Guillaume at Bennelong

10 November 2007, 23:01

A long loong time ago back in september me and noods went to Guillaume at Bennelong aka the sexy 2 hats restaurant tucked under the sails of the Opera House.


Hmm not a very impressive entrance huh? The restaurant was half full (or is the glass half empty?) when we arrived and were seated near the glass overlooking the steps of the Opera House and partially facing the Harbour Bridge. It was fun watching the tourists pose on the steps but after a while the camera flashes got a tad blinding and the curious stares got a bit disconcerting as I tried to eat like a normal person. But anyways we decided on the degustation menu without wines ($190p.p) so now on to the food!


First some bready goodness with perfect squares of salted and unsalted butter.


Complimentary Gougeres. These French cheese puffs made with gruyère cheese were piping hot and melted in the mouth and oh so very moreish.


Basil Infused Tuna with mustard seed and soy vinaigrette. The tuna is glistening look at how it glistens! I dont think i got the whole ‘infused’ flavour i reckon it was more like tuna just wrapped in basil. But it was tasty! The tuna was seared lightly leaving the tuna innards intact with its soft and juicy nummyness


In-house Smoked Salmon with Sterling caviar, crème fraîche, chives, shallots, croutons and baby herbs. Aw so pretty! I can only imagine the lucky soul who scored the job of squirting those tiny dabs of creme fraiche 66 times per plate… The smoked salmon was tasty and went well with the generous scoop of caviar hiding under the leaves. The giant wedge of lemon wasnt needed and the slice of ‘crouton’ looked so deceptively normal i left it to the end without trying and then kicked myself when i gave it a nibble to find a crisp brioche-like crumb much tastier than the bread at the beginning of dinner.


John Dory on a carrot and coriander velouté, served with baby beans and baby carrots. When this came out i was thinking wow thats a lot of orange colours on my plate! Im not sure i liked the carrots in two forms on the one plate, I would have prefered the smooth veloute over the baby carrots. The John Dory was perfectly cooked, delicate in flavour with a fine texture.


Local Lobster wrapped in Serrano ham with pappardelle, baby fennel, cherry tomatoes and a spicy jus. Thats a pretty generous piece of firm-fleshed lobster wrapped in some absolutely delicious porky goodness sitting atop a silky soft ribbon of pappardelle pasta.


Duck Confit with pommes pont neuf, duck foie gras, truffle and baby salad. Mmm how i love duck skin and duck meat and ohh how rich and delicious was the foie gras and oh no im getting full!


Grainge Angus Black Label Wagyu Beef Striploin (Grade 9 +) with a tombé of field mushrooms, baby spinach, confit of shallot, merlot sauce. The flavour of the wagyu was unbelievable [but I guess thats the fat talking], juicy and tender and oh how we wanted more! The Paris mash was served by our waitress and was the smoothest and creamiest mash Ive ever had and I was very sad when the bowl of mash was whisked away after spooning out small portions for us.


Blood Orange Granita. By now Noods was moaning and clutching his stomach saying he couldnt fit anything else in lol but he managed to scrape the glass clean! The granita was a welcome palate cleanser with an intense but refreshing orange flavour.


Cheesey goodness! We were wheeled out a trolley filled with cheeses from several countries with each cheese lovingly described in detail. A couple of points at our selected cheeses and a platter complete with slices of pears, apples and crackers arrived. We were very glad the slices of cheese was small not because they werent good (they were gorgeous!) but because we were so very very full and worried about the dessert that was to come…


Opera with gold leaf and a rich vanilla bean cream. Ah the classic Opera cake so wonderfully rich sitting in a river of decadant vanilla bean cream. A little too rich. I would have liked a scoop of vanilla icecream to cut the richness but hey im not complaining it was fantastic! When it comes to desserts I grow another stomach to fit everything in and manage to polish off my cake and about 1/2 of noods’ cake before crying in defeat.


Petit Fours. Mini chocolate ganache tarts, salty caramels, soft triangles of i think the flavour was passionfruit jellies and the cutest macarons ive ever seen. Sadly i only managed to eat half of everything and was by now feeling slightly sick hehe


me and noods so very very full.

Was it worth the pricetag? Overall id say the experience was great, the food wasnt mindblowingly good but i could not fault anything and everything came out on time. A little gripe we had was the numerous waiters that served us and whooshed away- I prefer one or two waiters to look after us all night and see how everything is going. Also, it wasnt much fun walking down a set of stairs and thru a maze of chairs stacked haphazardly to reach the bathrooms that are shared by the theatre people. But yeah! Everything else was tops and happy (late) 6 yrs noods!

1. My goodness that looks like a sensational meal. brings back memories of a meal I had there a couple of years back: that tuna, beef with paris mash and an oozing chocolate fondant for dessert. I still remember each dish vividly. Thanks for bringing back those memories – unfortunately the new Guillaume Brahimi restaurant in Melbourne is nothing like this. Its a great restaurant but is good bistro food, as opposed to this amazing, refined cuisine.

   — Jon    Apr 8, 10:01 PM    #