Probably one of the worst thing about working on the job is being told a million times how fantastic the single dish that I missed out on was.
Work had our big corporate lunch last Thursday to wine and dine clients. Last year it was Aria and this year it was held at Quay. The day was sunny, and everything was looking good as we ran around preparing the room before clients started to arrive.
Since the number was over 80, the restaurant cornered us into having alternates, it wasn’t so bad if only I didn’t have to look to my left or right longingly throughout the entire afternoon.
My entree was salad of spring vegetables, herbs and flowers, goat’s curd cigars, lemon jam, Sicilian extra virgin olive oil. Put it simply it was spring onion with a dollop of soft goat cheese laced with lemon jus (not jam) lathered with olive oil. It was interesting, but it made me wonder if I can achieve the same taste by substituting lemon olive oil instead of half the ingredients.
Main was chicken or lamb. Chicken was huge and somewhat tough, but rather average overall. There were mixed reviews on the lamb, some thought it was a little too rare others mentioned it was just too well done.
Now the tragedy was that I missed out on what most claimed to be the most incredibly dessert they ever tasted; a semifredo of almond and cream. The alternate was a rather dull cheese platter. I was doing the rounds of taking photos, and when i returned back to my table guess which dessert I ended up with? I had a brief glimpse of a soft, square block of cream that was promptly demolished the moment I tried to get a closer look. It felt like stalking a rather rare and exotic fauna before it was eaten into extinction by a roomful of suits.
Needless to say my fellow diners were not keen on swapping that day.
mirgraphy 