Cruise

Last weekend Ellen and i went to the lovely Cruise for dinner. It was really rather lovely getting all dressed up, dining in a fancy restaurant with just about the most stunning view imaginable. As for the food, we were both a little disappointed especially considering the prices.

The cocktails were fantastic, Ellen's was champagne based, very tasty. Mine was a mohito with a twist of fresh raspberries, seriously divine. We were naughty and decided to have a bread plate before our main. I must admit the olive oil and balsamic were really lovely, a fruity hint, great compliment to the sour dough bread. Of course we both went for the same main, a veal chop coated in Gorgonzola cheese, on a bed of polenta, and mixed wild mushrooms. And because we didn't have enough on offer we ordered a side of kipfler potatoes drizzled in truffle oil and herbs. Those potatoes were incredible, i must make that known. They were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, amazingly rich because of the truffle oil. The veal was beautifully cooked, but far too big for either of us to finish. As lovely as the polenta, mushrooms, and reduced sweet sauce were, Elle and i both found that it was all a bit rich. It was almost like eating a very large dessert, there was no real balance. I think we were both waiting for something to offset the richness, but unfortunately that something never came.

The actual desserts were also a bit disappointing. Somewhat strange and again too rich. I really enjoyed aspects of mine, but Elle found hers a little too 'new age'. I had the white chocolate sponge cake with clotted cream, strawberry sorbet and fresh strawberries. The cake was melt in your mouth soft and spongy, sweet and perfect. The sorbet was far to sickly sweet, it just wasn't a necessary component. Elle had a dessert called the Summer Landscape, and that is quite literally what they attempted to create. It was made up of a chocolate soil base (as they called it), a scoop of mint sorbet (very odd i must say, mint ice-cream yes, sorbet no) chocolate stick trees, tiny purple edible flowers, caramalised nuts and vanilla cream. It was interesting, the only real downfall was the sorbet, it just didn't work, especially with the rich chocolatey, creaminess of the other components.

So all in all a fairly disappointing reaction from the two of us. It may sound very snobby and rude, but we do dine out a fair bit, and that restaurant just did not live up to expectations. Perhaps we just chose wrong, there were some mains being eaten by other diners that were rather tantalizing, and even some entrées that looked quite tempting. I'd recommend it for a night out enjoying a nice few, a few cocktails and maybe some small nibblies downstairs by the bar. Ta ta!

Petunia
x