Just a little over 2 weeks ago, we turned seven!

Seven is a special number between us both, but sadly we didn’t have anything special planned in advance because we’ve been busy traveling for work, caught in the wedding season etc. Our anniversary day fell on a Tuesday this year and silly me for not N/A-ing the weekend before so that we can do a weekend getaway somewhere like we did for our 5th year to Hunter Valley which was a memorable one. If you know me, I’m a sucker for experiences and would prefer that over gifts! So with the limitations this year we figured we’ll just keep it simple go out for a casual dinner..and do a belated getaway on my next free weekend. Alfred immediately took up the job of booking a restaurant. I told him, “nothing fancy OK”, “it better not be like $200 per person!”… we only just recently bought a place together which to me is the biggest achievement and gift already for us.

When Alfred organises something he’s fairly good at keeping the location a secret up until the drive there. He came back afterwork, wearing a black tie. I thought…. uh-oh, he’s already broken the rules.

Heels; Witchery // Miss Dior Cherie // Lipstick; MAC Love Goddess // Nails; China Glaze Champagne Kisses // Watch; Giorgio Armani // Earrings; H&M // Dress; Alannah Hill // Card; Handwritten by me 🙂

We headed into the city and he took a right turn onto Kent st and parked at the cinema car park, at that point I had a good feeling that he’s taking us to Sepia. We walked out of the car park and took a right instead of a left (towards Sepia).. which really confused me, and I immediately realised where we were going… I was surprised that he chose Tetsuya for dinner date that night. I never imagined I’d get to try Tetsuya because how crazy expensive I recall it being ($300 or so pp) which is far more than what I’d pay for a meal.

We walked into the heritage listed Japanese styled building set between tall city buildings and into the dining room and immediately felt we’ve just escaped the city and… into Japan. Especially with the view where we had from our table… no that’s not our seat right by the table sadly 🙁

My handsome dinner date, feeling pretty chuffed that he’s surprised me (and because I guessed wrong!!)

The waiters were super nice and attentive, taking their time in explaining each dish and making sure that we were enjoying ourselves.

**NOTE; will avoid going full on Food blogger-y in this post and critic each dish!

Left: Savoury Egg Custard with Avruga // Right: Carpaccio of Snapper with Umeboshi

Would it be silly for me to say that I loved the amuse bouche (above left) more than the other dishes? It was like chawanmushi (without the shrimps, mushrooms etc) the flavours and texture were so lovely, I wish I could have another one!

The carpaccio was a lovely starter especially with the light tangy flavour and the slices of snapper were oh so fresh!

New Zealand scampi tails with scampi oil and chicken liver parfait

Confit of Petuna ocean trout with a salad of fennel & unpasteurised ocean trout roe

This is their signature dish…. which sadly didn’t get me drooling over it. My initial thoughts were… it tasted like instant noodles (the seasoning on top)..

Slow cooked flounder with yam & scallop gnocchi

Tea smoked quail breast with parsnip & calamari

Lamb back strap with Jerusalem artichoke & pumpkin seed yoghurt

Left: Basil soup with apple granita & mint ice cream // Right: Chocolate and coffee creme brulee 

The palate cleanser was the perfect transition between the savoury dishes to the sweet, really loved the refreshing flavours esp the mint ice cream!

As it was our anniversary, they gave us the creme brulee as an extra special treat.

Tetsuya’s Chocolate Cake

I felt like I had a little overdose of chocolate after the creme brulee so I was rather reluctant went this dish appeared before me. In my mind I thought… ahh..noo… more… rich… sweet… chocolate…!! To my surprise it wasn’t as heavy and sweet as I imagined it would be. The sponge was light which made it easy to eat and as you got close to the centre there were crunchy, nutty tasting bits. If I didn’t have the creme brulee before I think I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more though.

Petit Fours ; Yuzu macarons and chocolate truffles

Four servings of sweets, I was almost on a sugar high.. a little bit too much chocolate overall 🙁

The whole dining experience took about 3hours which was a little long for my liking, I also realised each dish came out every 20mins.

So everyone would ask… how was it?!

I’d give it a 7/10. Their pairing of ingredients were interesting, most flavours were nice but can’t say that more than half the dishes left a lasting impression. Fortunately it is no longer $300+/pp but about $220 for the 9-10 course meal, which wasn’t too bad.

Alfred deserves a two thumbs up (and a hug) for organising a lovely dinner last minute, thank you for trying to book other restaurants I wanted to try! For some reason that Tuesday was a busy one for other restaurants… Tetsuya was 4th on his list. I’m still happy that we got the spend just those few hours together doing what we love doing (being fatties) and more so reaching a new milestone 🙂

Bring on the next one!

Happy Seven Years 🙂