Vegan Degustation at TESTUYA’S

Dinner Tetsuya’s My previous boss and world famous chef, Tetsuya san, invited us for a lovely dinner to celebrate the publication of my second book Japanesesuperfoods! I actually came to Australia to meet him in 1998, and since then I’ve had 9 gorgeous meals at his restaurant.  I feel very lucky! He is such a generous man!?? I choose the vegan option.

The beautiful course started with Charr Grilled Cucumber with pumpkin + dill and pear followed with Confit carrot with sesame, avocado, and beetroot. This was my very first experience to have char grilled cucumber and confit carrot.

I won’t do that at home, that is why we have to come to the gorgeous restaurant to experience, right? and worth it. Have you noticed that first two dishes are served in Japanese style plates? They look gorgeous! Then next fantastic dishes are…  Heirloom tomato with olive crisp I was seriously amazed this crisp does taste like olive oil! Little heirloom tomatoes were peeled…gosh, I respect the chefs who do that.

Imagine you have to keep peeling little tomatoes for one hour…. I used to make little chocolate truffles for an hour and it was really painful.

Tomatoes were simmered in beautiful broth…  yum Broccoli with tonburi, hazelnuts and pee puree What’s tonburi? Tonburi is sometime called ” plant caviar” or ” Japanese caviar” They are great substitute for caviar because of their beautiful texture like caviar.

Boring broccoli turned to yummy dish that is filled with great taste and texture Roasted eggplant with sesame and garlic chips Brown rice with slow cooked beetroot After having yummy meals, it is time to cleanse our palate with Apple snow on apple jelly which was super refreshing then   Soy brûlée with Strawberries and gold Raspberry and Chocolate Chocolate was extremely rich without any dairy You can’t beat this match and finished with tea with petit four others were eating macaron but mine was mandarin jelly and blackberry jelly We had an absolutely outstanding experience.

All of us were happy and content after the meal.

It is not just amazing meals but also the service and ambience of the restaurants was also fabulous! I still saw a few staff members who I used to work with in 1999.