After the scrumptious signature dish of Petuna ocean trout from the waters of Tasmania (so good I have to mention it again, you can read about it here), our adventure through the cooked (as opposed to raw-ish) dishes began! It was during the second half of the degustation that I felt Tetsuya’s really lived up to its reputation. There were stronger flavours, more interesting texture combinations and of course, 3 whole courses of desserts!
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves…
The signature dish was followed by another fish dish, this time a fillet of steamed blue cod on a bed of celeriac purée and wilted kale leaves (similar to spinach but higher in iron, making it the ‘it’ veggie of 2013). The fish had been cooked perfectly: firm yet falling apart and flakey in all the right places. Complementing it was the earthy flavour of the celeriac purée (like a potato mash, but with a kick of flavour), which together with the kale leaves, made for a well-rounded, healthy dish.
Next up was the breast of a quail (a tiny bird about the size of my palm) that had been tea-smoked to give off a slightly delicate smoky flavour. The process of tea smoking involves heating up a mixture of rice and tea leaves in a wok, and cooking food on a wire rack over the smoke.
The quail breast was slightly undercooked inside, which I was a bit worried about considering it is closely related to a chicken. Luckily, after some quick research, my fears abated as I learnt that wild game such as quail should be eaten slightly undercooked to retain the moisture in the flesh.
The breast was served with some parsnip chips and calamari. The parsnips were good in that they added a little bit more substance to the dish, but weren’t fabulous enough for me to want to say anything else about them. The calamari was served fresh, without having been marinated or cooked, and were quite elastic. I found the combination of quail and squid quite strange, with the juxtaposition between the warm and cold elements not quite working for my tastebuds.
The last savoury dish of the night was a tenderloin of wagyu beef topped with a round of soy braised tendon and fresh wasabi leaves. The beef was melt-in-my-mouth delicious with a shoyu sauce (Japanese soy sauce) adding just the right amount of flavour. The tendon was a gooey consistency and literally melted (almost liquified) in my mouth. Dare I say it was too soft? My tastebuds probably haven’t developed to fully appreciate the rarity or the difficulty of harvesting animal tendons just yet.
On an interesting note, the little leaves on top are fresh wasabi leaves which I have never seen or tasted before. They were not spicy at all! In fact, they were very similar to snow pea sprouts, quite refreshing and added some colour and crunch to the dish. My second favourite dish of the night!
Now to the dessert courses! By this time, half the table were falling asleep and didn’t get to fully appreciate these dishes. But that just meant more for me! 😉
The first dessert was a lychee granita with strawberries and coconut ice cream. Served in a martini glass, this was a very nice, cool, palate cleansing dish. I thoroughly enjoyed the combination of crunchy granita with the sweet softness of the strawberries (which had been preserved in a sugar syrup). Unfortunately the lychee flavour of the granita was lost in the more dominant strawberry and coconut flavours, but this didn’t dampen my enthusiasm for the dish!
The ninth dish of the evening was Tetsuya’s version of bread and butter pudding, which was a bit unexciting to be honest. It was a very forgettable dish with no wow factor. Although small in size, it was quite heavy to eat, especially at 11PM and after 8 other courses. Slightly disappointed.
Last but not least was the cremet d’Anjou, a specialty dessert from the province of Anjou in western France. It is made from fresh soft cheese and has the consistency of freshly churned butter or whipped cream. To an innocent bystander, the cremet would probably be mistaken as a nicely shaped dollop of fresh cream. Taste-wise, there was the telltale sourness of cheese and was very similar to eating the cheese layer of a cheesecake. The raspberry coolie and pistachio ice cream were a welcome addition to the dish, bringing both colour and a range of flavours. I would have preferred a sweeter last course but am glad I got to try this!
To finish off the night, there were a selection of petits fours but by this stage, everyone had had enough (a joke was made the degustation needing a disclaimer of “BYO pillow” which I thoroughly enjoyed and agree with).
I was also quite drained so didn’t pay attention to what was going in my mouth. We had been one of the first ones to arrive at the restaurant, and one of the last tables to finish. It was a busy Saturday night so this may have explained the delay, but I definitely recommend going in a smaller group or a less busy night if you don’t want to have a 4 and a half hour dinner like we did.
Overall the experience was lovely and definitely of a high standard. I wouldn’t say it was perfect as there some glitches (long waiting time between dishes and not being able to hear waiters explain dishes) but the quality of food, care in presentation and the range of new flavours and culinary techniques I was able to taste made it a worthy experience.
*Photo credits to my friend April. Thank you for letting me share your photos 🙂