Peter Verey

Revisiting a restaurant where you have had previously had an outstanding meal can be a little nerve wracking , if the experience doesn’t match your memories you can feel disappointed.
Thankfully this has little chance of occurring with return visits to @bruno_verjus Table restaurant .

Great produce , cerebral flavour combinations, terrific cuisson , it’s a case study of refined simplicity, oh and the work of the saucier is phenomenal!

Every meal starts with “Le couleur du Jour “ , an artistic composition of the days best vegetables. Beetroot was humming today , and also loved the okra .

A trio of seafood bites follows, an Utah beach oyster paired with wild herbs, Whelks with ginger and turmeric, and my favourite a tart shell filled with taramasalata and clams .

A handsome asparagus spear is served with a quenelle of caviar and all that is left to do is to spike it into the vivid green seaweed moussayon.

Vol- au - Vent gets pimped up with langoustine, morels and white asparagus , classics do shine !

The signature lobster was perhaps better this time than previously, raw lobster is bathed with a butter perfumed with roast lobster shells , this neither cooks nor leaves the lobster completely raw, it’s a culinary limbo which results on a very tender and beautiful product, little bursts of artichoke contrast beautifully with the sweet crustacean.

A soup duo maintains the harmony , eggplant with brown butter and herb soup .

Turbot is gently roasted, and served with an astonishing sauce made from grey shrimp and langoustine shells.

Guinea fowl is paired with morels , spinach and another terrific jus . It’s the kind of jus where you may think the reduction has been taken too far , yet it’s delightfully sticky and compliments the dish perfectly.

Cheese from Bernard Antony is served with a beautifully dressed green salad , and paired with a terrific house vermouth suggested by super somm Agnese Morandi.

A quartet of bites for dessert , the star is the tart that is being copied all over the world , chocolate, caper, caviar . A perfect praline ice cream, a sweet strawberry and pea tart and finally an excellent olive oil madeleine.

A memorable night ! Less

I have cooked from Jean Francois Piege cookbooks for the last 15 years but last night was the first occasion to actually eat his food .
Chef Piege has held Michelin ⭐️ ⭐️ for the last 19 years across 3 different restaurants and is also a judge on France ‘s Top Chef ( way better than the US version) .
4 tasting menus are available, all themed around a Tour of France with each dish created with ingredients from a single region.
Dishes was generally quite light but some bitter notes and aggressive combinations meant the food was certainly not shy .

After a series of amuses , we kicked off with Dandelion ravioli with a bouillon of dandelion stems and roots, this was the first example of bitter notes dominant in the sauce , the ravioli had terrific texture and some sweetness. Bold start .

White asparagus was prepared with a buckwheat zabaglione and sea bass bottarga , the asparagus was barely cooked with plenty of crunch remaining, this again gave slightly bitter vegetal notes .

A great lobster dish followed, garnished with cauliflower, seaweed and a green tea sauce . The seaweed stole the show with that comforting deep saline flavour .

The bread course was a chick pea pie , with a whipped preparation named Fontainebleau ( an unsweetened Chantilly) which was delicious .

A puck of wild sea bass is well cooked and perfumed with a powder made of dehydrated aged fish skin . A vivid green caper leaf sauce was my favourite sauce of the meal .

A visit to the kitchen followed to have a chat to Chef Piege and to have a delicious bite of chilled caramelised Roscoff onion and Grossane olive paste , this combination absolutely melted on the palate .

A well cooked chicken breast came served with a “salinity of Tuna” sauce which was once again very bold in flavour , various vegetable preparations gave the dish balance .

A great duo of Brie , including two year aged brown Brie followed and set us up for dessert .

The highlight of which was a lovely classical Blanc a manger - a signature dish here . Less

Founded in 1902 as a companion establishment to the permanent Circus venue next door , @leclownbar rose to prominence in the last decade , on the back of the skills of 2 terrific Asian chefs . Initially Sota Atsumi generated a ton of buzz and 4 years ago the baton was passed to Korean chef Jung Yonghoon and it remains an essential place to visit in Paris.

Bistronomie and natural wine is a great duo, the wine list is diverse with around 340 options. The food is ultra satisfying and the vibe is terrific in a small space with a blend of tourists and locals with plenty of character.

Started off with juicy white asparagus , cress and caviar - simple preparation but having asparagus served near the source rather than being transported to Asia really shone through here .

The Veal Sweetbreads is a Clown bar signature , served with a smoked eel sauce and morels , this is a beautiful dish . This did however confirm my suspicion that Yunnan morels are superior to their French relatives which was pretty interesting.

A lovely cheese plate to round out the wine and the meal , a great start to a fortnight in Paris . Less

A very pleasant seasonal menu at Pearl Dragon which touched on the main Cantonese ingredients, techniques and condiments without reinventing the wheel .

Dish of the day was Steamed yellow croaker with a fragrant scallion and ginger paste , morels stuffed with shrimp and brown rice sheets . All perfectly balanced .

Meal kicked off with the ubiquitous trio of appetisers , favourite of which was the drunken Botan ebi in Hua Diao wine , this dish really popped .

A lovely double boiled quail soup had excellent seasoning and depth of flavour .

Wagyu beef with onion and black garlic is on most fine dining menus in town and this was fine , it’s just not a dish that really excites .
This was served in tandem with steamed chicken on steamed spinach and chicken broth , very simple and this dish was faultless and satisfying.

Carbs entered the arena with spinach noodles served alongside Boston lobster in black bean sauce , the stir fry was very good but not sure if it really complimented the noodles .

Dessert ended things on a very high note , a carved organic pumpkin was the best for an excellent milk pudding with black truffle . Carving out some of the pumpkin with each spoonful of pudding made for a terrific pairing . Less

Weekend brunch at Louise is a fun and fairly festive affair .
The free range NT Roast chicken is the star of the show , juicy with tasty yellow fat and very tasty skin , it also carries the hallmark rotisserie flavour profile ( there should be a name for this like there is for wok hei ).
It’s served with a green salad and Japanese rice claypot enriched with chicken skin and chives .

Prior to this the meal starts with a generous quintet of starters . A fresh pea and avocado soup with horseradish cream, Croque Louise - a decadent take on the Croque Monsieur , an excellent pork terrine punctured with foie gras , thick slices of smoked trout on blini , the only letdown was a lobster roll where the lobster was barely visible to the eye or the tastebuds with spiked mayo being the only discernible flavour .

The middle course is one the house signatures, cold angel hair pasta with seaweed , black truffle and caviar . The caviar adds saltiness to offset the umami but I would have liked an additional note of acid .

Dessert on this occasion is a family style serving of Ile Flottante with a choice of custard and toppings , perfectly fine , just happens to be my least preferred traditional French dessert . Less

Dinner menu at Palace Garden is a good representation of Cantonese fine dining while still highlighting the kitchen’s unique style . A variety of cooking styles and textures is showcased and the service is terrific .

Favourite dish was the braised fish maw with king crab in pumpkin cream . The pumpkin cream which sits somewhere between a sauce and a soup is a lovely sweet vessel for flavour and texture . The fish maw was super tender and tasty while the crab was not only served up in sizeable chunks but also scattered throughout the cream delivering variety throughout the dish .

Other highlights included the textbook wok fried lobster cuisson , am always amazed at the accuracy of outstanding wok cooking when dealing with fragile ingredients such as lobster and this was perfectly judged .

The partridge bisque was comforting and despite being free of rice certainly gave congee vibes .

Pigeon with lemongrass is a great pairing and this was well scented , crisp and juicy

Full menu below

Roasted Goose served with Kristal Caviar
Iberico Pork Loin barbecued with Honey Sauce

Wok fried blue lobster with alliums

Premium Partridge Bisque with Bird’s Nest

Fish Maw braised with Alaska King Crabmeat in Pumpkin Cream

Baby Pigeon crispy with Lemongrass Scent

Seasonal Vegetables poached with Fresh Lily Bulb and Wolfberry in Supreme Broth

Minced Beef Fried Rice with Black Truffle Sauce

Sweetened Gorgon Fruit and Fresh Lily Bulb double boiled with Osmanthus Less

French inspired food in beautiful room in the old Melbourne Stock Exchange . Not reinventing the wheel but every dish hit the spot .

Saucisson and radish with a great crusty baguette

A two bite beef tartare enriched with bone marrow and chives

Excellent cured mackerel with fermented pear sauce and salmon caviar which actually works really well with the dish .

Tender as possible Corner Inlet Calamari , with a curried cafe de Paris butter .

O’Connell strip loin with bearnaise and absolutely stellar pommes frites . Less

Needed a quintessential well executed Mod-Oz lunch when visiting Melbourne and @atria.dining @theritzcarltonmelbourne delivered .

Beautiful property with a great view across Melbourne from the 80th floor . Terrific expansive wine list and the cooking was assured and aesthetic.

Pork jowl, puffed buckwheat , organic apple , lovage

Victorian seafood Crudo with white soy dressing , torched Alfonsino , snapper, sea bream.

Macedon ranges duck, cherry, radicchio.

Murray cod , nasturtium pil pil , zucchini , almond .

Pommes dauphinoise. Less

Amaru has always had a distinctive style . Native and foraged ingredients, light sauces, sustainable , expert level cuisson . It is really the only fine dining venue that I feel compelled to visit when in Melbourne .

some of the highlight components were

- bunya nut tofu , perfect texture and the nut flavour was pronounced .

- Mud Crab with zucchini chawanmushi was the dish of the night , layers of zucchini studded the dish, particularly taken with the chawanmushi and the zucchini ponzu

- The cooking of both the WA Marron and the Jurassic quail was faultless

-The final dessert with a koji and Davidson plum ice cream and rainforest cherries was utterly brilliant and definitely my front runner for dessert of the year .

Menu below

Heirloom Melons / Bunya Nut / Sunrise Lime

Mud Crab / Heirloom Squash / Basil

Western Australian Marron / Seaweed / Bitter Lettuce / Clams

Quail / Quince / Pumpkin Seed Miso

Dry Aged Pork / Muntries / Warrigal Green Kimchi / Fermented Pear

Bees Wax / Camel Milk / Green Tomato / Queen Garnet Plum

Rainforest Cherry / Koji / Davidson Plum /saltbush Less