Located in the heart of Auckland’s Freemans Bay, Clooney Restaurant is a partnership between restaurateur Tony Stewart and chef Desmond Harris. Clooney was almost full when we were dining there, but the clever black bead curtains between tables gave us the feeling that we were in our own private (and relatively quiet) cocoon. We tried the 7 course tasting menu when we were dining at Clooneys. The menu is diverse with a lot of regional and local produce. Chef Harris does an excellent job creating international cuisine but with a local flavor. The restaurant also offers an a la carte menu. The appetizers were creative and wonderful to look at, but without being overworked and overcomplicated. The main courses was also wonderful. The highlights was an ostrich that was tender and extremely flavorful. New Zealand is known for its lamb and Clooney's also served an amazing lamb dish with great depth and visual appeal. The menu ended with great desserts. They were sweet, with wonderful texture and color. The Chef was able to finish on a very high note, leaving us satisfied and happy. We let the restaurant know in advance that my wife needed a vegan option and they really came through with a great menu. Some courses were completely different but still very good and complimented my menu very well. The pacing of the courses was great, and you never felt that you had to wait for the next plate. The service was fantastic and the staff was very accommodating. The first night we went there, their kitchen had a complete power outage and couldn't conduct a service. They quickly re-booked us later that week but also helped us getting a reservation that same night for a different restaurant that came highly recommended. They were also very apologetic about the whole scenario and gave us free drinks when we came back later that week. Clooney is a wonderful dining experience. Proactive staff, great service and very good local food.
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What I love about traveling and eating at different restaurants is that sometimes you come across a chef that challenges how you perceive food and what you can combine. Sometimes you like it and sometimes you don't. Mark Best of Marque in Sydney is one of those chefs. He doesn't play it safe and that is what I appreciate about his cuisine. Combining Parsley Sorbet and Raspberry as a dessert or how about this one: Coconut, licorice and beetroot. Weird but so good. Mark started his working life as an electrician in the gold mines of Western Australia before starting his culinary career at the age of 25. In 1995 with wife Valerie, he opened his own restaurant, Peninsula Bistro, which soon developed a strong local following and rave critical acclaim. During this time he decided to further his study of French Cuisine in France.He worked with Alain Passard and Raymond Blanc and these experiences fueled his desire to open Marque. What I really like about Mark's cuisine is his uncanny ability to stay in the forefront of trends in the culinary world. When eating at his restaurant the last time, Mark sat down and shared his present philosophy about cooking. He said that for him Molecular Gastronomy was yesterdays news and now he is really focused on preserved food and fermented food. He says that it brings out flavor combinations that are rich and different and he highlighted this in a couple of dishes shown below. Mark also challenges the taste buds with interesting combinations that really blends well on the palette. His staff is also top-notch. They are knowledgeable, passionate about food and willing to go above and beyond to satisfy the diners. The alternative vegan menu that they put together for my wife was creative, tasteful and put to together to give the vegan diners an equally fascinating food journey as the carnivores. And last but not least, Mark Best is a great guy who cares about food, who cares about his diners but who is also not afraid to challenge the diners assumptions of what food should taste like. Sepia is the creative collaboration between two of Sydney's highly regarded food identities - the renowned seafood wholesaler George Costi of De Costi Seafoods and award winning Sydney Chef Martin Benn. Martin Benn began his cooking career as a Chef at the Oak Room in London learning French gastronomy under Michel Lorrain. From there Benn moved to work at the Landmark and later the Criterion, where he came under the tutelage of Marco Pierre White. Relocating to Australia in 1996, Martin spent two years at Sydney's Forty One Restaurant. In 1999 he then gained a place at Tetsuya's, learning the fundamentals of Japanese cuisine from Chef Tetsuya Wakuda and mastering them to become Head Chef at the age of twenty five. When eating at Sepia you can definitely taste the merger of classic french cuisine and the flavors of Japan. It is a great merger. Having eaten at Sepia twice now, the kitchen delivers consistently great food and the sommelier does an excellent job matching the wine with the food. The course to choose is the degustation menu, where you really can get a sense of what Chef Benn is trying to achieve with his culinary vision. I added the fresh oysters to the menu because oysters in Sydney can never go wrong. The appetizer round was magnificent with the Sashimi being the highlight. The Sashimi Tuna is so flavorful and melt-in-your-mouth tender, you just want to have more of it. After the appetizers, the menu moves in to seafood. This is where Chef Benn's kitchen really shines. The flavors are deep and lingering. The squid tastes like perfect al dente pasta - I have never been a big fan of squid, but this version of it... I can eat it every day. It is that good. The kitchen also added an additional course to the menu. This has happened during both my visits. I don't know if it is planned but it certainly makes you feel special as a diner. A very nice touch. During my last visit, the surprise course was an excellent Marron (local crayfish) cooked perfectly. The two main meat courses was Wagyue Beef and Venison. The beef was one of the highlights of the menu, with the beef blending perfectly with the red onion juice and the wasabi fried potato. An excellent dish which really showcases the fusion of French and Japanese flavors. The Venison didn't work for me personally. The chocolate crumb is too overpowering and doesn't give the venison justice. The menu also ends on a high note. The Pre Dessert works as a great palette cleanser and then one of Chef Benn's signature dishes finishes the meal. The Winter Chocolate Forest is rich. I repeat, it is RICH...But the flavors are great and if you don't leave Sepia satisfied, you must have a stomach the size of an elephant. Chef Benn has found a great food philosophy, Sepia is a wonderful restaurant, the staff is friendly (they actually volunteered to sell me the chef's backup Thermomix, when I told them how difficult it is to find one in the US), and overall you will leave Sepia a very happy diner.
Merediths is the restaurant of chef Michael Meredith and considered one of the best restaurants in Auckland, New Zealand. They offer degustation only menus, and each menu will take the diners on a journey where, from beginning to end, they will be wrapped in the Merediths experience. Chef Michael Meredith and his team use Tuesday evenings as an opportunity to experiment with and refine their plant-based dishes. The entire restaurant dines on their 8-course plant-based vegetarian menu which fitted us perfectly since my wife is on a vegan diet for medical reasons. And the kitchen was great at accommodating her dietary restrictions. It is a wonderful initiative, and it really promotes healthy living. And as an added bonus, it seems like the public is liking it too, the restaurant is almost always fully booked on Tuesdays. The starters were extremely flavorful and highlights how creative you can be with vegetables, berries and fruits. Wonderful presentation and flavor combinations that worked very well together. Michael Meredith has a very nice ability to combine both presentation, creativity and flavors in a great way. Every course has a distinct look and profile where all the ingredients make sense. Vegetarian food can sometimes be bland - but Chef Meredith is able to really to bring out depth, bold flavors and richness. He did a remarkable job, because as a diehard carnivore - vegetarian courses alone just isn't appealing to me. But this one was amazing. The next course on the menu was a mushroom course. This was my personal highlight of the evening. The mushrooms were flavorful, and cooked perfectly. The soy milk accompanied the mushrooms in a good way. A course that shows what you can do with creativity and good cooking skills. Fantastic!! Finally, the desserts...Not spectacular, but still good. My favorite here was the coconut and citrus. Nicely put together. In summary, I have no idea what the regular menu at Merediths tastes like, but based on the vegetarian menu, I am excited to come back and find out. Chef Meredith's initiative is brilliant and important. Many renowned chefs, when asked to create a vegan alternative, throw together a simple salad. Chef Meredith creates a complete menu. And like I said, the restaurant is almost always full on Tuesdays.
The wonderful restaurant Waku Ghin in Singapore, translates to "arise silver, offers a 10 course Japanese inspired degustation menu. The restaurant is located in the iconic Marina Bay Sands complex, and offers a very unique dining experience. Waku Ghin with Celebrity Chef Tetsuya Wakudais was ranked number 68 on Pellegrino's list in 2013. The experience of Waku Ghin starts the moment you walk through the glass doors and are greeted by the friendly and attentive staff. To the left is an impressive sake bar and caviar lounge, perfect for pre-dinner drinks. I tried the Gummibear Martini which was surprisingly tasty. The restaurant seats only 25 people at a time, offering 2 sittings each evening. Guests are seated in private Teppanyaki rooms. You will have a personal Teppenyaki chef throughout the dinner who will introduce and cook every course right in from of you on the cooking surface. The 10 course degustation menu is tailored to your individual taste on the evening, and the chef takes the time to discuss the menu with you. The food is mostly seafood and the chef will show the actual produce in a basket before the cooking starts. A wonderful display of the seafood emphasize how fresh it is. The chef then proceeds to expertly prepare for us each dish, one at a time, carefully explaining the dish as he goes along. I personally love the personal interaction with the chef, and revel in the opportunity to watch the expert preparation up close and personal. It really makes eating at Waku Ghin a different experience. Each dish is perfectly presented and looks as much a piece of art, as a plate of food. Fresh seafood perfectly cooked. One of the early courses was Waku Ghin's signature course, Marinated Botan Shrimp with Uni and Osetra caviar. It is without a doubt, one of the best things I have ever had in my life. The freshness and sweetness of the shrimp merged perfectly together with the saltiness of the caviar and the umami from the sea urchin. Simply brilliant and the presentation made it even better. Eating at Waku Ghin is not cheap but this course made it worth the investment. They also serve a wonderful lobster that is cooked to perfection with a flavor of rosemary. Also a great dish. Waku Ghin finishes off the main part of the menu with two excellent meat courses. My favorite was the Wagyu beef - It was actually so good that I had to order another serving. It put a dent in the wallet but it was so worth it. Once we are finished with the degustation menu, we are escorted to a separate room to retire for our dessert. The room offers spectacular views of the Singapore skyline and the nightly fountain show. The desserts were good but not spectacular. I would recommend anyone to eat at Waku Ghin. It is expensive and you have to like seafood. But if you do, the food is top notch, comprising ingredients that are at the very top of their category and treated minimally at the teppan counter. The private chef - one to every 2 diners - does a show and tell for his dishes before preparing it, whether searing a piece of wagyu or cooking the abalone to the perfect texture. The customized teppan plate is truly the star - having your food cooked before your eyes does much to wet the appetite. It is a great experience, and I can't hardly wait until I get to fly back to Singapore and get to feast on that shrimp, caviar, and uni feast of greatness.
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