Sofitel turns 60 years old as a brand and it's time to celebrate with a dinner. Sydney's dinner was held at the Sofitel Darling Harbour and featured 6 courses of food to celebrate each decade of the French hotel brand all with matching wine. Come along and see what is served at this very French soiree.
Sofitel Hotel's birthday dinner is held at the Atelier restaurant on the 3rd floor of the Sofitel Darling Harbour, Sydney. This event is open to the public with the French ambassador Pierre-André Imbert and his wife Sarah-Jane Kathleen Mirou in attendance. A singer croons throughout the whole event never taking a break and everyone is dressed up for the occasion. The ambassador quips that he spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron who was preparing to attend an Olympics opening dinner in Paris although our dinner will beat theirs by 8 hours.
Sofitel opened their first hotel on the 26th of June 1964 in Strasbourg, Alsace in Eastern France. It now lays claim to being the first French luxury hotel on every continent (except Antarctica). Tonight's menu is designed around the Nouvelle Cuisine concept (meaning "new cuisine") that first emerged out of France in the late 1960s and early 1970s where traditional cooking methods were transformed to create a fresher take on dishes both in preparation and presentation. Each course is a classic dish but given a nouvelle twist and is served with a matching French wine for $220 a person.
While most of the menu is made up of dishes created especially for the event by Atelier's Exec Chef Sam Moore, there are a couple of dishes that are so signature that they are included on tonight's menu. And that includes the bread, a four boule brioche cluster loaf that comes to the table warm to the touch. The buttery brioche is brushed with duck fat while baking to give it a sheen. It's designed for pulling apart, you grab one boule and someone grabs another and pull. This brioche should come with a warning it's that moreish especially spread with the caramelised onion and thyme butter.
The next course is a hen's egg with truffle and potato. The tiny crispy potato straws and the creamy centre made out of wild mushroom and Perigord truffle ragout are deliciously textural together and each of the three spoonfuls are savoured slowly.
The lobster bisque is fragrant with saffron with a centre disc of finely chopped butter poached lobster and crab meat. Sometimes I find bisque can be a bit too strong and intense but this is richly flavoured but not too overpowering.
The main course is the dry aged duck breast that appears on the regular menu and is the restaurant's signature dish. It's a generous serve with 4 slices of crispy skinned duck from Northern NSW. The duck is aged in-house for 10 days to concentrate the flavour, tenderise the meat and to crisp up the breast and it's a superb duck breast dish. It's served with an open puff pastry pie topped with confit duck leg and charred endive as well as a flower or Beurre Bosc pear, each layer still slightly crisp and sweet.
There are two desserts on the menu. The first is their version of an apple tarte tatin. Again the apple is sliced and shaped into a flower shape and served with warm Comte mousse, diced Alsace bacon and hazelnuts. It's an unexpected savoury and sweet dish and I actually prefer eating the Comte mousse and bacon by itself because I prefer savoury to sweet.
The final course is the Rum Baba, an individual cake served with stripes of pistachio creme and fresh raspberries. Usually I find rum baba a bit too wet but in this case it is on the drier side.
So tell me Dear Reader, do you like nouvelle cuisine or more traditional cuisine? Have you ever stayed at this hotel chain?
NQN was a guest at the dinner but all opinions remain her own.
Atelier by Sofitel
Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour, Level 3/12 Darling Dr, Sydney NSW 2000
Phone: (02) 8388 8888
Saturday, Sunday & Public Holidays: 6:30am to 11:00am
Dinner: Monday to Sunday: 5:30pm to 9:00pm
https://atelierbysofitel.com/
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