This restaurant has a nice setting on a pier in Rose Bay, a 15 dollar cab ride from the centre. The dining room is long and narrow, and is rather noisy due to the uncovered wooden floor. Starters were of mixed quaklity. A salmon mousse had stringy texture and hardly any flavour of the salmon itself, on a bed of rocket and deep fried capers, this was barely 11/20 standard.. Yet slices of salmon "pastrami" that were very lightly smoked, with peppercorns at the edge, were utterly delicious, easily 16/20. Both dishes were served with lightly toasted "rye" (wholemeal) bread. For main course, my yellowfin tuna was rare, pleasant enough, with some rather dull boiled potatoes - a sauce was needed. My wife had fried fish in insipid batter with chips, which were decent but no more than that; homemade tartare sauce was excellent though. Again, barely 11/20 for these main dishes overall.
Just one dessert was tried, and this was very fine: a perfect passion fruit soufflé with passion fruit sorbet, again 16/20 and at least as good as that at the Rockpool a few days earlier. Coffee and English breakfast tea was served with a small almond biscuit. The wine list was good, a sommelier-recommended 1991 Seppelt Pinot Noir, which was quite Burgundian and delicious - buy some if you ever see it. This place was very hard to mark, but around 13/20 may be correct, veering between 11/20 and 16/20. Service was OK but a little inattentive, other than the excellent sommelier.
Nic Moga
I had a great dinner here Andy, I think it's important to note that since your last visit the restaurant appears to have undergone a makeover to a more "informal upscale" place, with an 8-course degustation menu option in addition to an ala carte menu. I had four oysters before the degustation menu which were fantastic, absolutely divine. The tasting menu was solidly above average; the Lobster 'Agedashi' with poached foie gras was my most memorable dish. Service seemed a bit erratic and the matching wines were poured a bit heavy, but one interesting thing I did notice is the presentation of the food was far superior to either Tetsuya's or Quay. Overall thumbs up and worth another visit if you are in the area even if it's just to see how the place has evolved. The setting can't be beat, that's for sure.