EAT LIKE A LOCAL IN CHATTANOOGA, CHEF ERIK NIEL’S GO-TO GREASY
The 2018 relaunch of Quay, for so long the quintessential destination for haute dining, Sydney style, represented so much more than finally doing justice to an extraordinary site with a visionary kitchen team. It put a rocket up one of the world’s great chefs, Peter Gilmore. Not that he necessarily needed it.
But the degustation format, in this inspired, now-luxurious eyrie above Circular Quay, just seems to have given the chef and his team a new spring in their step. You come here for brilliant service, great views, a wine team without parallel, sure, but what really sets Quay apart is Gilmore’s fusion of ideas and technique, the way he can create such intensity yet still keep things uncomplicated and texturally fascinating. Take his smoked eel cream – the proverbial fist in a velvet glove – decorated with caviar, raw walnut and “crackling” made with sea cucumber. Truly, utterly, amazing – and our Hottest Dish. His steamed mud crab “chawan mushi”; his heirloom corn “polenta” with oxtail broth; or, in season, his chestnut and truffle pudding. Quay’s food has never been better, more surprising, or simpler. What happens behind the scenes we could only guess at, but on the plate it’s the harmony of few elements that stimulates such a tsunami of happiness in the mouth. Inspirational stuff from one of the great restaurants, anywhere.
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