Noma Australia

Wow. Noma. The Noma. The Rene Redzepi. Rene. Where to start.... There's once in a lifetime, then there's once in a lifetime. I thought I'd experienced something extraordinary when I had my first fine dining experience at Tetsuya's. Then it was Quay in its San Pellegrino Top 50 glory, then it all became so casual when I started "frequenting" the Rockpool Group chains, especially Rockpool Bar & Grill Sydney bar. It became so normal to continue visiting such amazing restaurants.But this was something else. Having avoided as many spoilers as I could, I went in knowing, but not knowing. And here I had the most fantastic showcase of Australian produce. Real Australian produce. So much magic.Let's begin at the beginning.The decor was amazing. So simple, but so much detail. The gorgeous Zalto glasses and their unbelievably slender stems, the banksia and eucalyptus, the candles, it was beautiful! Those Zalto stems....

Unripe macadamia and spanner crab

The staff were very welcoming and we were settled in very quickly, so much so that I didn't realise just how soon the first course came! We were advised that any beverage pairing we chose would start on the third course, so we were given time to contemplate our choice, though for us it was quite simple - juice!First course - and I immediately decided to test my own knowledge of food, what'd I'd seen from Rene's and Noma's posts. I guessed either macadamia (but for some reason it didn't look like macadamia to me?) or bunya nut, and it turns out this was unripe macadamia. Go me! It was in a spanner crab broth with rose oil. A surprising combination, but it worked beautifully. The macadamias were crisp and slightly sweet, where the broth was salty and complemented the nuts well. The rose aroma wasn't overpowering at all, and gave it an extra dimension.As a side note, this was the only wooden spoon I received that had the noma brand inscribed at the back; every subsequent wooden utensil didn't have the noma branding. Not sure why but I found that amusing.

Wild seasonal berries flavoured with gubinge

More excitement as this dish came out. I immediately recognised the distinctive colour and shape of riberries (lilly pillies), something I loved seeing during my time in Adelaide. I'm fairly certain the large bulbs were native apple, and there were also muntries, desert limes, and probably other berries that I don't recall. All this was sitting in kelp oil and dusted over with kakadu plum powder (gubinge).

After dining here, I found a few reviews that described this dish as fairly tart, but either my palate has been so far shifted towards acidity that to me these were all rather sweet (except the desert lime which was undeniably sour but not astringent). Perhaps I just had a lucky plateful? The native apples gave off a slightly eucalyptus flavour for me.

As a side note on this particular dish - lately, I've been describing some everyday food as tasting "exactly like the sum of its ingredients". In particular, a pizza that I had. My tone while describing this came across as disappointment. This surprised people, but for me (and especially after reading the description from a recent special edition blend from Mecca coffee roasters called the Black Forest, which cited that the meaning of "gestalt" should not be that the sum is greater than its parts, but rather, that the whole is other than the sum of its parts), something tasting exactly of its ingredients is ordinary. This dish proved my point exactly. After having tasted each of the individual ingredients, I began having mouthfuls of everything. And then this dish became something else. Something more. That kelp oil, those berries, the magic of the gubinge, gave it an extra dimension of sweetness and aroma that none had by themselves. Now that was one amazing gestalt experience! This is why I eat, this is what I chase, this is what gives my life meaning!

Okay, I got gushy. But it was just that good.

Bergamot kombucha/native mint

These are no ordinary juices. They're amazing concoctions of juices, herbs, spices and oils. An amazing blend that gives so much depth of flavour, so much complexity that you can sniff and drink and sniff and drink forever. And look at those gorgeous Zalto stems. Seriously, they're amazing. Everything's amazing.

Porridge of golden & desert oak wattleseed with saltbush

Quite an interesting dish, I got really excited over the green finger lime on top. I felt really happy being able to identify these ingredients! I totally missed the fact that the leaves were saltbush though. Oops! While I've previously had wattleseed in the form of chocolate from Haigh's and as part of a crumb from Restaurant Revolution, this was the first time I've had them whole. To be honest I couldn't tell that there were two types of wattleseed, but still enjoyed this dish.

Rose/spruce wood oil

Wood oils are amazing. You could just smell these juices forever! I found the wood oil the dominant aroma here, with a very pleasant sweetness from the juice itself.

Seafood platter and crocodile fat

Ah, the jewels of the sea. An assortment of Australia's finest shellfish. Pippy, mussel, strawberry clam, blood clam (I think? Can't remember), oyster. The pippie and mussel were my favourites, though it could also be that I recognised the flavours the most compared to the other ones.

And those lovely melt in the mouth shards of fat. Ours was a combination of duck and crocodile fat, which went well with every piece! It just added another level of flavour to an already amazing dish.

It was a little awkward to eat this one though, both my brother and I dropped a shell and a rock. But it was all in good fun!

Yay, Rene himself! My camera's autofocus is not so smart, so this was the best I could get. However what was also really exciting was that I was fairly certain I knew which table he was at, and halfway through I was definitely sure! Now I'm just waiting for their posts and reading what they thought of the experience.

Through their online presence, I learned that Ben Shewry was also present! But alas, I don't know what he looks like, even though I should, so I don't know where he was seated. There was a lovely couple dressed in traditional Japanese clothing in the corner too, which was very nice.

W.A. deep sea snow crab with cured egg yolk

Peeling snow crab must be tough work. I had a few inedibles in mine, but my goodness that flesh was so sweet! And having the cured egg yolk was genius! It carried a lot of the flavour and the word "emulsion" ran through my head. The egg yolk was cured in the liquid of "aged kangaroos," whatever that means. I found it amusing they didn't specify what kind of liquid. I also didn't ask though!

Green tomato/lemon myrtle

This was an amazing green tomato juice. I love green tomatoes, but this was unusually un-sour. It was quite savoury and immensely pleasant, and so I asked further about. It contained native basil and native thyme, which the waiter described as being distinctly different in flavour from the traditional herbs.

It actually kind of reminded me of a chilled tomato soup. Hey, I make chilled tomato soups! Perhaps I should go to the effort of making them again!

Those Zalto stems...

PIE: dried scallops and lantana flowers

By far the prettiest dish. Flowers make everything pretty! The contents of the tart was comprised of dried scallops, while the pastry was made with seaweed. Lantana flowers themselves are edible, however the rest of the plant is poisonous so we were instructed not to eat the stem.

The flower also came whole, and the chef said that we could pick off the flowers and sprinkle them onto the tart. Every picture I've seen so far of this has the flowers sprinkled randomly all over the tart. But me being me and my love for aesthetics and pretty things, went into design mode. I also began carefully pulling the flowers off one at a time, and I think the waiter thought I was either going to take too long or didn't get it! He came to the table and said I could pull the entire bunch off at once - and my brother confirmed this as he mentioned they were easy to pull off.

Oh well, there goes my quest to become meticulous. I remained diligent in my flower arrangement on the pie though! I had to take advantage of the amazing colours on my stem! And so the end result was, in my opinion, a very pretty pie!

And it wasn't just looks. Though the scallop flavour was too subtle for me, the seaweed base was absolutely delicious and kind of nostalgic - it reminded me of seaweed crackers that I ate as a kid, bought from random Asian grocers. The flowers had no taste, but me being me, I discovered that the pollen was sweet after eating a flower by itself.

BBQ'd milk "dumpling," marron and magpie goose

Teehee, I get it. The previous dish was about construction, this one was about deconstruction. This came in a gorgeous hand woven basket, and inside contained a "dumpling" (though I thought it looked more like an omelette) made of milk skin, with a delectable marron snuggled inside.

This was a little fiddlesome but in a fun way, as we were advised to eat this one with our hands, and were provided towels for afterwards. After a single bite my brother and I both immediately agreed that this was infinitely better than the marron we had at Kensington Street Social (sorry Jason!). The magpie goose's presence was super subtle, I was secretly hoping for a substantial chunk (like Orana), but that marron was so good I didn't really mind. The milk skin was nice and sweet, though I found that the extra sprinkle of salt on it was a little overpowering and unneeded.

Smoked pepper/red pepper berry

This was by far the most interesting juice! It was quite a "challenging" flavour as it was very spicy, sweet and savoury at the same time. Also quite chunky! Plus the smoke aroma was quite heavy, but I think it worked given the nature of the juice.

THE ANGLES. THAT STEM.

Sea urchin & tomato dried with pepper berries

Okay, double that challenge. As soon as this dish came out, I immediately knew it was an umami bomb. How could you go wrong with tomato and sea urchin? That urchin was so creamy, it was amazing! The tomatoes were dried for 12 hours, and brushed with elderflower oil every hour, the chef informed us. That elderflower aroma really came through, and while it was great, it was something my brain hadn't encountered before, hence, this was the most challenging dish to my palate.

I would even go so far as to say that it was the most unfamiliar and unexpected flavour combination I've had! Which was weird considering it was 1000% umami.

Abalone schnitzel and bush condiments

Ah yes. This is what dreams are made of. One massive, fat chunk of abalone. From Rene/Noma's posts of dancing abalone, to this perfectly cooked, mindblowingly delicious, tender steak of luxury on this plate, surrounded by a showcase of some of Australia's best native ingredients.

That crumb was perfect and crisp, and that abalone was just soooo tender! It was so good. SO GOOD.

Then came the ring of condiments. A bouquet of roadside greens including fennel, warrigal greens and other plants that I didn't recognise, to ice plant, to Neptune's pearls, to kakadu plum, to a crunchy thing I'd forgotten the name of, to bunya nut, to a weird woody thing I'd forgotten the name of, to seaweed. Then there was a side of fermented celery which tasted a little like tamari, a little like soy sauce, and was thoroughly delicious for dipping the abalone and its accompaniments in.

Some things of note - I totally didn't recognise the ice plant because I'm so used to seeing the mature plant with massive water bulbs! This one was much more subtle and also mild in flavour - I like them salty-sour! I miss Adelaide Central Markets.... The bunya nut was the other standout, having heard about Ben Shewry raving about them, I finally managed to have one and it's delicious! I want more!

Marinated fresh fruit

My dream come true. My reason for coming to Noma. Those ants. Those ants!!! Aren't they adorable??? Zoom. ZOOM. Enhance! My goodness. They are cute. So cute! And they're just sleeping there under the leaf blanket. I played with them a little too much, trying to pick them up and look at them, and rearrange them....

I didn't manage to have ants at Orana, which is why I was so gushy when I saw this dish come out. Sure, watermelon marinated in davidson plum juice was a genius idea that made watermelon so much tastier than if it was just by itself, and sure the super sweet pineapple wrapped in dried hibiscus leaf was delicious, but those ants!

I tasted an ant by itself, and without any idea of what ant does and tastes like (okay so my grammar might be off, but so what), I was pleasantly surprised when it popped in my mouth and filled with a zingy, bitey sensation and then just the most incredible citrussy flavour of lemon/lime! Give me more! I could eat a whole handful! I love ants!

Oh yeah, that mango "ice cream sandwich" - mango sorbet between two slices of fresh mango, was pretty good too. Made awesome by ants!!!

After having gleefully consumed this, I told the waiter how amazing I thought the ants were, and that I've always wanted to eat ants. He laughed and said that only people who dine at places like that would say such things! I must have been quite entertaining to watch during all that....

Blood plum/lemon grass

Can you see how gorgeous that Zalto stem is? Okay, it's the last of the juice pairing so there's no more of me talking about just how beautiful these wine glasses are. My waiter had to put up with me talking about how Riedels were overpriced and that Zaltos were cheap and so much prettier, and how I owned some and love them. And how delicate those stems are!!!

Okay, let's focus on the juice. Such tartness, sweetness and deliciousness! And what a great aroma. It actually came across as floral to me, rather than of lemongrass. But whatever it was, it was amazing. And totally fitting for our desserts.

Rum lamington

Genius, mind blowing, such an original take on the lamington! It was a rum ice cream... but can you see the texture? It's fluffy! How do you make an ice cream fluffy like that??? And it just... disappeared in the mouth! Like a wispy, ethereal being that packs the full flavoured punch of rum. Wow. And that tamarind sauce. Just... excitement.

Peanut milk and freekah "Baytime"

Noma's take on the Golden Gaytime. The last dessert. Totally not what I expected! It wasn't sweet at all (much, especially with my shifted palate), in fact, the peanut ice cream was very savoury for me. I had failed to take a picture of another bite in, which would have shown an oozing caramel which did provide the ice cream with a much needed sweetness.

I totally loved this version!

I also couldn't resist sampling the coffee both ways. Ethiopia Djimma, a region I'm quite familiar with in terms of coffee. The first was a pourover, the second as espresso. The coffee was great and so much better than what you get in even most fine dining restaurants, but whether it was just the beans, extraction, or the day, it didn't quite meet my expectations of what the coffee could taste like.

I am a coffee snob, after all... except that I have no idea where these fell in relation to Barista Hustle's coffee compasses for filter and espresso. I probably just need more practise!

And we ended on a sweet note, with some apple and desert lime candies. The sourness was actually quite refreshing!

What a fantastic experience. It was most definitely once in a lifetime, and a definite eye opener! I can't imagine a single diner who wouldn't be surprised by the menu.

The service was warm and impeccable, and the food was delicious, genius, and mind blowing. If I had to give a comparison point, I'd say that Orana would be the closest match. It's a permanent restaurant that showcases native Australian fare - and I actually found a lot of common ingredients between here and there. Definitely worth a visit of you enjoyed this version of Noma!

I am so glad, and so proud, that Rene and his team set up the menu that they did, as it's everything that defines Australian cuisine. What an incredible experience, and has made me really want to visit his Copenhagen restaurant! However, that's probably for another lifetime....

Welcome to Australia.

Spice Temple Sydney

It's Chinese New Year. I hate Chinese food. I'm glad to be home. I needed to find a nice restaurant to book....Spice Temple. Sure, why not. I can't even take anything that's even remotely spicy, but where else would I book on such an occasion?I couldn't help but be concerned that I wouldn't like/couldn't handle the food there, but it was the most fitting restaurant choice for the occasion. Plus I'd always wondered what was behind those lovely digital silk curtains every time I'd walked out of Rockpool Bar and Grill. Behind the heavy door were some stairs down and down and down... into a lovely space with the standard Rockpool Group reception, bar area, then the main dining room. It was super dark, but there was lighting at each table so you could see the food.We opted for the Chinese New Year Banquet, categorised by each of the fortunes of the new year. The only one I didn't manage to take good shots of were the Wealth dishes - cabbage and radish, and Sichuan style pickled cucumbers and shitake. Both pickles were slightly spicy (the cabbage and radish had an extra mound of some super hot stuff that I avoided) and so addictive! Who cares about a slight burning when things taste this good right from the start!

Prosperity - Raw tuna ‘yu sheng’ with spicy orange oil

That tuna. Such fresh slices that were absolutely delicious! I didn't get too much of the orange flavour, and since the chilli here was in the form of oil, I felt the burn towards my throat rather than on my tongue, but considering how many spicy dishes there were, I was just eating everything while hurting and loving it!That tuna... so good!

Happiness - Yunnan style chicken salad with salted chili and mint

My parents really loved this dish! I actually kind of wish that there was less chicken, since there were many more dishes to come. It was so good and not half as spicy as it looked. I loved the wood ear mushrooms too as they were crunchy, just the way I like it. Who would have thought that Chinese food could taste so good? Well, there was certainly more to come....

Money - Prawn wontons with aged black vinegar

Why does everything here taste so good? These skins were amazing, they had great chew, which is how I like my dumpling/wonton skins. There was a super happy prawn inside that was unmistakably Chinese style - large and crisp, unlike ordinary restaurants where you often get tiny mush. And that vinegar! What is this lovely vinegar that tastes so good???

Fortune - Pork, egg and garlic chive spring rolls

Ah, pork spring rolls. Meat spring rolls are generally terribly done, to the point where I avoid them like the plague. I only take vegetarian spring rolls because they have a higher chance of not being inedible. These have totally changed my view on meat spring rolls though! How do they make the pork so moist and tender? How does it carry such good flavour? I was totally in love with these spring rolls even though the waitress mentioned that she liked them the least. No way, not with my prior spring roll experiences!

Longevity - XO pippies with fried noodles

 These pippies were amazing. Some of the largest, most plump ones I've ever seen. And they tasted great! That XO sauce wasn't too spicy at all. So delicious, though I didn't eat too many of the noodles. Carbs are the killer of an overeater like me, so I only had a bit.

Harmony - Stir fried spanner crab with mung bean noodles and garlic chives

This one was least impressive dish for me, but that didn't make it any less tasty. There was a very generous heap of spanner crab meat, and those mung bean noodles packed so much flavour! It was that traditional salty/soy sauce style, which is just plain addictive!

The rice came out at this stage, and though I don't eat rice, I did try some and it was quite delicious!

Peace - Red braised short rib with Sichuan black beans and shallot

Wow. If everything else on the menu was addictive, then this was addictive x 10! The aromas that came from this beef short rib were amazing! The fragrance of spices carried so well. And that beef was cooked so nicely, everything just fell straight off the bone. It also wasn't too spicy, though there were also very few black beans. Whatever. Those fried onions were piled on, giving the dish some amazing texture and yet another burst of flavour.

Even though I was horrendously full by this stage, I kept picking at it!

Rejuvination - Stir fried baby bok choy with wild bamboo pith

Okay, this place has made me love everything that I'd traditionally hated, except for bok choy. Turns out I still don't like bok choy. But the bamboo pith was amazing - with its porous yet crunchy texture, was totally delicious as it absorbed all the flavour! All the pith got eaten and half the bok choy got left behind. That and the pickles (and complementary rice) were the only things left after this massive banquet.

Love - Pineapple sorbet with soft liquorice and raspberry

Ah, dessert. Second stomachs for dessert only work when you don't fill it up with non-dessert, which I almost failed to do! That's how delicious everything was. This pineapple sorbet was so refreshing - the liquorice was needed and gave it such an uplifting flavour; it worked really well with the pineapple. I'm not sure about the texture as gum candy though, as in the cold temperatures it was a tad too chewy. But it was so good nonetheless!

What an amazing dinner. I had walked in a sceptic, and walked out a fan. Of course only Neil Perry could make such magic with his passion for Asian food. My parents said it was better than their Mr Wong experience, and I loved it a lot more than any other restaurants where there have been hints of Chinese style cooking (such as the ox tail and sea cucumber from Tetsuya's). The spice levels were also perfect for me - a bit too much at the start but nothing I couldn't handle. In fact, I had started hoping that the rest of the dishes would be just as spicy!

The only service hiccup we had was right at the beginning, where I suspect that someone was either running late or called in sick, as the waitstaff didn't have menus to give us right at the beginning, and there was a definite lag with the introductions/questions/drinks when we were seated, but then it picked right up and went very smoothly with some great interaction with the staff.

Anyone who knows me knows I despise Chinese food, but now I know what it tastes like for real - not random Cantonese style stuff that's usually available, but real flavours made with the best ingredients. I loved it so much that I even asked about the bar area and whether or not it was possible to turn up without a reservation - and the answer is yes! I am totally going back....

Salaryman

This new restaurant popped up on my feed and had a very tasty look prawn toast okonomiyaki as well as claims of really good ramen. So, I managed a short notice booking since I had nothing planned on my first night back in Sydney. I'm glad I went! It has a totally cool looking wall! Not only do they serve ramen, they also have a few robata menu items, of which the octopus and the bone marrow were the most tempting! But limited stomach real estate meant that it was going to be a ramen kind of night.But first, coffee. I got these next shots since I was conveniently placed at the counter (my favourite spot!). This reminded me of what I had witnessed at Petition Kitchen when all the chefs were served up coffees at the start of service.Onto food...Sydney rock oysters - I generally don't like Sydney rock oysters as I find that pacific/smokey bay/coffin bay are my favourites, however I was pleasantly surprised by these ones! They were plump and sweet!Prawn toast okonomiyaki. Yes! This looked and tasted fantastic. There was just the right amount of sauce, since most times I find it too salty and overpowering, but this went well with the prawn toast. For me, this lived up to the hype.Pork and pippie ramen. Surprisingly, I wanted this one saltier. It had great depth of flavour but didn't have the usual addictiveness of cheap ramen. The woodfired pippies were delicious! I also liked the noodles on the initial few bites, however I think they kept cooking a tad too much in the broth. It's still a reasonable price but I might need to go back to Ippudo....Since I only get one visit to Salaryman (there are way too many other places to go to so I'm unlikely to revisit this), I had to taste the dessert too. Black sesame, passionfruit, meringue. The black sesame came in two textures - ice cream and mousse. I also loved the passionfruit being an incredibly light mousse, tangy and delicious!Was a pretty fun experience! Nothing super extraordinary or mind blowing, except maybe it would have been good to try the $42 lobster ramen... that would have been great but I specifically wanted to try out the pork and pippie. That would have been rather interesting to see if the price tag was worth it! Either way this place definitely requires at least two visits, one for the ramen and one for the robata!

Yverrine

First picture of the year! 

Margaret River

Finally, an eventful Christmas! I got the opportunity to head down to the south of Perth and into the famed Margaret River region. Being about a 3 hour drive, the weather was significantly cooler which is why it's a great fresh produce area.Along the way, there lies the southern hemisphere's longest wooden jetty - Busselton Jetty. It's about 2k long with a train track running all along it. All along the jetty there are heaps of people fishing - we saw whiting and squid being caught. Squid make weird noises when they're dying upon the jetty....The place where I stayed had some lovely sunflowers, as well as a tea house and restaurant/winery attached. So very nice!And the tea house specialised in lavender products (their lavender ice cream was a let down though), and had this cute little grasshopper dancing away on the window:The restaurant was pretty good - they were closed on Xmas Day and Boxing Day so lunch/dinner were out of the question, however they served some tasty tea for breakfast!There were wineries everywhere, I stopped at one called Cape Naturaliste vineyards, and their shiraz was actually quite tasty. I wish I could drink alcohol, though. One winery was enough for me, so that's about it for what people usually come here for.The Margaret River town centre was also a quaint little street. There were a few hipster cafes and restaurants which I enjoyed, but nothing that stood out in particular, except some coffee kombucha from a cafe that used their La Marzocco container as a table - that was cute!Instead, the highlight of the trip was Yallingup beach, which was about 45 minutes north of the Margaret River. Here's some lovely beach spam!And a hipster cafe :D