Monday, January 18, 2010

Smoked Eel Parfait and other amazing things to eat



Some things I have eaten so far in 2010:

  • potato paper (this is potato shaved on thinnest possible mandoline setting and baked - so thin it melts in your mouth).
  • earl grey tea ash (I only noticed this on the menu afterwards - it was a kind of grey dusty ash - tasted nicer than it sounds!)
  • olive oil cubes (olive oil emulsified, mixed with setting agent like agar, frozen and then brought to a cool temperature in the fridge. You eat it with bread as it softens slowly at the table).
  • almond jelly (with almond gazpacho and blue swimmer crab).
  • pea crumbs (I think this is peas cooked, laid out to dry then crushed. These crunchy crumbs still kept their pea-ey integrity however)
  • fish floss (I can't remember this that well, it was flossy and fishy).
  • white carrot puree (self explanatory).
  • mint, vanilla and buttermilk granita.
  • campari and turnip (this appeared as small blood red squares on the plate, the turnip cubes had been soaking happily in Campari. As a contrast to steamed scampi it worked well but it was pretty out there, as they say).
And the above dish, consumed in a bar - restaurant in grimy down at heel Surry Hills in Sydney where the incredible kitchen produced a 7 course meal (for 50$ !!!) in an hour (the speedy timing was to kindly address the fact that we had two small hot curly haired impatient children dining with us).

It is smoked eel parfait, white soy, and seaweed salad. And I don't even like smoked things. Or eel. If you live in Sydney, you must go there. Thank you to the Bentley.

Bentley Restaurant and Bar on Urbanspoon

I am waiting for more hot weather so I can do an obsessive granita run and possibly a sorbet one too. The buttermilk and mint granita was an amazing and refreshing combination.

Oh how I love those Sydney restaurants.

Tell me - what is the most unusual thing you have eaten in the last year?

7 comments:

Jacqueline @ HOME said...

Hi Jane,
I love the sound of everything, slightly different, that you have eaten in 2010...so far !!
The most indulgent course that I have had was gold leaf dumplings with vegetarian sharks fin, which was amongst the dim sum that we had at Yauatcha, a Chinese restaurant in London's Soho. A very trendy restaurant but lacked the personal touch....good cocktails though !! Oh God, I sound like a restaurant critic !! XXXX

brismod said...

Jane, it is only day 18 and you've eaten all those exotic things! (I'm also shocked about the $50 seven courses in Sydney - I didn't even think it was possible to get one main for that price?) My meals have been ho-hum by comparison...

Julie@beingRUBY said...

Hi Jane
I'm of the same opinion as brismod.. all that variety and only at day 18.. you do get around!!

Well the Bentley Bar.. I haven't been there in ages... is it still a bar as well or just a restaurant now? Maybe I will have to go adventuring...

Have a great week xx Julie

Mise said...

Oh lucky you, with those adventurous chefs. I'm always delighted by menus with odd food and words I've never seen before. Cooking I can do as well myself often isn't worth organising child-minding for. Mind you, I may have a go at my own campari and turnip for the next dinner-party. "Just a little Australian delicacy," I'll say casually.

Unknown said...

hmm, I'm sorry, I am not brave when it comes to food - I'm a total wimp. The most unusual thing..probably the peach cardamom pie I made last summer. How dull.
Now - Polar Bears - are hot chocolate mixed with peppermint schnapps. Most delicious!!!

Laura said...

Good heavens you've been busy! That buttermilk granita sounds delicious...I may have to take a shot at making it myself, despite the frigid weather. I'm curious about this eel thing...I too like neither smoked things nor eel so this must have been amazing for you to have enjoyed it! Sadly, this has been a pretty tame year for food so far for me...nothing odd save for a few avant garde indian desserts!

trishie said...

The smoked eel parfait looks delish!

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