Have been keen to check out the highly acclaimed Mercado on King Street ever since their opening at the end of last year. Comprising of a gourmet food marketplace, a bistro and a duck room, it covers quite a lot of ground. With menus highlighting Japanese, Chinese and general Western cuisine, I also had some hesitations about trying it out. It took reading a few reviews and seeing photos by Adam to convince me that it was a good time to visit my friend, Takashi san, the resident Sushi Master at Mercado.
Every few Thursdays, Takashi san has a tuna cutting show where he shows off his prowess with knives. I was super excited.
Getting our drinks ready, we were in for a treat.
Complimentary tuna is also served after the show, so you can sample the freshly cut fish. This particular one weighed 40kg and was caught recently from Tasmania, sometimes they even have tuna flown from the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo.
After our long introduction, came the time for us to get stuck into ordering. As mentioned, the menu is extensive and varied. We tried our best to touch on all elements.
Starting off, we had the Premium Sashimi Platter. At $98, it definitely had the premium price tag to accompany it. Comprising of market fish sashimi, ora king salmon, tsukji ultimate tuna toro, hiramasa kingfish, freshly shucked
oysters, yarra valley caviar and other specially selected sashimi, there was an exceptional spread on the platter. It definitely warrants than one photo, but rather a close up of each tasty element.
For me, highlights of the platter included the sweet fresh scampi which had perfect texture, thick cut salmon and of course the melt in your mouth fatty toro. We loved every bite and it was well worth getting.
Our cooked food came out not long after our sashimi platter was whisked away.
First up we had the Pork and Fennel Orecchiette served with broccolini. We really enjoyed the crumbly pork which was well marinated and peppery. The Orecchiette had quite a bit of bite and was cooked al dente, I like the little dips which captured the meat and juices well.
For our shared steak we had the 40 day in house Dry Aged Striploin served medium rare with peppercorn jus and a side of truffled mash. The steak wasn't as tender as I'm normally used to and had a fairly tough meaty structure. The peppercorn sauce was phenomenal, rich and creamy with hints of herbs and just the right amount of spice, we really enjoyed it. Truffle mash is also of course the best type of mash and this was no different.
From the cooked seafood selection we had the Spring Bay Mussel Pot with French sauce of apple cider, leek, parsley and cream. These were fresh and the portion was very generous. Mussels themselves were a tad small, but still went very well with the creamy sauce.
Halfway through the meal, Takashi san came to speak with us, we remembered how great his Negi Toro was from when he was at Ku-O at the Gabba and asked if he could make us a serve, which he graciously did. The tuna was deliciously creamy and the green onion was strongly fragrant. I really loved this dish.
Having heard of the extravagant desserts on offer, we made sure to leave room for it. When the pastry tray was brought to our table, we almost asked the waiter to just leave us with all of them.
In the end, we settled on two. The Mochaccino and the Black Forest.
The black forest was rich and indulgent with a thick dark chocolate ganache and sweet cherries inside. I'm glad I shared it because eating a whole piece would have definitely been too decadent for me.
My favourite was definitely the Mochaccino. Equally balanced in chocolate and coffee elements, it also had a crisp wafer base that added a bit of crunch. Whipped cream on top kept it light and enjoyable, rounding off a wonderful meal.
Taste: 8.5/10
Value: 7/10
Service: 9/10
Environment: 9/10
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