Chase That Dish: Quay

Rating: ★★★

Cost: $$$$$

Date visited: December 2015

Quay restaurant has been a long been an iconic figure in the Australian restaurant scene winning tons of local awards such as the restaurant of the year in Australia 4 times since 2008. Making S. Pellegrinos 50 Best list as the best restaurant in Australasia in 2010 & 2012, with the Current place at number 58 in the The Worlds 100 best.
However what attracted me here was episode 84 of Masterchef Australia where Peter Gilmore introduced the Snow egg in the season final which really got my attention. One of the hardest desserts to make with 8 separate components going into the masterpiece. My friends and I were planning to make this dessert but first I needed to go to Sydney to taste it.

The surroundings:

The restaurant sits on the Quay 3rd floor of the Sydney Harbour Cruise center overlooking the Sydney Opera house and Harbour Bridge. The views are spectacular and the restaurant is spread over two floors. My party was taken up to the 4th floor in a smaller circular dining area with 360 glass walls for the perfect view.

The dinner menu:

Seasonal tasting menu with 9 courses is how the menu rolls. A la Carte options are available as well. You will start the dinner with a series of 5 appetizers, 2 mains, and finally 2 dessert items. Cost 235 Australian dollars and it took 2 hours for the dinner service.

Conclusion:

This dinner experience left me with a mixed feeling. The desserts were great, in particular the snow egg (Cherry version) was fantastic. However the other items preceding dessert were simply boring and lacked any wow factor. It was simple cooking and failed to ring any bells on the gastronomical or progressive cooking platform. Chef Gilmore’s dessert items rock but that is where the praise ends for this experience. Unfortunately the dining experience was nothing close to the foodgasms experienced in Europe and Asia. So Quay is great in desserts will be a fair assessment. The staff are very welcoming and friendly which is a big plus.