Penfolds Magill Estate
(This episode is long.)
Set on its own mini-vineyard, Penfolds Magill Estate is, in my opinion, Adelaide's fanciest restaurant. I've worn my fancy shirt and sports jacket. Even I couldn't get away with uggs and trackies here. :)
Hmm. Actually a bit cold in here. I'm forced to get my Kmart-bought cardigan from my car. If anyone asks, I'll tell them it was expensive. :|
This place is still the fabulous low price of just $175! However, since I don't drink (alcohol), I'm trying the new non-alcoholic matched drinks. Just $50 extra! I'll be marking the drinks as entrees, so they won't be part of the rating.
The head waiter has a chat for a moment. He's interested in my feedback on the new drinks.
Not just tonight, but in general, people are starting to know who I am.
This is like weak pear juice, but with a decidedly unpleasant bite of sourness in it.
New York bagel: A tasty, crispy bite of smoked salmon. 7/10
Beetroot crisp with wagyu tartare: The tang of beetroot and raw beef go well together. 8/10
Rice and nori cracker: Delicate and seafoody. Bottega (cod roe) adds some tang. 7/10
Must… resist… eating… loaf of bread. This place has the best bread I've ever had anywhere. I just don't want to fill up on bread. It's the new 8-year aged yeast. I describe it as being more "toasty" than previously. :)
This is on the sour side too, but I still want to drink it. I can taste the different sour and bitter tastes.
It's interesting and refreshing.
The kingfish is sashimi, which goes nicely with the other odd tastes of turnip and ponzu. I wash it down with some of my "sour juice".
Ponzu is a citrus sauce. I could sell it, in the world's first ponzu scheme. :)
The sparkling apple adds its bubbles and smooth tang to the sweet apricot juice. It's a surprisingly good combination.
It's hard to tell what's cream, and what's crab. It's all a tasty, creamy, seafoody morass. The slivers of pickled artichoke add a good hit of taste too.
The creaminess of this dish is a great match to the fruity drink. I don't know anything about food and drink matching, and have never done anything of the sort. :)
Ginger is usually a pretty potent and overpowering flavour, but here, it's really nicely balanced with the peach, creating a kind of zingy peach drink.
The partridge tastes a little bit like chicken (as does everything), but it's delicate and sweet.
Last year's pickled peach (not sure why they can't just buy a fresh peach) has a deep and unusual flavour, slightly like a relish, but much more like apple sauce. It, and the very salty jämon add even more flavour.
I'm not sure how it relates to my drink, but that's okay.
Me: "You should serve partridge with a pear drink."
Waiter: "An excellent joke, sir."
I don't really like tea all that much, so it's probably a good thing that this tea has almost no taste.
The nut emulsion with sake (the brown stuff underneath) evokes an unfortunate "grease" taste and texture here.
The candied broccoli is crispy and unusual, and the second piece hides a surprising and awful sour taste, as though it had been soaked in lemon juice.
Time to pair this with some "hot water tap tea."
Smoka-Cola! This is truly smoky.
In a way it's awful, but it's so potent I want to keep sipping it. It's half way between Diet Coke and Marlboro.
I keep sipping it, but I regret it each time, as its ash tray aftertaste fills my mouth.
This very red piece of meat is extraordinarily juicy, and has multiple great meat flavours.
The sesame sauce adds creaminess and a light non-meat flavour.
This is probably the best piece of meat I've had. Except that I've had this dish here before. :) So it's going to be marked as a non-scoring entree tonight.
Don't want to ruin it with Smoka-Cola. :)
This combination tastes uncannily like alcohol. It's otherwise like an upmarket tropical fruit drink.
This is exactly the time I want dessert to begin. There's nothing worse than being full at a degustation, and there's still six courses to go.
Actually, being eaten by ants would be worse. But endless degustation is a close second.
The plum and lemon myrtle are sour, but not unpleasantly so. They're like a Calippo that's been repeatedly trodden on.
This is a good contrast to the natural yoghurt.
Eavesdropped conversation of the night: "We should all go to Cairns. I've got a massive mansion there!"
It's nice when your mansions are conveniently located. :)
This isn't sweet. It's just pleasant. The cinnamon isn't overpowering.
This frappé isn't crappé. :)
The disc of chocolate brulee is pleasant, but nothing amazing. Fig is a flavour I'm rather fond of in desserts. It goes reasonably well with the brulee, but I'm underwhelmed by the spheres of fresh banana.
All done! Hang on. Petit fours time!
This used to be a few choccies, but has morphed into a superfluous third dessert.
Clockwise:
Blueberry panna cotta: This has a really strong vanilla and egg flavour. Well above the average panna cotta. 9/10
Peanut brittle: Not exciting. Also, far too much toasty flavour. 4/10
Tiny Oreo: Like a big Oreo, but creamier. 6/10
Jar of milk: Oops. I think this was for dunking the tiny Oreo.
Little cake: Mostly a regular, boring cake, but with nice cream and raspberry(?) that livens it up. Evocative of scones with jam and cream. 6/10
This place remains my favourite restaurant.