Cutler & Co.

A beautiful night at Cutler & Co will set you back $130 per person plus a $100 service charge. It's expensive, but it feels so right. To celebrate a special occasion here will definitely be remembered by all members of the party. Cutler is a set out in a few different ways, a bar-style seating arrangement around an open plan kitchen preparation area, and a more intimate traditional dining room out the back. The decor is minimalist, but very clean.

Free bread! The best part was the delicious puree relish that came with it, pinenuts tomato and capsicum. And yes, the weird mushroom cup shaped bread was the tastiest.

The entree was a very simple looking dish, an anchovy pastry served with salsa verde. The pastry stick on its own was very salty but was dampened with the salsa verde (which was very delicious on its own).

The first course of the night was Tuna tartare, fromage blanc & bottarga. The tuna was beautiful and fresh, and the smoked cheese was light but full of flavour due to the addition of bottarga, a smoked salty pressed fish roe. The fried kale brought a nice salty crunch, along with the fried crisps which added to the texture element of the dish.

Heirloom tomato, silken tofu & black garlic. This was a surprising vegetarian portion of the menu, a light refreshing salad featurnig perfectly smooth tofu and an asian inspired salty kick from the black garlic (fish sauce). The herbs and flowers went really surprisingly well, and remained unobtrusive throughout the dish. If vegetarian food were like this 100% of the time, I could be a vego fo' sho'. 

White cut chicken, corn custard, scallop & watercress. The scallops in this dish were perfectly seared with a salty crust, they went really well with the corn custard which wasn't as sweet as expected, which was nice. The chicken was served cold which was interesting, so there was a good contrast between hot and cold. A nice introduction to things to come. 

Flounder, brown butter & pickled onion. I love fish dishes and this was no exception, the flounder was cooked and smoked to perfection. The sauce was incredibly buttery with a touch of lemon, and could've made any dish significantly better by existing. The pickled onion had a very big pickle kick but it was best dish so far.

Dry aged lamb saddle, confit belly & fermented carrot. Lovely, creamy, fatty meat hunks which melted in the mouth. The carrot was quite sour but was balanced by the spicy garlic cream. I enjoyed the surprise parcel of pastry square which was with pulled pork. 

The palate cleanser was a focus on peach. Fresh quartered peaches, with peach sorbet and almond cream foam presented in a tiny glass jar. I loved the lightness of the foam. The cleanser was not overly sickly sweet but just right, and they really nailed the essence of peach in the sorbet, it tasted almost identical to the real thing. 

Melon, cucumber & buttermilk ice cream. I can't say dessert was my favourite, which has been a theme throughout my fine dining experiences. 

The ice cream was understandably sour given it's buttermilk, and though the melon was sweet, the whole dish confused me. Together the elements tasted fine, and the dish did improve with each bite, however I definitely would not order this as a stand-alone dessert. It's almost like they were moving toward savoury again, and so didn't really give me the satisfaction of closing the meal appropriately with sweets. 

Luckily it was Earl Grey Marshmallows to the rescue - soft and pillowy, light and dissolved in your mouth. Pretty good.

TL;DR A very nice experience with very refined delicate food.