Quay, The Rocks

With unparalleled views of the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, along with some of Sydney's best food by head chef Peter Gilmore, Quay is definitely a place best reserved for a special occasion.

View from the restaurant

This is exactly what Sir D and I did one weekday lunchtime, when we headed to Quay to celebrate our anniversary. We were greeted by friendly waitstaff who took us through the spacious dining area, where the afternoon sunlight beamed through the glass walls of the restaurant, revealing a clear blue sky and stunning views of Sydney Harbour. Whilst settling in at our table, who should I spot but the lovely Ellie from Almost Bourdain! If you haven't already, check out her spectacular tiramisu inspired by one of Quay's signature desserts :)

Although it is definitely not cheap, Quay offers what is said to be one of the best value lunches in Sydney, with 2 courses for $75 or 3 courses for $95. We opted for the 3 course lunch and as we made our choices from the menu, my stomach was already quivering in excitement for the gustatory pleasures to come.

Amuse bouche - Tuna tartare with smoked eel tapioca and horseradish cream

Marque, Surry Hills for $45 prix fixe lunch

When I tried to book at table for lunch at Marque in July, I was told that there were no available tables until October! So it wasn't until October that I had the pleasure of savouring the delicious food at Marque restaurant to celebrate Charm and Dad's birthday (coincidentally, they share the same birthday)

Marque opens for lunch on Fridays only, so it's not a surprise that they are booked out far in advance. Marque offers a 8 course degustation, a la carte menu and a prix fixe menu changing weekly. Of course we went for the prix fixe menu which was great value, offering 3 courses for a mere $45.

Menu for 16th October

We got a selection of either white or rye and caraway seed bread which were both served warm with butter. I preferred the white as the rye and caraway seed tasted a bit strange for me, but both were soft with a chewy crust.

Chaud froid free range egg

Assiette, Surry Hills... again!

I confess that I have most definitely overindulged in the delicious food served at Assiette.

Menu for Friday 10th July

A mere 2 weeks after my first visit to Assiette, I went there again for another $30 lunch - this time with family. Since I forgot to take a picture of the freshly baked sourdough last time, I made sure that I photographed it this time =)

Complimentary sourdough

Again Sir D and I did a plate swap for each course except for the dessert because we both could not resist getting the Strawberry Eton Mess! But first onto the entrees - the sweetcorn veloute was deliciously creamy with pieces of crab scattered throughout the soup. Even though Sir D saved me a bit of the soup (he doesn't like risotto so he had most of the veloute to himself), I loved it so much that wish that I could have a neverending pot of the stuff!

Sweetcorn veloute with spanner crab veloute and basil oil

I wanted to try the mushroom risotto mainly because the idea of parmesan ice cream intrigued me. I had heard much about savoury ice creams before, like olive oil and Heston Blumenthal's famous bacon and egg ice cream, but I'd never tried any myself. It tasted very strongly of parmesan but the texture was icy and cold! Quite a strange experience. The risotto again was cooked perfectly and the subtle flavours complimented the bitey parmesan nicely.

Mushroom risotto with parmesan ice cream

Assiette, Surry Hills, for Friday lunch

After reading on Not Quite Nigella about the $30 three course meal available for Friday lunch, I immediately put it on my list of things to do. So, the first Friday after uni exams finished, I ventured off to Assiette in Surry Hills with Sir D, Queen Chu, Captain Awesome and BLT for a celebratory lunch.

Prix Fixe menu for Friday 26th June

We're shown the a la carte menu and the prix fixe menu, and being poor students we of course select the prix fixe menu, which has some lovely sounding dishes for the bargain price of $30! Since I love to have a taste of everything, Sir D and I decide to order all the dishes between the two of us and do a plate swap.

After ordering the waiter brings some sourdough so fresh out of the oven that it nearly burns my fingers when I pick it up. As expected, being a blogging noob, I forget to take a photo of it. It's nice and crunchy on the outside with soft fluffy insides, and our resident bread-lover Captain Awesome is very pleased.

Vegetable minestrone with garlic toast

The minestrone soup arrives first and it is green which is quite surprising as I've only ever had tomato-based minestrone soups. It's a hearty soup with kidney beans, celery, potato and other vegetables, and towards the bottom of the soup I find some chewy round balls which remind me of tapioca balls but are white and floury. Queen Chu describes them as 'gnocchi balls', which is a pretty accurate description, but they're a bit more chewy than your typical gnocchi. The soup is accompanied by a crunchy garlic toast and it's delicious.

Sliced prosciutto with truffled celeriac remoulade and port syrup