Birthdays are always a good reason to celebrate and hitting 30 is all the more reason to make it extra special. So for all those wondering, the top of Adam's list of places to go try is Urbane. So being the amazing girlfriend that I am (also top contender for the girlfriend of the year award), I made a booking months in advance to secure us a table.
Being seated in a corner definitely allowed for privacy, but also being seated under an air vent meant that I was extremely cold for the majority of the evening. Setting was refined but also relaxed.
Having pre ordered long before our arrival, the only menu we were presented with that evening was the drinks menu. From this, I had the Jayne Mansfield, consisting of White Rum, Frais de Bois, Fresh Strawberries and Sparkling Wine and he had the Chilli Mango with Mango Nectar, fresh chilli, ginger ale and mango. Both were fruity and refreshing, his mango wasn't as spicy as we had anticipated.
Starting with Amuse Bouche, the first we had were the Grilled scallops in a charcoal bun, with pickled cucumber and seaweed mayo. Like tiny bite sized sliders, we loved the firm, plump, juicy scallops. Each bite released juices that were soaked into the charcoal bun and further infused with hints of the sea from the seaweed mayo.
Second amuse bouche was the Shiitake mushroom cappuccino with sourdough and comte cheese. The "cappuccino" was a strong frothy mushroom broth condensed with intense flavours of shiitake. Sourdough with comte cheese was a decadent take on the classic grilled cheese and I loved the grilled melty comte.
As a palate cleanser we each had a tomato water shot. Adam helpfully describes this as drinking cold liquid bruchetta, I would have to agree.
Third time we have bread and the degustation has yet to officially commence, we had the House made focaccia with olive oil and dukkah. Warm and fluffy, it was lightly seasoned and filled us right up.
First course was the Poached lobster with lobster and papaya tartare, caviare, topped with lobster consume. I was hesitant about the lobster and papaya combination but this proved to be a winner. The poached lobster was firm and fresh, caviar gave it additional popping goodness whilst the papaya wasn't too sweet and kept the dish inviting and light. We drank all of the delicious appetizing consume.
Second course was Poached fennel wrapped in nori baked in a brioche bun served with miso butter sauce. This was the fourth instance of bread that evening and by that time we were fairly full of bread. The brioche was soft and fluffy with a silky smooth texture that soaked up the delicious miso butter. The fennel was also very tender which complemented the brioche well.
Our third course was broken up into two parts. Part one consisted of a bonito fillet with avocado puree, kiwi berry and cucumber, topped with french chilli powder. For those who are fans of seafood, you would be aware that bonito is a fish with a very firm texture and very pungent scent. This was masked masterfully with the chilli powder which ensured that it didn't overpower the avocado puree.
The second half of our third course highlighted the chef's no waste policy by using every edible part of the animal. The bonito bone was poached, blanched and deep fried with a teriyaki glaze, it was fairly hard, crunchy and tasty. The belly was cooked by way of teppanyaki and the head was slow cooked to a jelly which dissolved in an enoki and dashi broth. I really liked the fish broth, even more so than the previous mushroom cappuccino as this was light, wholesome and not at all fishy.
Next up was our preview of fourth course, the pine salt dome that our quail was roasted in.
So of course our fourth course comprised of quail. The leg was cooked confit, the breast was roasted in the aforementioned pine salt dome and again to highlight no wastage, the fragrant offal was wrapped up in a spring roll, atop nut crumble and red wine jus. The quail was wonderfully tender and not dry at all. My favourite though was the offal spring roll with its moist juicy peppery filling, definitely something worth trying out.
Fifth course and our last savoury dish of the evening was the 9+ wagyu served with stracciatella cheese, watercress and horseradish puree, with turnip and watermelon beetroot along with grated horseradish. This was probably the heaviest and most intense dish of the evening. The beef was wonderfully tender. I was skeptical about the horseradish and cheese combination but it proved to be a winner.
Second palate cleanser of the night was a gin and tonic. Cucumber granita with schweppes gin and tonic jelly, it was super refreshing and I would have gladly eaten a bowl of this as my dessert.
Sixth course, also first of the two dessert courses was the vanilla medley, comprising of vanilla ice cream, vanilla meringue, roasted vanilla praline, toasted wafer, and puff pastry topped with creme anglaise. The vanilla taste in each element was rich and strong without being overbearing and I loved sampling the different textures on my plate. My favourite was the squishy meringue and the creamy roasted praline with vanilla.
Our final course was a lighter dessert, the citrus and eucalyptus. It contained Lemon citrus gel, myrtle powder, myrtle crisps, lemon citrus sorbet, topped with myrtle powder. It was tangy and refreshing. I always love eucalyptus drops and coupled with lemon sorbet it was a strong flavour hit. Adam loved the fact that he had two desserts.
Interluding with a skinny cappuccino it was sufficiently rich but not very strong. Despite the hour (the meal took us 3 hours), I was desperate for a hot drink as the air vent was almost unbearable, so it definitely did the job in heating me up a bit.
Rounding off our meal were yet more desserts, this evening's petit fours comprised of macadamia three ways
First off was the freshly foraged macadamia made into magnums with use of macadamia branch. The chocolate was rich and smooth, dark as the best chocolate always is and the ice cream was very smooth and we loved the crunchy fresh macadamia.
We also had the exploding macadamia fruit yoghurt. Almost like a dessert from KOI dessert bar, these little parcels of yoghurt were encased in a crisp outer shell to look exactly like macadamia nuts that exploded with creamy goodness in your mouth.
Topping off an extravagant dinner was the macadamia cookie with birthday wishes for the birthday boy. Out of my affection for him, I allowed him the whole cookie and was assured that it was delicious. Now that I've outdone myself this year, it will be hard to beat this experience for his 31st, guess I have a year to plan it.
Price Range: $120pp for 5 course, $155pp for 7 course
Taste: 9.5/10
Value: 8/10
Service: 8/10 (staff were rushed and didn't have time to explain components of each dish as slow as I would have preferred, timing between courses was inconsistent)
Environment: 8/10 (would have been a 9 if I wasn't placed under the air vent)
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