Tetsuya's

Tetsuya Wakuda is a celebrity. Not of the entertainment or political ilk, he is a celebrity chef. There is no shortage of famous chef’s these days – Jamie, Gordon, Nigella and Kylie. Unlike Gordon Ramsey or Kylie Kwong, Tetsuya hasn’t had to court the media to become a food demi-god. And he isn’t lisp-ily attractive like Jamie either. The experience of dining at Tetsuya’s is said to make disciples of critics, foodies and doubters alike. Despite this he hasn’t churned out countless cookbooks and knick knacks. He has only one very stylish recipe book that includes his signature dish, confit of ocean trout served with ocean trout roe.

His restaurant in Sydney CBD is internationally renowned – in numerous international critic reviews it is rated in the top 5 in the world. His restaurant has received the highest honor of three chef’s hats from the Sydney Morning Herald for 15 years in a row. This year’s Tetsuya, as well as being the awarded highest score in Australia, was also awarded Restaurant of the year – “in a stratosphere all of his own…” Unlike the other 3 hat chef’s in Sydney, I would probably go weak at the knees if I met him on the street – quickly turning into paparazzi.

Unfortunately this acclaim comes with a prohibitive price tag. So despite Kate and I being huge fans (simply from reading about his degustation menu and hearing friends' comments) we have never been. We got a signed copy of the cookbook, but the long waiting list and high price kept us away.

Well, that was until last night. I surprised Katie for her birthday. It was so hard to keep the secret – I booked in February! I was very surprised to find the menu has changed a fair bit compared to what others have had, and what is advertised on the website.

Would your dream meal include wagyu beef or spatchcock? Abalone or oxtail? Caviar or truffles? Trout or crab? How about all of them!

Below is each of our courses. Note I had matching wines with most courses. :-)

Chilled sweet corn soup with saffron ice cream

[Really refreshing and appetising. The ice cream sounds funny - but its just like adding cream to pumpkin soup - and this was a cold soup]

Smoked ocean trout & avruga caviar with poached quail egg

[Outstanding - one of my favourite dishes of the evening. The texture and flavour were totally out of this world.]

Burnt leek & crab custard

[It fit well with the flow of the courses - light flavours but a heavier texture.]

Tuna sashimi with wasabi oil

[Sensational - finest quality sashimi and a delicate sauce.]

Confit of Petuna Tasmanian ocean trout with konbu, daikon & fennel
seasonal green salad

[No wonder this is his signature dish - fabulous. Faultless.]

Ravioli of Queensland spanner crab with tomato & basil vinaigrette

[I liked this a lot - but I think the crab meat needed something to lift it. Compared to the Raviolo we had at Salt, I think this had better sauce, but less flavour inside the pasta]

Baby abalone with braised ox tail.

[This was my least favourite dish (still great though). I thought the abalone was too tough. I realise this was a transition dish towards heavier flavour and texture so this may have been calculated, but I think it would have been better if the abalone were more tender.]

Twice cooked de-boned spatchcock with olive & caper jus

[Wow. The work to prepare this is mind numbing. Totally boned, then wrapped in skin like a plump little roast. Because it was twice cooked, there wasn't a layer of fat under the skin and it was indescribably tender.]

Grilled wagyu beef with ponzu jelly, lime & wasabi

[This was good, but I wasn't blown away. I actually thought the beef was a little over cooked. You use the wasabi, lime and salt to make your own sauce. At La Rochelle in Tokyo they had a similiar idea but used a rare 'snow' salt that had the texture of icing sugar and a nicer flavour. I think this would work better here too.]

Comte with Lentils

[Such a well calculated course - cleaned the palate for the sweet dishes to come. Really classy.]

Beetroot & blood orange sorbet
Tetsuya’s summer pudding

[Both were great, but the pudding (right) was out of this world. The best desert I've ever experienced.]

Chocolate terrine with mascarpone & cognac anglaise

[Rich sticky and delicious]

Kate had flourless chocolate cake with two gelato's for birthday

Coffee & Petit Four

(Macaroon, date cookie, sweet potato in cocoa & macadamia shortbread).

[All were great, the short bread and the sweet potato were surprisingly good.]

Overall it was sensational and amazingly balanced and timed. And the breads with his signature butter IS all it’s hyped to be – unsalted with truffle and cheese. All of the flavours were so subtle, balanced and the dishes were ordered in such a smart way.

Oh, did I mention we met Tetsuya? He came to wish Kate a happy birthday, posed for a photo at the table and for another he invited us into the wine cellar. Oh, and he gave her a birthday present (really!) – a jar of the truffle salsa to make our own truffle butter, and 2 vinaigrette's – one for salad one for oysters.

So yeah, we are totally like best friends with Tets' now. BFF.

I tried to act cool and like I was ‘someone’ when I asked the waiter if we could meet the chef (using the excuse it is Kate’s birthday and SHE Is a huge fan) – but I couldn’t help grinning like an idiot fan-boy when he showed up. I may have giggled, I’m not sure.

It is no wonder that so many renowned restaurants are French/Japanese fusion - it is such a great pairing. The restraint and gentle preparation of Japanese with the sauces of French - and a mixture of each styles presentation. Stunning. And despite eating every drop and speck on my plates (and more than my fair share of the butter), I didn't feel sick the next day at all!

Was it cheap or good value? Well, if you work it out by number of courses - not as painful to think about. Also, if you deduct the value of the gift... and considering we were there eating for over five hours (!), you can imagine it is quite an experience.