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There Was Food And Drink
Dec. 17th, 2010 01:53 amWork Christmas Do. At Cutler & Co (we get high-class Christmas dos at our work).
The chef was a Food Artist - and I don't mean that as a food arrangement artist, but as a taste arrangement artist. The canapés were impressive. Stuff I wouldn't have imagined together became all intriguing. That's one of the things I love about our Work Christmas dos - I get dragged outside my food "comfort zone". An adventure in food. Not that I would want to do it that often, but once a year is good.
Best thing: the dessert - violet ice cream (yes, I kid you not), chocolate ganache, raspberry sauce, raspberry crunchy things, cinnamon meringue, a sponge that looked like a sponge, and some sweet powdered substance underneath the ice-cream. Oh, the violet ice cream was awesome, very delicate in flavour with a perfumed aftertaste a bit like eating a frejoa (bad idea to take a mouthful with the chocolate because the chocolate overpowered it).
Second-best thing: cabbage and fennel salad, with just a hint of lemon - seriously, I would not normally rave about a salad, but this was such a deft mix of flavours I was very impressed.
The rest of the food was yummy too, those were just the stand-out best bits. Lamb, fish, crustaceans, sauces and tiny portions of vegetables. You know it's a high-class restaurant when you can count the pieces of carrot in a dish (there were four).
I was also very impressed with how they catered for J who needed gluten-free food. Usually the best a restaurant has done is make special variants of the main and entrée dishes for her, but (a) they brought her her own plate of canapés without the crackers underneath them (b) she got her own gluten-free bread (toasted) while the rest of us were having our bread rolls (c) she was given a menu specifically made for her. Outstanding.
The chef was a Food Artist - and I don't mean that as a food arrangement artist, but as a taste arrangement artist. The canapés were impressive. Stuff I wouldn't have imagined together became all intriguing. That's one of the things I love about our Work Christmas dos - I get dragged outside my food "comfort zone". An adventure in food. Not that I would want to do it that often, but once a year is good.
Best thing: the dessert - violet ice cream (yes, I kid you not), chocolate ganache, raspberry sauce, raspberry crunchy things, cinnamon meringue, a sponge that looked like a sponge, and some sweet powdered substance underneath the ice-cream. Oh, the violet ice cream was awesome, very delicate in flavour with a perfumed aftertaste a bit like eating a frejoa (bad idea to take a mouthful with the chocolate because the chocolate overpowered it).
Second-best thing: cabbage and fennel salad, with just a hint of lemon - seriously, I would not normally rave about a salad, but this was such a deft mix of flavours I was very impressed.
The rest of the food was yummy too, those were just the stand-out best bits. Lamb, fish, crustaceans, sauces and tiny portions of vegetables. You know it's a high-class restaurant when you can count the pieces of carrot in a dish (there were four).
I was also very impressed with how they catered for J who needed gluten-free food. Usually the best a restaurant has done is make special variants of the main and entrée dishes for her, but (a) they brought her her own plate of canapés without the crackers underneath them (b) she got her own gluten-free bread (toasted) while the rest of us were having our bread rolls (c) she was given a menu specifically made for her. Outstanding.
