The Playford
All the couches are occupied by glamorous women. I ask the waitress what's going on. She tells me, unofficially, that she thinks there's a Miss Universe event on here.
I'd go and check it out, but I don't want them all bothering me.
Black tea, macadamia cream, shitake and pepper leaf jus.
I'm usually leery of ordering chicken at restaurants. It needs a lot of flavour added to it, to be good.
The chicken is super-juicy, and its salty, tea-ey crust adds a lot of flavour. The pepper leaf jus adds a strange and interesting bitterness.
The macadamia puree is a contrasting nutty flavour, but I think the dish already has enough garnishes for the chicken.
The shitake mushrooms are much better than their name would suggest. They're mostly soft and pleasant, but have a super-salty top.
Dark Callebaut terrine, cacao ice cream and hazelnuts.
Very twisted.
I want this to be Ferrero Rocher, but it isn't. I'm sure the hazelnuts are fresh, not roasted. They're crispy and have a kind of nutty bitterness that's not quite right in a sweet dessert. Roasted hazelnuts are crumbly and dry, and not really bitter.
The cacao isn't quite chocolate either, and the wafer has its own odd (maybe vanilla) flavour.
The chocolate terrine in the bottom is fine. It's not particularly sweet, but it doesn't contain an odd taste, like everything else. I do need to munch on a lot of hazelnuts, however.
There's another strange taste. I think it's in the ice cream. It's like mint, and makes me feel like I'm eating tooth paste, which is something I don't do any more.