A Toast to Tolkien

There are two boys in my family (well they’re not really ‘boys’ any more … they’re big ‘boys’!) and their birthdays are both this first week of January. A long time ago they decided to celebrate their birthdays together and chose the date right in the middle. Trevor was born on the 1st January and Rodney on the 5th, so the middle is the 3rd January. As they’re both Middle Earth fans it seemed appropriate they like to also celebrate the birthday of  J.R.R. Tolkien’s Birthday (on the actual day). To make a toast you need a glass, so that’s exactly where we went …

Not that this was a new experience, as Luke Mangan’s glass is a favourite place. Due to my travels, this was the first time I’d joined the boys for a Toast to Tolkien for a few years. The celebratory dinner turned into a 6 course a la carte feast. My choice for the toast … Veuve Clicquot Rose …

A demitasse: rich and warm, Peking Duck Consomme – got us off to a great start. This was soon followed by Appetizers of Bruschetta, roasted capsicum, sultana, white anchovy, and Wagyu bresaola, pear, parmesan. Rodney and I then, enjoyed Oysters 6 ways.

The entrees followed. If you’ve read my 2009 offerings, you’ll remember that I adore an egg. My entree choice just had to be Salad of baby spring vegetables, buffalo mozzarella, candied walnuts, slow cooked hens egg, truffle dressing. (As a side note, I really like the number and range of vegetarian offerings at glass, as well as how they’re clearly marked on the menu).

The coddled egg, as the centre of the dish, was just perfect, and as I broke the yolk, it oozed as an unctuous coating for my the other sweet morsels. Tiny sweet candied walnuts were a surprising contrast of texture and flavour.

The others chose Salmon gravlax, dill creme fraiche, beetroot and egg dressing, melba toast and Pan fried potato gnocchi with corn, asparagus, courgette, parmesan and lemon thyme and Classic steak tartare: finely dices raw beef fillet with accompaniments as their entrees.

A couple of admissions: I snuck a mouthful of each of the other entrees to try. (They were delicious!) And, a nod to Luke especially for the steak tartare. I’ve been so disappointed with this elsewhere recently. Often these days the tartare is plated in the kitchen; to me this is disappointing. Trevor’s selection of tartare, however, was brought to the table and the quail egg and condiments mixed for him by silver service. Both he, and I, enjoyed it all the more for its marinade in Cognac too. The Classic steak tartare is one of the signature dishes at glass and is always on the menu.

One of the things we do as a family when we are eating out is to choose different mains. To avoid duplication on the table, I had waited until everyone else had ordered to make my selection. So we all tried a bit of each. I chose an entree size Tempura Spencer Gulf prawns, with wasabi, sesame, daikon, watercress and carrot as my main course.

The other mains were  Steamed Port Lincoln jewfish, yabbies, pea puree, fig, white asparagus, mushrooms, lemon myrtle, Simple Fish of the Day, and Jelm pastoral Dorset lamb backstrap, crumbed lamb breast, carrot puree, pickled carrots, shallots.

We then enjoyed a cheese course of our selection: Brique D’Affinois, triple cream (Cow milk, Rhones Alpes, France), Le Papillon Roquefort (Sheep milk, Pyrenees, France) and Australian Yarra Valley Goat Milk Ash Pyramids, semi matured.

Finally came the birthday desserts! The splendid array showcased on the glass platter were all divine and included my favourite, tangy and light, Meredith sheeps milk yoghurt cheescake, textures of raspberries. A new delight on this visit was the heavenly Toffee Souffle. The Chocolate assiette and traditional Vanilla  Bean Creme Brulee were both hits.

And, mum relished an Affogato with Frangelico.

While I haven’t really said much about the wines, we enjoyed many at the informative guiding hand of Head Sommelier, Kim Bickley. (That’s another story, for another day …)

glass brasserie
Level 2, 488 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia

+61 2 9265 6068

glass brasserie website

Luke Mangan website

You can follow Chef Luke Mangan on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lukemangan and also

Head Sommelier, Kim Bickley at www.twitter.com/somesomm