Becasse

The entrance

Back in January 2011, I had a lovely dining experience at Becasse when it was still at Clarence Street. But not long after that it moved to the Westfield Sydney food precinct and is now located on the 5th floor of this shopping juggernaut. When I had my dinner then, I was not a blogger yet so I did not get the chance to post about it.

But this time, I brought my camera, took some photos, enjoyed the fine dining, the very relaxed ambiance and the excellent service.

I loved walking down the foyer of the restaurant. It felt like I was walking through an arched walkway of a French garden. Sitting in the restaurant you really would have no clue that it is located in a shopping centre (if you didn't know any better).

The walkway to the main restaurant

Dinner is degustation only, there is the vegetarian degustation or the normal degustation. I took so many photos but I have decided to only add in a few photos. The others will be described without any photos.

My friend SH was running late. I won't digress too much but she got completely stood up by the taxi driver(s). Note that there was more than one call she made to get a cab booking. But the staff at Becasse were so understanding of the delay, they were making sure I was not sitting there feeling bored. I was even offered the chance to visit the kitchen and have a little tour of the other areas of the restaurant. I was stoked about that and I got to meet Monty Koludrovic, the head chef. Cool!

I saw the private dining room too. I found out that it can be used by Quarter 21 patrons for private functions too. Oh, I also saw the diners at the Chef's Table watching the experts at work.

The menu started with snacks, cold dishes, hot dishes and then sweets. So here is the menu:

Snacks: Tapioca crisps, soubise mousselin and Fried bread, and cured lardo. The extra snack we were served (i.e. not on the deg. menu) was Bonito tartare; it has bonito, anchovies and a host of other minute ingredients, all combined to deliver a salty but creamy texture.

Verdict: Loved, loved, loved the bonito tartare. The fried bread with the soubise mousselin worked well and the crisps were great. Lots of flavour!

Fried bread, tapioca crisps at the bottom of the pot

Bonito tartare

There was artisan bread serviced with olive oil butter, followed by a plate of summer radish, melon, oloroso and green zebra gazpacho. The plate looked so pretty with the variety of colours!

The summer radish plate

Then we had the chilled ocean consomme, Pacific oyster, scallop and octopus. The consomme was delicious, very subtle flavours and a perfect summer dish. By the way, I have forgotten to mention that the menu is focused on Summer so the dishes are based on the seasonal produce available each season. In this case, it is summer.

Chilled ocean consomme

Then it was spanner crab, chamomile, young coconut and crab jelly. After which we were served with flame grilled mussels, caramelised calves sweetbread, duck prosciutto and kohl rabi. The sweetbread was surprisingly delicious. We found out that kohl rabi was somewhat like white turnip.

We were served an extra dish of buckwheat risotto. It had pine mushrooms, shiitake and goats curd. I was surprised at how tasty it was. It was the combination of the different flavours that lifted this dish. SH isn't keen on risotto but even she was surprised that she liked the dish, there was a crunchy texture mixed with the creamy risotto. It worked very well.

Buckwheat risotto

To cleanse our palate, the sommelier served us a drink with Egyptian mint. For our protein, I chose the slow roasted suckling pig, with Southern Highlands potatoes and skins. SH chose the slow cooked shoulder lamb shoulder, pine smoked summer heirlooms with cardamom jus.

We tried out a portion of each other's dish. I must say the lamb won hands down. Don't get me wrong, the suckling pig was very nice but the flavours from the lamb was absolutely gorgeous! It was melt in your mouth texture. SH absolutely loved it.

Lamb shoulder with cardamom jus

Sukcling pig with potatoes

We finished with the following desserts:

Zen still life - this is a work of art. Beautiful to look at and very lovely to eat. There was nashi pear compressed with sake, green tea mousselin, candied pea shoots, candied celery, candied apple and black sesame sponge cake.

Zen still life

The extra dessert not on the menu was a milk sorbet served with cherries (both fresh and stewed). I enjoyed it but SH is not keen on cherries so she didn't enjoy it as I did. I must say, it was pretty to look at too.

Milk sorbet with cherries

The final dessert was a choice of two options. I chose the 68% Alto Beni Zokoko chocolate and lemon cadeau, with cranberry and honeycomb. SH chose the Raspberry parfait, poached peaches and lemon balm. The chocolate cadeau was nice but because I was feeling so full by then, I could have done with a dish less rich. By the way, I had edible gold in the dessert. SH's parfait was a hit.

Chocolate cadeau with edible gold

Raspberry parfait

By the time we had coffee served with petit fours, there was no room left in our extremely full tummies. What a splendid evening it was, the food was really good and the attention to service was bar none.

P/S When we paid for the bill, we were presented with a Becasse bag that had a raisin scroll that came from Becasse Bakery. It was a present for us for tomorrow's breakfast. Can you believe it?

Becasse
Level 5, Westfield Sydney
Cnr of Pitt St Mall and Market Street
Sydney
Website: http://www.becasse.com.au/