FENIX
By Paul
Ever heard of “molecular gastronomy?” Well, this rather unwieldy term is used to describe the study of both the physics of food preparation, and the psychology of how we experience our food. Devotees to this culinary movement are few and scattered around the world. As of late, I’ve tried to make a pilgrimage to some of best known restaurants that practice this rarified art, notably the Fat Duck in England and the Bethlehem of molecular gastronomy, El Bulli in Spain. Unfortunately, my efforts have been thwarted because my trip to the U.K. has been scrapped and getting a table at El Bulli requires booking a table six months in advance. But I could set these frustrations aside upon seeing the menu at Fenix, right here in Australia.
Bee and I visited Fenix early on a Sunday evening. It is a beautiful restaurant overlooking the river and while there were several occupied tables in the café, we were the only customers opting for the restaurant. The manager, Troy, assured us that this would never happen any other night of the week, when bookings would most likely be required. The low population was lucky for us as we were able to order the degustation (tasting) menu, which I was very excited to do, especially when I was told the chef, Raymond Capaldi, had recently made his own pilgrimage to the kitchens of The Fat Duck and El Bulli, and “come back with some ideas.”
The insert inside our menus discussed one example of the psychology of molecular gastronomy: If you have a spoonful of ice cream while fondling a piece of velvet cloth, it will taste creamier than just eating the ice cream alone. If you take another spoonful of the ice cream while rubbing your hand over a piece of sandpaper, the ice cream will seem gritty.
We didn’t get any velvet cloth, sandpaper or ice-cream with
our meal, but it was nonetheless memorable. Here were some highlights.
Parfait of green tea, lime, vodka
Our server brought it to the table in a icing bag along side a steaming bowl of liquid nitrogen (very very COLD). He proceeded to squeeze dollops of parfait into the liquid nitrogen “poaching” them on the spot, then pulled them out with a pair of tongs for us to pop in our mouths. The purpose of the parfait, we were told, is that it cleanses the palette and prepares your taste buds for the dining experience.
I had mixed feelings about the palette cleansing experience. On one hand it was great to see the science experiment of poaching with a super-cold substance. On the other hand, I’m not sure chemistry lab is where I’d choose to do much fine dining. Either way—it definitely made me eager to see what was next.
Eagle Hawk Neck Oysters
(Question: Why does having the name of the place where food comes from
always seem to give it more legitimacy? )
Everything that molecular gastronomy strives to do in challenging our
perceptions of food was achieved in this dish—a parfait
glass actually--consisting of oysters buried in horseradish blancmange,
passion fruit, chilli jelly, and CANDY FLOSS. (Don’t try
this a home kids. This chef is a professional) Oysters and candy
floss? Madness or genius… I don’t know, but the dish
was magnificent.
Deconstructed Spring Salad
…piece-meal ingredients, like new asparagus, sliced leeks, beetroot and mushroom chips smattered on the white plate like so many strokes of a Chinese brush painting, creating something instantly recognizable, yet evoking a different mood by paring it down to its minimum. Beautiful in every way.
Laksa
Now, I’m not generally a “Laksa person.” In fact, I would go so far as to say I don’t like it. Which makes it all the more surprising that the Laksa was my favorite dish of the evening. Instead of the standard soup, it was served as a salad—pork belly char shui stacked with coriander, cucumber, mango and shallots in a fish sauce dressing, balanced on the other side of the plate with a coconut pannecotta. We were told this is one of “Raymond’s signature dishes,” and I can see why.
Not everything was amazing, though. The salmon char shui made me question the chef’s choice. It was tasty, but coming on the heels of another char shui dish I felt detracted from the progression of the meal. There was a dish with many pieces of rabbit and piecemeal Waldorf salad that was good, but not challenging in comparison with the previous courses. And then a desert course consisting of a pre-dessert of mango sorbet followed by a poached whole fruit of some kind. Bee thought it was really nice, but come on, is fruit really dessert? I’m not sure what our server thought when after our eight-course meal I ordered a crème brulee from the café, but hey…I’m a dessert guy.
In closing, I’d like to say that when visiting a restaurant
that is unafraid to go to the edge of the food experience, expecting
a perfect meal might be unrealistic. If you want perfection, go
to a restaurant that borrows heavily from recipes with hundreds
of years of history. But if you seek a culinary experience that
bridges the distance between the food of today and the food of tomorrow,
you have the opportunity at Fenix.
Fenix
Victoria Gardens
680 Victoria Street
Richmond VIC 3121
Australia
Tel: 03 9427 8500
For more about molecular gastronomy click here.
|
