The first thing to realize is that Alinea is more than a restaurant. In the tradition of El Buli in Spain and our own Vue de Mond in Melbourne it is not only the food that is on show. Colours, smells and textures are all mixed to give an encyclopaedia of sensorial impacts. It is art and theatre as well. All the senses are satisfied. The waiters are from Broadway(although one or two could be vaudeville actors. )They act like waiters and become caricatures of themselves. They take themselves way too seriously especially the wine stewards. Their descriptions are so flowery and full of prose and descriptions, they become almost meaningless.
The food is exquisitely presented that as well as a graphic description there should also be a picture of what the dish looks like. Unfortunately I did not bring my camera and my phone pictures are way below standard. Akin to showing a picture of of Mondrian in black and white !
As you walk into the restaurant , the entrance is a surprise opening on the side rather than in front of you, giving you a hint of what is to come.
We chose the standard 12 course-14 courses arrived! but 16 courses are available. I also had the wine accompaniment. Well recommended ,if only to see the vintner in action. But seriously the choices were exquisite and definitely heightened the eating pleasure.
I did take some pictures with my phone,thus the poor quality. But I must admit to forgetting to take all the courses as we were so involved in the whole experience!
Here is the menu…..
First course- presented like a lolly. It is meant to be eaten at one go. The taste is enhanced by the whole vanilla pod but interestingly if the pod is sucked on too hard the taste is ruined as the bean is actually quite bitter and overpowering.
The starter champagne cocktail was interesting as it was mixed with a dash of chilli mead and orange curacao. The additives were very subtle and almost invisible (mixing senses, I know but that is the whole idea in the restaurant) I asked the steward to change the mix and add stlighyly more mean and curacao. I found this slightly more interesting.
Second course- a mélange of fava bean paste. The tastes are so different but come together really well
Third course-A colour wheel of shapes and tastes presented on a large white dish. This dish sits on a large cushion filled with nutmeg air which slowly releases as you are eating . Thus the nutmeg is smelt and not tasted! I told you it was highly esoteric eating!
The gewurztraminer was absolutely delicious with this course
Fourth course- Apple cider filled in a shell made from walnuts. Eaten as a single swallow –similar to the first course
Fifth course- presented on a long thin dish . It is presented like a snake with a delicious wasabi mayonnaise. Within the mayonnaise are flecks of horseradish (dried) and a icefish from deep waters. This is crumbed and fried –a delicious take on the English fish and chips.
Went well with a lovely South AustralianVerdelho
Sixth –a delicious taste of duck. My favourite food. Unfortunately I recently overdosed on duck and possibly did not enjoy it as much as I should have
Seventh course- The meat (or fish –as my wife is vegetarian) is brought to the table about 3 servings earlier. Strange , you might think. Yes but the meat is brought after being dipped in liquid nitrogen and slowly comes to room temperature. It initially looks like a sculpture of a flag which slowly softens and drapes over the chopstick. The meat- a very tender piece of Wagyu beef is then draped over the cube of potatoe and black truffle. Absolutely delicious
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Eight- a delicious piece of beef shortrib with Guiness gravy. The fried broccoli was not great.
The wine is a very inetersting Barbera. Usually opened within one to two years of bottling this particular wine is 10 years old. Very old and unusual for this grape. Extremely full bodied and fruity it was a wonderful accompaniment to the course.
Nine – a potato with truffles (again-how much truffle can a man endure??),this is served as a “shot” ie to be eaten in a single gulp. A lot of the cutlery and crockery appears to have been made specially for the restaurant.
This picture was taken after eating the couse-sorry
Ten- A magnificent piece of lamb(small) with an intense red wine and mushroom gravy.
By this stage the wines are merging into each other. I honestly cannot remember this course.
Now for the deserts….
Eleven- a Persimmon desert with a-wait for it- curry taste. Quite bizarre
Twelve- a chewey , almost toffee like like substance made from cranberry-a little weird
Thirteeen-This desert was incredibly ingenuous. Meant to represent a French breakfast. It had a chocolate egg (hot chocolate) filled with a delicious egg custard ( egg yolk obviously).There was also a grapefruit taste. Somehow there was a very smokey taste in a froth overlying the chocolate. Very clever!
This went well with a very intense Madeira port
Forteen-(finally) a small but intense taste of chocolate infused with bourbon.I don’t think at this stage I could have eaten much more
Overall a great culinary experience. I often wonder what the next big thing in food preparation will be. This phase of breaking down food into tastes and mixing them together into different textures is clever but I think you can only eat so much froth and air before it all starts feeling like the “Emperor’s Clothes” type food.
One gripe and a message to Mr Achatz-If one spends a small fortune at your restaurant , then if coffee is offered don’t add $4.00 to the bill. It looks cheap!!