Last night's dinner was beyond sublime. We chose the degustation menu at Bacchus, Newcastle's most gorgeous restaurant, and were both enraptured. We started with a seared tuna amuse bouche, moved onto a poached quail egg with mushrooms a la greche, then it was local snapper, followed by a sublime duck breast on a bed of puy lentils and lentil puree. I was pretty sure that the meal reached its zenith at that point. Honestly, the duck breast was cooked sous vide which made it achingly tender and beautifully rare. The lentils were spicy and added the perfect accompaniment - oh, and I can't forget the duck 'oysters' {remember that scene in Amelie where the guy shows that the chicken oysters are the best part? Well, same goes for duck}. Mmmmm.
Then our palate was cleansed with pineapple sorbet with baby coriander. Mmmmmmm.
Well, so as I was sitting there, sipping wine, chatting with my beloved and feeling pretty positive that I'd reached the peak of culinary excellence the pork plate came out. Excuse me while I take a second to compose myself... Oh my. There was an amazing pile of ham hock, so exquisitely spiced and flavoured that it took my breath away, a piece of pork shoulder so rich and deep that my mouth was pretty sure it'd died and gone to heaven. Think that's the peak? No way. There was the pork pie. Good lord, the pork pie. Pastry so thin, so light and so dense with flavours encased the most delicious pork meat I've ever eaten... Divine. Accompanied by a white bean puree, white bean foam {not that silly light fluff - but light, exquisite essence of beans} and a pork scratching that snapped in my mouth and filled it with porky deliciousness. I nearly cried while eating it as it was just so damned delicious.
I can still taste it...
Then a muscat creme brulee came out and set my heart a-fluttering. Creme brulee is my favourite pudding and I was worried that the muscat would overpower the delicate custard. Which, as the chef is obviously a genius, it didn't. It enriched and infused the custard with the most extraordinary flavour - so much so that I finished every last mouthful, expecting to be rolled out.
Then, a tray of six petit fours were placed beside us. A wee chocolate truffle, a rich butterscotch caramel and a perfect lemon meringue pie. Divine.
It was a complete dining experience from the surroundings in an old theatre, exquisitely reworked as a restaurant to the professional, friendly and attentive staff.
It didn't come cheap - but it was worth every single cent.
