It was just another ordinary Saturday except for the surprise text that I received from my friends announcing that they just got married and were having celebratory drinks at The Rocks.
Pepe had been planning to surprise me for our anniversary dinner as well. However it wasn't long before the cat was out of the bag and since it was already arranged for my mum to babysit at 6pm we pushed it forward to 4pm so we could head off early for a drink with friends.
We had dinner reservations at Sokyo for 6pm but we cancelled as we'd rather spend time with our friends. So after a few drinks at The Rocks we were starting to feel peckish. We tried to get into my other favourite restaurant Sake but it was booked out til 830pm and we only had a babysitter til 9pm.
As we sat in the cab heading back home, we thought we'd stop in for a drink at Helm bar, which was previously known as Pier26, as that is where it all began. The deal was to have a shot and I had to decide which one. In the end, we decided the bartender could choose for us. He suggested a snickers, a shot with Kahlua, Frangelico and sprinkling of salt on top. Tasted just like a snickers bar.
The plan was then to stop into Momofuku Seiobo and if we couldn't get in, we'd try Sokyo and if that didn't work out we'd just have fish and chips from Flying Fish.
First stop Momofuku and we walked past and Pepe didn't have high hopes but having a quick chat with the front of house, she let us know that there was a spot at 830pm. With a degustation menu that was going to take 2.5hours, it would mean that we needed our babysitter to stay on til 11pm.
Now to deal with the babysitter... Was there drama involved, yes and after some heavy negotiating, blackmailing, a spoonful of manipulation, the ideal outcome was achieved. Talk about elation and excitement of finally dining at Momofuku. I needed a cocktail after that which Sokyo could offer.
Scanning the cocktail list, only one cocktail could fit the bill, O-Ren-Ishi. That's one for all the Kill Bill fans. With a orange peel rub around the rim of the glass, the taste of rum and amaretto and just the right amount of citrus bite at the end.
Sokyo sweeps you off your feet and so starts the love affair. This is how it is described. Beautifully furnished and I thought it was a great little bar. The music was pumping and it was busy with people catching up over a cocktail or two.
The highlight of the night was finally getting into Momofuku Seiobo. If you didn't know, this restaurant works on an online booking system which only releases 10 days in advance and is only open for dinner for 3 sittings (6.30pm, 7.30pm and 8.30pm). The other odd thing is that they only take bookings for 1 person, 2 people and 4 people. Not sure what would happen if you wanted to book for a party of 3.
The online reservation system opens at 10am and each time I've tried to book, there were no availabilities.
I was told that cancellations are put back on the system and advised to check the online site throughout the day. You got to be kidding, as if I have time to sit in front of the computer and check??!! But they do take walk ins based on availabilities and I think trying your luck doing that is easier than trying the online system.
We decided to have the matching wines with the degustation course.
The degustation will set you back $175 and the matching wines would be another $95.
It wasn't long before the snacks arrived, which was a plate of shitake chips, nori, mocha in chilli paste and smoked potato with apple puree. A taste sensation which I was not expecting.
The next dish was the much talked about steamed pork bun. I understand when people have described the experience of having died and gone to heaven. It is divine, I wished that I could have had a few more. Probably a good thing that I didn't, especially not knowing that there are 15 dishes in total.
The next dish was the striped trumpeter with blood orange with green tea powder. It was different but not really my cup of tea.
The next dish of white asparagus with marron, szechuan pepper and tripe sauce. Pepe was digging into this one as he loves tripe. I'm not usually a fan of tripe but as it was only a small amount it married well with the marron and asparagus.
Now this next dish was wagu beef with radish, fermented black bean and wait for it burnt watermelon skin sauce. It was a very strange dish and the flavours were intense, I couldn't make up my mind if I liked it or not.
The next dish was smoked eel with jerusalem artichoke and pink grapefruit.
This was definitely one of the highlights of the night. Mud crab with butter, pepper sauce and yorkshire pudding. That pepper sauce and mud crab was soooooo good especially since you had the pudding to mop up the sauce.
Next was the egg dish with toasted rice and brown butter. It wasn't quite a savoury or sweet dish but in-between.
The hand torn pasta with goat's cheese, chilli and mint was another of my favourite. So simple and so tasty.
Next came the blue due with fennel and wakame. It was at this point I was thinking that there can'r be that many more dishes to come right? Quizzing the staff, he let me know that he couldn't let me know too much but there was another main to come. What??
So the last main dish of the night was the lamb neck with diakon and pink turnips. Check out the amazing cutlery. Knives are made by David Brodziak of Albany in Western Australia. At this stage as we were dining at the table and away from the counter where all the action was, they moved us closer to the action. As we were served the sous chef commented that our sight had decreased, very funny.
The next was a cleansing palate of pecorinio cheese with honey liquorice and bee pollen. So good with the percorino.
Dessert time which started with wattle seed ice-cream, malt and crispy milk skins as you can see on top. These were intense for me.
And lastly the miso, pickled strawberry, toasted rice and mustard pudding. Whilst waiting for our desserts, the line outside the Zumbo is growing with what Pepe calls FABs (female, Asian, bloggers)
.
I was thinking yay, its over but there was a hunk of meat sitting on the main counter and I queried the staff and his answer was just as you think you're stuffed they serve you more meat. I think my eye nearly popped out of my head. It was a pork shoulder that had been marinated with a sweet sauce and slow cooked for 10 hours. The option was to keep eating or they could pop it into a take away container for you. As time was ticking past, we opted for the take away option.
It was an amazing meal and you were given the menu after you had finished, probably a good reminder of the night, as it's starting to be a little hazy now.
Pepe surprised me at Christmas with a voucher to attend a Patisse cooking Class. I was spoilt for choice with the options including a macaron masterclass, croquembouche class, art of pastry, all about the tart, French classics and French gateaux. I was still up in the air about which class to attend so I posted a facebook entry and everyone was voting on all of the above which didn't help me at all.
Flying through the ready made ingredients of coffee syrup for the buttercream and sponge, Aren made chocolate ganache and chocolate glaze. It brought me back to the many times that Pepe had helped to make chocolate ganache to only have it split every time and then we would be running around like a headless chooks to throw the mixture into the kitchenaid and blitz it to have it come good again.
Learnt how to make a foolproof buttercream by making a swiss meringue whisking til it tripled in volume and then added the butter and white chocolate. Then we were ready to put our opera cake together. Layering the buttercream, sponge, brushing on coffee syrup with 2 more layers it was into the freezer to set. 
With no time to spare we were back into making our chocolate sponge layer for the Chocolate Framboise Pave and chocolate mousse. Assembling the cake with layers of chocolate sponge, brushing this with raspberry liquid then a layer of mousse and repeating this two more time with a sponge layer on top. This was then put into the freezer to set. 
Once the chocolate framboise pave had set, it was time to ladle the chocolate coating with the melted dark chocolate. Finished off with slivered pistachios and freeze dried raspberries. Perfect for a Valentine's treat. 
