Rockpool

By Franz Scheurer

Rockpool, now 21 years old, is still cutting edge dining, leading the way, holding up a beacon of quality and culinary wizardry to the world. Anyone who might think that after such a long time in business an element of laziness would creep in couldn’t be more wrong. Nothing here happens by chance. The menu is adventurous yet offers dishes perfect for the cautious eater. Service is both interactive and distant enough never to feel intrusive. The wine list is exquisite and the staff know how to present the wines and how to handle a wine that doesn’t live up to their expectations (long before the customer is even aware). The bread is so good that it takes real ‘won’t power’ to have only 3 slices. Oh, did I mention the bread?

Last night we enjoyed the company of friends and we decided to order à-la-carte.

After a superb ‘Sterling caviar on prawn toast’ amuse gueule we tried the ‘Fragrant crab broth with hand picked Queensland mud crab, dashi custard, tapioca and wild bamboo pith’ which convinced by its delicacy and subtle flavours, dominated by texture rather than force. The ‘Green lip abalone, red braised Thirlmere goose, chicken crisp and fine noodles with XO dressing’ was an absolute hit and The abalone was cut into quite thick pieces and I was surprised how gorgeous and tender it was. The next two dishes we sampled were the ‘Rich and noble lobster congee, star anise scented peanuts, Chinese fried bread and chilli oil’ and the ‘Scampi tartare with cauliflower, apple and walnut’. If you love congee and pungent, hot flavours then you can’t go past this dish. Not only does it look great, it explodes in your mouth and the flavours slowly increase in intensity. The tartare was probably the most appealingly plated dish so far and it was obviously very good as it was hoovered up so quickly I never managed to get a morsel to try. A plate of ‘Goats cheese cannelloni with hazelnuts, pear, silverbeet and gingerbread streusel’ hit the spot with the hazelnuts adding that little bit of magic. A feast for the eyes, the ‘John Dory poached in dashi with braised daikon, ginger pearls and buckwheat noodles, inspired by Yuichi Kamimura’ showed that the kitchen really does understand Japanese flavours and textures and the ‘Grilled Hervey bay scallops, white cut chicken and prawn cracker with sweet corn, green beans and fish fragrant dressing’ was my dish of the night. It was not just great, it was stunning. The chicken provided the pivotal point with the sweetness of the scallops on one end of the taste spectrum, and the heat and dark flavours of the fish fragrant dressing on the other. Superb!

But wait, there’s more:

‘Baby vegetable Tagine with nut stuffed date and cauliflower’ was the perfect vegetarian dish. We would like to see some kind of carbohydrate to soak up the wonderful sauce. I understand that ‘at the top end of town’ value is often measured in the amount of protein served, yet, in reality we are all carb-junkies. The last savoury dish, ‘Confit suckling pig with sugar snap peas, preserved cabbage, roast cashews and tea smoked pork broth’ was simply perfect. Lovely, thin crackling, succulent, moist and tender meat and strong, smoky flavours in the broth with lots of spice. What I particularly loved about the spicy flavours in the broth is the fact that all spices worked together in perfect harmony, creating one new taste, with no one single spice standing out.

Cheese (served at perfect room temperature) and the famous Date tart finished the meal, perfectly.

After a glass of Champagne we drank a bottle of the 1996 Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne (the last bottle they had) and the aged and integrated Burgundy flavours worked beautifully with the spice in the food. Afterwards we went for a bottle of 2006 Louis Latour Aloxe Corton and were rewarded with a fantastically complex, elegant Pinot Noir.

Rockpool still rocks!

Fine dining with integrity, fabulous flavours and a touch of spice from around the world, a comfortable, yet still modern setting, with friendly staff and good value for money. What more could you want?

Did I like it? I loved it

Would I go back: You bet

Noise level: 67db

Score: 9.5/10

For more information or bookings:

Rockpool

107 George Street

The Rocks

Tel.: 02 9252 1888

http://www.rockpool.com.au/sydney/rockpool/