Jacques Reymond Restaurant

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Elliot. R

I eat therefore I am, I am therefore I eat

Reviewed on: 10/11/2009

A couple of years ago Jacques spent a small fortune renovating his eponymous restaurant at 78 Williams Rd. The dining room is a sophisticated and elegant area. The tables, set with good quality cutlery and white linen, are well spaced and the seating is comfortable, although the corner banquette is low and a short customer might need a cushion!

They currently offer 'A Taste of Spring Degustation Menu' ($150, $240 with ]matched wines), a 'Menu Vegetarian' ($115) and an a la carte ... read more menu from which you can choose three courses ($98), Four courses ($125) or five for ($150). We selected the five course dinner and asked the sommelier , Natalie, Jacques daughter, to match wines for us . ($100). These were good size dishes and it proved to be a bit of a challenge to eat the lot.

In his traditional way prior to the first course a large and very tasty cheese gougere arrived at the table with the chefs compliments. Hot bread rolls, just out of the oven,another regular pleasure, were dangerously moorish.

I started with the Hervey Bay scallops and smoked condiments. These were seared, covered with a light liquorice foam, and sat on a bed of smoked ocean trout in sake tempura with a smoked eel brandade, smoked tomato sorbet and cucumber jelly.

This colourful display tasted wonderful although the smoked eel taste in the brandade was barely present. A great start.

We followed this with steamed coral trout in dashi broth, made from bonito flakes and kombu with apple, globe artichoke and olive dumpling. Another outstanding dish.

Next came the Wycheproof young pigeon the breast and one leg grilled with honey and szechuan pepper, the other leg in tempura. Served with wheat, coriander and lemon (both handled with a very light touch) rocket juices, ham hock oil and grapes (peeled and butterflied too!!) Another fabulous dish. The small copper pot had a mixture of chicken and duck liver in a mushroom sauce

The milk fed veal fillet, slow roasted and poached with kombu, citrus and red onions On the same plate blow torched tuna with sesame and alight ginger and sake dressing. Everything was tender, flavours were delicate and combined well. It was served with a 2001 Jacques Reymond Reserve Bass Phillip Pinot Noir.

This was turning out to be one incredible dinner.

The fifth course was gilding the lily - a supreme of pheasant, steamed and lightly seared with mild spices, king brown mushrooms bargoile, a parmesan salad and cooking juices emulsion.

With a side dish of young salads with blue cheese and walnuts ($18) I could not even consider a dessert. Tea/coffee and lovely petit fours completed a devastatingly good meal.

This must rank as the best meal I have eaten in Melbourne. I don't have enough praise for it

The one area in which there is room for improvement was the lack of knowlege about the way in which dishes had been prepared. Time and again waiters had to return to the kitchen to inquire as to how this or that had been produced read less

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Elliot. R

I eat therefore I am, I am therefore I eat

Reviewed on: 30/09/2009

Introduction: Since his recent refurbishment and the loss of some of his longserving staff, to my mind, Jacque Reymond has most successfuly reinvented itself.

Ambience: Pleasant large main dining room warmed by two artificial , but effective, wood fires.

Service: Attentative, helpful and informed.

Food: Beautifully presented, the Winter Degustation menu was unsurpassed at any restaurant I have eaten at in the last few years. It consisted of the ... read more following.

Packham pear and Jerusalem artichoke soup, gorgonzola and walnut cream - a great start.

Asian crab salad, rice crusted tuna and oyster tempura - a small seperate portion of each, the crab being especially tasty.

Paradise prawns and wakame (seaweed) chakin rather like a large quennelle in a miso broth - very light and delicate.

Lacquered Atlantic salmon, wok of oriental mushrooms a soy and sake glaze - the sweetish glaze with the perfectly so so perfectly cooked salmon was to die for Choice of Saddle of venison, with celeriac a beetroot and watercress salad or Suckling pig and mild spiced fresh bortolotti beans both of which I tasted were, once again, truly excellent dishes.

A pallette cleanser of mint and red plum sorbets topped with a pepper foam was unusual and effective
We were then offered some flexibility with the dessert I enjoyed a date pudding with icecream and a small, surprising, sugared, but still tart, cumquot whilst my wife enjoyed a smooth and perfectly prepared creme brulee.

People at the neighbouring table had a trilogy of mushroom with which they were not so enchanted. Although the pate was excellent the
capuchino was too dilute and the tempura too oily

There is also a vegetarian degustation menu available and what looked to be a most appealing a la carte menu

Wine: Good range. By the glass $13 to $30 (for a vintage, '86 I think) Moet and Chandon

Price: Two courses $70, 3 courses $94, 4 courses $118 Degustation $120 Vegetarian degustation $86

Side salad $12, with blue cheese $18

Comments: A truly excellent gourmet dinner. We thoroughly enjoyed a second visit and had the Autumn Degustation menu. Now $140 It is 1/3rd of what you would pay for it in America or England. read less

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(301)

Elliot. R

I eat therefore I am, I am therefore I eat

Reviewed on: 30/09/2009

According to the somewhat biased AGF the only 3 star restaurant in Melbourne Jacques Reymond continues to produce exceptional menus that are a joy to the palate.

His approach to fine dining is to offer entree size dishes of a wide variety which can be a la carte - 3,4 or 5 courses or a degustation menu of 7 courses plus coffee and petit fours also available in vegetarian products

We had the Autumn Degustation with matched wines.

Beginning with his ... read more signature gougere, a classical French amuse bouche, before the soup of crunchy lettuce like a minestrone which sat on very tender pork belly and had a Parmesan foam and truffle salsify served with a 2006 Freycinet Chardonnay. This unusual combination was interesting but didn't stimulate any desire for more, or to have it again.

The black lasagna of blue swimmer crab and wasabi, Thai salad was wonderful. It sat on a slice of watermelon and the textures and tastes blended beautifully or you could deconstruct part of the dish to experience the individual flavours. All this served with moorish bread straight from the oven.Laquered salmon petuna trout, fennel and vanilla puree, oriental mushrooms served with a 2006 Farr Rising Pinot Noir was cooked through and replaced without hesitation with a perfectly prepared piece of salmon. A very good dish but not outstanding.

Prime eye fillet of beef and kohlrabi, a carrot and daikon salad also fell into that class of very good but not outstanding.

I also had a good report on the 'Rigatoni' vanilla and crustacean sauce. Moloolaba prawns, not on this menu The Western Plains suckling pig, slow cooked and fresh lemon pasta, broken juices is another dish to die for. You can't describe it you just have to try it for yourself. Served with a 2001 Dalwinnie 'Jacques Reymond blend' shiraz which our waiter told me JR himself was involved in the blending.

Maybe - who knows it was far to acidic for this dish. Perhaps it would have been better with the alternative to this course which was venison Raclette cheese, spunta potato, organic prosciutto with a 2005 Louis Sipp Gewurtztraminer from Alsace was so good I'd happily have had three serves The cheese super and the combination great and that goes for the wine to.

Spiced pineapple and ginger cream, chocolate lemon myrtle and bush pepper berry ice cream with a Terte du Lys d'Or Sauterne a rich and pleasing dessert. The botrytis was rather prominent in the wine

Petit four and coffee completed an excellent meal

Price: $150 or $220 with wine

Vegetarian $98 Three courses $98, four $125 five $150 read less

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(301)

Elliot. R

I eat therefore I am, I am therefore I eat

Reviewed on: 28/09/2009

Cooking for a renowned international organization of food lovers is an opportunity for chefs to shine but Jaques Reymond did himself few favours when he put on an expensive but undistinguished X’mas dinner for the the Chaine des Rotisseurs last week. Wines were organized by the wine master with the help of Michael McNamara, one of the principles of Princes Wine store, one of Melbourne leading cellars.

Unfortunately Jacques would not permit a tasting session with his food so it was ... read more surprising that the matches were as good as they were.

The guests were greeted on arrival with 1996 Duval Leroy Champagne, one of the great vintages in recent years, and quite excellent gougeres, a house speciality. The first course, a millefeuille of lightly smoked ocean trout, fresh wasabi, spiced nougatine, citrus and avocado salad was served with a 2007 Nicholas Potel Rully Blanc. This was a reasonable match for this starter of mixed tastes. The trout was extremely delicate and it seemed we were in for an excellent meal.

The next course was most disappointing. Described as deep sea rockling spiked with anchovies, crispy lacquered pork belly and Savoy cabbage, sourness of sorrel and sour cream, served with a 2007 Milton Clos de St.Anne Chardonnay this soggy cabbage with a piece of near tasteless fish was not improved by the conglomeration of accompanying tastes. Next came some relief with a dashi and apple jelly with cauliflower foam and tobiko mountain bush pepper yoghurt tempura and fennel simply king fish sashimi which was and enhanced by the delicate very fresh and regrettably very small slice of fish. The foam lacked taste and detracted from this course. The next course was an extraordinary mixture of things which absolutely failed. It was made up of a number of ill matched ingredients each alone may have been alright, except for the risotto which had none of the creamy character and texture that makes a good risotto so special.

It was made up of marinated and glazed quail, snail risotto, aged comte and grilled sausage senses of garlic, shallots and parsley. Three major ingredients I hope to never see on the same plate again. The 2008 Marchand and Burch Mt. Marrow pinot noir was the outstanding wine on the night.

Angus beef a la ficelle, natural cooking juice, soft potato aioli, the last main course, served with a 2006 Chateau St. Dominique St. Emillion. This was quite nice, tender and juicy, made rather special with a mustard ice cream. A roasted peach and almond frangipanne , tonka bean and vanilla bean ice cream completed the meal served with a dessert wine- a 2007 Pierre Bise Coteau de Lyon Beaulieu Rouannieres .

Attractive petit fours were served with a remarkably tasteless coffee. This was a meal full of surprises but most of them were not pleasing. Strangely Jaques was very secretive about his recipes acting as though they were state secrets. He refused a request for the recipe for his mustard ice cream and was outraged that guests might dare ask for the secrets of his kitchen.

He seemed unaware that there are plenty of recipes available on the internet. Sandra was so incensed by his attitude she expressed a desire never to return!

JacquesReymond earned its chefs hats for excellence in classical French cooking. It’s what they do well and they should stick to that. read less