Rise, Darlinghurst
squishies
2 March 2008
Degustation, Japanese, Sydney, East
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Although I wasn’t going to blog about the degustation at Rise, Howie thought it would be good to have a different point of view. So here it goes…
Rise is situated on the side of a semi-steep hill and fakes you out with a “door” at the front of the restaurant. My friend, Sam, had been there before and so told me to keep walking to an unassuming closed door (topped with a little blue, curved awning). The interior’s quite nicely decorated, if a little awkwardly laid out I thought.
Tama no Hikari Semi-Frozen sake (Kyoto, Japan)
Sam nursed this for about a quarter through our degustation, by which it got a rather slushy near the end. I tried it, but it tasted rather unpleasant (which I put down to me not liking sake in the first place).
Duck confit, beans and tofu with Hoisin sauce
The duck was soft and tasty; tofu silky and smooth. I liked how all the ingredients went well together – a delicious tiny morsel! Though this being my first degustation, I wasn’t quite ready to expect how small our first dish was and it really left me wanting more subtantial dishes.
Tom yum style soup with prawn tortellini
My only gripe about this dish was that the prawn in the tortellini was, I think, prawn paste *gasp* hahah. Otherwise it was okay; slightly spicy, but not so much so (Sam was rather disappointed about this aspect of the dish). They also added a few sago balls too, which we discovered at the bottom of the bowl. Lightly flavoured with cute semi-spherical cucumbers.
Oyster, Kingfish and Ocean Trout Sashimi
Not a big fan of bivalves, so not surprising that I didn’t like the oyster (Sam really liked it though). The kingfish was great with the peppery mustard sauce and ocean trout was delish with or without the soy sauce and wasabi. We got two slices of each fish, which left me wishing there was more ocean trout.
Spicy tuna tartare in wonton cup, Soft shell crab sushi roll, Steamed baby octopus with ume plum vinaigrette
The spicy tuna wasn’t kidding that it was spicy; fortunately it was only a small piece, otherwise I think I might have been in trouble. I wasn’t too sure whether the wonton cup was suppose to be crunchy or not, but it seemed a bit… stale. Hmm. The baby octopus was quite nice – a light and refreshing spoonful of cephalopod – while Sam thought it was a bit rubbery. We both agreed though that the soft sheel crab sushi roll was the best, even though it harboured pickled ginger slivers. To be honest, the ginger made the crab nicer than if we had it without. It was a bit difficult to eat (awkward to place into the mouth), but after we had it, we wished there was more of it.
Grilled scallop & soba buckwheat noodle salad
I think this dish was missing something, but I can’t seem to put my finger on it. The scallop was rather nice, but seeing that I have a weakness for scallop I’m not sure if that counts.
Kingfish tempura, tartare in cucumber cup & Agro-Dolce sauce
This dish was really good: the tartare with the cucumber and tempura was delicious, and the agro-dolce sauce went well with the vegetables (I couldn’t help but notice that they like string beans so much!). The cucumber cup, Sam realised, was the left over bit from the cucumber ball in the tom yum soup! Nice.
Almond jelly, fresh mango & Amaretto milk granita
This was definitely the highlight of the degustation. The dessert was almost perfect (I only say “almost” because I wanted more of it… lots and lots of it… I’m such a glutton =_=). I’m kind of stuck for what else to say besides ranting about the subtle sweetness, the delectable milky coldness of the granita, and surprise cranberry (Sam thinks) hidden under all that diced mango pieces.
While the presentation of each dish was impeccable, there were only a couple of dishes that really stood out for me and made me crave for more.
We went during the special degustation, where it was 30% off (so $42, though only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Sundays) and subsequently had slightly less number of dishes than the normal degustation that Howie went to (though that was no surprise there).
Rise
23 Craigend Street
Darlinghurst, NSW 2010
Ph: (02) 9357-1755
Web: www.riserestaurant.com.au
Howie
squishies
poptart
connico
One of the more affordable degustation menus, i rather like the place and make a trip every few months to see what they have changed on the menu.