"We're going to dinner with Trissa and Dan" I tell Mr NQN one evening and then mumble "It's Indian French" and then scamper off quickly before he can ask me to clarify. No such luck "Whaaat? Did you say Indian French?" he asks incredulously. Gulp "Yes" I answer. "Well I hope it ends better than the last fusion restaurant we went to" and I can't help but agree.
Inside it's vivid oranges as Dan points out as he's wearing a bright orange shirt too. There are oranges in a bowl, orange lights and there's also a touch of the Old Raj in one corner with gilt edged tables and chairs. The menu sounds tempting so we ask the waitress what she recommends and she decisively reels off 4 entrees and 4 mains.
Our amuse bouche is a light green pea cappucino which is deliciously earthy with a light touch of Indian spices.
I love trout and this is a good start to the meal with the celeriac cappucino giving the salmon, shaved fennel and salmon roe and well rounded flavour. Without the cappucino, it just isn't complete. We find we do have to ask for a spoon to get at the cappucino though.
The chicken tikka is gloriously red and is tender and juicy. It comes with baby pimento, fried roti and a delectable saffron honey yogurt. At this point we need to flag down a waitress and ask for some Naan bread to mop up the lovely sauce.
The soft dossa was more like a thick crepe rather than a traditional Indian dosai which is paper thin. I savoured each bite of this and the flavours of the Ginger carrot emulsion, lobster air (ok more foam) and beetroot soil just blended together gorgeously.
The paper thin layers of filo pastry, pumpkin cubes, rich goat cheese parfait, fried walnuts and cinnamon froth go well together in a mixture of soft, crispy, rich and foamy.
The Mango Lassi foam is tangy and delicious, and well just like the foam from the top of a frothy mango lassi!
This is more the proportions of an entree with the 3 kofta balls of palak paneer (Indian Cheese), smoked eggplant and champagne froth but each bite is delicate and light and flavoursome. Mr NQN's only complaint? The size. Taste wise it's gorgeous with the crispy kofta outer and soft ricotta inside.
Trissa's favourite was the Chai tea smoked duck breast which comes with a lovely distinct smoked chai flavour along with a rich foie gras khichir, blanket of madras curry emulsion and glace cumquat (although I don't really taste much glace cumquat). The khichir is unusual, like a barley or rice although I tried to find our more about it on the internet to no avail with the closest thing being khichdi.
The favourite main for most was the delectable lamb fillet which was spiced with garam masala and served with a gorgeous slick of borlotti bean dahl, pistachio crunch and makhani veloute. This was another course in which we were grateful for the naan bread.
After the creativity of the other mains, the Tandoori chicken pales by comparison. This is simply tandoori chicken served with micro rice which is not microwave rice but slightly smaller rice and peas with a butter chicken emulsion. The chicken is not as tender as the Chicken tikka and is slightly stringier.
We receive our pre dessert, a spice poached pear with blue cheese. It comes in a sweet syrup and the salty rich blue cheese goes gorgeously with the sweet pear tickling all of the tastebuds as it goes down the hatch.
We were oohing and aahing over the desserts and when our waitress hears that she solves the problem by telling us that only 2 out of 4 desserts are available tonight. When the Rose Petal parfait arrives, his wife Julies comes over and tells us that this dessert was one that she insisted he put on the menu. It's a rose water ice cream with a chilled strawberry consommé which comes with soused strawberries and spiced toffee - make sure you get a strawberry in each spoonful too.
The Cardamom chocolate ganache comes with pistachio kulfi and chickpea dust which tastes like and resembles a halva shaved. Whilst this wasn't bad I didn't enjoy this as much as the rose petal parfait. The texture of the ganache was nice but it didn't seem as harmonious as the parfait.
His wife Julie who features on the cover of his book Sex in the Kitchen tells us a little more about the history. Formerly Beluga, the economy and downturn in restaurant patronage forced a rebranding and reshuffle so that Beluga became Guru and focused more on the Indian food with French techniques. Chef Opel Khan trained in London with the Roux brothers and Marco Pierre White and in Guru he brings French techniques with Indian flavours and sometimes the other way around. His book Sex in the Kitchen won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award for Best Photography and Cover Design
So tell me Dear Reader, what is your favourite fusion cuisine?
And very excitingly, I was in yesterday's MX paper tweeting about Streetsmart with the lovely Trina from Foraging Otaku!
Guru
15/425 Bourke Street, Surry Hills, NSW
Tel: +61 (02) 8356 9433
GURU HAS NOW CLOSED
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