Lauraisacompleterestaurantexperience.Thelocationisincredible,
at one end of a sweeping arc of a building overlooking Pt. Leo Estate’s
sculpture park, tucked beyond the establishment’s cellar door and casual
dining room. It’s a cosseted enclave that is both elevated and comfortable,
and the set menu showcases Phil Wood’s questing romance with the
Mornington Peninsula. Roasted, creamed potatoes are mixed with
three types of goat’s cheese and magicked into steamed dumplings
that explode in the mouth. Windfall acorns are turned into a pastry- a two-week process – that becomes the base for a savoury pear flan.
A mussel is hidden inside a faux shell made from scallop mousse in
a seafood charade that surprises and delights. Sweet custard is part-set
so it becomes an oozy fondant pudding: the ingredients are beguilingly
simple, but the creation is a canny blend of wizardry and sheer graft. In
every dish, and the wide-roaming wine list, there’s a link between culinary
heritage and contemporary mores rendered with a witty lightness of
touch. It’s all underlined by engaged, informed and personable service,
ensuring Laura is one of Victoria’s essential dining experiences.
Pt Leo Estate,
3649 Frankston-Flinders
Rd, Merricks, Vic
(03) 5989 9011
ptleoestate.com.au/laura+ Lunch Thu-Sun
12pm-3pm;
dinner Fri-Sat 6pm-11pm
+Bookings essential
+Licensed, bar
+Dégustation $145
+Cards AE MC V EFT
+Wheelchair friendly
+Chef Phil Wood7 Laura V AUSTRALIAN
Ostensibly an homage to historicalBritishcuisine,HestonBlumenthal
and his long-time collaborator Ashley Palmer-Watts have crafted
a luxurious restaurant for high rollers, special-occasion diners and
those who simply must tick “meat fruit” o their bucket list. Dinner is
grand and glorious with windows framing the city, a glassed-in kitchen
that’s like a choreographed theatre with actors in crisp white costumes
and pineapples twirling on a rôtisserie (they’re for the famous Tipsy Cake,
a syrup-sodden brioche). The heritage of the dishes is referenced, but a
history degree is not necessary to appreciate the meticulous cooking
and plating. The 10-course parade is bookended by the meat fruit – the
rich, smooth chicken liver pâté crafted to look like a mandarin – and
the ice-cream trolley, a tableside factory that employs liquid nitrogen.
Along the way, perhaps roasted fish with a sauce of parsley, pepper and
eucalyptus, duck with its heart (coyly called “umbles” on the menu) or a
monolithic steak with shatter-crisp triple-cooked chips. Service is polished
and droll. Dinner is fun as well as formal, not least because the wine list- ably food-matched by sommelier Loic Avril – is among the city’s best.
Level 3, Crown Towers,
8 Whiteman St,
Southbank, Vic
(03) 9292 5779
dinnerbyheston.com.au+ Lunch Sat-Sun noon-2pm;
dinner daily 6pm-10pm
+Bookings recommended
+Licensed, bar
+Dégustation $295
+Cards AE DC MC V EFT
+Private room
+Wheelchair friendly
+ Chefs Ashley
Palmer-Watts
& Evan Moore8 Dinner By Heston Blumenthal V BRITISH
Ever since their earliestmodel,theBentleycrewhassteadilystayed
ahead of the pack. From the Surry Hills original (Bentley) where casual
but clever drinking came with anything but casual food, to today’s modest
empire of seafood with a view (Cirrus), fine dining without meat (Yellow)
and good food-with-wine or the other way around (Monopole), this city
is all the better for their work. Under a black-splashed ceiling laced with
intersecting steel frames, their flagship restaurant and bar is an unlikely
hotel dining room except for the city folk at many of its dark wood tables.
They’re here for Hildebrandt’s seamless wine list and pairing flair, and
Savage’s determinedly modern menu made up mostly of prime seafood
and often curious vegetables: scallop tartare with plum, almond and lemon
verbena, say, or apple cucumber with green kohlrabi, hazelnut and
camel’s milk curd. Fresh, herbal, astringent flavours are oset cleverly- with the likes of a creamy smoked pil-pil sauce (with just-cooked bass
groper), perhaps, or a deeply meat-like onion broth (served with WA
marron). And it’s all mighty pleasurable. Right through to soft cones
of pumpkin curled around sweet pumpkin curd with faintly bitter
brown-butter ice-cream alongside.
27 O’Connell St,
Sydney, NSW
(02) 8214 0505
thebentley.com.au+ Lunch Mon-Fri
noon-3pm; dinner
Mon-Sat 6pm-10.30pm
+Bookings recommended
+Licensed, bar
+ E $19-$44 M $38-$52
D $14-22; dégustation
$180; 2-course lunch
$65, 3-course lunch $75
+Cards AE MC V EFT
+Private room
+Wheelchair friendly
+Chef Brent Savage9 Bentley Restaurant & Bar V AUSTRALIAN
98 GOURMET TRAVELLER