By Franz Scheurer
The Observatory Hotel has always been an oasis of European opulence in Sydney. It’s fine dining restaurant, Galileo is a grand old room with majestic furniture and fittings and a distinctly old-fashioned feel. What has changed, however, is the food. With Harunobu Inukai, ex-Restaurant VII, now executive chef, ‘Old World’ is challenged with ‘New World’ fare.
Harunobu’s food is a curious mix of traditional French techniques, using whiz-bang appliances, and a Japanese twist. His food is totally unique, interesting, and can be challenging. His excellence is unquestioned, however it is obvious that his kitchen brigade is not yet as finely honed as it should be. Presentation is superb but depth of flavours is lacking at this stage.
A ‘Foie Gras Flan’ arrives on a long square plate with a ‘mushroom’ made from duck confit on a few herbs and salad leaves and foie gras presented as a very light mousse with a shitake sauce. If you love foie gras then this dish is not for you as the liver is so disguised it might as well not be there.
The ‘Terrine of Salmon’ with leek, bouillabaisse dressing and wakame puree is an architectural wonder but rather hard to eat as the blunt knives refuse to cut through the leek strips that hold it all together. Flavours in this dish are excellent and it is probably the best of the entrées sampled.
The ‘Pan Fried Oyster’ with glass noodles, basil oil and fennel sauce, and the ‘Ravioli of Prawn’ with a sparkling clean seafood consommé and wonderfully gooey, deep-fried lotus root, are both competent and quite interesting.
A main course of ‘Roasted John Dory’ on the bone with artichoke, celeriac, tomato and confit eggplant puree is a bit dry, the ‘Etuvee of Crustacean’ a collection of shellfish in a heavily reduced shellfish bisque with a timbale of macaroni and daikon is perfectly cooked. A dish of ‘Ocean Trout’, lightly crumbed with seaweed, served with warm red cabbage salad and verjus is anything but ‘lightly’ crumbed and really lacks the elegance of any of the other dishes, presentation-wise as well. The star of the night is the ‘Assiette of Beef’ a collection of perfectly seared and good quality beef fillet, beef cheeks and beef tongue with a smoked potato puree. This is the only dish that carries flavours the way I expect from Harunobu.
The highlight of the desserts was a passionfruit soufflé served in a hollowed out passionfruit skin, accompanied by a tangy passionfruit sorbet and a demi-tasse of creamy ‘espresso brûlée’. Once again all plates were wonderfully presented, but very little had enough intensity of flavour to be truly memorable.
This brings me to the wine list. Undoubtedly the best value wine list in Sydney. There is something for everyone and at ridiculously low prices. Unfortunately, it seems, the wine service is as cheap as the wines.
Service, wine or otherwise, was appalling. Delivery of both entrées and mains was a comedy of errors as the service staff managed to confuse who was having every dish. Timing stinks, knowledge, if there, is well hidden. Nothing works. Kevin Ng, ex-Restaurant VII, is the Maitre ’d and, although willing and capable, he just can’t do it alone. They are seriously understaffed and the staff on the floor is inexperienced. The same goes for the bar. One person looking after a full cocktail bar on a Friday night equates to half hour wait times for a drink. This is unacceptable. Pauses between courses were long enough to go out and hunt, kill, clean and prepare the food yourself. Clearly this need work.
Score: 5/10
For more information or bookings:
Galileo Restaurant
89 – 113 Kent Street
Millers Point
Tel.: 02 9256 2222