Marque reopening
Marque closed (very) briefly recently to do some renovations (where?) so Neville thought that we had better go and check it out – none of us having been there for a little while.
The restaurant seems the same as before but the food is a notch above what I remember.
We got things underway quickly with a Selosse “Substance” (disg. June 6 2005). The nose was typical of Selosse, with lots of oxidative character, reminiscent of Vin Jaune. The palate took some time to build. I was very surprised by its dryness. With time, it opened up more and I noticed those peculiar Selosse aromas of seaweed, roasting crab shells and spring flowers. A very interesting wine.
With this was served a Coffin Bay virgin pacific oyster with grilled sea foam. The foam was something else, extremely dense and reminiscent of German dessert wine in flavour and sweetness. The grilling had, in fact, caramelised part of it. The evocation of German Riesling was fitting, since a Egon Muller Schartzhofberger Spätlese 2002 was served at the same time. This was a wine of nearly singular purity. On the palate, deep down, there was a mysteriously subtle complexity. I’ve noticed this one a few young German wines recently and I’ve been told that this comes not just from the good quality fruit but the very slow élevage in big, old, well tended barrels.
Next came a Tartare of scampi with blood orange, foie-gras, kumato and nougatine. This dish worked better than the oyster dish, being more harmonious in flavour. An octopus Niçoise was less successful: while the octopus was indescribably tender I didn’t understand the reason for pairing it with very bitter passion fruit and iceberg lettuce. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to ask Mark Best (chef) about what he was trying to do with this dish.
A William Fevre Bougros Grand Cru Chablis 2002 worked well with the octopus, as long as you stayed away from the dressing. This wine was very well received, having both power and finesse. The nose is showing some development now with subtle hints of ginger and butterscotch. That said, it is not at all overdone or in anyway fat. The palate was assertive, powerful for Chablis. Personally, I found this a little on the ripe side for Chablis but was still very impressed.
Next came a bracket of two wines, Coche-Dury Meursault “Les Rougeots” 1996 and Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne 1989. The Coche-Dury was at first too sulfurous but those who waited were richly rewarded later: the wine delivered up beautifully complex aromas of honey, rose petal, candied ginger and matchstick (sulfur). Again, it was the showiness, backed up by elegance and complexity, which really surprised me with this wine.
The Bonneau du Martray struck me immediately with an aroma just like black truffle — maybe I’ve just got truffle on the brain? There was a real fineness and poise that I adore in the wines of this producer. A great effort for the vintage and an excellent wine.
These two beautiful wines were served with perhaps the best dish of the night: Cured ocean trout with coleslaw, lemon and dill jelly. The reference to coleslaw is immediately jarring — I’m not sure why it is even referred to. Putting that to one side, this was an extremely impressive dish. I wondered at the difficulty of serving a dish which would obviously be compared to the most renowned dish from Australia’s most renown chef, Tetsuya Wakuda. This dish succeeded in not just doing something different, for me was better than Tetsuya’s offering. All the white wines served thus far were superb with this dish.
The next dish was another favourite: Duck liver with duck ham, onion and charred leek. The execution of this dish was near to perfection. The duck ham was salty, extremely complex, earthty, smoky, replete with dried olive and game aromas, very sophisticated; the liver was expertly handled, buttery, sweet and bitter with an amazing intensity. The only unsettling thing about this dish was the charred leek: frankly, it added nothing. Emerging from each dish was some kind of jarring or fractured quality which was puzzling to me. As I considered the dishes that have come before, I noticed the pattern: Oyster – weird foam; scampi – nougat; octopus – ice berg lettuce; beautiful ocean trout – coleslaw; duck – burnt leek. Mark Best is clearly trying to achieve something with this but I’m not sure I’ve understood. In the arts, this kind of post-modern trick is used to focus attention on the art itself and also to unsettle, challenge and break away from tradition. I can only conclude that this is the intention here… but is it really?
Despite these efforts to unsettle me, the gorgeous nose of the Sylvie Esmonin Clos St Jacques 2001 combined with the earthy complexity of the duck to do the opposite: they were perfect together. It was a moment of harmony amongst chaos. I was genuinely surprised at just how delicious this wine is: rich dark forest fruits with a strong streak of boysenberry. Amazingly melodious, not a thing out of place. The palate showed the vintage a little more: good but not great. There was structure there but maybe not enough for more than 10 more years. Regardless, an excellent wine.
By now, Neville had promised us he’d open a La Turque if the next wine was corked. When it was poured Cam immediately declared the Château Latour 1988 corked and called for the La Turque. As the wine was poured for the rest of the table, each taster debated the mustiness of the nose: was it TCA? Dirty barrels or handling? Age? In the end, some decided that the wine was definitely not corked while others thought it definitely was. One thing was certain: the wine seemed to show potential for much more without delivering it. I found it to have an extremely pronounced nose of graphite, steel, gravel all wrapped up in a savory blackberry jam. The palate showed the real problem with the wine, though correct there was just not much going on in it. A real puzzle.
The Château Montrose 1986 convinced us, really, that the Latour was not living up to its reputation. This wine seemed to have more of everything: aroma, complexity, flavour, intensity and even youth! A very fine wine.
Served with these were two dishes. First, a Roast quail with silver beet, Parmesan and bitter chocolate. The quail was superb but the silver beet was awkward. The chocolate added nothing except (fracture).
The Poached veal loin with root vegetables, Jerusalem artichoke and wakame worked well. The artichoke had been smoked and was almost brine-like. Several people commented on the similarity the entire dish had to… fish pie. Not just in aroma, the texture of the components reminded me a lot of elements of fish pie too.
The final red was a Clos Erasmus 1998 which I felt was faulty.
With a Bleu del Moncenis, apple jelly and konbu, Mark Best strayed into dangerous territory: cheese is extremely difficult to improve upon and those who do usually fail. For me, the konbu and apple jelly masked the strong note of ammonia in the cheese — which to me was overripe. Others found the dish much more successful.
With this, Neville surprised us with a Muller Catoir Mussbacher Eselshaut Rieslaner Auslese 1998. This was a near singular wine, on a night of singular wines. The nose, the palate were just amazing. For some, this was the wine of the night. A remarkable wine of impeccable balance with an unending finish. I’m still savoring it.
The Sauternes custard pre-dessert was the most straight forward dish of the night and worked very well.
The warm chocolate ganache with rosemary, praline and lemongrass was (again) so (fractured) as (to) not.work.at.all.
The final wine was a Huët Haut-Lieu Moelleux 1989. This wine showed rich baked brown apple with cinnamon and white pepper tied together rich a tropical richness of botrytised fruit. The palate was unctuous without being cloying. A wine of great potential that needs many more years in the cellar, in my opinion.
For me, an extremely enjoyable night of food and wine. It was hard for me to decide which wines I enjoyed the most, the vast majority being so enjoyable.
The quality of the food and skill with which it was executed are obvious. The jarring theme of all dishes is in stark contrast to the other great restaurants in Sydney and Australia.
