Gastroporn

Last night saw an experience for Rita in which she was totally blown away, and left speechless, and casting about fruitlessly looking for superlatives to describe the meal she had at the most unlikely venue of Federal’s Terrace Restaurant, at Country Club, Launceston.

Before I continue, I must disclose that I was invited by Exec Chef at the Terrace, Sean Keating, who organized for my accommodation and the meal to be courtesy of Federal – for which I will be eternally grateful, because, without a doubt, it would have taken me months to get around to dragging my sorry arse all the way to Launceston to write about a meal which I could probably have done just as easily staying in Hobart, and not inconveniencing myself so much!

Well, it’s Rita left here with egg on her face, because I am genuine in saying that this was THE most spectacular, and ‘out there’ meal I have had in my life!

I will also add that I warned Sean upfront that if I didn’t like any of the food, I was going to be honest and say so in my write-up on the blog. He was fine with that, and said he wouldn’t wish it any other way.

Really, you needed to be there to understand what I am raving about, but I am more than happy to repeat the experience any time with any of you, and have today organized a return trip to the Terrace with a friend or two whose faces I so want to see when they experience what I did last night – and I am under no doubt that they will.

The reason Sean insisted I come up there was to experience a meal he calls the Freefall menu. I had never heard of this, and on further questioning, have found no one else who has heard of it either. Basically it is a menu option on the Terrace’s menu whereby you can opt to select the Freefall menu, either with matched wines ($130 pp) or without ($80 pp). It’s not a degustation, as such, but rather you saying what you DON’T like, then leaving it to chef to select, cook and send out beautiful food to you.

The menu description of the Freefall menu reads thusly: “If you’d like a more extensive food tour, travel from north to south (of Tassie) with the Terrace team…..5 courses selected by our chef, including tea/coffee and homemade petit fours….”

When you select to go with that option, you will be asked about any allergies and food dislikes or preferences, then you find yourself trusting in the chef’s abilities to take you on a gastronomic journey to heaven and back. It’s about trust – in the chefs there, and their cooking abilities, and imaginations – and lucky for us, the chefs there (apart from Sean) doing the Freefall are women. Yes, three extremely on-the-ball young ladies are responsible for the preparation and cooking of this extraordinary food, and I have to say it, risking much approbation by the male sex, but the girls in the kitchen really earn their pay, and create not only wonderful food, but also an extremely calm and measured kitchen environment. I went to the kitchen, and all was serene, with no pots being banged, or orders being screamed, or unruly attitude. It was a nice logical sequence of events as they cooked and served up table after table for a full restaurant.

Now there are two things I want to point out as well before I go into any detailed description of the food. Firstly, the table next to us were also having the Freefall, were several courses behind us, but had different Freefall food!

My point? Logically, admit it – most chefs would think to themselves, “I’m doing 3 freefalls on Table 2, and 4 freefalls on Table 3, so why don’t I just do the same 7 freefalls and save myself the effort of doing the 2 tables separately?” Nope – way too easy. The other table of 4 got different freefall food to us.

Secondly, along with each course, our wonderfully charismatic waiter Peter bought out a handwritten description from Sean in the kitchen of exactly what was on the plate, what we should be looking at or for, what we should smell before we ate, and what the general aim of this course was. Each note was also accompanied by some odd decorative, doodly squiggles, cartoons, and diagrams of the way the food was placed on the plate. This small act elevated 7 courses of food from fabulous to OTT. Knowing exactly what chef was aiming to achieve with each plate of food, and focusing on doing exactly as we were told resulted in all of us being more than satisfied at the end of the day.

After the meal, Sean came out, sat with us, and answered our many questions about how he achieved such weird things as olive oil powder, olive powder, fig and white chocolate powder, thyme and tarragon patissiere.

1st course
Elements of olive and rosemary bread; yeast foam; broken bread; rosemary for the nose; olive oil powder (smell first); olive powder – olives 14 months old, done in-house; Lentana Grove olive oil.

2nd course
Sashimi kingfish in a bowl; apple, celery, lemon soup; glass noodles; aromatic lime

3rd course
House cured duck; preserved peaches; watercress; cornichons; capers; chlorophyll; garlicky crumbly stuff

4th course
Lamb; wasabi; ratatouille; fig; parsnip

5th course
Home stretch. Queso de valdeon Spanish blue cheese; house made brioche; fig/white chocolate powder; porcini gelee; sultanas in Pedro Ximinez; pistachio crumbs

6th course
Nest fallen on the ground (Autumn); berries, nuts and grains; smokey mousse underpinned by thyme and tarragon patissiere

7th course
Plaster of Paris; citrus and acids; agar agar; gelatine.

There were aspects of all courses that I loved, but overall favourites I think were the kingfish , the blue cheese and the fallen nest. I am simply lost for words to describe this meal. All I can say to you is that if you are a person who feels strongly about food, I would love you to travel to Launceston, experience the Freefall at Terrace, then come back to me with your thoughts.

Sean – you’re one zany weirdo but I salute what you do and what you’re trying to achieve for your staff and your restaurant, and food standards generally in Tasmania. If more chefs trod your path, and were able, or prepared to, follow in your footsteps, our reputation as a food bowl would gain much more credibility.