We decided to try a new place to celebrate our birthdays this year. A new place to have a vegetarian degustation menu with wine pairing experience, to be precise. John found this place called The Gantry. It’s located at the end of The Rocks (Walsh Bay), right underneath the Harbour Bridge with a spectacular view (video attached). However, the experience did not match the location.
The moment our first entrée was served, a waitress who was passing by and carrying wine spilt the wine over John’s side of the table, soaking his arm, his cardigan as well as his shirt (they both need to be washed now). Our starters and John’s bread were drenched, too. Accidents happen, we get that but she didn’t even do a good job of cleaning up. John wiped the table with his napkin because it was still wet after her attempt. They took away our starters and John’s bread. Five minutes later, we were served again but nobody noticed that John’s bread was never replaced.
So, that’s how our birthday dinner started…
We decided to go for 7 courses vegetarian tasting menu as some of the dishes were more interesting and we didn’t want to miss out. It’s $119 per person and you add $85 on top of that for wine pairing. Here’s the menu:
THE GANTRY
7 courses vegetarian tasting menu
Curd – slow cooked grains – mushroom – smoked prune
Chestnut – brassica – white raisin – potato
Panisse – sour peppers – green garlic – almond
Sunchokes – endive – pine mushroom – mustard
Sheep cheese – kohlrabi – onions – salted egg
Blackberry – yoghurt – shiso – grape
Fig – brown butter – oats – honey – milk
Curd – slow cooked grains – mushroom – smoked prune
This is the first starter of the night. It was a well-balanced dish however the curd disappeared into mushroom broth, the smoked prune was very light on smoke so it was very much like biting into a dessert rather than a savoury starter. The ancient slow cooked grains were farro, quinoa and barley and they were quite filling. The wine which was paired for this first course was Wickery’s Riesling. It is a typical Australian Reisling. Quite acidic that the sourness of it catches you at the back of your palate. I guess it was okay but nothing special.
Chestnut – brassica – white raisin – potato
Caramelised purple cauliflower with white raisin, chestnut foam and white Riesling sauce. I couldn’t taste the earthiness of chestnut in this dish at all but the potatoes were nicely done. The dish was paired with an Australian Gruner Vetliner with an incredibly elusive nose, almost like white spirit. In the taste department, it wasn’t saying much. On top of that, the wine did not go well with the dish at all.
Panisse – sour peppers – green garlic – almond
The sour peppers in this dish were so sour that they put Turkish turşu to shame. Panisse was done very well. As for the wine, it was paired with a 2016 Yarra Valley chardonnay and thank God it was wooded. I really don’t like unwooded chardonnay. It doesn’t matter how popular or trendy unwooded chardonnay becomes, to me it’s like flat coke.
Sunchokes – endive – pine mushroom – mustard
Sunchokes (also known as Jerusalem artichokes) were beautifully done, the onions were caramelised well in this dish. The whole thing was topped with very thin potato skins. This dish was paired with Cooter & Cooter 2015 Shiraz from Australia and it was such a disappointment. It was raw, rough with very coarse tannins. No softness or finesse whatsoever. It’s the kind of wine you get from a cheap pub. Another disappointment!
Sheep cheese – kohlrabi – onions – salted egg
I must admit, this was the most disappointing dish of the night. What you have here is caramelised onions (again), farro porridge, kohlrabi and very rancid cheese. I couldn’t finish mine and it gave John a funny tummy. To make things worse, it was paired with an Italian Nebbiolo which was very basic. No nose to speak of, either.
Blackberry – yoghurt – shiso – grape
This was presented as a palate cleanser but it was the first dessert. Palate cleansers are served earlier on to transition you from mixed flavours and prepare your palate for the next dish. It was basically blackberry sorbet with bitter shiso. It was paired with a dessert wine which was nice.
Fig – brown butter – oats – honey – milk
And the second dessert. They talk about seasonality however the fig was under ripe, big time. It was paired with a 2016 Frogmore Creek dessert wine from Tasmania. It was a nice dessert wine but it’s so hard to get dessert wines wrong.
The Verdict
The Gantry was by far the most disappointing vegetarian degustation experience we have ever had. The food sounded interesting on paper but the flavours didn’t match that well. Contrasting flavours don’t create well-balanced harmony on a plate every time. As for the service, there wasn’t much floor management happening either. It’s a shame because we were so looking forward to trying a new place. Well, we are definitely going back to Bentley’s for the next celebration (our wedding anniversary, that is) or Yellow.
