seafood. 

The octopus was very tender and the black mussels were fresh and sweet. 

There was also silken tofu studded with edible flowers and a piece of ito konnyaku ( thread konjac).

Spring is definitely on the plate, can't say the same on the weather outside though, it was raining and way too gloomy for a Spring day !

Steamed Snapper with Spanner Crab, White Fungi, Shiitake & Thickened Ginger Broth

The fish arrived with a glistening film over it, which was the thickened ginger broth that tasted so good. It has a slippery texture which gives a perception of richness and creaminess without the fat. The very fresh piece of steamed snapper was resting on a bed of silky spanner crab meat. It's Chinese home style steamed fish with ginger and shiitake gone high class :)

The fish was cooked perfectly, the meat was flaky, soft and sweet. 

Passionfruit Custard, Chocolate Meringue, Yoghurt Sorbet

Next came the first of two dessert courses, a passionfruit custard on the bottom, a layer of crumbed biscuits, a layer of broken pieces of chocolate meringue and topped with a cooling yoghurt sorbet.

We waited for about 20minutes for the dessert to come out, but it was worth all the waiting !

It was amazing !!  The waitress instructed that the best way to eat it is by getting a bit of everything. 

To summarize : smooth tart passionfruit custard + sweet buttery sand of biscuits + very chocolatey chocolate meringue + refreshing yoghurt sorbet = one damn good dessert in a glass.

As proof, here is Oni from i.eat.sweet showing her almost spotless glass and wanting some more.

"Sir Chef, can I have some more please?"

Although I know what to expect, it was still quite funny when we were given a small dish with 3 Miracle Frooties tables 5 minutes before the next course of desssert was being served. So there we were, sitting silently trying to suck on the tablet while ensuring "an even coating of the mouth" as the waitress instructed as quickly as possible. They are definitely not one that is quick to dissolve, arrgh !

We were still sucking when the plate of fruit arrived , so we just stared at the plate for a few minutes while swirling the tablet around in the mouth LOL.

Miracle Fruit Plate

You would have know about the Miracle Frooties if you have been following the food blogs that had reviewed them sometime last year. These tablets, once it has disintegrate and coated your mouth, will make everything sour tasted sweet, cool huh ?

So of course, the fruit platter consist of all the sour fruits that is currently in season - we got lime, lemon, strawberries, raspberries, very unripe pineapple, orange, passionfruit and a cherry tomato.

We gingerly took a bite of either lime or lemon first....*drumroll*......It is very SWEET !!! The pills worked !! YAY !!

Our conclusion is that the most sour fruit will taste the sweetest, but the effect didn't last as long as we thought it would. 

Smart me leave the lime last and when I bite into it the effect has worn off...it tasted as lime should , very sour >_<

Tips for you , do not leave the most sour fruit last.

Last performance by Liam Power ; *wave* to Chef Dan Hong in the background :)

As we finished the last piece of sour fruits platter, suddenly all of the diners sitting outside were ushered inside. Rain ? Then the music was turned off and we have one last performance by the magician of the day. The chef took a short break and enjoyed the magic show for a while with the diners :)
All of us had fun with the performance and the lunch ended with a couple of big rounds of applause for the magician.
Kudos to Chef Dan Hong for another great dining experience and a well thought and executed 5 course degustation menu :)

This special degustation lunch @ Lotus only runs for 2 Saturdays in October - 2nd and 9th.
$70 for 5 Courses + $40 for optional wine matching.

Tomislav, Darlinghurst

Tomislav @ Night

Tomislav has been on my to go list for a while now since I've read so much on this place on other food blogs, plus they do it the molecular gastronomy way.

Which is not surprising since Chef Tomislav Martinovic, prior to opening up his own restaurant had worked in well know dining establishment in Sydney such as ARIA & Guillaume at Bennelong, and also at Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck in the UK. Heston of course is renowned for mixing science with cooking, which is exactly what molecular gastronomy is all about.

Rice Crackers - Sea Salt Vinegar

We ordered a starter to share and of course it has to be the famed Rice Crackers. The crackers were wafer thin, almost transparent even. Despite it had been deep fried it wasn't greasy at all. 

There were 2 versions on the menu, one with sour cream & chives and the other sea salt vinegar. The waiter suggested we should try both but we decided not to since we still have 3 more course to go through :)

The sea salt vinegar comes in a spritzer bottle, very cute indeed ! It was suggested that we do two spritzing onto the rice cracker, more if you wish. 

As soon as the crackers touches your tongue, it just melts into nothingness ! I'd give it 10 / 10 for its fun factor and taste sensation !

Bread & Butter

The freshly baked bread is from Iggy's Bakery in Bronte and it is not just an ordinary butter served here in Tomislav. The butter has been churned in house and sprinkled with smoked onion powder. It was very light, creamy and I love the smoked onion powder that gives a touch of smoked aroma and sweetness to it.

Roast Red Gate Farm Quail

For entree, my cousin opted for the Red Gate Farm quail that has been roasted, sprinkled with chilli and coriander and served with a wedge of grilled pineapple. 

The quail was tender and sweet , it was delicious :) I wonder what type of coriander was used as it doesn't look like the usual ones. If you look closely at the herbs, they have this little round seed like thing at the tip of it. Some of them looked like a pair of antennas ! 

Clear Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho

I am very very happy with my choice of entree, the clear heirloom tomato gazpacho. The cold gazpacho was poured slowly on the table and in no time the grilled scampi, cucumber , cherry tomatoes, and deep fried cube of brioche were drenched in the refreshing soup. The crumbs on the right side of the plate is frozen and then shaved foie gras ! I finally get to taste frozen shaved foie gras !! Sooo happyyy T___T

This was such a perfect entree for warm Spring night like it was, the extra virgin olive oil on the base of the plate added flavour and richness to the refreshing gazpacho. The tomatoes and cucumber definitely screamed "SPRING !" on the plate. The scampi was tender and sweet, perfect. 

The foie gras with its super high fat content naturally will not mix with the gazpacho (water phase), so it will remain as fine powder even when mixed. There you go, Science 101 on a plate of food :D

Braised Murray Valley Pork Belly

I wasn't too surprised when my cousin ordered the pork belly for her main.

She is quite predictable, if anything pork belly is on the menu, there is no doubt it shall be ordered !

The glimmering pork belly was served on a bed of finely shredded savoy cabbage, sprinkled with diced carrots and broad beans. The skin was crispy and the meat was tender, not quite sure what the broth was but I remembered it being slightly sweet. One downside was that the dish was too salty, luckily my cousin liked salty food so it didn't bother her too much.

Pasture Fed Angus Scotch Fillet

I knew I just had to order this dish after seeing it in many blog posts.

The presentation was amazing, the pre-sliced ( yay !) medium rare fillet arrived on a rectangular black slab with the roast bone marrow and a dollop of horseradish creme on the side. 

The fillet....oh my goodness...where should I start ?? It came pre-sliced, cooked to perfection, full of flavour and melts in your mouth. It was the best best piece of fillet I've ever had, EVER ! 

The fluffy horseradish creme complemented the already amazing beef. I was not to sure about having mango puree with beef, it sounded like an odd match. Surprisingly it worked quite well, the mango flavour was quite soft so it didn't overpower the beef's flavour, it instead added a touch of sweetness to the dish.

The bone marrow was equally delicious , it was like eating a savoury jelly, gelatinous and rich, yumm....:)

Queso Valdeon 

When it comes to desserts, it wasn't as easy to decide what to have. Everything on the menu looked so interesting and I want to have them all.

After much deliberating, the shortlist comes to the Queso Valdeon or the Apple Crumble. Luckily my cousin had her eyes on the first, so problem solved !

Queso Valdeon is a pickled tamarillo pie, served with clotted cream ice cream, a wedge of blue cheese and a drizzle of what tasted like pomegranate syrup to me.

The clotted cream arrived with a bed of diced....vegetable ?!? Celery to be exact ! As odd as it may sound (yet once again), it actually tasted really good with the clotted cream ice cream, believe me.

I was imagining an open faced pie to arrive, but instead we have a fold over pie with the pickled tamarillo in the centre. It was deep fried pie too, the outer layer was crispy and flaky, while the inside was almost like half cooked dough, interesting combination of texture.

I'd say this is more like a cheese plate where the taste is more towards the savoury end than sweet.

Apple Crumble

When the waiter approaches, I can hear *crackle*crackle* ... could it be.....popping candy ?!?!?

It was indeed and we both get very very excited ! 

Such a pretty interpretation of apple crumble, wedges of caramelized apples were lined on top of a bar of moist macadamia sponge, topped with a mixture of crumbles and the popping candy. Every crumble must be eaten with ice cream ( I think so at least) , a refreshing and not so sweet clotted cream ice cream was a perfect accompaniment. 

Popping Candy ! ; Skim Cappuccino

I think I've made the right choice of dessert, loved everything on the plate. I wonder if they make their own popping candy ? Because it actually tastes slightly like salted caramel....if it is..that is such an ingenious idea !

It was indeed an experience of the senses while eating this dessert,  it got visual (sight), it tasted delicious (taste), the smell of caramelized apple & crumble (smell), and the never ending *pop*pop*pop* till the very last spoonful (hearing).

So was it a molecular gastronomy experience dining at Tomislav ? Yes indeed ^_^

We had so much fun dining here and the food was superb. If I have to choose a dish to return here for, it would have to be the beef fillet & the bone marrow - I hope this stays on the menu forever.