A vegetarian degustation at Bentley

I had never been to the old Bentley but thought about it once for a birthday as it is one of few places to offer a vegetarian degustation. It has now moved to the Radisson Blu and occupies half of its foyer, a dark yet welcoming space with muted tones. The atmosphere is sophisticated - no noisy young ones here, strictly date material! The tasting menu is $150 for carnivores and $130 for vegetarians, $80 for matching wine. You know it's fancy-lah when the menu is written in combinations of the ingredients!

Cracker, cheesy stuff, melon slices

I was in the bathroom when the amuse bouche was brought out and my friends didn't catch what this was. The earthy cracker is topped by light foamy dollops of ??goat cheese and subtle slices of melon.

Fresh sourdough

We ate way too much of this bread! They even gave us refills.

Sugar snaps, zucchini, asparagus, pine nut

Pretty as a picture, this was a textural delight. The crunch of blanched then browned sugar snaps is accompanied by velvety soft zucchini slices and a crumble of nuts. Who knew clover could be tasty too?

Onion broth, Jerusalem artichoke, brillat savarin 

The base to this dish was a rich onion and mushroom reduction which packed a real punch. The brillat savarin cheese popped in the mouth to release a sensuous ooze of creaminess, offsetting the solid chunks of Jerusalem artichoke.

Globe artichoke, salsify, white asparagus, brown butter 

The very heart of globe artichokes is paired with pan fried white asparagus, another textural contrast of soft and crunch. The sweet-ish red sauce is further sweetened by a dollop of butter so brown it is caramel, one of my dining companions found this too sickly sweet. 

Cauliflower custard, mushroom, black garlic

This was the most visually stunning dish of the night. Immaculately presented, it consisted of meaty chunks of wild mushrooms sandwiched between a base of cauliflower custard and a crunchy mushroom disc. The whole thing is then decorated by dehydrated wisps of cauliflower, roast black garlic and salty mushroom bits like mushroom jerky. Every element of this dish worked so well together, it was by far my favourite savoury dish.

Roasted parsnip, orange, wattle

Parsnips are such hearty vegetables - here they are presented as caramelised roast parsnip batons amid a thick orange yoghurt sauce. The wattle is pretty but tastes bland.

Charred pumpkin, black rice, broad beans

This was bloody fancy pumpkin. Slivers no more than a couple of millimetres thick are roasted and then reconstructed to form a thousand-layer chunk of roast pumpkin sitting on top of pumpkin puree. The orange is offset by several elements of green - young tender broad beans, a green sauce and pea tendrils. Another well balanced dish.

White chocolate, apple sorbet, fennel

I wonder how they came up with the ingenious flavour combination for this dessert. Fennel is represented in a syrupy swirl, matched by a scoop of the freshest green apple sorbet, discs of softened green apple and intense blobs of white chocolate mousse. The flavours are so wonderfully refreshing that it feels like a garden party in your mouth.

Mandarin icecream, liquorice, coconut

This was a very different dessert course. Under the meringue topping is mandarin icecream, a coconut based cream, segments of dehydrated orange and little nuggets of licorice flavoured cake. There was some visual trickery - the bit which looked like mandarin was actually coconut and vice versa. Whereas the first dessert course tasted of spring, this was a very adult winter dish.


What a treat this degustation was. It was lovely to see the effort they had put into a vegetarian tasting menu that is varied and interesting, definitely no token mushroom risotto at Bentley! I thought all the elements of food were well done - beautiful presentation, pure wholesome flavours, textural contrast, and alchemy of palate. Would love to return for another special occasion.

Food highlights from peri exams

The last month has been just a gluttony of food for me. I think it's because my body and mind are going through such a gruelling ordeal, I feel the need for indulgence. The weeks leading up to the exam saw me walking the paths from my place to the harbour foreshore back and forth, usually clutching a coffee from 2 Birds in Annandale (the brightest, airiest, friendliest place to get coffee in Annandale) and a pocketful of flashcards. I would recite the contents of the cards while watching the happy dogs and fending funny looks from passerbys - I'm pretty sure those mothers pushed their prams away from me faster as I muttered and gestured to myself.

Catching up with friends has kept me sane too. One welcome surprise was the rediscovery of the Runcible Spoon which has some pretty good vegetarian options. Admittedly the service can be grumpy, and sitting outside when it's miserable and wintery is not the best, but I just adore this dish.

Wholesome fleshy field mushrooms sizzled in butter and herbs rest on a bed of lentils, topped with fried eggs, a dollop of labneh and deep fried crispy sage leaves. The flavours are simply wonderful together. I could eat it every week and never get sick of it.

Another dish from the Spoon. Black beans with pickles, chilli sauce, poached eggs and chilli corn bread. The black beans are pureed which is a bit odd, but lots of textures come from the pickles and warm runny eggs. The corn bread is quite interesting - crispy on the outside and crumbly on the inside, perfect for mopping it all up.

I am thankful that I have some good eating options within walking distance. I love In the Annex - the Umami coffee is smooth, the food is inventive with lots of vegetarian options, and recently they started stocking cronuts. What's not to love?

Pretty as a picture. Winter vegetable salad on a bed of lentils. 

Baked eggs with goats cheese, spicy soft chickpeas, chunks of sourdough and herbs. Words cannot describe how delicious this is.

Cronuts at the Annex - somehow nicer than at Brewtown because they are nicely presented and no grumpy waiters are around.

Dad's friend visited and we made these vegetarian siu mai with sticky rice, mushroom & carrot filling. Making the skins and wrapping them was super fun! They were tasty but boy they do look a bit ugly.

Three Williams is awesome but they have stopped serving narnies for breakfast which is sad. We each ate our own savoury dish then shared this decadent brioche french toast, the sweetness offset by a pool of natural yoghurt, fresh berries and crunchy caramelised pecans. It was as droolworthy as the photo.

I'm sure Rising Sunworkshop in Newtown isn't really a pop-up because they are still there, a few months after they were meant to close down! They keep changing their Monk ramen which is nice. This time around it had corn, kimchi paste and lots of fresh shallot. I miss the miso eggplant though.

 Oreo pie from the Pie Tin.

Circa is amazingly hipster, it doesn't feel like Parramatta at all. The whole menu is interesting and it was hard to pick but I'm glad I chose this dish of lemon & thyme baked ricotta, zaatar-coated egg, mushrooms and kale on a spicy eggplant puree base. The bunch of grilled cherry tomatoes was so adorable and sweet.

Now, is it any wonder I can't fit into my suit?