Tetsuya's - Number 5 Restaurant in the World

On Tuesday night, we had a booking at Tetsuya's for 8 PM. Tetsuya's is ranked the 5th restaurant in the world and is known as Best Restaurant in Australia. The menu is a fixed price menu that is 14 courses and is very expensive. Seeing as this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, we were excited to go with a big group. The restaurant was like a little maze because there were so many hidden private rooms to hold different party sizes and a couple dining rooms to hold smaller groups.

We didn't start our meal until around 8:30 PM and didn't end our meal until around 12:30 AM. Yes, the meal took 4 hours to serve! Overall, it was relatively short turnarounds throughout most of the meal, but with all the courses and wine pourings, it was just a very long meal. Most of our group did the wine pairings with the meal, which was supposed to end up about 1 bottle per person. David and I decided to share a wine pairing between the two of us. I noticed that I'm very bad at remembering to drink the wine while eating my food since I'm too focused on the eating and tasting of the food.

We had our own private room for our group. Audrey and I were the first to arrive, so we were able to make ourselves comfortable.

In our room, there was this strange looking pole that was decoration along with some paintings. All the restaurant's artwork was a cross between aboriginal and something else.


Before the first course was served, we were served warm rolls (either white or sourdough) and they had this black truffle and parmesan butter on the table. I could have just eaten that all night if I didn't have 14 courses to go through!

Cold Corn Soup with Saffron & Vanilla Ice Cream
This soup was a bit thicker than expected, but it was obviously delicious. I was amazed at how the corn taste had penetrated throughout every bite. I couldn't really taste the saffron in the ice cream, but I think I was too happy with the corn part.




Smoked Ocean Trout and Avruga Caviar

The smoked ocean trout tasted and looked very similar to smoked salmon. It was diced into fine pieces. On top of the caviar is what they called a bon bon. It was a scallop mouse that was wrapped around a quail egg. To eat it, we were supposed to break the bon bon and mix the quail egg with the trout and caviar. Overall, this was probably my least favorite course because I'm not a huge fan of smoked fish, but it was still quite tasty and I finished my portion.


Leek & Crab Custard
This dish was thick and creamy. The broth on top was excellent and went very well with the custard, but I found it hard to ensure that I had enough broth at the end to mix with my custard. David said that he had perfect ratios throughout the entire dish.


Sashimi of Big Eye Tuna with Wasabi & Ginger Vinaigrette
The tuna was delicious and very delicate. It was also served on top of some finely sliced beets and pickled beet roots. I liked this dish a lot, but I also love raw tuna.


Tetsuya's Signature Dish
Confit of Petuna Tasmanian Ocean Trout with Konbu, Daikon & Fennel served with a Seasonal Green Salad


Even though this piece of ocean trout looks rare or raw, it is actually cooked. Instead of the traditional confit style of cooking slowly in duck fat, this piece was cooked in grapeseed oil and some other oil. It makes the taste much lighter. On top, it's seasoned with konbu and coriander seed. It's set on some daikon and has some ocean trout roe on the side of it. There is also some parsley sauce.

We could all see why this was his signature dish. It was not only delicious but very creative and different. The only change that I had wished was that the portion was smaller. Even though this was only the 5th course, I was getting quite full!


Ravioli of Queensland Spanner Crab with Tomato and Basil Vinaigrette
This dish was a ball of crab and something else that formed into a spongey like texture. The texture reminded me a lot of the fish balls that you eat with hot pot. It was set on top of some more loose crab that was wrapped in some seaweed. The fresh basil was very strong, but was quite good.


Steamed Baby Abalone with Braised Oxtail & Orange
There were three small pieces of abalone on this dish and a little bit of oxtail. I actually wished there was more oxtail because it was so tender and delicious. The abalone was very chewy, but I think that is just the way abalone tastes like.


Breast of Duck with Braised Witlof with Sansho & Walnut Jus
This was definitely my favorite dish of the night. The duck was perfectly cooked and the sauce was amazing. The braised "witlof" was just a fancy way of saying small endive.


Seared Filet of Veal with Wasabi Butter
By this course, I was starting to feel really full. I really enjoyed the wasabi butter, even though other people did not like it. I think it's because it reminds me of horseradish cream that I love. The veal was very tender and I actually didn't eat all my pieces because I knew we still had 3 sweet dishes to go.


Comte with Lentils
This was our transition from savory dishes to sweet. In the spoon was sweetened lentils and some grated cheese on top. The lentils reminded me of green bean soup in terms of taste so it was very weird combined with the cheese.


Each person only got one spoonful of the lentils and cheese. It would have been too much if we each had to eat 4 spoonfuls!


After our short transition, we decided it was time to take a photo of the group. From left to right is Oscar, Audrey, Ian, me, David, Katie, Lily, Charlie, Teddy, Endrico and Alex.


Lily was about to go home since she had arrived on Monday morning and was obviously jet lagged. She had even started her job as soon as she arrived. It was actually her birthday and our server convinced her to stay for a little longer because they brought out a birthday surprise for her. I didn't get to photograph the actual dish, but it was dark chocolate sorbet, orange sorbet with a flourless chocolate cake. She ended up staying for the entire dinner since by now we only had a couple of dishes to go.


Beetroot & Blood Orange Sorbet and Summer Pudding
The Australians love pickled beetroot. There are more cans of it in the supermarket than cans of other vegetables and they often put it in sandwiches. This sorbet was very powerful in terms of beetroot taste. I could barely taste the blood orange. There was also diced bits of pickled beats at the bottom of the glass.

The summer pudding was delicious. There were strawberries and blueberries in it.


Banana Mousse & Caramel Ice Cream
The banana mousse was in the rolled up pastry and it tasted as if I was eating a banana. The taste was very powerful, but in a good way. The caramel ice cream was delicious and set on some light spongy cake.


Chocolate & Coffee Pave with Cocoa Infused Jelly & Praline Ice Cream
The cocoa infused jelly is that strange filmy thing on top of the cake. The ice cream was delicious. Since I'm not a huge fan of coffee, the cake was a bit too coffee for me, but it was still pretty good.



Petit Fours

Green Tea Marshmallow Square,Chocolate Macaroon with Lemon Curd, maybe some sort of truffles. I think the white one was coconut based.

By this time, I was extremely stuffed and starting to not pay as much attention to the server during her descriptions. I was also very excited to see mini macaroons on the petit four plate.


By this point, I was getting very tired and was very full and content. The meal was amazing and definitely worth the money that we had spent. If you have an opportunity to go here, then make a booking early since the place is often sold out.