Quay

Quay Overview

A good view from a restaurant in Sydney is not too hard to find with restaurants lining the water’s edge everywhere you look. Quay, however, tops them all with a third floor glass view of the Harbour Bridge on your left and the Opera House to your right it doesn’t get much better than this.

I like the Quay concept, you are given a menu that opens out to show four panels from which you are asked to choose a dish from each. Two mains allows you to try a fish and a meat dish in the same sitting and with their extensive wine list, many available by the glass, you are able to match different wines to each of your four courses.

Resident chef Peter Gilmore takes his inspiration from the diversity and beauty of nature, fusing a harmony of flavours and textures to create this sophisticated dining experience. From the starters list you could be adventurous and go for the ‘Squab and 12 Treasure Salad’, a dish which contains a combination of rare Chinese vegetables you certainly won’t find in the supermarket but might if you raid the chef’s private garden. Another dish for the adventurous palette would be the slowly poached rock lobster with tapioca dumpling, lobster velvet and almond cream. The delicious ‘Eight Hour Slow Braised Milk Fed Suffolk Lamb’ was deliciously soft and went perfectly with the baby carrots, Arbequina olives, nasturtiums, capers, calendula, sheeps milk fromage and coriander flowers.

For dessert I tried the eight texture chocolate cake, featuring Amedi 'Chuao' chocolate, one of Gilmore’s signature dishes. The cake comes to you with only seven textures as the eighth warm, gooey texture is drizzled over the top in front of you. This dessert is simply to die for.

The restaurant is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. The views are unbeatable, but for some the food may be a little too sophisticated. If you are celebrating a special occasion or entertaining business clients then Quay is the restaurant to go to, but if you are having a meal with a young family then this is probably not for you.

It is worth quickly mentioning that Quay is also a fantastic venue for corporate functions with the whole of its upper tower available for private hire. The 4th floor dining room is available for private hire, and makes for one of Sydney’s most spectacular settings with seating for 32 guests. The restaurant can cater for a standing party of about 250 people and a sit down event for about 150.