Quay, Sydney CBD

In conjunction with the gradual revamp of The Rocks, Quay will be closing for renovations from 1st Apr 2018 for three months and we see the departure of their signature snow egg (whyyy! 😭). Fortunately, there was a last-minute table availability two days prior and I quickly snapped up the booking in spite of a late dinner time.

The day arrived and the constant rain couldn't drown out my excitement for (finally!) visiting Quay.

Entrance of Restaurant

Despite being booked out for the late sitting, quite a few of the tables were unoccupied on arrival but were later (briefly) filled over the course of the night.

Inside of Restaurant

When dining at the Quay, you have the choice of electing for a 4-course à la carte, or 8-course set, dinner - given the late hour, we opted for the 4-course dinner, as this gave us the option of choosing our own dishes from the given menu and we hoped would make for a quicker dinner (alas, no). I ended up sharing my dishes with my dinner companion so in effect, we ate a customised 8-course dinner.

Our meal started off with a surprise appetiser, along with a small sourdough loaf:

Fish Roe, Grain Cereal, Cream and Lemon Jam

Mini-Sourdough Loaf with Butter and Flavoured Rock Salt

The sourdough was petite (would fit snug within the open palms of your hands!) and was served toasty warm, perfect for the cool, rainy night.

Hand Shelled Mud Crab, Pickled White Turnip, Kombu Jelly,
Raw Hispi Cabbage Stems

This dish had very clean, subtle flavours - the natural sweetness of fresh crab meat contrasted with the slithers of (mildly) pickled turnip that gave the dish an unexpected crunch factor.

Raw Smoked Blackmore Wagyu, Fermented Chilli, Miso,
Shaved Fungi, Kombu, Cultured Cream, Dory Roe

I personally am not a fan of consuming raw meat (so I can't really comment much on this) but the wagyu was very soft and tender... however it wasn't that good to make me a convert to eating beef tartare or tataki. *shudders*

Uni, Koshihikari Rice, Cured Egg Yolk, Fish Maw,
Day Lily, Ama Ebi, Umami Broth

In real life (and in photo), the dish doesn't look like much. However the broth was infused with intense flavours - somewhat similar to a salty, smoky cheese - surrounding a shallow bed of rice.

Smoked Confit Pig Jowl, Southern Squid,
Shaved Shiitake, Sea Cucumber Crackling

The delicate pork jowl just melted in mouth and was served with silky slithers of squid and mushroom.. and that crispy sea cucumber crackling - how the heck did they make this!? 

Roasted Pasture Raised Duck, Fermented Wild Rice,
Black Garlic, Orach, Hatsuka Radish

The duck was cooked perfectly to medium rare with crispy skin and the hatsuka radishes were so cute and tiny! I would have expected the wild rice to be crispy (in order to give the dish a crunchy texture) but instead the rice was chewy and soft.

Arkady Lamb, Barletta Onions, Ice Plant,
Oca, Lemon Purée, Roasted Hemp Seed

The lamb was also cooked to medium rare and topped with roasted grains/seeds, as well as an edible succulent. This is the second time I've tried the ice plant and I'm still undecided about eating it - unfortunately the specimens of ice plants looked like remnants, otherwise it could have provided a vertical, structural element to the dish.

A complimentary salad was served with the mains:

Side Salad with Mixed Lettuce and Nasturium Leaves

Then came the (hyped) highlight of the meal:

Snow Egg - Custard Apple, Pear and Mangosteen

The Snow Egg was formed with a custard apple centre, surrounded by meringue, crispy sugar coating, and dusted with icing sugar. The pear granita had a very subtle flavour and I was disappointing to see that the ice hadn't been shaved to snow-like texture - quite a lot of pieces were more like ice chips. The (ice?) cream base contained fresh mangosteen pieces and added sweetness to the relatively bland granita.

Eight Texture Chocolate Cake

Quay's famed 8-texture chocolate cake is composed of the following layers:

1. Cake base
2. Chocolate mousse
3. Milk chocolate praline disc
4. Caramel, vanilla and chocolate ganache
5. Chocolate and hazelnut daiquoise
6. Chocolate caramel cream
7. Dark chocolate top disc
8. Hot chocolate sauce

And provides an element of drama when staff pour hot chocolate sauce over the centre of the dessert, causing the dark chocolate disc on top to melt through the cake. We could only see/taste up to 7 textures of decadent chocolate in this chocolate cake - there is meant to be a choc praline disc but there wasn't any crunchy nor hard texture throughout the whole dessert (it all melted in our mouths)... could they have forgotten an element (!?) or is the praline processed to non-existence?

As we were one of the last remaining tables for the night (okay, we were the last table left after midnight), we were treated to some free petit fours:

Petit Fours

The selection of petit fours consisted of a milk chocolate truffle covered in mini puffed rice balls and dutch cocoa, turkish delight coated in white choc with crushed pistachio, and a dark choc-coated sesame snap. The chocolate truffles were to die for!

It seemed a bit of a stretch to eat 4 courses over 3 hrs but we survived! Overall, the food quality was definitely superior but I felt that the presentation of the dishes lacked flair and pizzaz, and generally, the dishes were under-seasoned. The only other fine dining restaurant I've been to in Sydney is Sepia (which will sadly close its Sydney doors at the end of 2018) and I have to say I enjoyed their 8-course degustation menu more - there was just a higher level of sophistication, finesse and flavour from each dish that wasn't displayed here at the Quay.

Spectacular and Unbeatable Views from Dining Table

I can't wait to see what new masterpiece Peter Gilmore will pull out of his (chef's) hat but it had better beat the novelty of the Snow Egg.


Food: ✰✰✰✰ 1/2
Service: ✰✰✰✰
Atmosphere: ✰✰✰✰✰
Overall: ✰✰✰✰ 1/2
Summary: Sydney's finest (views and food) at your fingertips