By sandy
With an anniversary to celebrate, my other half and I headed for a new restaurant in our neighbourhood: Amuse Bouche. I was aware of this location years ago when it was Lotus, and dined many times there in its previous incarnation as an Italian restaurant with great pasta dishes; its current life as Amuse Bouche definitely lives up to the linked review.
We ordered a glass of a Cremant de Loire sparkling wine to start (sorry, didn't even look at the wine list to see what it was), and were served an amuse bouche of black cod ceviche. The ceviche wonderfully tender and tart, with the fish "cooked" in citrus and served with a few morsels of mango salsa on top. The menu must change fairly regularly, because the review from two months ago listed the ceviche as an appetizer, but it was not on the menu, only served as the amuse bouche.
For our first course, we had a beet carpaccio (yes, that's "beet", not "beef"), and fois gras. The beet carpaccio was made from three colours of beets, sliced thinly and arranged beautifully on the plate, then topped with some delicate sprouts and a few other bits of greenery. Unfortunately, it disappeared so fast that I didn't even have a taste, but I did savour the fois gras, perfectly seared and served on a bed of creamed potato. The potato was incredibly creamy, and tasted slightly of celeriac so it may have been a mixture.
We started a bottle of Aldinga Bay 2001 Barbera from McLaren Vale with our first course, which lasted us through our second course as well. Chosen from the lower-middle end of a fairly extensive wine list, it was a nice accompaniment to both courses.
Between courses, we were served a citrus sorbet as a palate cleanser. I don't recall the exact composition, although the wait staff were thorough about explaining each dish as it was presented, but it was perfectly balanced and served as a good break between the courses.
For our second course, we both had the seared venison loin, with a truffled pumpkin tart, and shiitake mushrooms in a jus reduction. The venison was tender and flavorful, very lean, served rare with a drizzle of the reduction over it as well. The truffled pumpkin tart was an incredible combination of flavours -- slightly sweet, with the taste of truffle underscoring the pumpkin -- and the mushrooms in jus were a savoury counterpoint to balance the plate.
We skipped dessert: I'll save that treat for some time when I don't order a first course, since I can't really do justice to three courses at dinner even though they were smallish.
At $200+ for dinner, we're not going to eat here every day, but it was an amazing gustatory delight and is definitely on my short list of special occasion restaurants.
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