Sepia Restaurant & Wine Bar
Friday, September 23, 2011 - 1:29 am English | 日本語
Hai. Do you still remember me?
Just like the last time, “I can’t believe it’s been awhile since the last post.” And I have to say that again, but this time, a year later! Sometimes life takes different turns on its own, and you just simply need to go with it, right? That’s pretty much what it was.
But you know what, I’ve got something else to confess. The Japanese double post that is. It’s very flattering to have gotten many requests from Japanese readers to add Japanese translation, which in fact I have started. But it’s just damn hard for me to keep it up simply because I myself can’t even feel the same *vibe* from written Japanese… So that’s the huge reason for the long overdue neglect. Oh well.
ども。ヤバイくらいサボってましたが、覚えててくれてまするか。
毎回毎回、「いやー、久しぶり！！」とか言ってますが、今回もそんな感じ。さすがに1年も放置はなかろうが、って。まぁ、色々毎日仕事やらなんやらあって、そういう時には流れに身を任せてやってくしか無いじゃないですか。そんなこんなで完全放置ですよ。えぇ。
いや、それも理由なんですが、日本語でも書いてくださいよー、という嬉しいリクエストがしばしばあったので、英語に訳つける感じでスタートしたものの、えらいめんどくさいんですな、これが！！なんかねぇ、、微妙にニュアンス違って、本人が違和感覚えてるっつー感じで。すんまそん。ま、そんなわけで長らく放置に至ったっつーのが本音ですｗ すんまそん。
Anyways. Now that I’m back blogging again, I’ll just wait and see if Betty
the hungry girl would keep her promise – “I’ll get back on blogging if you did” ;p
まぁそれはいいとして。ブログ再開したにあたって、友達の
The hungry girlこと、ベティーも、約束通りブログの再開するんだろうよ、と。「あんたが再開したら私もそうする」って言ってたからねぇ。ほんとかよ。
So the first post after a year of absence is Sepia. I have quite alot of back logs from the past eating occasions, but this is relatively recent. And just as I was thinking of posting this, a good news came in. Sepia won Restaurant of the year. Woohoooooo, congratulations!
さて、再開第一弾のお店はSepia。過去に行ったレストラン、まだまだ書いていないので溢れかえってるんだけど、こちらは最近。そしてそして、Sepiaのこと書こうかな、と思ってた矢先に、Restaurant of the yearに選ばれましたなー！オメデトウー！
You must have read other posts on Sepia like I have. I have to say they definitely live up to their good reputations – the fantastic dishes with eye-opening creativity and attentive, friendly and knowledgeable staff. And that’s why I chose Sepia for this special celebratory dinner with Tomo.
シドニーフードブログを読んでる人なら、多分見たことあるであろうSepia。クリエイティビティあふれる素晴らしいディッシュと、親しみがあって知識豊富なスタッフ、やっぱりいい噂通りのとこでして。だからこそ、お祝い事ディナーのレストランとしてSepiaを選んだわけであります。
Tomo changes into his fine-dinning cloth. Looking sharp’n'slick? Yeah, until this was revealed.
スーツ姿に変身するTomo。シャープでスリックな感じ？ 、、、とか思うのは今のみ。
I’m just saying I wasn’t the only fat one here. And this is even before the dinner, just so you know. ;p
はちきれそうじゃん。つか、食う前からじゃん。自分だけがメタボってるわけじゃない、ってことをここでアピール。
Arrived and greeted by the staff, we seated at our table and went through the menu quickly. As I Looked around other tables, I already spotted some interesting dishes on other tables. I assumed those were from a la carte menu, but we went for degustation menu ($150/pp) this time.
到着してスタッフにお出迎えされ、テーブルについたらさっくりとメニューに目をとおして、と。周りをみてると、アラカルテメニューからのディッシュか？という良さげな料理がいくつか目についたんだけど、今回はデガステーションのコースにしましたよ。（$150/一人)
(デガステーション：レストランのシグニチャーディッシュや、おすすめする食材・テクニックで作られたディッシュのコース）
Optional starter dish – oyster
I cannot eat oysters after a bad food poisoning experience, so only Tomo gets this. *sucking finger*
スターターは、追加オプションのオイスター。食中毒にあってから食べられなくなったので、Tomoだけ。ええのぉ。
Amuse bouche – Hiramasa king fish
Beautifully seasoned Hiramasa King Fish – I don’t know what it is about the fish, but you can’t fail me with Hiramasa king fish. We both enjoyed the Japanese influence of the dish.
ヒラマサのお刺身・カルパッチョ、とでも言う感じ。ソースがヒラマサの身の締りと合ってとってもウマー。なんかしらんけど、ヒラマサってすごく好きなんだよねぇ。ペロリと頂きました。
“Scallop Sushi” – Nori rolled scallop, pickled ginger, puffed sushi rice, avocado cream
Looking at the menu, I was wondering about the quotation marks and here’s why. The dish visually resembles essential elements of sushi – The pink (Gari: Pickled ginger that’s always comes on the side), White (Sushi rice & scallop), Black (seaweed paper) and Green (Wasabi) I guess this is something you would need to actually taste the dish to get it, but the combination of these flavour and visual elements literally conjures up a real sushi. It’s like eating actual sushi with your eyes and mouth at the same time. Very interesting.
メニュー見た時に、何でクオテーションマークついてるんだろ、とか思ってたんだけど、見たらわかった。これ、いわゆるデコンストラクション（分解）の寿司ってやつですな。この、黒いやつ、細かい海苔がロールオンされたホタテで、切ると中は真っ白。まず、視覚的にピンク（ガリ）、白（酢飯）、黒（のり）、緑（わさび）という感じに、寿司の色要素が取り込まれてるっていう。これ、実際に食べないと説明しにくいんだけど、味付けと視覚の要素が合わさることで、ほんとに寿司を彷彿させる感じなんだよねぇ。目と口で同時に寿司くってます、みたいな。これはおもろかった。
Tartare of yellow fin tuna
warm leek cream, poached egg yolk, soy and wasabi, sprouting caviar lentils, amaranth grain
I should’ve taken this picture differently so the yummy looking poached egg yolk in the middle! This was soooo flavoursome and I loved the texture of it as well. Soft smooth texture of tuna, leek cream and egg yolk against crunchy sprouts and amaranth grains. I wanted another plate of this.
あー、これ、真ん中に置かれたポーチドエッグヨーク写真に取ればよかった、って今更残念感で悶々。味もさることながら、食感が良かった。ツナ、リーククリーム、黄身のスムースな食感と、対照的なボリボリ感のあるスプラウトとアマランスグレインが良い感じに交わって美味しいー。オカワリ！みたいな。
Queensland spanner crab and buckwheat risotto, mustard butter, shellfish essence
Oh how I loved this – it’s just packed with flavour! The form on the top was full of umami from shellfish, and it creates absolutely amazing flavour when mixed with the risotto underneath as recommended.
これが激ウマ！カニの旨みたっぷり、って感じの。この上部のアワアワが貝類のうま味がたっぷり凝縮されたフォームで、ウェイターさんに勧められたように、下にひかれたリゾットと混ぜあわせていただくことで、スパナークラブとの美味しさと混じり合って、すんごい美味しい。
Scampi & Cod fish with fennel and scampi cream
You know, this was also a great dish, but I guess I was loving the risotto so much that it didn’t strike us too impressive, to be honest.
これ、美味しかったんだけど、1つ前のリゾットに惚れすぎて、あんま印象が残って無いんだよねぇ。
Angus beef sirloin with Nameko mushroom and miso sauce
The first meat dish! There’s no explanation needed for the angus beef, right? It was visually screaming that it was perfectly cooked and seasoned. I was kind of intrigued by the Nameko mushroom on the side. Sticky & slimy mushroom that is in which I never had thought of putting on the dish along with meat. But it goes really good with all other elements on the dish. And the amazing tenderness of the beef just makes this dish perfect.
ニークッ、ニークッ！つか、これは見た目通りとしか言い様がないす。パーフェクトな焼き加減と味付け。あ、そういや、ディッシュの説明で「ナメェコォ」とか言ってたので、マジ？ってオモタス。普段あんま肉やらなんやらに添えるようなキノコじゃないのでさぁ。でも、その他の要素とよく合ってて、とっても良い感じ。さらに、このアンガスビーフの柔らかさが尋常じゃないくて、もう完璧。
Cocoa and sansho seared Mandagery creek venison, baby beetroots, rhubarb, chocolate, beetroot and boudin noir crumb
Again, this dish was also great but the previous dish was so good that this appeared less impressive compared to the angus beef. But the interesting part was the boudin noir crumb. It sort of added bitterness/smokiness to the venison, I wonder if that’s because the boudin noir had been smoked?? Or the cocoa & sansho that is?
先ほどに続いて、これも美味しかったんだけど、アンガスビーフがはるかに上回ってたので、そこまで印象的ではなかったかな？面白い点はブロッドプディングのクラム。なんていうか、これが苦さ・スモーキーさをヴェニソンに追加した、みたいな感じで。これってブロッドプディングがスモークされてるやつだからなのかな？こう、なんとなく焦がしたレバーみたいな感じの。
Blue and mascarpone cheese with macadamia granita (Optional dish)
This is another optional dish. I always love discovering a new combination to go with blue cheese, and this is something new I’d try. The dish has sort of half savoury half dessert feel to it.
追加オプションメニューのディッシュ。ブルーチーズって、他と合わせると旨さ倍増、とかいうコンビネーションあるから、そういうの発見するの大好きなんだけど、これまた新しい。マカダミアのグラニタと合いますよ。なんか、半分デザートっぽいような感じの一品。
Pre-dessert: Buttermilk, mint jelly and Japanese pumpkin granita
As a palate cleanser. Sourness of buttermilk and chilly granita really cut through the richness of previous dish, and we were so ready for the next dish to come.
口直し用のデザート。バターミルクのサワーな感じと冷たいグラニタが、1つ前のブルーチーズのこってりさからすっきりさせてくれますた。
“Chocolate Forest”
Soft chocolate, chestnut, elderflower cream, blackberry sorbet, blackberry candy, green tea, licorice, chocolate twigs, crystallised lemon thyme
Doesn’t this just look so pretty? It was a virtual forest in my mouth. As every spoonful of this went in my mouth with the sorbet, and chocolate elements made sounds like I was walking on a path in a forest, snapping off twigs with my foot as I walk. Love it!
これかわいくねー？？スプーンで口に入れる度、下にひかれたソフトチョコレートとかチョコレートツィッグやらがザクザクと音たてて、口内森林散歩みたいな。さっぱりしたブラックベリーのソルベと、ジャクジャクとクランチーなチョコの食感がウマス。
As I mentioned earlier, during our degustation course their staff was very attentive and that made our dinner even more enjoyable. Highly recommended, and I definitely would like to revisit soon.
最初の方で書いたけど、コースの間じゅう、スタッフがキビキビと対応してくれて、ディナーもとってもエンジョイできました。絶対オススメのSepia、また近いうちに行きたいな、と思うレストランデッス。
Sepia Restaurant & Wine Bar
201 Sussex street, Sydney NSW 2000
02 9283 1990
http://www.sepiarestaurant.com.au/
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Yay welcome back! I’ve missed HDE so much, especially your late night cooking shenanigans and self-portraits
Sepia has been on my wishlist for so long, I can’t wait to try it!
welcome back yas!! the pictures of tomo at the start are gorgeous (even the second one haha!) and it looks like you both had a delicious time.
Yas…it’s been a whole year already?!
Good to see you back but I’m sad that there were no oysters for you =( I’ve been trying to get to Sepia for 3 years, haha. From before they got their first hat but, um, something keeps getting in the way!
looks nice…what was the special celebratory occasion?
Great pics! And welcome back to blogland!
WOOOOOT! Welcome back Yas!!!! Sepia looks amazeballs
Welcome back! Does this mean there will be more late night cooking posts? Sepia looks fab!
Woohoo! Welcome back to blogging! Food looks amazing here and haha there’s nothing I like more than a man who appreciates his food!
YAY! Welcome back Yas, let’s see if Betty keeps her promise
Food looks AMAZING! Definitely on my hit list but now I think it might be hard with their 3 hat status. But that forest dessert looks to-die-for
its been such a long time!!! glad youre back into blogging. i loled so hard between the sharp lookin pic to the second one with the buttons almost bursting haha!
@Karen
When it comes to late night cooking, I know you’ll be up to be the first one to comment/give me suggestions! Hahaha
@Shez
Thanks Shez! Sepia was wonderful, we certainly had a great dinner there
@Mademoiselle délicieuse
I know right?! It feels like time flies much faster these days. Sepia was on my list for a while as well, and whats next is Etch!
@Adrian
Thanks! Oh it was just a close-to-anniversary-lets-just-do-it-now kinda dinner as we live far apart at a moment.
@Tina
Thanks Tina! I’ve got to put more effort to keep it up this time lol
@Suze
Thanks Suuuuze! I decided not to look at pictures from the past, and just move on… so the blog wouldn’t die this time lol
@Jacq
Thanks Jacq! Hehe yeah, but that also means I need to get back to gym regularly. Why do I love deep fried food late at night?
@Helen
Thanks Helen! Hehe Tomo & I seem to retain ‘we had a good meal, and yes our shirts are ready to burst, but what’s that to you?’ attitude lol
@Phuoc
Thanks! Yeah I need to ping Betty and see how she goes haha. Yeah thats what happened to me w/ Marque when they got rewarded! Wait patiently..
@Sugarpuffi
Thanks! Hehehe it’s not even before & after, you wouldn’t want to know what after look is like… lol
Welcome back to the blogging world!
Great photos, makes me want to go back again, Sepia is one of my fav places to eat
A year? Really? Doesn’t feel that long…
Well, welcome back all the same. Looks like an awesome time at Sepia
Oh dear ….