21 Nov 2006 — It’s been a while since Pipi and I officially did a piece for “Makan Round the World”, doesn’t mean we’ve stopped eating, yah right, me? Never! Come to think of it, we’ve been travelling quite a bit these last few months, so our tastebuds have actually been adventuring on homegrounds, just that a lot of these places didn’t afford me the luxury to blog about the experiences, ok ok, or I was just plain lazy alright?! So anyway we’re back doing our thing, and hwah hwah hwah, not to scare you but this time, we’re going l’alimentation des française! For the occasion, we’ve picked what has got to be Sydney’s temple for French cuisine — Marque. So if you’ve been following my blogs, you might be quite familiar with what might be thought of as the local restaurant Oscars? Well Marque has not only been awarded 3 Hats for the past few years, SMH (Sydney Morning Herald) has also named it “Restaurant of the Year 2006″ and crowned Mark Best, its owner and head chef, as “Chef of the Year 2006″. With such a long list of accolades, it’s no wonder the restaurant was completely booked out when we first called. No matter, we settled on another day.

Of course our choice of restaurant today was no random pick. Being the very free housewife that I am these days, I have extensively scrutinised most of the other hat-winning restaurants before picking Marque, so it came as quite a surprise when I first noticed its address. Unlike most of the other three-hatters that boasted harbourside locations and views, it was situated in a quiet little part of Surry Hills.

True enough when we got there, there was none of the pizzazz that I associate with restaurants of its calibre. In fact, from the facade, it seemed very low-key and understated. And don’t talk about harbouside views, there was in fact, no view whatsoever! You can see from the picture that all the windows were shaded, oh well, I guess to ward off sights of nosey passerbys peering in from the drab-dreary sidewalk.

Once inside, one would quickly note that the interior, accentuated by its black and white theme, was pretty minimalistic too. The only real decor, apart from a couple of paintings on the walls, being the light fixtures. Hmm… was this Best’s attempt at trying to minimise distractions from the food itself?

Well the first thing that kind of set the place apart from a typical restaurant is the personal greeting one receives from the sommelier upon entering its door. He did make us feel very welcome upon our arrival, and throughout the meal, he also made several enquiries to our experience thus far. You have to give the guy some credit for trying. The thing that turned me off, albeit just slightly, was that you know ultimately it was just an act. He was just too smooth, made one too many unfunny jokes and really, you should have seen how he smooched up to the two American ladies next to us. But he was “entertaining”.

And usually I wouldn’t say that Aussies are rascist, at least not overtly, but on this occasion, I did notice the sneaky subtle way that it crept up, as is often the case. See the thing is that the way we were positioned, we had, as previously mentioned, the 2 Americans on our right, and on our left, a youngish Japanese couple who were there to celebrate the girl’s birthday. Oh that’s the other thing about Marque that pales in comparison to Aria (sorry we couldn’t help but make frequent comparisons between the two), it afforded us no privacy whatsoever. Not only that the place was quite small and understandably packed with people, the seating arrangement was such that diners were lined up in a row, side by side, with mere inches between our shoulders. If this was McDonald’s or some quick-bite eatery, it might still have been ok, but with fine-dining that typically lasts several hours, it was just a tad uncomfortable. So as you can imagine, one did not have to eavesdrop to hear every word that transgresses between the tables, that extends to the staff who were waiting on the tables.

Well, what I noticed that night was that every time a waiter delivered a dish to the angmor women, they will have the full description of that plate, e.g. “And here ladies, we have the crab, served with almond jelly, and adorned with almond gazpacho, sweet corn custard and just a trickle of prune oil. Enjoy.” William and myself will receive the concise version, “this is the crab with almond jelly” and the Jap couple, well, they were lucky to get the main ingredient, “here’s the crab”. Of course this might merely be the poor judgement of a few ignorant waiters, but to allow service that discriminates, hardly impressive doncha think?

Hmm… so furnishings and service have already missed the mark, I guess the only thing left to salvage our impressions would be the food? On this note, I must say that Best himself was pretty hands.

All throughout the evening, I spotted him emerging several times from the kitchen to sort of gaze upon his crowd, as if trying to assess their satisfaction. Well hopefully he runs his kitchen better than the way his waiters run the floor.

When time came to order, we decided to take it easy this time, both on our stomachs and William’s wallet. So instead of tackling the 8 course tasting menu, we settled on a couple of entrees, mains and just a dessert to share. But seeing how Marque is after all a three-hat awardee, a meal there can be no such simple affair. Before long, the waitress arrived with our complimentary canapes.

“Chaud-Froid (Hot-Cold) Free Range Eggs” served with grissini, which are breadsticks. Visually it was pretty appetising, and the first instant, when your palate simultaneously meets with both the hot half-boiled egg and the cold cream, was pretty special.

Next the entrees…

Yes, we had the “Almond Jelly with Crab, Almond Gazpacho, Prune Oil & Sweet Corn Custard”. The crab pieces were considerably “chunky” and succulent, and there was some interesting cheesy-flavoured powdery thing spinkled over the crab, but the almond jelly and sweet corn custard failed to wow. They were so subtle in taste you had to try to discern them.

We also ordered the “White Asparagus with Jabego Jamon, Parmesan Custard and Rockmelon”. Having heard Joerg rave about white asparagus previously, we were all psyched for this dish. We tried asking him before what’s the difference between the regular green asparagus and the white version, and he convinced us we had to give it a go for ourselves someday. Well today’s the day! And our verdict: Yes it does taste nicer. Billie says it’s more tender, more fragrant and comes across as less “green”, and I’m under the impression that it’s sweeter and juicier.

But what exactly is it that gives white and green asparagus their respective colours? Well the white version is grown covered in mounds of sandy soil so that it never sees the light of day until the moment it is unmercifully hewn down, while green asparagus grows freely in flat beds, and, exposed to the sunlight, develops the chlorophyll that turns it green. Sou desu ne… 不愧是活到老学到老!

Coming back to the dish… so yes, the asparagus were a winner! Look at the delicate flowers that adorned the dish, definitely points for embellishment. The ham though was a bit too salty, and somehow the tiny orange balls struck me as being so starchy and insipid in taste that I completely forgot they were meant to be rockmelon! Really? I could have sworn they were tapoica starch balls.

And now to the mains…

Billie picked the “Roast Mandagery Creek Venison with Carrot Confit, Sweet and Sour Turnips and Bitter Chocolate”. Hmm… chocolate? Interesting. Best did seem to enjoy mixing his savoury and sweet. Other than this venison, there was also a pigeon served with a chocolate tart and a tenderloin dish that featured licorice and coffee in the menu.

So what did I think of this dish? To be honest, the venison, served quite rare, was moist, tender and very delicious; the roasty bits were especially delectable. The young Dutch carrots and parsnips were also sweet and flavoursome. But the sauce… though its citrusy-chocolatey overtone added an intriguing dimension to the dish, I really can’t say I enjoyed it. The orangey taste was too overpowering, and the chocolate, a bit too bitter for my liking.

As for my main, in true “Makan” spirit, I went all out and ordered the “Young Rabbit with Wakame, Braised Cashew Nuts & Zucchini”. Billie was shocked, “Rabbit? You sure or not?” And I don’t know why but it did cross my mind that my mum’s born in the year of the rabbit, making this option seem rather unnerving… but what the heck, we are on a French cuisine experience, so what better time and excuse to taste this uncommon choice of meat?

Okay… here goes! So what did I think? Generally it reminded me of poultry, though not so much the growth-hormone pumped variety you find in the supermarkets, a bit more gamey, like the pigeon or spatchcock type. But that’s only for the ribs and legs though. The part they called the “crown” didn’t even taste like meat!?! It was spongey and chewy, and I swear it reminded me of abalone! In fact, we had to check with the waiter to convince ourselves that it was indeed rabbit. C’est bizarre, but nonetheless, délicieux! Rabbit aside, the zucchini flowers were definitely a hit, but the watercress, too green, standing out like a sore thumb, and the braised cashews, what’s with the braised cashews anyway? Why braised? All soft and mushy, and again very bland. Roasting them would have been my personal preference.

And finally to dessert…

“Brunet with Bitter Chocolate & Olive Cake, Confit Lemon & Herb Granita”. Well what were we thinking?!! I know we mean to be adventurous, but surely there should be some limit? Yes, we unwittingly chose another sweet-savoury creation of Best’s, and lived to regret it. This unconventional dish featured two huge dollops of brunet, which is goat and buffalo milk cheese, slices of olives, and as a garnish, sprigs of some leafy greeney herb, and no, it wasn’t even peppermint. Did I mention this was “dessert”?!? And hey, I no suaku ok, I know that in some parts of the world, cheese is eaten as a dessert. But usually it’s served with crackers, lots of them, and dried fruits and preserves, NOT some funky very bitter bitter chocolate cake!?? Yes, bitter chocolate, again. Why haven’t I learnt my lesson? Thankfully for me, my husband loves me very much, so after I’ve had one tiny bite of the “creature” and a second to confirm that “yes, I hated it”, he reluctantly finished the rest of the tiresome thing. See that’s the strange thing about me, even though I know it sucks, I so hate seeing food go to waste, especially at $24 a pop! (Upon reading this blog entry, Billie had these words to share:”God that dessert was so nasty and horrible. I almost puked man. I really had to gulp it down, swallow it whole without having to taste it.” Poor baby…)

Perhaps the sommelier saw our pained expressions and took pity on us, cause after Billie had finally managed to clear the dessert plate, he promptly brought us these glasses of “Sauternes Custard with Caramel”. He said we can’t miss out on this after having the cheese. You’re damn right! But since when was cheese followed by custard anyway?…

And as it turned out, this was meant to be a pre-dessert, NOT a post-dessert. But in this case, the sauternes custard was undoubtedly a case of “better late than never”. It was the highlight of the night! It was incredibly rich, indulgently sweet, and indescribably fabulous! And I definitely deserve a standing ovation for my remarkable display of self-control in giving away half of my custard to William. Trust me, this was NOT a dish to be shared! Strange isn’t it, how the dish that stole the show was not strictly even a proper dish, in the sense that you can’t even order it off the menu?!?

And finally to end the meal on a healthy note, I ordered the genmaicha to wash down everything.

As usual it came with petit fours. The apple jelly was so-so, but the chocolate macaroons turned out to be the evening’s second surprise. Sticky, chewy, decadent and instantly gratifying. And for the second time round, would you believe it, I gave half of mine away!?! Now I know I’ve made it to Santa’s “who’s nice” list this year!

To conclude on our Marque experience: overall it was quite pleasant. And the food, well, it was nicer than the standard restaurant fare. However, with all the media hype, we were just anticipating a bit more, and it somehow fell short of our expectations. I mean, Mark Best did put in a lot of effort to dress up his dishes, and god knows he also thought up many weird and wondrous concoctions in matching ingredients. The problem though is that in my experience, unlike at Aria where ingredients and tastes came together in perfect unison and flavour, the food combinations here at Marque didn’t really gel. For instance the watercress in the rabbit dish, it didn’t fit and only served to distract. The ingredients in Best’s dishes came across as being separate components that somehow got tossed together; the end result: pieces of a puzzle that didn’t quite fit together.

Our other complaint is that flavour-wise, the dishes (with the exception of the custard and macaroon) though competent, failed to rock our boat. Somehow they always came shy of the “wow” factor. Again, unlike at Aria where every mouthful promised and delivered an explosive burst of flavour, here at Marque, the food struck us as being rather tame. Even if the blandness didn’t extend to the entire dish, there was always that one or two lacklustre ingredients that dragged the whole thing down. I don’t know, maybe French cuisine is meant to be milder and what some might call “more refined” in taste. Well excuse my boorish palate then, for it has been raised on chilli and spices of all manner, and is hence more accustomed to food that is intensely flavoured and packs a punch! So I guess my final verdict: It’s alright but nah, won’t be back.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 21st, 2006 at 5:51 am and is filed under Makan Round the World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.