Restaurant Amuse

So, last night we went to Restaurant Amuse again. Beautiful as always.
Our overall discusion on the food left us with Chef Hadleigh Troy still doing it well, however, he seems to be playing it a lot 'safer' than when we were there last (about 18 months ago). Gone were the bizarro out there combos - like the deconstructed caesar salad where the lettuce was a cos jus. So, there were absolutely no misses on the night. Unfortunately, it also felt like there were no real revelations (and wit), like previous dishes such as the salted peanut gelato with beer sorbet and minature pretzels dish. I did have a few favourite dishes from the night (see below). The wine and cocktail list is amazing - as usual. The staff are all well versed in foods and drinks, which just adds to the pleasure of the evening.

The Amuse Bouche - Jamon wrapped melon, ceviche on a paper thin cracker like concoction, salted crisps, proscuitto wrapped bread stick and a sesame and something house made stick. The dips were a type of Dukkah and cream mix and one that was an aioli like substance (can you tell I wasn't really listening?)

1st Course - one of my favourites - Tomato, tomato consome, tomato sorbet, condensed watermelon and goats cheese

Course 2 - another favourite of the night - Beetroot, goats cheese, with coffee and cocoa soil.

Course 3 - Kingfish, lemon aspen and red currants.

Course 4 - I am sure they said Barramundi, but the menu says Snapper.  Snapper, peas and asparagusin a lemon butter foam.

Course 5 - another favourite - Pork belly, pork crackle soil, seared scallop with pineapple and a cauliflower puree.

Course 6 - Tagine of prawns, zucchini, shallots and eggplant with couscous. I ate it before I remembered to take a photo. oOps.

Palate Cleanser - Lychee sorbet and a sour citric custard base.

Course 7 - his was a really cute idea but, to be honest, it didn't need the blood orange reduction. Strawberries and mascarpone covered with 'fairy' floss.

And this is it after the blood orange reduction was added :(

Course 8 - I actually really liked this and the interplay it had. Blueberries (4 ways), white chocolate and fennel. There was a blueberry toffee shard, a blueberry ?jam log, blueberry soil and I still can't figure what the other one was (note - I was a tad inebriated by this stage). It was served on top of a fennel mousse that was so delicate in flavour, along with white chocolate soil and white chocolate gelato (Nitrogen - hence it looking like feta and the smoke)

And then we finally had coffee (or, in my case, hot chocolate) along with petit fours. The petit fours were not relevatory(like they have been at, say, Rockpool). We had a marshmallow, a chocolate truffle and a finacier. The financier was excellently made having just the right amount of flavour and moistness. For those that haven't had one, it is a tiny bit like a friand, it is a well known type of French teacake.