Gundaroo - Grazing

Tonight we're indulging one of my most favourite, secret pleasures - degustation. And we're doing it at Grazing in Gundaroo.  Located in the historic Royal Hotel about half an hour form Canberra, Grazing is a series of dining rooms rather than one large, open space and honestly this works for me - I am not a fan of loud, open plan restaurants.  

The setting is lovely and the aesthetic starts in the lobby where you wait in front of a roaring open fire to be seated, watched over by a whimsical painting of the most interesting cow I've ever seen. Grazing's accolades are lined up subtly on the side table:

Inside the hardwood tables look like they're made from reclaimed sleepers - each is decorated with a small glass jar of flowers, a candle and a bottle of water.  Disconcertingly the napkins are paper and the reason for this appears later (it's so they can throw them straight on the fire).

Art from local artists is for sale on the walls and on this particular cold winter's night the open fireplaces are blazing.  For this review we're going to go course by course, blow by blow and include Machete's take with each course.

Bread

We are quickly settled at our table and made to feel at home with complimentary sour dough and a small bowl of fresh tasting extra virgin olive oil underpinned by a caramelised balsamic vinegar that tastes vaguely of red fruit - raspberry or tomato - Machete and I are not able to pin it down.  The sour dough is not heavy or challenging like you find in some restaurants - Grazing's in-house bread manages to be somehow both earthy and fluffy all at once.  We're super hungry because ours is a later booking so for this course the only photo is the remnants of the bowl - evidence of both how delicious it was and also how well estimated the portion of oil and vinegar was.

Machete:  *shoulder shrug and noncommittal noise* very tasty.

First course - Hand-rolled potato tortellini, almond ricotta, muscatel and beurre noisette

I've eaten at Grazing once before, many years ago, and the memory of the house-made mushroom tortellini is probably the main reason I wanted to return.  Their pasta is a shocking reminder of how far what you get from the grocery store is from what food can be and there's nothing to hate about this dish.  I am not the biggest fan of dried fruit in cooking but in this dish the dried muscat grapes are a necessary inclusion for balance against the potential heaviness of the tortellini and burnt butter.  Their taste is not a shocking departure from the rest of the dish and doesn't give you the unpleasant clash of flavour you're expecting. It's incredibly well done - there just isn't enough of it.

Machete: Second favourite dish of the night.  Would definitely like that one as a main.

Second course - Za'atar goat köfta, aubergine, smoky yogurt and cress

Goat is one of those dishes I have a fickle relationship with.  It can either be very, very good or very, very bad.  In this instance I think Grazing has managed to make me braver overall when it comes to goat.  I liked the spicy, thick consistency of their kofta balanced against the smoky yoghurt.  This dish was a substitute for the one we were supposed to get on the set degustation menu - Machete and I don't eat fish or seafood - and the chef chose very, very well.

Machete: Nice but you could probably find it in most Turkish restaurants.  Couldn't tell it was goat.

Third course - Local pork belly, apple soubise, braised sugarloaf

When it comes to food, I am a sucker for pork belly.  I will almost always default to it if I find it on the menu because it's hard to get it wrong.  Having said that, there are usually ways it could be improved - the two most frequent complaints are that the meat is not tender enough or the top is not crisp enough.  Grazing nail the pork belly.  Slow roasted overnight, everything under the crisp top flakes apart like the fish we refuse to eat.  And the top is a subtle crunch without being chewy.  Served with sugarloaf cabbage, little balls of tart apple and a soubise (onion laced bechamel sauce for those not familiar with this term) laced with fresh fennel, this is another well-balanced and pleasing dish.

Machete:  Stand out dish. Probably the best pork belly I've ever tasted.

Side dish - spiced smoky paprika broccoli with ajo blanco

I'm going to be candid about this one - the need for side dishes at expensive restaurants really annoys me.  At the price you're paying how hard is it to provide a few dollars worth of greens to the table so no one walks away hungry?  Charging $9 a throw for a side dish of green vegetables, salad or beer battered fries seems eye-rollingly cheap and yet every degustation in Canberra and surrounds seems to do it (and it's a pattern - $9 for the dish, as though they know they're being cheap but they believe that if it's less than $10 the diners will swallow it, and usually the exact same three things to choose from - vegetables, salad or potato).  

With that gripe out of the way, ordering the broccoli at Grazing is something I have mixed feelings about.  Yes, it's one of those annoying money-making ploys but you almost don't need it at this restaurant and when the broccoli comes it's very well done.  Calling it spiced smoky paprika is an understatement - it's the full on dukkah experience on a bed of almond and garlic mash (calling it ajo blanco, which is a Spanish soup served cold, captures the flavour but not the texture or the temperature of this side dish). We do not finish this one because we're getting quite full but it is hearty, filling and delicious so Grazing are almost forgiven for jumping on the stupid "let's charge for sides" train.

Machete: As a super taster, this wasn't bitter.  Very nice.

Fourth course - cheese and crab apple jelly

I admit to feeling a flicker of disappointment (okay, rage) when the "cheese course" was delivered to our table.  Cheese is not a bowl of dessert, it's wedges with crackers and fruit pastes.  Instead I have what looks like a dessert - a bowl of fluffy white and a small sliver of fruit toast.  Cheese course.  Are you kidding me?

Reader, I am ashamed to say it but I was very, very wrong.

I should have known by this point that the Grazing chef deserved my trust.  What is it?  No clue.  A smear of crab apple jelly at the bottom of the glass, a crumbled white cheese and then fluffy, light shavings of a pale yellow, sharper cheese.  Do not ask me what cheeses they were.  Don't ask me who came up with this or how they knew to make it.  But the net effect is that it is most definitely a cheese course, infinitely more satisfying than any wedge of cheese you might cut yourself and somehow this managed to be a light, refreshing, palate cleanser, which is not something I ever thought I would say about cheese, of all things.  How delightful to be so very fucking wrong.

Machete: Initially sceptical - this was absolutely delicious and a brilliant palate cleanser.

Fifth course - Salted hazelnut and caramel parfait, frozen fudge and cookie crunch

The final course is here and we are just about done.  The parfait is another very good example of how flavours can be balanced to make sure nothing dominates and you experience the full range of flavour and texture without being overwhelmed by any of them.  It's deliciously sweet, cut by the salted caramel smear it's served on and the crunch is a blend of flavours that round it off nicely.  My mouth isn't entirely sure what's going on but it knows it doesn't want to quit until the bowl is clean.  And I don't.  

Machete: Good.  Not overly sweet.  Sweet without being too sweet - a nice finish to a meal.

Ratings

Price point: $$$

Value for money:  Grazing is priced at about the same as equivalent restaurants in the region but there are a couple of things I want to note.  The first is the only complimentary thing you get is the bread.  No amuse bouche or bite sized palate cleansers here.  Having said that, it is not one of those disappointing degustation experiences where your first point of call on the way home is Maccas for a happy meal because you don't want to go to bed hungry.  So I don't think this is a negative, just something to note.  

What was a negative from my perspective in terms of value for money was the $13 cost imposed on a 750ml bottle of sparkling water.  Read that again. Thirteen dollars for less than a litre of water just because it has bubbles in it.  The sparkling water also doesn't appear on the drinks menu so you don't realise how much you're forking out until the bill gets there. Not cool, Grazing, really not cool.

Kid factor:  Not one for the kids.  Not a chicken nugget in sight and you'll spend the whole evening trying to stop them from throwing things into the open fire - especially after they see the waiter do it with the napkins and menus.

The positives: The layout means you're dining in a small, intimate space with the background murmur of diners in other rooms.  It's pleasing to the senses in every way.  The dishes are well thought out, balanced perfectly and the portion sizes mean you feel like you're having a meal not a series of samples. The chef happily swapped out the one course we couldn't eat and it was a good choice - we didn't feel like the overall quality of the meal was compromised which can happen with some set menus where a swap out is required and the chef seems to think "fuck it I'll give those picky fuckers a side dish and call it a swap out" (I'm looking at you Monster).  

The staff are also bright, friendly and engaging.  Attentive without being annoying is a hard line for wait staff to walk but every single staff member at Grazing nailed it.

The negatives: Still fuming about the $13 bottle of sparkling water, to be honest.  It's the only blight on the night but such a staggering and shameless example of price gouging that I can't let it go.  Grazing, you were so close to being the perfect dining experience - SO CLOSE.