Address:Lvl 5, 100 Market St, Sydney NSW 2000
For a Sydney-side who landed in Brisbane for just over 2 months and are finding it difficult to tackle the best (and at times, the worst) restaurants and eataries in Brisbane, I generally does not concern myself with providing reviews to Sydney restaurants. However, this special comes with the recent announcements of the closure of Becasse and Quarter Twenty One due to financial difficulties.
I make no attempt to hide my shock and horror of how quickly things tumbled down for the high-end restaurants in Sydney during a financial downturn. Especially since Becasse is one my favourite restaurant and it was less than a month ago when I went to Quarter Twenty One for their degustation course. It was one of the cheaper degustation restaurants found in Sydney and the food they served were surprisingly yummy.
Located in the new Centrepoint Westfield, the location of the restaurant is a little bit strange for a one hatted restaurant, but extremely easy to get to. Although the entrance of the restaurant shares common area with Westfield's foodcourt, once inside, the ambiance is quiet and elegant. You do feel like you have been pulled away from the hustling and bustling of a busy shopping mall.
The only draw back for my meal however, was that the service was a little bit slow and for the 7/8 course meal, it took over 3 hours to finish and a lot of the times, we were waiting whilst hungry.
However, the waiters and waitresses were all very nice and they kept the bread rolls flowing whilst we waited (I wonder if that's why they went bankrupt??)
Now, whilst not all the dishes were stand outs, there were two outstanding ones that made an imprint in my mind - the seared scallop and crispy pig tail and the banana creme brulee with salted peanut brittle.
The pigtail was quite exotic and I do admit it is not everyone's cup of tea. But I do guarantee you, if you don't know what you are meant to be eating, you would not have discovered the pig's tail.
Opinions on the pig's tail may differ, for the group of friends that I went with, we all agreed that the creme brulee was probably one of the best ones we have ever tasted.
Quarter Twenty One took a simple creme brulee and has given it their own twist. Starting with the crisp salted caramel brittle instead of the usual caramelized top to the peanut brittle hidden with the creme brulee.
I will admit that this is the dish that had me go 'WOW, I want some more'!
I am saddened that Quarter Twenty One will be closed and that I will never again have a creme brulee like the one I had.
RIP Quarter Twenty One! You shall be missed!
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