Jason King
AmyHuangDisturbing Trends in Sydney Restaurants
May 17th 2006 08:31
How many times did you laugh?
This is evidence of a characteristically excessive side of Sydney cooking. Some chefs have perhaps come to be bored with traditional cooking styles; others may feel that to be noticed they have to be original, that as they can't be the best in a certain style they have to create a new, usually ugly style.
While Australia is a perfect place for fusion type cooking with its multicultural influences, this is simply fusion gone wrong. At best it is delicate combining unnatural flavours. At worst it's disastrous.
But that's only part of the problem. The quest to be original, to find new flavours and combinations, can work well for some, but can easily get out of control.
This menu makes all of these mistakes. And perhaps not as blatantly as I've described, but still to a serious degree. In an attempt to be original, the restaurant is pulled in too many directions at once, and it simply fails at all of them.
Another issue raised here is that of menu descriptions; in an attempt to make a dish sound enticing, the chef will usually lavishly embellish the description of a dish. (Sorry about the alliteration). Taken too far, it can get ugly, and coupled with the confused dishes, leaves the menu soulless.
I'm happy with restaurants using traditional names for techniques and ingredients, such as "bagna cauda" (similar to an Italian mayonnaise with anchovies and garlic) because it adds authenticity and saves crowding the menu with waffling descriptions.
But the first thing that caught my eye in this menu was the "quail baklava". This is just wrong. What the chef is trying to say, I imagine, is quail, or quail pieces, or quail meat, wrapped in filo pastry. Perhaps with a few nuts. But filo and nuts alone do not maketh a baklava; especially when carrying a quail. If they mean filo-wrapped quail, why not say so? Because it sounds more posh, more professional.
A baklava is a nut and sugar mixture sandwiched between layers of filo pastry, with sugar syrup over the top. If the chef was simply adding quail to the nut mixture, then fine, call it a quail baklava, just like a date baklava would add dates; but be warned I'm walking out. In any sense, a quail baklava is wrong, confused, and sounds disgusting.
I also found the "sezchuan pepper parfait with port wine figs and licorice (sic) foam" dessert amusing for a different reason. I can perfectly picture this dish, the description is not the problem. It's just that it too is confused. I understand the addition of salt to desserts, as it appeals to a different taste, and thus creates more harmony. Even curry powder can work. But Sezchuan pepper is different in one key way. It numbs your tastebuds.
Now this is all well and good in hot Sezchuan food, it's part of the appeal. The overwhelming force of spiciness and heat is what makes Sezchuan food so tasty and special. But in a dessert? Desserts work when they're a balance of flavours; gently sweet, sometimes a little bitter or sour, and so on. It's all about harmony. But by numbing your tastebuds it leaves to immune to enjoying this balance. You now lack the finer taste skills to fully appreciate a good dessert. To counteract this, the flavours would have to be over the top and excessive; and have you ever heard of a dessert being good because "the flavour was so overpowering, so much sugar, it was just so sweet, it was fantastic"? Definitely not. If that was the case, I may as well just eat a pile of sugar. Great.
Sezchuan pepper works fantastically with Sezchuan food (surprisingly). It also can work with other savoury dishes, to an extent. But it doesn't work with deserts. As far as an attempt to be original goes, this doesn't rate very highly. Please don't try, it's better for all.
Now perhaps I'm being mean and bitter; I haven't eaten at this restaurant; nor will I while a menu like this is on offer. But as the customer, the food should be appealing to me, in description especially; otherwise I'll never order it. And at $65 for the set menu (not too bad in theory for five courses and fruit; but awful if the food is sub-par) the restaurant should be at least in the ball park for all of its dishes, from its description to the final forkful.
Perhaps it tastes excellent; but even then, the description is misleading, and as it is, I won't order it, so it's a waste. I mean really, quail baklava? Please, don't make me laugh...
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Comment by amy
Never mind the fact that I would NEVER order anything called 'foam' (froth maybe, but please), it shitakes me when I have to ask about ten terms on the menu before I can make an informed choice.
It's oppression of the food illiterate! We are forced to 'mmm' and 'yes please' without having a clue what we're putting in our mouths - and my PDHPE teacher warned us about that.
Eaters, say NO. Don't braise your leg for just anybody.
Comment by Laura
Comment by Shani
I have to say, the champagne and mangosteens do sound good though.
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
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Fat Cult
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A subtly hilarious portrayl of that: American Psycho. If you listen, all the food they eat is this ridiuculously pretentious fusion crap...
Comment by edward
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Cibby, you're exactly right. And I didn't know that about America Psycho, I haven't seen it. Maybe I should, bit of a classic I believe...
Comment by amy
Comment by amy
What I was GOING to say was that you'd wondering what drugs you'd been taking at the point where your baklava has feet sticking out of it.
I guess its hard in the arena of food to be creative, because in almost all cases you have to get people to eat it. Whereas in art you can, for example, create a chair that no one would ever sit in, it's harder to run a food gallery that doesn't turn into those Chinese plastic meals!