Tetsuya's, Sydney

At Tetsuya's, food isn't food anymore, it's art that you can eat; delicious art too. We called in March and managed to book a table in November after playing reservation ping pong with the people who picked up the phone. (Apologies for the fact that I felt seriously self-conscious about pulling out a dslr and snapping shots of the food in somewhere like here).

The compound

The staff were really friendly and the restaurant itself was beautiful, especially the garden outside. We were 15 minutes early but they seated us anyway and we were one of the earliest people there for the dinner sitting. And ah gosh they had one of the most impressive wine lists I've ever set eyes on. 29 pages of wines.

Low-salt butter with truffles

Before  the meal started, we were given the option of a sourdough bread roll or an Italian white bread roll to be served with low-salt butter with truffles. I love my bread, I love my butter, but most of all... I LOVE IT ALL WITH TRUFFLES.

So here is the 11 course menu! (Plus extra oysters and coffee or tea and mochi)

Chilled Cucumber Soup with Sheep Yoghurt Ice Cream

The app was VERY fresh, like eating an intensely flavored cucumber. The sheep yoghurt ice cream had an interesting flavor, a bit like camel milk. Yes, I said camel.

Pacific Oysters with Rice Vinegar and Ginger

These was optional at $9 a pair. Obviously fresh and sea salty oysters finished nicely with rice vinegar and ginger. We had those little tiny forks to pick up oysters with hehe.

Sashimi of Kingfish with Blackbean and Orange

Not too thin, not too thick kingfish with a complementary sauce. I'm 99.95% sure I'm not qualified to critique Tetsuya but to me, the orange flavor was subdued. Might just be my palette though.

Marinated New Zealand Scampi with Avocado Soup and Avruga

I like avocado soup chilled because well, warm soup with scampi just feels... slightly wrong. Avruga is a type of caviar made from herring and isn't entirely 100% fish roe. This one happened to be from Spain and was delectable!

Confit Petuna Ocean Trout with Konbu, Celery and Apple

This is Tetsuya's signature dish and also my favorite of them all. At first, the trout looked as if it was uncooked but then it hit me; Confit. Covered in konbu with a sprinkle of salt on top and on a bed of celery and green apple. I went home and checked the recipe and it turns out that the green stuff there at the bottom is parsley oil and might I say that the recipe looks incredibly detailed!

Fillet of Mulloway with Onion Petals and Pil Pil

Generally I don't really like fish but this Mulloway was delicious and soft. Pil pil is a creamy Spanish sauce. The onion petals were sweet and didn't taste like the onions that you're used to.

Braised Ox Tail with Sea Cucumber and Yuzu

Sea cucumber has a texture I'd describe as squishy and carries the flavor of ox. The braised ox tail on the other hand, was soft (not squishy, there's a difference) and tender.

Pancetta Wrapped Quail Breast with Fresh Sprouts and Onion

Succulent quail and crispy pancetta... Mmmm... Fresh sprouts and onions added texture and oomph.

Seared Veal Fillet with Sea Urchin and Wasabi Butter

This wasn't exactly my favorite dish (probably because of bad past encounters with 'flavored' butters...) But underneath the veal was nice and tender. It was also a very pleasant first time try of sea urchin!

(L-R): Blood Orange Sorbet and Summer Pudding

It was so tough to try and decide which dessert was better because they were both amazing! But in the end (well, for me anyway) the summer pudding won out because of my love for berries and yogurt. The blood orange sorbet was served in a tiny shot glass and had that intense orange flavor. The summer pudding was (from the bottom up) a layer of vanilla yogurt, a layer of mixed berries, a large piece of agar-agar jelly, then cubes of bread soaked in a berry sauce topped with a little ball of whipped cream. Yum!

Golden Peach with Peach Granita and Peach Leaf Ice Cream

I swear, never have peaches tasted so nice in my entire life. The peach leaf ice cream was a bit bitter when eaten by itself but when it was eaten with the peach granita, it was just... awesome. There was also a pleasant surprised of little cubes of fresh golden peach at the bottom.

Chocolate Pavé with Cream Cheese Ice Cream and Cinnamon Twigs

You could die happily after eating this. The chocolate pavé was smooth and chocolaty. At first, I couldn't place what flavor ice cream it was and then was shocked to discover that it was cream cheese! Which probably explains why it tasted so creamy haha.

Chai and Chocolate Ganache Mochi

It was pleasantly surprising to discover that this wasn't the usual LOTS of mochi, little filling. It was actually LOTS of filling covered by a layer of mochi *happy dance*

The absolute BEST dishes (to me) were:
Sashimi of Kingfish with Black Bean and Orange
Confit Petuna Ocean Trout with Konbu, Celery and Apple
Golden Peach with Peach Granita and Peach Leaf Ice Cream
Chocolate Pavé with Cream Cheese Ice Cream and Cinnamon Twigs

Remember to book early because it may be a few months before there is a table free!

Tetsuya's
529 Kent St
Sydney 2000 NSW
Tetsuya's