Modern Australian Dining With A View
Sydney, NSW Australia
Cuisine Style: Australian
Average Price: $$$$
Overall Rating: 5/5
Dined in: March 2015
By Sean Overpeck (CFE)
**A full article and index glossary of restaurants, wines, recipes and travel for
Wine Dine and Play are in the pages section above, or by following these links:
Executive Chef:
Peter Gilmore
Proprietor / Manager:
Kylie Ball
Sommeliers:
Amanda Yallop
Alex Kirkwood
Shanteh Wong
Tamara Ellison
Michael Hannken
Matt Bolton-Hall
Rob Wilson
James Cranfield
Ben Hawker
Solène Bonhumeau
Texture, purity of flavor, and balance in fine dining modern Australian cuisine in one of the world’s most extraordinary harbor settings define the Quay Restaurant. They have long been one of Australia’s most awarded restaurants. Quay has held the coveted 3 Hat and 3 Star rating in The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide and the Australian Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide for 13 consecutive years.
I began planning my trip to Sydney while still working at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, and the reservations in Melbourne for Attica and Vue de Monde were already in place as well as Tetsuya’s in Sydney. A fellow cook had managed to make reservations at Quay successfully, I was still on a waiting list hoping for an opening or someone else cancels. While at a winery in the Yarra Valley, I got the call indicating an opening and jumped on it. The reservation was set for the night before I was due to fly back to the United States. Also my childhood legend actor from Star Trek, Leonard Nimoy had recently died, and I decided to toast a tribute and remembrance to him with this meal. He surely did live long and prosper.
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| Picture courtesy of fan pop.com. To Leonard Nimoy "Spock" ... he lived long and prospered. |
Menu:
- 4 courses
- Tasting Menu
- Lunch and Dinner
The Quay Restaurant is a part of the cruise ship terminal for Sydney with spectacular views of both the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. Located on the third floor, the elevator lets you out onto a promenade area for both the terminal and the restaurant entrance. Once inside and at the host table, the restaurant had two separate levels with the bar and main dining area where I was sat, then an upper level called the Upper Tower, and a private and open dining overflow area called the Green Room.
As I was escorted into the main dining room, I saw that the windows were floor to ceiling, with the same fantastic views of the harbor. I was seated at a small table against the wall opposite the window tables, but the view was still fantastic. At the table next to me was a couple that owned a winery from the Hunter Valley, and I had met and spoke with them the previous day when I was doing some wine tastings. The night began with a complimentary glass of Charles Heidsieck Champaign. The first of the eight-course menu was the amuse bouche of beetroot with cultured cream frozen in liquid nitrogen. The server delivering the dish was wearing gloves to protect his hands from the cold dispenser holding the liquid nitrogen. As I began to enjoy the amuse, a very loud table nearby continued to carry on to the point of annoyance. I noticed the table when I was escorted in, and for the next hour, this table would continue to annoy the diners. The table was a group of Chinese.
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| Beetroot with cultured cream |
The first wine on the list to go with the pairing was a Shiraz-Rosé from Two Cells in Beechworth, Australia. The Sommelier broke down the wines by nose and pallet for each pairing the entire evening. According to their webpage, Two Cells Wines are produced from handpicked fruits from some of the top vineyards in Beechworth. The wine was very crisp and refreshing, going well with a raw smoked Blackmore wagyu with a horseradish sour cream, then topped with fermented rye crisps, and topped with raw fungi. The dish was delivered by the Sous Chef Robert Cockrall.
The next course was a Congee or Chinese porridge of mud crab, with palm hearts and an egg yolk emulsion served with a 2013 Tim Smith Riesling from Eden Valley. Very befitting considering the loud and rude table of Chinese nearby. Thank god the dish was amazing in flavor, and I don’t mean to sound cynical of the Chinese, but in the past few days of touring between Melbourne and Sydney whether it is wineries, restaurants or just normal everyday tourism, the Chinese were there, and they were very rude most of the time.
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| Chinese porridge |
The bread course was then delivered with a black sesame and mixed grains along with a piece of white bread. It was supposed to be delivered with the fourth course, but the server said that it would pair better with the third instead. That third course was titled the XO marron, or a Western Australian crayfish, with a Hong Kong-based Chinese sauce known as XO sea. The marron was served with radish slices, salt, flowers, then topped with the sauce, also served with a 2011 Bilancia Pinot Gris James Halliday who awarded it 96 points from James Halliday in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. The wine as described by the sommelier is grown from grapes on a dry river bed, now surrounded by bedrock. According to the winemakers notes Gentle, lifted florals, pears, and spice, the palate is rich and textural, as Pinot Gris should be, with hints of spice on the finish.
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| XO marron |
The next wine was a pinot noir from Dirty 3 Vineyards southwest of Melbourne, and this was by far my favorite wine of the night. The winery is owned by three friends: Marcus Satchell, Cameron Mackenzie, and Stuart Gregor who all had a love for wine and friendship. Where the dirty part of the “3” comes from I don’t know, and I don’t want to ask. They list the wine as having herbal perfume and elegance aged in French oak for 11 months.
The wine was served with a smoked and cured confit of pig jowl, better known in the Southern United States as hog jowl or pork cheeks. They were served with Shiitake mushrooms, roasted Japanese Koji, and an edible sea kelp called Kombu with sea scallops, sesame, and milk curd.
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| Confit of pig jowl |
Course number five was a King George Whiting, native to South Eastern Australia, served with native greens, a hatsuka daikon radish, and smoked oyster crackling. I had King George whiting a few days earlier while in Melbourne eating at Attica, and enjoyed it then just as much as now. Crackling means to dry it, then fry it. The dish was served with a 2012 Principia Chardonnay from the Mornington Peninsula near Melbourne. The winemakers' notes list it as a barrel fermented, rich style of Chardonnay. Struck match on the nose to add to the complexity, with well-integrated oak and balancing acidity.
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| King George Whiting |
Around this time, I was ready for a bathroom break, and remember seeing it near the entrance and the bar. As I walked over the lettering was so small on the door, and the fact that I had a little buzz ended me up in the wrong gender bathroom, a little laugh, but a first for me. When I returned to the table after using the correct gendered restroom there was a glass of 2011 Crudo Nebbiolo from the Yarra Valley by Luke Lambert Vineyards waiting. The 2011 season for Yarra was affected heavily by the extreme rain they had, and a lot of wines were in small production. This vineyard was not affected by the rains. The website lists the wine as being fermented using wild yeast and held on skins for 40 days before pressing and maturation in 30 years old, in large format oak barrels.
This was also the time of bonuses. Starting with a salad from the four-course tasting menu with feta cheese, red berries, and cucumber. I also was given two bonus wines in small tasting format starting with a Gamay/Pinot from Rippon winery, Central Otago, New Zealand, with no sulfur, a full skin, carbonic maceration, primary fruit and spice wine according to the winemaker notes. The second wine was an aperitif Petit Verdot merlot/cabernet blend from the Left Bank of the Bordeaux called Lillet Winery. Notes of very ripe dark fruits, and a powerful bouquet of fresh orange, ripe berries, vanilla and delicate spices with a robust structure according to the winemaker.
The next course with these bonus wines was a slow-cooked duck with a topping of black rice and a fermented soybean seasoning from Japan called miso. Black rice is actually purple in color and also very rare and kept for exotic occasions in Asian history. On top of the rice with miso was sweet black garlic, ice plant buds and a celery heart cream underneath.
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| Slow cooked duck |
Dessert:
After the tasting of bonus wines, the next wine to come out with the first dessert was an Italian 2013 Maccarini Moscato D’Asti with an aromatic persistence and a very long and intense finish. It went with a dish called the snow egg, an extremely cold dessert that took me by a big surprise. The glass had a layer of blood plum granita with an icing and biscuit. This dish is listed as Quay’s signature dessert.
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| Blood Plum granita |
Just when you think the bonuses are over, they bring out another dessert as a bonus. A rose coated ice cream with cheese, and a coconut cream shaving.
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| Cheese ice cream |
The final wine to match the final course of the evening was a non-vintage Topaque from Campbell's Winery from Rutherglen Wine Region, Australia. According to the winemakers' notes, it has lifted toffee, honey and cold tea characters combined to produce the unique character of Rutherglen Topaque. Toffee and tea-leaf characters are predominate on the front of the palate with a cleansing hint of spirit and old oak on the finish. The final dish to go with this wine was a chocolate ethereal, with muscatel raisins and five separate attached shards.
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| Chocolate ethereal |
The Wine Regulatory’s for the tasting this evening are as follows:
COWA: The Central Otago Winegrowers Association, New Zealand
AGWA: Australian Grape and Wine Authority
I finished the night taking a few pictures with the Opera House and Bridge and enjoyed some coffee with some petit fours.
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| Petit fours |
Please see these guidelines for Tipping in Restaurants and on following proper etiquette, customs, cultures, and avoiding assumptions when you dine out.
Other Noteworthy Australian Cuisine Articles & Restaurants:
Aria Restaurant Modern Australian haute cuisine in Sydney, Australia
Attica Innovative and eclectic tasting menu restaurant in Ripponlea, Australia
Ripponlea Food and Wine Rustic café for Modern Australian food in Ripponlea, Australia
TarraWarra Restaurant Creative modern Australian dining in the Yarra Valley, Australia
Vue de Monde Elegant Modern Australian with Molecular Gastronomic dining in Melbourne, Australia
See the whole list by visiting “The Wine Dine and Play Article Glossary”
Other Australian restaurants and articles on Wine Dine and Play:
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Eclectic French-Asian Tasting Menu
Sydney, Australia
A top 20 on Wine Dine and Play
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Seasonal Northern Italian at the De Bortoli Winery
Yarra Valley, Australia
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Creative modern Australian dining
Yarra Glen, Yarra Valley Australia
|
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Yearly tasting event at Hyde Park
Sydney, Australia
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Famous battle named blocks
Gruyere, Yarra Valley Australia
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Two city-block landmark market Melbourne, Australia
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See the whole list by visiting “The Wine Dine and Play Article Glossary by country”
Final notes, review basics, observations and more pictures:
Most reviews are subjective, depending on the writer; but they should also be responsible, and respectfully written, upholding the truth, and accurately conveying the experience to the best of the writer's knowledge, even if it includes metaphors the restaurant may not like to read about. My ratings are by the stars I award (from 0 to 5). The rating is calculated on a point accumulation of six separate factors based on individual experience. They include wine and other beverage selections, plate presentation, customer service, restaurant or café ambiance, food quality, and wow factor. To see more details of this rating list, read this article:
Scores are detailed in the factor chart below:
Formula Factor Conclusions and Overall Ratings
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Max Points Possible:
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Total Points Awarded:
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Total Points deducted:
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Ambiance
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10
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10
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0
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Food quality
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10
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10
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0
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Plate presentation
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10
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10
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0
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Customer service
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9
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8
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1
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Alcohol and other beverages
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9
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9
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0
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Total regular points awarded
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48
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47
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1
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Total percentage Before Bonus
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0.979166666666667
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“Wow” factor BONUS
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5
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4
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0
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Total bonus percentage
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0.0833333333333333
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Total percentage with a bonus for the final star rating
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1.0625
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Stars Awarded (see chart below)
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0 - 5
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5
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**A full break down and explanation of the observations and point disbursement is available in the linked article above. To receive a detailed copy of your score, feel free to contact me at any time and I will provide it to you.**
***
Overall Star Rating:
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5 of 5 Stars:
106% Rating with a 4 point “wow” bonus
An Extraordinary Dining Experience
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Wine List:
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Wine rating:
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8.5 of 10
Old World selections:
Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Sicily, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland
New World selections:
Australia, California, New York, New Zealand, Oregon,
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Corkage fee’s:
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This Restaurant does not list any corkage fee’s however, most American restaurants charge
$25.00 per bottle
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Restaurant style:
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Semi-formal dining
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Cuisine style:
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Australian
Allergen or dietary accommodations:
Farm to Fork, Gluten Free, Grass Fed, Local, Low Carb, Organic, Pescatarian, Sustainable, Vegetarian Options
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Reservations:
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Required
Walk-Ins:
Accepted, but not guaranteed
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Dress code:
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Semi-formal to Business casual attire
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Child policy:
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The Restaurants reviewed on this site may have a kids menu or cater to them; however, for full enjoyment of food and wine, it is recommended that kids not to be in attendance, unless they have been trained in proper etiquette.
If not then:
Hire a Babysitter!
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Experiences:
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Place for foodies, Lounge, Business parties, Hotspot, Great bar, Great outdoor dining, Good for special occasions, Scenic views, Classy, Upscale, and a Neighborhood Gem.
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Payments:
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Cash, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express
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Parking:
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Circular Quay Public lot
$22.00 AUS charge per hour
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Wifi
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The restaurants reviewed on this site may have Wi-Fi, but do not require you to go online, because the excitement of the food and wine alone will keep you too entertained instead of checking your social media and emails.
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Noise level:
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Medium
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Smoking:
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Nonsmoking restaurant, and nonsmoking patio
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Patio or terrace:
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Yes
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Food Prices
(excludes, alcohol, taxes & 20% gratuity’s)
$£€¥ - Under 50.00 (inexpensive)
$£€¥ x 2 - 51.00- 99.00 (moderate)
$£€¥ x 3 - Over 100.00 (pricey)
$£€¥ x 4 - Over 200.00 (expensive)
$£€¥ x 5 - Over 400.00 (very expensive)
**Currencies reflect the world’s major travelers, restaurant, or wine connoisseur’s**
Currency:
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Price
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Australian Dollar (AUS)
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$$$$
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United States Dollar (USD)
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$$$
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Great Britain Pound Sterling (GBP)
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£££
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Canadian Dollar (CAN)
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$$$$
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Chinese Yuan (CNY)
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¥¥¥¥¥
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European Union (EUR)
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€€€
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Alcohol prices:
$95.00 or Optional accompanying premium wines $175.00 (AUS)
Quay:
Upper Level, 3
Overseas Passenger Terminal
Argyle Street
The Rocks, NSW 2000, Sydney, Australia
Contact Information:
Restaurant website:
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Maître d or host:
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+02 9251 5600
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Online reservations
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Email Contact:
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Serving hours:
Eastern Australia Standard Time
(GMT, Zulu, or UTC + 10:00)
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Lunch: Fri-Sun
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Dinner: Mon-Sun
6:00 pm - 9:30 pm
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Social Media
&
Accolades:
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****
The worlds best restaurants is a subjective list of who is writing it and changes on a regular basis. The Wine Dine and Play best experiences are based on my highest rated stared restaurants, meaning that the visit was an outstanding or extraordinary experience. From cafés, chains, mom + pops, hole in the walls, to fine dining including a few Michelin spots. Visit the Top 100 page to see the entire list.
A few to tease you with…
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Top 10 American fine-dining ornate chophouse
Charleston, South Carolina, USA
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Turkish culinary journey with an eclectic European twist
Plaza Versace Hotel, Dubai, UAE
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Seasonal Irish with French gastronomic dining
Dublin, Ireland
|
Other Pictures:
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| Terminal entrance |
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| Opera House |
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| Dining room |
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| Charles Heidsieck Champaign |
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| Bread and butter |
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| XO marron |
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| The Bar |
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| Sydney Harbour Bridge |
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| Feta Salad |
“Culinary perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things,
But in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.”
-Angelique Arnauld (1591-1661)
Who is John Galt?
TTFN
