In this day and age of fine dining, there are numerous freebies to be had, with every restaurant offering their versions of complimentary breads, amuse bouches, pre-desserts, and petits fours. It is pretty much standard these days to be offered at least something when eating in a good restaurant, so there is little to surprise. However, on this particular occasion 'dining' at Restaurant Arras, the chef's generosity has to be greatly applauded.
Restaurant Arras (previous review here) is our favourite restaurant down in Walsh Bay, due to chef Adam Humphery's creative modern take on British food, and everytime we are in the area, we always drift back there despite the presence of so many other fine restaurants.
This time, because of time constraints as a result of an evening show at nearby Sydney Theatre, we had a quick dinner up the road at Cafe Sopra instead of Restaurant Arras. When it came down to desserts though, we were not convinced by the limited offerings at Sopra, and so we wandered down to Arras to see whether we could grab a quick dessert. Knowing on previous visits that Arras is (unfortunately) usually half-empty at this early hour, we were slightly hopeful as we waltzed into the door at around 7p.m. Luckily for us, there were a few empty tables and after enquiring as to their availability for a quick dessert, we were happily ushered to a table and given the dessert menu.
The dessert menu at Arras, much like their main menu, is rather cryptic. It is the job of the waiters to explain the dishes to the diners, and from the choices we had, K chose An Adolescent Breakfast and I chose The Cinematic Souffle.
After placing our orders, the waitress mysteriously brought over two sets of knives and forks for each of us, making us wonder what was happening. A few moments later, the answer arrived, in the form of a pre-dessert!
We were left speechless, as we were not expecting to be able to occupy a table just for dessert, let alone be offered a free pre-dessert! And this was no ordinary pre-dessert, but a deconstructed raspberry cheesecake, with the various components all beautifully presented on a long plate (apologies for the poor photo). The little cubes of cheesecake were delightful, as were the separate bits of juicy raspberry, diced granny smith apples, crumbs, and raspberry sorbet or ice cream (I can't recall). It was sweet, sour, bitter, and oh-so lovely, and the numerous textures were great. What a fantastic and magnanimous gesture by the chef and we truly appreciated it.
Not long after, our ordered desserts arrived and we were both thinking: "How are we going to eat all this?" as our stomachs were still in the process of contemplating the pre-dessert, let alone digest it!
An Adolescent Breakfast - $18
K's dessert was certainly creative, especially the nudge-nudge-wink-wink mini toothpaste tube of cream which needed to be squeezed out! I didn't get to taste much of it, but he assures me it was delicious, with the chocolate cake and caramel frosting, thin chocolate flakes, cereal-like oat and honey crumbs, and a scoop of cream completing a delightful dessert. I wish I could have a breakfast like this every day! Maybe not every day, but at least on the weekends?
The Cinematic Souffle - $18
My dessert was inspired by the cinema as the name implies, and is comprised of a wee bag of popcorn, a popcorn souffle, a few candied popcorn pieces, and a popcorn flavoured ice cream or sorbet (again I have forgotten, sorry!). There was also a small jug of caramel sauce to pour into the souffle if desired. The souffle was light and airy, and the embedded pieces of popcorn on the top added an interesting crunch. The popcorn ice cream or sorbet was lusciously smooth and tasted unusual, but everything worked well together. I just wish this great little dish was available at my local Greater Union!
Usually, the amazing Arras petits fours platter would be most welcome, but we found it hard to fully appreciate it after two gorgeously filling desserts. K picked up a chocolate ganache and nibbled on that whilst sipping his latte, but I had to unfortunately refuse. Shame on me I know but sitting in the theatre high on sugar would not have been ideal!
After all that amazing sweetness and generosity, not to mention the fabtastic value ($23 each for wonderful quality pre-dessert, dessert, and almost unlimited petits fours!), we left the restaurant even more impressed than before. We asked the friendly waitress to thank the chef for us, knowing that we would be back sooner rather than later, with a little more room next time for the desserts for sure ....
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