As I spend my summer days catching up with all the good folks in town, Amuse on Bronte Street in East Perth played host to one of those instances. Its presence as one of West Australia’s finest degustation restaurants stems from Amusè's inventive and slightly scientific approach to cooking. The outcome like experiments can lead to some pretty amazing outcomes which always keep things interesting. Does this elite institution still has what it takes to wow the crowd?
The Summer Degustation $135
Anticipation....
Flour and watermelon
Linseed and rice & Cheese and onion
Tapioca and crab
The starting courses at Amusé had always been a bit of a delicacy. A mix of refined techniques plus a hint of mystery creates a social environment where diners are left intrigued. Whether it was the sneaky puffs loaded with a bursty cheese filling or the bread stick wrapped with watermelon which emulates a trout, the courses felt queer yet extremely pleasant to the palate. The comes the crab and tapioca jar which felt a little bland. Sure it was subtle and to a certain provided that much needed summer freshness but it definitely did not hit the mark like the rest did.
Bread and butter
One thing I took away from the General Manager before leaving my old company was that Amusé serves really good bread. He was right. The bread was good, but the butter was even better. Sure, Testsuya’s really serve me kick ass bread and butter but the one served at Amusé is probably two folds better than its nearest competitor.
Parmesan, almonds, tomatoes, and nectarine
The infamous jar emitting a mysterious cloud of smoke before diners dig into crispy bacon, mushrooms and egg has now been replaced. Fermented nectarine might not sound appetising but the clever combination was nice. Unfortunately, diners like myself are still mesmerised by the past and not the present. Bring back the egg in a jar! :P
Marron, red cabbage, cucumber and plum
Barramundi and beets
Both these produce of the sea displayed colours of summer. One raw, the other cooked. Its approach was special, but taste felt rather normal.
Duck, sweet corn, caraway and mushroom
While the duck was not overcooked, I strongly suspect it was a tad undercooked. My companions around the table agreed too. But flavour wise, it was superb. Everything in the duck course agreed with one another, the smoky mushroom paste, the earthy-sweet corn and gamey duck. Kudos!
Beef, black garlic, daikon and shiso
Beef was very well-cooked but the whole dish did not have enough seasoning and felt a little bland. There was not any strongly flavoured element in there. At best, the daikon provided acidity to the dish and that was about it. There was no fancy play with the black garlic or shiso.
Buttermilk, blueberries and passionfruit
Fig leaf, pumpkin seeds and ginger
After all my visits to Amusé, I have yet to be extremely satisfied with their dessert courses. These two dessert courses to me is like a turning point in this modern institution. Both desserts worked. Refreshing, and decadent with a matching complexity. Take the course of fig leaf, pumpkin seeds and ginger. Who would have thought of such a composition? Amazingly, Amusé perfected the balance whilst leaving diner with a pleasant gingery note. Buttermilk, blueberries and passionfruit, give it to me any day and I will be a happy man.
Petite fours; Mint, pepper-berry, dessert limes and lychee.
Re-visiting this degustation icon in Perth is still every bit enjoyable as it was before. The food has changed with some courses surpassing its predecessors whilst some courses fared better in the past. But as I have reinforced before, Amusé is not that boring restaurant where you eat something you expect to eat. No, its not that predictable. Here, everything is a little bit of an experiment. As of such, hits and misses are apparent. More importantly, when it hits a sweet spot Amusé does it really well!
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