Wockpool

Wockpool has a pleasant room decorated in modern style in Potts Point, delivering a meal of unfulfilled promise. A starters dish was "larb of cod", a Thai-style dish of small pieces of cod mixed in with green vegetables, leaves, peanuts and lemon grass in a spicy sweet chilli sauce. This was a stunning dish, the chilli sauce avoiding any sense of cloyingness, and the flavours distinct (16/20). King prawns were very delicately cooked, served with delicate snow peas (mange tout) and sweetcorn, in a fine soy-based sauce (15/20). Sadly the meal could not keep up the momentum. A main course of chicken with chilli sauce suffered from overcooked chicken (barely 11/20) while a whole steamed snapper, served with garlic and spring onions in a soy sauce, was pleasant enough but lacked any real impact (12/20).

Desserts tried were honey and cinnamon cake (12/20) with pieces of fruit (melon, pineapple, blueberries, blackberries) in a raspberry coulis. The other was ginger crème brûlée with sesame biscuit, served with the same fruit garnish (13/20), the biscuit pushing towards 15/20 level. Coffee was decent but unremarkable, while boiled rice was competent enough. We drank Gewürztraminer from Moorilla Estate, which was a very good Tasmanian wine.. Tim Adams botrytis-affected Semillon was the dessert wine. Service was quite good at this meal, with efficient staff.