To Get Over Jet Lag, It Takes a Village..or Was It 8 Courses?

I mentioned our dinner.  I need to first explain that Bos and I are "foodies".  SOme people think that is some sort of "negative ", but we acknowledge it proudly.  We watch all the cooking shows from "Chopped" to "The Next Food Network Star" to "Master Chef".  Our daughter Betsy calls it "food porn" and I would have to agree with her.  When I went to work in 1983, I gave up cooking.  All I did was work, work, work.  So, if people at home wanted to eat, someone had to take over...and the designated cook was Bos (while my mother lived with us, she, God forbid, would never cook.  Her job was to clean up afterward!).  He started out slowly and, shall we say experimentally.  His first endeavor was fish covered with salsa and slathered with cheese slices.  The kids turned up their collective noses and asked why he did that?  His answer: "I just wanted to make it taste less 'fishy''.  Our son's response:  "Just start out without fish."  Since that time, we have learned that no chef worth his toque EVER puts cheese with fish.  Who knew!!

But, as time went on, he went from the status of "cook" to nearly "chef".  I wondered at first why all the enthusiasm for this new, for him, occupation.  It seemed he liked eating snibbles, as he called them, while he cooked.  But then the real reason became apparent: he's a chemical engineer and, after all, cooking has a lot to do with chemistry!  So now, even though I have retired from the working world, he continues to amaze me with his dedication and his creativity in the kitchen.  My job is merely to read him the recipes, sitting at the counter, while he whips up anything from green vile looking smoothies to his mother's complicated shortbread cookies to intricate Italian meals. It also means weekly trips to Farmers' Markets, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Great Harvest Bread, even Penzey's spices, all in search of that elusive ingredient for his newest and latest creation. And, the advantage, it gives us something to do in our retired state!  And I don't have to do anything except drive...or read.  Lucky me.  Happy him.

So, as two old retired people now, we search out restaurants we've heard about from locals, read about in magazines and newspapers, and see on tv.  And, I'm sorta ashamed to say, we plan vacations around trying these vaunted museums of culinary acumen.  Really. We actually do that.  Hence, here we are in Sydney, Australia -- and we are using the fact that we have been here two other times, to make the highlight of this trip eating. We chose to eat at two of the most highly commended restaurants in the city rather than sightsee.  It is probably an excuse to forgive us to do one of our favorite things: eating.  But so it is. (Also, because you are probably wondering, we have planned gastronomic adventures in some of the ports on the cruise, like Singapore, Hong Kong, and Bangkok.)

Last night we were lucky.  The official reservation deal at Quay is:  you need to call between 10 and 12 30 days in advance to get a table.  Well, I had done research, but the dates were definitely not right for that.  So, on a whim, we stopped by the concierge desk at 3 p.m. yesterday and asked him to call and see if there had been any cancellations.  Voila!  We had a table for 8:30.


Some restaurants can make their own rules.  Quay is one of them.  You'll see the pictures.  And their menu is small.  You either choose their 4 course menu with 4 choices on each of those 4 categories at an extraordinarily expensive price  OR you select their 8-course tasting menu with wine flights at an even worse extraordinarily expensive price.  Of course, we were all for the tasting menu.  It takes 3 hours.  And, I must confess, by course #5, "Smoked and confit pig cheek, shiitake, shaved scallops, Jerusalem artichoke leaves," we were really pushing it.  Yep.  That was one course.  Now the courses are not large.  But, with so many courses, your enthusiasm starts to wane.

THE Menu

Then add: "Poached Rangers Valley Beef, bitter chocolate black pudding, morel, ezekiel crumbs. shaved mushrooms."  Really.  Well, you get the picture.  Lovely.  Unusual. Worth it?  Maybe.  And tonight, we are headed to the next premier restaurant called "Rockpool."  Burp.

Sashimi of local lobster

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Salad

Tasmanian Squid

Coturnix Quail

Smoked and confit pig cheek
shiitake, shaved scallops

Rangers Valley beef

Andalucia citris and almonds

Coconut and cherry snow egg