WG+M Travel Blog Archive

A quick note on degustation menus- In the hands of a talented chef these sort of multi-course menus can be fun, inventive and rewarding. They often offer an array of possiblities and showcase the chef's abilty to work with meats, cheeses, seafood, vegetables and dessert. When in the hands of a hack these menus can be like Chinese water torture, coming at you repeatedly with new abominations. The later was unfortunately the case at the Grange Restaurant on Valentine's Day. First I'll present you the complete menu and then offer you some highlights of what was truly horrific. Here goes: The Four Dances of the Sea Soused Snook, Raw Calamari, Squid Ink Noodles, Octopus Aioli, and Spiced Prawn Sushi Shark-fin Soup Dumplings in Venison Consomme, Poached Quail Egg Bourbon Baked Marron, Marron Mousse with Confit Onions, Lime Crisp with Pilaf Rice (Marron is smallish lobster or langostine) Blackpeppered Mushroom Rabbit with Creamy Risotto Smoked Eggplant Timbale, Fava Bean Puree, Rassam Spice Pulse The Grange Dessert Plate Chocolate Figs, Black Rice and Plum Sugar Pudding, Russian Praline Tort, and Watermelon Spume In the first course the snook was sashimi style and decent, the squid ink noodles were delicious and served with the raw calamari which was not good. The prawns were fishy, never good, but the spice was okay. All in all it was not a good start. The shark-fin dumplings themselves were fine (I won't ask for the recipe as my grandmother used to say) and the venison conomme was good but why are they together? To me they were so dissonent. The marron dish was a travesty. Why do anything to something so small and delicate? We have had marron three or four times since prepared simply and it is delicious. The rabbit had nice spice and was good. My only though was that it should have been served last. Who serves smoked eggplant last? Who serves crappy smoked eggplant last? Thats how you want me to remember dinner? With f'in eggplant? So you might have guessed I didn't care for the eggplant . . . Wait until you hear Nate's dissertation on the Grange Dessert Plate. Needless to say there was an execution problem with the desserts. It comes down to this: the Grange Restaurant was by far our least favorite meal. Whether or not its famous chef Cheong Liew will read this blog and shed a tear or ban Nate and I remains to be seen but I assure you there are far too many great places to visit on my next visit in Adelaide to stop by the Grange again.