Guillaume At Bennelong

To accompany me on my next expedition were Brenda and Kim. Guillaume at Bennelong is located in the uniquely fabulous Sydney Opera House. It serves a "Pre-theatre" dinner but we opted for the A La Carte. If you are more than 4 people you have to take a booth or a table away from the window. The window tables seat a maximum of 4. Our table was situated looking over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Circular Quay and the International Passenger Terminal. The lighting in the restaurant is very muted in order to not interfere with the fantastic view.

We dined at the end of May so the weather was getting cool but not icy. Everyone would find something on the menu that appealed to them. It is largely french influenced so perfect for winter as they were rich and hearty.

While we perused the menu and drank the rather light but piquant bottle of champage we orderd we were served sliced freshly baked rye bread and real butter. The one thing I missed when I returned from Europe is that I was, and still am, unable to find any baker that makes bread like they make in Europe. The kind with absolutely no preservatives that doesn't last longer than about 12 hours but that you also can buy fresh at any hour of the day. Well I found it in this restaurant. Lovely. So we then ordered and asked the sommelier for his recommendation of a wine that would accompany the very different dishes we all ordered. He recommended a south Australian Pinot Noir which we went with. I do like the current fashion of keeping the wine away from the table I have to say. That way the champagne was always perfectly chilled and the bottle didn't clutter up the table or drip water over your food.

For entree I opted for the Smoked Salmon.... I really can't go past that, Kim had the braised oxtail with celeriac puree and truffle and Brenda had the fresh shucked Pacific Oysters. The smoked salmon came nicely rolled around some creme fraishe with perfect little pearls of red caviar on the top with capers and a lightly steamed small leafed vegetable I haven't had before and who's name escapes me at the moment but was a perfect accompaniment to the perfect smoked salmon. (hachet?? ) It, too, came with thin slices of that fantastic rye bread. The salmon was perfectly smoked and not too salty and completely unblemished and Brenda tells me that the oysters were amazingly fresh and succulent. Kim's oxtail was thick and rich and smelt divine.

I then chose an item from the specials and had wagout of beef cheeks, Brenda had the Barramundi with scallops in a ginger sauce and Kim had the Kingfish in an oxtail jus. The wagout of beef cheeks, according to our server, had been cooked for about 57 days! Ok I am exaggerating a bit but it had been cooked about 3 times over the past 24 hours and was amazingly tender and juicy and succulent and just fell away so much that I barely needed my knife. For a winter dish it was sublime. It was in a red wine sauce on a creamy mash of potato. It also had button mushroom, carrot and beans in the sauce. It was a very heavy dish and there was more than enough to satisfy even the hungriest of persons. I didn't manage to get through it all and I tried let me tell you!

I was really interested in Kim's choice of the Kingfish with oxtail jus. I couldn't get my head around having seafood with such a rich choice of sauce but the jus was really light and delicate and after having a taste, it was a really interesting combination of flavours. Kingfish is one of the more hearty fishes so held itself well against the jus. It also came with those perfect little pearls of caviar. I wish I had ordered Brenda's dish though. As lovely as the beef was, it was a heavy dish and Brenda's was fantastic. The ginger was not overpowering at all. The scallops were plump and juicy and the Barramundi was cooked perfectly. There is nothing worse than overcooked barramundi. I hate how it goes floury. This was lovely. Again, the knife seemed obselete.

Despite the fact that we were all full we ordered dessert. We had too! Since we had to wait 15 minutes for 2 of them we figured dinner would have a chance to settle. I had the chocolate fondant with pistachio icecream, kim had the orange souffle and Brenda had the Raspberry Mille Fuille. Oh my! We all sampled each others desserts and they were all perfect. The chocolate fondant came tall and proud in the centre of the plate with a small dollop of pistachio icecream surrounded by warm sugared pistachios. It looked almost too good to eat. From the first spoon into the centre of my chocolate cake I lost the ability to speak. All that I could utter was almost pornographic moans of delight and urge my fellow diners to sample it. Both had the same reaction. Warm, runny, dark, thick, sweet, rich. The combination of the slight crunchy exterior with the warm runny interior and the iciness of the icecream was just a perfect combination of textures and tastes. Sadly though, Kim was disappointed in the souffle. I am not a big souffle fan but Kim's father, also a rather good cook, makes an orange souffle that held up better than the one served to her this evening.

Brenda is still raving about her raspberry mille fuille. Every raspberry was perfect and she says that if she closes her eyes she can still taste them. The pastry was barely there and again the visual delight of the dessert made it even more delightful. There were 3 layers of raspberrys between the layers of pastry that, again, added to the perfect combination of textures to the dessert. The cream was lightly whipped and slightly sweetened. She would go back and just have the dessert.

Kim and I elected not to have coffee, but Brenda (easily the smartest woman I know) ordered coffee. You see we didn't read the menu properly when we were ordering dessert. Coffee came with petit fours! Out came this visually perfect plate covered with 3 of every kind of petit fours. There were the tiniest spanish donuts and in fact all of them were miniature perfection. There were tiny lemon curd tartlets about the size of a 5 cent piece, tiny triangles of turkish delight, little tarts with a smidge of fresh cream and another perfect raspberry on top. As hard as it was we ate them all! I have to agree with Brenda in relation to the raspberries. I have never had raspberries so delicious and I, too, can close my eyes and my mouth will salivate when I think about them. I saved the raspberry tartlet to last. I wanted to save one of the petit fours for my sister, who was picking me up at the end of the evening, but, I'm sorry Claire, I just couldn't!

So to the service. It was interesting I have to say. Never did one server come out of the kitchen on their own. There was always a parade of servers coming out of the restaurant with trays aloft. It added to the drama of the location and was fun to watch. The servers were also "career" hospitality personnel. They aren't there waiting for something else to come along. They were generally older and they obviously love the job and were very good at it. I expect, given the clientele, the tips would be worth it. Despite the muted lighting it is not really a place to have a romantic dinner. We were surrounded with people making business deals and people in suits. It is rather elegant and understated in it's interior that again seems to mean that the restaurant is able to stand more on it's menu than its interior. That said, you certainly can't complain about the view!

The cost was about $160 a head (there was no wine under $80 a bottle which added a chunk to the bill). If I could go to the restaurant and just eat the desserts then I would certainly go back. This is a restaurant that I would recommend you go to once if for no other reason than to experience the view and be entertained by the service. It is also highly recommended to take any of your visitors from overseas to see what professional service is and to experience Sydney Harbour by night.