Tetsuya Envy

I was forwarded this email by Anne-Marie, who received it from her friend Anastasia, who ate at Tetsuya's with a few friends - and was sufficiently inspired by her evening to write about it. Anne-Marie added a short message, 'Don't read if you are homesick'. She was right to caution me. I felt a number of emotions, homesickness was definitely one of them but I ended on insane jealousy. After reading I swear I could taste that crab custard and simply had to ask for permission to publish the email here. I love the details and find it very entertaining. I mean, would you send anything back at Tetsuya's? I would be praising the tap water. More power to you Anastasia! And a big 'thank you' for letting me entertain readers with it here.

Here it is, just as it was sent to me...

The Wednesday night before last I went to Tetsuya's (located at 529 Kent St Sydney) with Jim, Tas and the Sooz. If you're short for time, no need to read beyond this paragraph. All you need to know is that it is expensive but a sublime culinary experience. Our taste buds were tantalised and satisfied. Well worth the visit but don't bother with the wine menu accompanying the 10 course degustation menu: it's disappointing, especially where the vin rouge is concerned. I sent back the wine (pinot noir). Twice. But they were very good about it. The menu does change and I imagine so would the wine so I MAY consider doing the wine menu the next time I go.

Dining at Tetsuya's is perfection. The food was exquisite. Incredibly clean, sharp, pure flavours yet totally refined. My tongue was left begging for more. The service was excellent: prompt, polite, good humoured and never far away.

We initially had problems finding the restaurant and actually walked past it. Somehow we (i.e., Jim and myself) missed a heritage listed cottage in the middle of the city, almost parallel to the George St cinema complex. To be fair, there was a big gate that was probably designed to stop people from simply wandering in to have a squizz.

For those who are curious. This is what we feasted on:

1) Chilled Sweet Corn Soup with Saffron and Vanilla Ice Cream. Refreshingly light, slightly sweet yellow mousse served in small martini glass. Great way to clean and prepare the palate for what was to follow.

2) Smoked Ocean Trout and caviar with what we thought was a lightly poached egg yolk and a subtly flavoured white sauce drizzled around the dish (don't know what type. i missed the name because the waiter spoke too quickly. And yes, it was in English). I found the dish a bit fishy on the first mouthful and thought that perhaps the trout was a little on the cool side when served but the flavour definitely improved (i.e., less fishy) as the meal progressed as the trout "warmed" up - at least in my mind. Suz disagreed with me on this point (i.e., the initial coolness and fishy factor).

3) Caramelised Leek and Queensland Crab Custard. Clean smooth, slightly textured. Crab situated at the bottom of a small Japanese style tea cup. Had to get all of the layers into the spoon as you scooped it out to get the maximum bang taste bud-wise. The meal was served with an incredibly crisp sake, chilled to perfection, the perfect complement to this dish.

4) Scampi prepared in 3 different ways. You had to eat them in a certain order. Anti-clockwise as it turned out. The first one was a bit very peppery (can't remember any more details beyond that) although you had to wait a bit for the flavour to hit the tongue. and when it did it was an incredible sensation. The next scampi was in a shot glass containing salt water and lemon olive oil - incredible texture. this was the sooz's favourite scampi. The third scampi (which was my favourite scampi) was served with pancetta and tarragon and pepper characterised by wonderful smoky flavour. Have no idea which of the scampis Jim and Tas liked. Don't suppose the Sooz and I could hear them above our moans of ecstasy. Accompanying wine for this course was a dry riesling from Mornington Peninsula. Not bad.

5) The next course was Tetsuya's signature dish: Tasmanian Ocean Trout with kelp topping served on confit of shredded apple and possibly fennel, fish roe and a green salad on the side. Divine. Accompanying white wine from Dead Man's Hill in the Upper Goulburn Valley. I think the wine was good - love the name.

6) Ravioli of Queensland Spanner Crab with avocado soup, buckwheat, tomato and basil vinaigrette. Margaret River Chardonnay that came with it was too sweet for my liking.

7) Grilled Fillet of Barramundi with Braised chestnut mushrooms and other stuff. Nice smokey caramelised flavour due in large part to mushrooms. Excellent

8) Twice-Cooked Spatchcock with foie gras and black truffle and some red wine sauce. I needed to add salt but not too much. The pinot noir that was served with it was the same one I had upon arrival. I really should have asked for the Shiraz instead but by that time I was a bit tanked so I didn't.

9) Grilled Wagyu Beef with (maybe pongyu jelly?) eggplant (i.e., aubergine), wasabi and some sort of mushroom. Excellent. Meat was succulent and the Cab Sav was a great complement to meal - far superior to the pinot noir.

10) Sweet lentils with Heidelberg Tasmanian cheese. cleansed the palate before dessert which was presumably the final course but was served in 2 different plates brought to us in succession. Hence the 12 courses in my email. Not sure I am meant to include the lentils but who cares?

11) First 2 desserts: peach sorbet with champagne jelly and raspberry shortcake. I liked the latter more.
Dessert wine was from Eden Valley. Am not a big fan of dessert wines.

12) Then we got 3 desserts but I only managed to record 2 of them for some reason:
Chocolate ganache on red bean with green tea
Lemon meringue with vanilla bean: incredibly light and very "fluffy", almost like a mousse. I liked this one more. No idea what the third one was but I remember my favourite dessert being the raspberry shortcake.
This dessert plate came with a Spanish Muscatel - was too rich for me.

Jim and I may have had coffee after this or we simply contemplated having it. I have no idea because after that we all fell into a food coma.

My rating: 4.90 stars out of a possible 5 (due to pinot noir).

I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. To those I eat with when I am in my Southern Hemisphere home, please, please, please don't go getting any big ideas about going without me.

The Other Woman

Sunday brunch at a cafe in Berlin. He was so engrossed he didn't even notice me snapping away.

Husband with Frau Sudoku, the other woman

This is the scene (in no way staged by me) on his side of the bed at home.

My biggest competition

Interesting encounters with raspberry jam

I would be lying if told you that I only sampled one 'cake of the week' when we were in Berlin, and you would be a fool if you believed me. But of course, one was more memorable than the rest. Cupcakes are no typical German cake, but that is what made it all the more exciting! I hadn't eaten a cupcake in quite a while, they are a bit of a novelty in these parts. So when I saw the big pink sign on the street, beckoning passersby into Cupcake Berlin, I had to go in. There were a few different flavours on display, but to be honest I didn't really notice them. I was totally mesmerised by the chubby chocolate cake and the dreamy pink icing that was the Raspberry Delight. Husband of course, who just doesn't get the whole cupcake thing ordered a slice of cheesecake (New York, also good but it had nothing on mine.)
Interestingly enough raspberry jam made two appearances when we were in Berlin. Both times in ways that I had never eaten it before. Who knew so much was possible with a simple jarred spread? Back to the Raspberry Delight. The thing about this cupcake was that the icing was made pink with raspberry jam. Which meant it had tiny raspberry seeds through it and tiny flecks of raspberry too. This made the icing quite sweet but the fruitiness of the jam gave it a depth of flavour that can't be achieved with icing sugar and food colouring alone. The fruity frosting balanced out quite well with the chocolate cake which was on the bitter side of sweet, dense and moist. Yum! Yum! Yum! Taste aside though, cupcakes are such a symbol of all things lovely to me, that I think I would have enjoyed it just for the way it looked. Which I am sure you will agree is gorgeous!

Raspberry Delight

Raspberry jam showed up again when we visited the Tadschikische Teestube (Tajik from Tajikistan). A tea house located inside a historical building, where you have to take your shoes of and sit on bright, comfy cushions on the ground (there are some chairs and tables as well). Be sure not to upset the waitress by sitting somewhere stupid where she may be likely to trip over you. We made that silly mistake and paid for it with an ear bashing that the entire tea house fell silent to listen to. Not that she tripped over us, but she may have and how dare we expect her to have such acrobatic abilities of ducking and weaving with a tea laden tray by sitting the way we were! Humph! Some people! I recommend waiting at the entrance till she is ready to attend to you or better still make a booking. It is quite a cosy space and it was full when we were there so it makes sense to make sure you will get a seat, especially if you are visiting Berlin. Don't let the service put you off, once we were seated 'properly' she really was quite pleasant and the atmosphere and historic surroundings do really make it all worthwhile. Plus, when were there, it was snowing so heavily outside that we chose the wrath of the waitress over mother nature. Husband ordered a Canadian style tea, sweetened with maple syrup, served with cream and whisky on the side, to add according to taste. I ordered what I think was called the Lomonosov Tea. This was a mild black tea, served with raspberry jam and rum soaked raisins. The jam is used traditionally to sweeten the tea and raisins are to be eaten at your leisure, between sips. The presentation made tea drinking a real luxury. We didn't order any food, but there are lists of both sweet and savoury delicacies from the region but don't get too excited with ordering unless you have time. It took about 40 minutes for us just to get our tea. This is not a complaint, the atmosphere in this room is really relaxed and if you are not in a hurry it is not a bad place to be enjoying tea and conversation.

Tea with rum raisins and raspberry jam
It's all about the presentation: dainty tea cups and the raspberry seeds that sunk to the bottom

While the raspberry jam gave the tea more of a sour flavour (from the tartness of the raspberries) than sweet, I am still intrigued by the idea of using jam to sweeten things or to add flavour. I am inspired to see what other uses I can find for all the lovely home-made jam we have sitting in our kitchen cupboards. I am thinking fig jam icing for a ginger chocolate cake... Any other suggestions for jam, anyone?

A Hunting Story II

Just a quick update for those who are following our apartment hunt. We found one last Saturday. It was love at first sight. Great location, huge, affordable, windows in every room, high ceilings. We expressed our immediate interest and told them we could move in straight away, great for them as it had been empty for a while. They told us they would get back to us on Wednesday. I spent the next few days thinking interiors. I was so excited by the place that I could hardly sleep waiting for Wednesday. I hear you. Don't get your hopes up, you're saying. Wait till that phone call on Wednesday. Well, yes, I know it's not helpful to get carried away but everything went swimmingly at the viewing. They spent extra time with us and asked us detailed questions, hobbies? jobs? Sydney?! Do we smoke? Nope. Do we have house pets? No sirree! We would make perfect tenants. Wednesday came. When we hadn't heard by 5:00, we called. We didn't mean to rush them but had they decided? Yes they had. She was just sitting down to write us an email. Sorry, she said. We've decided on someone else. Thud. Somewhere on planet earth, a tree crashes to the ground, and for some reason, I can feel the impact in my head. What? You mean not the friendly, non-smoking, no pet - having couple? Dare we ask? Why not us? Well she answers, we had some friends who were interested and we've decided to give it to them. Oh, OK then. And yes, of course, they can give the apartment to whomever they damn well please. But the question remains, why would you invite 12 other couples to come and have a look when you already have a candidate in mind. I just don't get that part of it. We smiled so hard our faces almost fell off. Alas! All in vain. We never stood a chance. I know that I shouldn't take these things too personally, but they are so much like job interviews, I can't help but wonder what people are looking for in a tenant. Never mind, I keep telling myself. It wasn't meant to be. Get back on that horse. We do have another viewing next week. The owner rang today asking if we'd like to come and see it. His first words were: There's no balcony, and it's not quiet. You have the noise from the trains, the buses and the cars. It is located on the corner of a busy intersection. At least we know he is going to be straight with us.
Fingers crossed - for what exactly I am not sure... We are going to have a look next Wednesday.

Top Tier Fruit Cake

Baked in Australia with love. Transported to Germany with care. Eaten in Ulm with absolute delight!

This delicious looking fruit cake was the top tier of my wedding cake. Well, not exactly. On the day the top was a mock tier decorated to look like the rest of the cake. The wedding cake was a gift from a good friend and she baked the top tier and packed it separately for me to take back to Germany. I have read that it is considered good luck to save the top tier of your wedding cake and eat it on your first anniversary, so that's what we did. I can confirm that one year of storage had no adverse affect on the flavour. It was delicious.

Cake is a grand German tradition. One of my favourites. You will be hard pressed to find a 'hausfrau' worth her salt who doesn't produce a torte or a tart, at least once a week. I think it is fitting to begin this 'Cake of the Week' section with this very special fruit cake. 'Cake of the Week' will give me the burdensome task of trying a new variety weekly and sharing it with you. Enjoy!

Romance

This conversation took place at about 07:15am German time, after I had showered and was getting ready for work.

He: Hmmm... Is that you?
Me: Is what me?
He: That smell. Are you using something new?
Me: Yes. My shampoo and bath gel are new.
He: No, no. (sniffs the air) It's not that. I am sure it's not that. It's a different smell.
Me: Really? Like what? I can't smell anything.
He: I don't know. I think it's either you or there's something smelly in the pipes... you know the sink. There might be something stuck in there.
Me: Umm... Are you telling me I smell like a blocked sink?
He: I said it's you OR the sink...
Me: Right...

Rituals

A very happy one year paper anniversary to us! One year later and I am certainly older but none the wiser about how people get to their 10th, 20th, 30th... Hard work it is indeed! But I think we've done pretty well. No actual acts of violence though admittedly plenty of thoughts. Lots of bad words (expressed and suppressed), and plenty of brow furrowing moments. Through it all we have managed to recoup and come together and perhaps even like each other a little more than before. It has been rewarding too. Many lessons learnt and so many happy memories created that one wonders where the brain will find room to store a whole lifetimes worth. We have definitely earned our stripe. To celebrate we are treating ourselves to a trip to Berlin. This will be my third time to Berlin in less than a year (I think I'm addicted) but my first trip with Husband. I have travelled there by rail and by road but this time we are splashing out and going by plane! This sort of makes up for our very cheap but hopefully not too dodgy hotel. Now, our relationship doesn't really have much to do with a boiled egg, except for when it comes to our ritual of weekend breakfasts. This is something that, one year on, I realise has become a big part of our lives. Not every weekend is a lazy weekend, but a good few of them are and one of our favourite things to do is to set the table, inside in winter or on the balcony in summer and to have a proper breakfast. By proper I mean not the type of brekkie you would have during the week. Nothing quick and convenient. A proper German breakfast is quite different to what we do in Australia. It is mostly cold, like cheese and smoked meats. We often receive home made jams as gifts, our favourite at the moment is plum and whisky. Then there is of course bread (sourdough is very common here) or pretzels and danishes - bought fresh from the bakery. I guess, there is really no need for me to explain how or why this has become a regular part of our lives. It is just really relaxing - he eats, I talk, he nods - I keep talking. It's great. I usually like to have a boiled egg, mashed on buttered toast with salt and pepper. Not always, but sometimes when we have just been to the market and bought some good eggs from a local farmer. I really do think that these moments are what keep me sane. Mushing that egg on my toast, sipping my tea, talking about my week. A boiled egg is equivalent to therapy in my house. My theory is if we keep up our weekend breakfast ritual I'll see you back here this time next year...