Fixed Menus ...Many Courses ...augh

Pet hate at the moment: restaurants with fixed menus ... I thought that was the thing you got in a bad restaurant in Paris : the dreaded Menu Touristique (usually written in English or German).

I like to eat what I choose, not what the chef decides.  I also sometimes like to pop in and have a "light" meal in a great restaurant.  So why do some of these establishments only offer fixed 3 or 4 course menus (or even more!) ????
Paramount, Christine Mansfield's old restaurant in Potts Point had hats galore and was happy to let you in at 9pm and and have a main and a glass of wine. Quay is one of the pompous "menu fixee" places  ..either 4 or 8 courses there ...augh !!! Too much food for me and not the combination I want.

Pizza Pizza Pizza

Birthday dinner at Luccio Pizzeria at 248 Palmer Street, Darlinghurst.  My company was Darren Taylor  and Ruby, his daughter.  With such a great chef to talk about food and great pizza to eat this was a great birthday.  Luccio was away at his brother's wedding in Napoli but his offsider managed to maintain the incredible pizza ...seriously this is the best pizza in Sydney.  Try the four cheese pizza ...or the calzone .... oh ...dessert: that incredible chocolate tortino or the pasteria (ricotta cake with pearls of moistened wheat bubbles ...to die for).   I could eat there every day ..but then I would not fit in any of my clothes.

Opera Australia Dinner On The Dock

Went to a great event last Saturday night ..a fundraiser for Opera Australia. It was set in  the dock where they paint their sets, in their Surry Hills building.  Vitek Vodka with a rose flavour presented in martini glasses at arrival ...far too sweet for me so I had to give it back, but it might go well with a dessert (just give me Absolut thanks). Dinner was by Peter Gilmore from Quay.  It was rather ordinary.  Thank goodness for the excellent performances of different arias between courses .

When I first went to Quay over 10 years ago there was a different chef (Guillame) ... the food was good and there was no media hype around the restaurant. Now it is listed as number 26 in the world on the San Pellegrino list. Why? Too harsh a critic? Let me eat at Quay again and I will see if I am being mean.