Birthday Dinner at Rockpool

Last night was the Hubby's birthday so we went to Rockpool for dinner. Rockpool is located in a quaint building in the Rocks. The interior has a modern light and airy but decadent feel to it with a runway leading up to the dinning area.

As for the food we picked from the 4 course tasting menu. We both choose Glazed pig’s head, hot and sour gluten, sugar glazed jujubes and hazelnuts for first course followed by Lacquered Pekin duck, gizzard, liver and heart, orange ginger marmalade and Earl Grey sauce. For third course we both went for the Rangers Valley beef short rib, braised and barbecued, mao po doufo and bone marrow xiao long bao. I went for the Date tart for dessert but Simon opted for Vacherin of pandan custard, coconut parfait, jasmine sorbet and lime granita.

Before the main meal came out we were treated to a beautiful spelt and honey bread which was so good we had a second cob! There was also a canape of Queensland spanner crab, toast, Tabasco mayonnaise, peach leaf jelly. As i'm not a fan of fish I didn't eat mine but Simon loved it and said it was a beautiful smokey flavoured crab with a lovely light mayonnaise that was almost like a cold souffle.

The first course of glazed pig head was absolutely delicious. The pig was a tureen of the snout, ears and cheeks that practically melted in the mouth. The hot and sour sauce was delicious if slightly greasy.
The second course duck was just lovely the freshness of the orange and cucumber wonderfully balanced the richness of the duck. The third course of beef was amazingly smokey but I have to say for me the smokey flavour was a little too overpowering.

And as for dessert the date tart was a wonderful classic dish. I expected it to be a little heavy but the custard was deliciously light and fluffy and the pastry base was deliciously biscuity. The only gripe I would have was that there could have been a little more date in it! Simon's vacherin was deliciously light and refreshing

And a quick note on the service which was impeccable as you would expect from a restaurant of this quality. The staff were friendly and approachable. They went out of their way to accommodate us even to the point of  offering me an alternative canape when they saw I had given mine to Simon.