The Marque Experience

Pepe and I finally managed to dine at Marque with the help of amazing babysitters Bubs and Mr D (So appreciated guys, you have no idea).

Everything was on track, fed Jaeminkins his pumpkin puree, had a bath, gave him a top up and he went out like a light so we were hoping that he would repeat the performance of the last 3 nights of sleeping through to 3am. Fingers crossed.

After saying goodbye to our awesome babysitters, we hailed a cab and headed over to Surry Hills. It was a balmy Saturday night with people everywhere. It has been so long since I've been out and hearing that buzz of people out and about enjoying themselves. We managed to get to the restaurant early which was probably a good idea since we were having the degustation and I was hoping not to be eating still at midnight.

We ordered champagne to start with of course and toasted to my birthday as I didn't get to dine out last year, our 4 year anniversary and Bubs and Mr D's awesome Christmas gift to us. That first glass of champagne went down too well.

We decided to go with the matching wines as part of our degustation. As part of the dining experience, we weren't given the degustation menu but were left guessing until the plates came to the table and the waiter announced what it was and we would be given a copy of the menu at the end of the meal.

The pre entree of apple, foie gras and cinnamon was a taste sensation, it was like tasting apple pie and I wanted it to keep going. It had these crispy flaky bits on the bottom and they were so good.

We started with the almond jelly with blue swimmer crab, almond gazpacho, sweet corn and avrunga. It took me a little while to get into the meal as the texture was unusual  and the tip was to eat it from the centre out and with a bit of each element but it did grow on me and I enjoyed it. The 2004 Reichsgraf Von Kesselstatt, Riesling Kabinett Feinherb from Germany was a good match as  it was sweet but light.

Next came the pickled calamari with win, wakame and caper water. This went down a treat, so light and tasty. It was well matched with the 2008 Mantlerhof, Gelber Muskateller from Austria.

The next dish was beautifully presented of cold smoke ocean trout with lemon, dill and vanilla. It seemed such a shame to breakup the tuille but it was sweet tasting and the trout just melted in your mouth. This was served with a 2009 Murray Street Vineyards,Viognier/Marsanne from the Barossa Valley.

We were then onto the yellow eye mullet with carrots, kimchi, pear and nori. I was thinking wow they have incorporated Korean with the foam of kimchi, it was strange to taste it in this manner. But the mullet had a nice crisp skin to it and it was delicious. One of my favourites of the night. A nice drop of the 2008 D.de Belliviere 'Les Rosiers' Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley France went with this dish.

Duck egg with black cabbage, brussels sprouts and vinegar. I found this dish too rich for me and I tried the option of dipping bread into the yolk and having it that way. Pepe absolutely adored this dish. Our first red of the night, a 2008 Cos 'Pithos', Nero d'avola/frappato, Sicilia.

Grass fed wagyu bavette with onion, black tea and stem salad. This was my absolute favourite, the dried texture of the leaves with the meat. so unbelievably good. With my favourite grape, 2004 Valenciso 'Reserva' Tempranillo, Rioja, Spain.

We opted out for optional cheese course as we were well on our way of being full and happily tipsy.

But we were surprised by the pre dessert of sauternes custard served in an eggshell, so exquisite and the burnt caramel sauce was soo good. Dessert wine did not go astray either=)

And to end the meal with chocolate with basil, liquorice and lime. This was a challenging one for me, the chocolates were wrapped in a light film of basil and the liquorice blast was too much for me. It was interesting but not to my taste.

The petit fours of starting from the left, sweet, sour, salted caramel chocolates and compari filled bons bons packed a punch in the mouth and that was the end of our meal.

Getting home, there was no sound of a crying baby and I thought he may of slept through but alas I was told he awoke at 10pm and Bubs and Mr D played tag team swinging him to sleep. What a little bugger!

Thankyou again to the fabulous sitters too.