Land and Sea 2020
This menu celebrates the food and wine of our beautiful region of NSW from the land to sea. Starting with a plate of oyster shells was Ocean Pearler, Pickled cucumber. Oyster emulsion. Lemon balm. Yuzu. This was the perfect way to start the night to get me in the mood for the Land & Sea menu.
Out came Cauliflower Popcorn with a beautiful rose gold skewer to stab the cauliflower and dip in the dipping sauce. It was a pretty basic dish with perfectly cooked crispy cauliflower in a curry powder sauce, which had a bit of a kick.
One of the most photographed dishes from this menu, the Kanga Sanga which was a Saltbush steam bun. Kangaroo tartare. Watteseed mayo. I LOVE Kangaroo tartare, this was such a nice bite i wish i had 5 of them. This was Australia in a bite!
Sweet & Spicy was the bread dish. Sweet potato brioche and it came in a pre cut individual baby loaf, which was different! Very light and fluffy. The sauce looks like a type of honey and yoghurt combo but it was smoked apple honey.
My favourite time of the night, fish time! One Fish, Green Fish ocean trout two ways, seeded cracker and pea soup. The trout absolutely glided and fell apart then melted in my mouth.
Next up was I'm a Fun Guy mushroom risotto, prosciutto foam, radish, mushrooms. Beautiful risotto and the prosciutto foam was so fitting. A very light dish.
Now for my favourite main for the night, Shrimp on the Barbie -Prawn. Cabbage. Prawn bisque. Lardo. Red vein sorrel. Tatsoi. This was my absolute favourite of the night - that bisque!! If it was socially acceptable to drink from the bowl, I would have.
This was a very interesting dish This Little Piggy Got an Espresso Pork loin. Coffee. Mountain pepper. Black pudding. Green apple gel. Eschallot. Pork jus. Garlic flowers. I’m only just getting used to espresso in food because i’m a n00b coffee lover. I really liked this, dish it was hearty and meaty.
Oh my god, Mango Tango wow wow wow! This may have been my favourite Nel dessert of all time. Mango tango. Burnt mango mousse. Coconut sago. Finger lime glaze. Freeze dried mango. Mango & Passionfruit sorbet. Mango was definitely the hero of this dish but the Coconut sago brought it all together. It was incredible. I loved loved loved this!!!!!
Presented in a black dome Chocolate Forest chocolate soil with succulent and tempered chocolate style forest.
To finish was a macaroon Strawberry Nut, ontop of inedible nuts.
I found this menu was missing the theatrics when it came to presentation but the ingredients and food spoke for itself. It was beautiful ingredients from our state and I appreciated every little ingredient.