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Crave 2011: Alice in Culinary Land, Waterloo

There’s so many great things going on during this year’s Crave International Food Festival, but a pop up dinner that caught my eye was the Alice in Culinary Land event; it was touted to be a “[crazy], topsy-turvy dinner party”. My interest fully piqued, I set out to recruit a party, but only managed to secure a trio.

We didn’t start the night off very auspiciously either. D and F had met up for a drink somewhere nearby our meeting point, but despite our constant contact as to my whereabouts (I drove up into the city from work) they weren’t there when I arrived! “What is this?! Where are they!!!” I thought rather grumpily. Anxious about getting there on time for parking and securing a good spot at a table, as well as being super hungry (mum always tries to feed me whenever I get grumpy), I grumbled some more when they came rushing to the car apologising for their tardiness.

Of course the grumpiness didn’t last – who could possibly stay in a bad mood when a potentially awesome dinner is nearing? That and I can never stay grouchy for long – it takes waaaaaay too much effort to maintain – besides which, D is just too sweet and F too silly for it to really stick around.

Curiouser and curiouser… said the signs, as we walked up three levels to the dinner. Our sense of excitement grew as we got closer to our destination and whatever our expectations were before tonight were blown out of the water as we rounded the corner and saw the set up.

Alice in Culinary Land was held at Studio Neon and I absolutely adore the decor they came up with. The mish-mash, hodge-podge of different styles of cutlery, crockery and chairs instantly made gave the distinct feeling that we were going to be in for one heck of a dinner.

Noting the limited light sources, I made a beeline for the candelabra with the most candles. I loved the dribbly bits on the candelabra itself – it just gave off a really cool old-fashioned vibe – though I half-wished that the slim and smooth tapered candles were just as dribbly to go with the look; the tiny roses in teapots just too cute!

It was advised that dressing up is encouraged and remembering fondly of my friend’s hen’s party, where she was Alice and our Wonderland costumes were so awesome that random people asked to take photos with us (biggest compliment one could give a person in a costume really), I excitedly asked F and D if we were going to dress up for this. I was a bit disappointed to hear that they reckon people wouldn’t turn up in costume and so we shouldn’t really bother. Despite this, I thought I’d at least wear the cat’s ears as some sort of (lame) effort. As it turned out, I totally forgot to bring it with me when I rushed out of the house in the morning! So terrible!! I was kicking myself when I realised, but even more so when I saw the rest of the attendees.

They looked so good that even F and D were kicking themselves! Though at least D somewhat vaguely looked like an Alice. Sigh.

First up was a Beetroot and Wasabi macaron laid out with an “Eat Me” card. F wanted to eat it straight away, while I thought perhaps we were suppose to eat it when the dinner officially starts. F argued that it says “Eat Me”, which clearly is an invitation and should be complied with. Eventually I gave in, as I noticed the other patrons munching on the macaron with curious expressions.

I thought it was a lovely colour even if we couldn’t taste the beetroot, but we could definitely taste the wasabi. It was a delicate balance between sweet and savoury, where the savoury wasabi flavour wasn’t overpowering, but it did heft its weight around and finished off with a roundhouse kick to the nasal passages.

Just as I had spied rows of cake that a kitchen staff was prepping, F nudged me and pointed at the cakes with his chin. Making a face, I made my way over and gazed at the cakes with appreciation.

It did vaguely occur to me that cake wasn’t actually on the menu and while it would be cool to have a reverse-course dinner (i.e. dessert first and finishing off with an entree) it didn’t quite ring true.

Though we had our suspicions, seeing that the “cake” was really sourdough bread lavishly covered with creme fraiche (and not loads of icing) was just too much fun. As the dining experience is a communal one, we were instructed to slice the loaf so that everyone could have a piece (or two); it worked out that the rest of our dinner would be shared between five. Our wait staff breezily mentioned that the flowers on top are edible before gliding off to serve the rest of table.

The smoked trout was excellent – perfect amount of smokiness and moistness – and was lightly sweetened by the tasty red capsicum. I don’t know how they did it, but there was the perfect amount of cream with each mouthful, where the amount of pickles were just right to balance out the creaminess. I loved how generously thick the layers of sourdough bread was and felt surprisingly (surprising that I was surprised!) full afterwards.

I quietly hoped I would have enough room for the rest of the dinner.

As our wait staff cleared the table for the next course, they also served us Hare Tea in gorgeous teapots, which was simply a rabbit consomme. The consomme was quite light yet flavoursome and when drunk with a mouthful of the creamy wild mushrooms or hearty zucchini flower salad, it added a certain delicious depth.

The mushrooms were wonderfully buttery and they were cooked just so; I loved the different varieties they had!

The zucchini flower salad was such a powerful combination of naturally sweet flavours that was balanced with the earthiness of the mushrooms and a light heartiness from the buckwheat. The textures were quite the thing too, from crunchy zucchini flower stems and Dutch carrots to the chewiness of the buckwheat. Having a generous number of zucchini flowers just topped off the dish for F and I, as we both adore zucchini flowers.

D quite liked the flavours of the zucchini flower salad, but she said she found the texture of the buckwheat rather challenging to eat. Interesting! I think she mentioned that she’s not really a big fan of grains, so perhaps that’s the reason why she didn’t warm to the salad as much as F and I did.

While I was waiting for my drink to be poured at the bar, I enthused how much I was loving the dinner and the bartender beamed. “The duck is up next… and it is really so good,” she promised. Excited for this insider’s goss, I hurried back to our spot and relayed the information. We impatiently waited for it to be served and thankfully it wasn’t long til it was brought out.

The generous serve of duck looked just as good as advertised and we couldn’t wait to tear into it. Well, we kind of had to wait, as our waitress explained the dishes and that we should consume the duck with the fennel panna cotta. Fennel panna cotta?! You read right! It’s such a bizarre combination that we found it hard to get our head around it. We tried the dish as advised and oh my goodness… the explosion of flavours that didn’t seem to really go together actually did.

The duck was perfectly seasoned and cooked to utmost fall-off-the-bone perfection, while the panna cotta was incredibly creamy and light. Somehow the two managed to amalgamate into a totally different flavour that’s precariously, yet perfectly, balanced between salty, sweet and creamy. The fennel panna cotta were dusted with dark chocolate crumbs which added a sweet-bitterness into the mix, while the wine-poached beetroot added a lovely zest.

Our side dish was goat’s curd with sweet peaches and smoked ham. This was a lot more challenging to eat, as the curd was quite strong and its sharp tang could get overwhelming. It was tempered, however, with the sweetness of the peaches and a round heartiness from the smoked ham.

Dinner was wrapped up with the Queen of Hearts chilli chocolate cream dessert layered on top with a wicked strawberry sauce. I’ve been loving the dishes our meal have been served on and this shallow, cauldron-like dish (made from cast iron to boot, no doubt) was no exception.

The chef warned us that it does have a bit of a kick, but it should be manageable. I hesitantly nibbled at a small dollop of chocolate cream and sauce and found the kick actually bearable. Heartened, I scooped up a really big mouthful and … tears sprang up, cheeks flushed and coughing ensued. Holy crap it was SPICY!! Even our newly found Korean friend whom we had been sharing our dinner with struggled to finish the dessert. Ha! F thought I was being a sissy, but no… it was really spicy! I cannot get over just how much punch it had. It was an odd (yet deadly) punch, as in most cases it would be my mouth and lips burning – this spiciness was more like pepper and the heat seemed be localised to the back of the throat.

We spent a good while debating on whether it was the chocolate cream that was spicy or the sauce… or both! We concluded that it was the chocolate that was spicy, where some of the spiciness had infused slightly with the sauce.

“Why are you still eating it!? Stop it!” F scolded (rather futilely I thought), as he saw me eating another mouthful and immediately going for my cool glass of Coke. “It’s so yummy – I can’t help it!” I moaned, feeling slightly tortured. If I was an anime character, I would have definitely looked like this: (T_T)

The Alice in Culinary Land pop-up dinner was held during the Crave International Food Festival 2011 and it was an experience that will stay with me for a very long time.

The atmosphere and food were just astounding; the wait staff incredibly friendly and cheerful. At $145 with 4 wine glasses, beer and/or non-alcoholic beverage I thought the dinner really was worth it. The organisers of this dinner set out to create a challenging, yet approachable menu. I thought they did a remarkable job combining unexpected and seemingly unsuited flavours together and for me, it was not only approachable, but definitely most edible and amazingly delicious.

Studio Neon
Level 3, 136 Raglan St
Waterloo, NSW, 2017
Web: http://www.studioneon.com.au/
Ph: 0404 555 098