Happy Birthday, Rob! To celebrate the 22nd anniversary of your birth, Nghi and I tried our hand at fine dining at Astral. You will be glad to know that both the food and view were magnificent!

I had, for my entree, main and dessert:

  • Cannelloni of king prawn, black treacle beurre blanc
  • 2 cuts of Angus beef: tenderloin & daube
  • Chocolate & hazelnut delice, raspberry sorbet & gold leaf

While Nghi had:

  • Cannelloni of king prawn, black treacle beurre blanc
  • Flinders Island lamb, Lancashire hot pot
  • Apple & blackberry soufflé, bird’s custard ice cream

What an amazing meal. We were expecting much smaller portions and ordered a side of gratin dauphinoise (basically potato bake) to compensate but boy were we set straight. The portions were actually quite substantial, especially Nghi’s  main. The cannelloni of king prawn could have passed off as a main already but of course, I’m not complaining because it was deeee-licious. The black treacle beurre blanc absolutely made it and I don’t think I had ever tasted anything like it before last night (on my plate, I recognised this as the dark, pleasant tasting froth). This, unfortunately meant we had to let more French potato bake than we would have liked, go to waste ): I even asked the waitress to leave it on the table so I could try and finish off as much of it as I could while we waited for dessert. Some how, I don’t think it’s common practice to ask for a doggy bag of your side dish at hatted restaurants, bummer.

It was a wonderful experience, but I don’t think I’ll be doing it again in too much of a hurry. Not because I wouldn’t love to take delight in beef that falls apart on my plate and melts in my mouth but because it was so special, I think it deserves to be experienced like that every time – I just don’t see this happening if I were to do it every other week.. Oh, and because, of course, I just wouldn’t be able to afford it! I must say, I’m still coming to terms with the concept of edible gold.

“Generally speaking, there is no danger in ingesting Edible Gold. Gold is an inert metal that simply passes through the intestinal system. Edible Gold will pass out of the body after about 24 hours unchanged without causing any harm or reaction on the body”*

If pooping out gold doesn’t signify having an expensive dinner, I don’t know what does.

* http://www.ediblegold.com/ediblegoldfacts.asp, emphasis added

Other highlights of the evening:

  • The Amuse bouche. Deeeeeeeee-licious!! A velvety soft, concentrated kind of soup. I wanted moree, moree moree! I didn’t quite catch the first half of what it was, “something something, hazelnut and burnt butter”.
  • The waitress springing into action when the table behind us tried to order their tenderloins well done. It was funny to overhear this conversation because we had just discussed with her what a travesty it is to ruin a lovely cut of beef by overcooking it. Anyway, it was a nice save on her behalf: “Would you like, sir, to have two servings of the daube (beef cheek) instead? It has been braised for over six hours and is very tender and soft!”. If people won’t eat their steak medium-rare, offer them something that is truly well done… and supposed to be.
  • The older Filipino or Indonesian woman at the table next to us widening her eyes while I fed Nghi some of my beef. Apparently we’re lipstick lesbians now since neither of us are particularly butch. Actually, maybe it’s my short hair -_-
  • The 1049085438 kg teapot. It was made of bronze or something. I swear, it was like something David would lift at the gym
  • Copping a substantial amount of time stuck in traffic into Balmain and then from Balmain to Pyrmont -_- What for you ask?

Why, for some macarons of course! (Excuse the mediocrity that is this photo, it sucks, I know).

Blackcurrant and popcorn. Best I’ve had so far, I think.