Where to Find Australia's Most Flamboyant Feasts
Flaming desserts, tableside trolleys and other acts of showy service are in the midst of a comeback (no special occasion required).
In the late 19th and early 20th century, particularly in Europe and the United States, dining out went far beyond filling up on good food. Service à la Russe, popular in the 1800s, was all about portioning and plating dishes elaborately in the dining room instead of discreetly in the kitchen. Gueridon service took things a step further, introducing a grand trolley where salads were tossed and desserts set alight before diners’ eyes. The idea was to make sure guests felt fussed over and to turn a meal into an occasion.
“Tableside service is an old-school thing that I used to experience as a teenager when my parents would take me to the shores of Lake Garda and its Belle Epoque restaurants and hotels,” says chef and restaurateur Alessandro Pavoni of Sydney’s a’Mare and Ormeggio. “It feels very special.”
These days, most Australian restaurants are resolutely casual but the tradition of dinnertime theatre is finding its place. It’s all part of offering an experience that goes beyond the goodness on your plate. “You’re giving emotion as a type of art,” says Pavoni. “And it makes you feel wonderful.”
At a’Mare, an elegant Italian eatery at Barangaroo, waiters pound basil to make pesto on the restaurant floor and finish the paccheri all’arrabbiata with chilli and olive oil or a little lobster on request. Fish is filleted at the table and for dessert, a fancy gelato station pulls up and diners can choose their own toppings. Pavoni’s other restaurant, Ormeggio, at The Spit on Sydney’s inner harbour, also makes a production of its final course: the meringue on the Amalfi lemon gelato is torched just moments before the first bite.
For Pavoni, the act of finishing food in the spotlight is about energising his staff as much as his customers. “I wanted the front-of-house staff to learn this skill and showcase it in front of people because when you give someone the gift of an experience, it’s addictive.”
At the newly renovated Vue de Monde in Melbourne, the approximately 15-course dégustation is sprinkled with relaxed, almost affectionate interplays between guests and staff. Perhaps the most enjoyable is towards the end of the meal when diners are led to the kitchen.
“Everyone in Melbourne loves the hot jam doughnuts at the Queen Vic Market,” says pastry chef Claire Feij, explaining that the team wanted to bring that very down-to-earth snack to their sky-high restaurant. In the kitchen, guests select from two flavours of filling – Davidson plum, strawberry gum or a mix of the two – before eating the treat hot on the spot as the action carries on around them.
“We like that the guests can have a bit of interaction with our team, making them feel part of things,” says Feij. “Often people come to us for special occasions and they are excited – that energy goes back and forth between the chefs and the guests.”
Where to find a flamboyant dining experience
WA
Fleur
You’ll need to time your booking carefully to enjoy the pomp and ceremony of flambéed crêpe suzette at this popular Perth bistro inside The Royal Hotel, as it’s served on Wednesdays and Thursdays only. Cooked at the table for a light and airy texture, the theatrical moment arrives when the butter, citrus and Grand Marnier sauce is ignited, creating a flambé moment that gives the dish a subtle caramelised flavour.
TAS
Landscape
The elegant restaurant inside Hobart’s Henry Jones Art Hotel is famous for its unmatched collection of John Glover paintings. Now, the presentation of its new cheese trolley course draws diners even further into the artist’s world. Choose from Coal River Farm Blue, Pyengana Cheddar and more – but the showstopper is a girolle of Tête de Moine. A few fluffy pieces of this famous Swiss cheese are dotted onto each plate to look like the clouds in a Glover masterpiece.
VIC
Society
Big, bold gestures are all part of the package at Melbourne’s Society. In the dining room, white-gloved waiters carve salmon en croûte and finish it with a roe beurre blanc, while fragrant steamed mud crab is dressed with pickled daikon, ginger, curry leaves and a smoked bonito broth at the table.
NSW
Saint Peter
Careful and creative preparation is at the heart of everything at Saint Peter, in Sydney’s Paddington, and chef Josh Niland has found a new way to show the story behind it. When you order a dish that includes the restaurant’s fishbone noodles, staff bring out an iPad to play you a detailed video that explains how they’re made. Other tricks include toasting the top of a lemon tart with a brick of charcoal.
The Charles Grand Brasserie & Bar
At this Sydney CBD spot, wait staff assemble steak tartare, fillet flounder, carve and dress the spatchcock pithivier and present a flamboyant dessert trolley featuring an unmissable Russian honey cake.
I Maccheroni
If you’re serving cacio e pepe and not finishing it inside a wheel of cheese, did it really happen? At Woollahra’s I Maccheroni, the core of its spaghettoni version – pasta, parmesan and pepper – is prepared in the kitchen then brought out inside a wheel of pecorino romano. There, the server twists the pasta inside the wheel to coat every strand in an extra layer of cheese.
QLD
The Lex
Despite its Roman-sounding name, Caesar salad was actually invented in Tijuana, Mexico, where it was mixed tableside with a flourish. At The Lex, in W Brisbane, the tradition has been revived, with servers combining the lettuce, croutons and dressing while diners look on.
Brisbane Phoenix
The Brisbane outpost of this classic Sydney restaurant pulls off one of the best Peking ducks in town. As is customary, the bird is presented whole and carved at the table before the first course of duck pancakes and your choice of sang choi bao, fried rice or noodles for round two.
