Restaurant Plage, Cremorne

Restaurant Plage is my favourite restaurant of 2017 so naturally this calls for a revisit to see what's on offer for the Spring menu. There's a level of sophistication, flavour, balance of texture and technique that I am such a fan of at Restaurant Plage. With Japanese flavour inspirations infused with french technique in cooking - this makes for such a high quality meal.

It's another cosy Sunday evening as MW and I head to Restaurant Plage. The restaurant from the outside looks quite casual but the quality of the food is more reflective of an upmarket and hatted restaurant. I don't say this lightly either!

We start with some snacks including the above Pumpkin seed marshmellow. The little green cube looks so delicate and soft. Matt eats the cube whole while I take little bites to see if I can taste the pumpkin seed coating. It's a great way to activate the senses. 

There's also the Spanner crab meat with a yoghurt sauce. This is a delightful mouthful of fresh crab which is refreshing.

For entree, I enjoy the Cauliflower Blancmange with grilled raw asparagus and olive crumbs. The Cauliflower-like panna cotta surprisingly packs a strong kick of cauliflower savoury flavours. It's really surprisingly delicious. It's particularly tasty with the olive crumb which adds that additional texture layer. The side salad of fennel and asparagus adds a refreshing element. It's such a well balanced dish from a flavour and texture perspective.

One of my favourites is the Aburi Salmon with buttermilk and yuzu sauce, kale powder, homemade black garlic and saikyo miso puree. The seared salmon is perfectly matched with the citrus yuzu flavours but it's creamy so it's quite unique on my palette. The kale powder adds a different flavour but blends in well with the black garlic sauce. A very well executed dish. Love it.

Matt loves the Seared Wagyu carpaccio with cured egg yolk, broccolini, eggplant and turnip w potato and seaweed dashi. I really miss the winter menu's wagyu carpaccio with a hot dashi broth but this spring version is also nice with crunch and soft cured egg yolk adding additional flavours and textures.

Market fish snapper "The Green" with shungiku puree, foraged beach plants including beach sorel, beach mustard and NZ spinach. This is a solid main with well matched greens.

Matt and I also share this side of Brussel sprouts with truffle and vinegar powder and sunflower seed. Matt says they are the best he's ever tasted given he hates brussel sprouts normally.

One of the highlights is definitely the Grilled angus beef with roasted onion puree, yuzu jus and rapa green. The perfectly cooked meat is well matched with the onion puree which is house made. The yuzu jus adds a subtle sweetness which adds a different dimension to the grilled angus beef. I recommend this dish. 

For dessert, there is the ash and meringue ice cream with cocoa crumbs, ricotta and hazelnut cream and the Caramelised white chocolate with beetroot crisp, orange tuir, strawberry sorbet and blood orange powder. My favourite is probably the Ash and Meringue Ice cream as it leaves a lingering creamy taste on the palette.  

Summary: The Spring Menu is fresh and retains that high quality of balance of flavours, textures and technique at Restaurant Plage. My favourite dishes were the Cauliflower Blancmange, Salmon Aburi and the Grilled Angus Beef.

Price: $30ish for mains, they also have a chef's special in Spring which is 5 courses for $59 .

Location: 8/255 Military Rd, Cremorne

Opening Hours: 

6pm to late daily except for Tuesday (closed on Tuesday)