Quay still a tour de force

Where do you go from top of the heap? From being the most consistently revered restaurant in the country with, or perhaps because of, one of the nation's truly great chefs?

You might start by going during the Vivid Sydney festival, when the already amazing views from the prow of the nautically nice Overseas Passenger Terminal come alive with a light show on the sails of the Opera House to make your heart race

But really, any meal at Quay is memorable. New. And while it would be deliciously controversial to point the bone of complacency, Quay, it seems to me, keeps trying and trying again. The staff; the food; the wine service; the amenities.

And that amazing, Sydney-on-a-stick view from a space that has a certain period bling.

The almond, dried citrus and nougat dessert jumble at Quay.

Peter Gilmore is undoubtedly one of the great chefs, anywhere. His food is just so entertaining and delicious, without any quasi-intellectual overtones we're all supposed to "get". But what's also special are the unpretentious, gregarious staff. Not a frustrated actor or elocution specialist among them. People who greet, pamper, explain, chuckle and, of course, earn your respect. It's one of the big differences between Quay and Australia's other really, really expensive restaurants.

But what you pay for is Gilmore's penchant for beautiful produce and the blowtorch of talent he turns on it. A subtle, sometimes Asian accent applied to exceptional ingredients juxtaposed with delicate, almost feminine textural playmates.

Without the hindsight of notes, or pictures, you will always be left with a collective memory of beautiful things luxuriating across your lips, palate and tongue, close-your-eyes flavours and olfactory sensations. Generosity, too. The menu format - you choose three savoury courses and one sweet; they provide the amuse bouche and the petit fours - is, to my mind, perfect. More satisfying, more compelling, than extravaganzas that go on long after the barometer of interest has fallen.

Take a simple teaser: a glass of diced raw kingfish, similarly sized cubes of dashi jelly and a little mattress of horseradish cream (the rocket flower is neither here nor there to me, just a pretty accessory). It's Gilmore in microcosm - perfect fish, precisely cut, dissolving Japanesque flavours from the jelly and a soft, piquant background from the cream. Wow.

Or redclaw yabby meat, just poached and fanned across two luxurious savoury "puddings": one a garlic-scented custard, the other like a yabby silken tofu. Scattered with gai lan flowers, a fragrant yabby broth is poured to create a terracotta moat. These cameos are representative of the whole.

Poached chicken with a background sesame note, teamed with eggplant cream, crunchy radish and the velvety texture of raw scallops in thinnish discs ... Quay's famous congee made with a most delicious crab stock, fat pincers of flesh and a soft fist of egg-yolk emulsion ... Alternating fronds of pink squab flesh and abalone on a bed of fresh jersey curd with a crunchy, succulent crown of baby greens and a rose-like seaweed/anchovy broth ... Fish poached in creme fraiche with anise herbs, Japanese turnips and shaved squid ... Or sliced veal with a chocolate-laced blood pudding (which dissolves to a sauce), wallaby tail, green walnuts, smoked bone marrow and baby chestnut mushrooms - a rich, complex and bewitching denouement before Quay's beautiful desserts appear.

Most already know the snow egg and the eight-texture chocolate cake. An almond, dried citrus and light-as-a-feather nougat dessert jumble (pictured) that pays tribute to southern Spain may enter the same pantheon for its textural liveliness and sophisticated flavours.

And, naturally, for your $175, there are (brilliant) petit fours to go with your four official courses.

The food at Quay is a tour de force, totally original. The restaurant has its own identity and, to my eyes, not a whiff of derivative inspiration. It's the great Australian restaurant.

Address: Upper Level, Overseas Passenger Terminal, The Rocks, Sydney
Phone: (02) 9251 5600
Web: quay.com.au
Hours: Lunch Tue-Fri; dinner Tue-Sun
Typical prices: Four courses $175
Summary: Utterly superb
Like this? Try... Moon Under Water, Melbourne

Source: The Australian Magazine, 12 July 2013