Rise, Darlinghurst (Closed)

We're at Rise on a Tuesday night for Asian Gaga's birthday dinner. She often refers to me as her person-to-eat-interesting-food-with, since most of the other people around her are of the ham&cheese sandwich eating variety. She is usually apprehensive but then pleasantly surprised with most of the places I take her. In the past I have introduced her to Mamak, Japaz, Waqu and Ratu Sari and even dragged along to Malaysia for a 10 day eating/shopping extravaganza. We are united in our love for Rotiboy :)

I've wanted to take her to Rise for a while now. It is one of my favourite restaurants because everytime I have visited (which is about 6 times now) it has been consistently good. I haven't visited in about a year but I am pleased to find that they continue to serve up a wonderful degustation for 45 dollars (on Tue, Wed & Sun).

The restaurant always has a comfortable buzz to it and it is quite busy. I always enjoy watching them plate up the dishes in front of you. There are two sessions each night, one at 6.00pm and the second at 8.00pm. We are booked in for the 8.00 pm session which gives us enough time to meet up after work and have a taste of the lemon meringue cheesecake first :)

Lychee cocktail & plum wine

We start off ordering some cocktails. I love their lychee cocktail and encourage Kat to try it. She loves the strong flavour of lychee but in typical Asian-who-can't-handle-her-alcohol style, she has about 3 sips in total over the entire meal and feels dizzy so I have to finish it off for her. I love Japanese plum wine so I get a glass of it with a lot of ice.

Ocean trout marinated with gochujang miso & poached quail egg

The appetiser is a promising start, sweet morsels of ocean trout on a bed of rocket topped with a perfectly poached quail egg and some sort of crispy bits on top. I'm not a big fan of rocket but it works well in this dish and the miso is wonderful.

Potato cream soup with prawn tempura & tofu

Ohhhh how I love the soups at rise. The potato soup is rich, moreish and deeply warming. And the tempura prawn is a tasty mouthful, one of the best tempura prawns I've had. I always enjoy this course the most when I come here.

The sashimi is the usual offer of kingfish, ocean trout and oyster, each served with a lovely dressing. It's small but tasty.

Kingfish, ocean trout and oyster sashimi

I'm excited to try the seasonal plate. Three different things are presented; a duck confit salad with hoisin sauce in a won ton cup seems to be the replacement for their old soft shell crab taco; egg flan with tapioca and a rice paper roll filled with miso chicken stick.

Seasonal plate: miso chicken rice paper roll, egg flan & duck confit salad wonton

Duck confit salad with Hoisin in wonton cup

Egg flan with tapioca, mushroom & miso red curry sauce

I am unimpressed with the rice paper roll. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm not a fan of rocket, and this is so full of rocket that it is all I can taste, I can barely tell there is anything else in the roll and I don't really get the point of it. The duck confit salad in the wonton cup is also a little disappointing. The wonton cup is a little on the stale side and the duck filling is a little dry and not strong enough in flavour to balance the bland taste of the wonton skin.

The egg flan, however, is a true winner. Ohhhh my godddd I could not get enough of it! Similar to a chawanmushi with its smooth custard-like texture, it oozes down your throat with the intense taste of miso red curry sauce and surprises with little bubbles of tapioca and bits of mushroom and baby corn.

Steamed scallop & green tea soba with ginger shallot sauce

The steamed scallop is a nice dish, with a tasty sauce though I'm not completely sold on the steaming of the scallop...it makes the inside beautifully moist but the thin outer layer has turned a little bit rubbery. I still enjoy it though.

The dish that doesn't sound too interesting is the main of soy braised chicken. I am so so wrong about it. The chicken is perfectly cooked, I don't think I've ever had a moister piece of drumstick in my life. And the sauce is AMAZING. I can't quite pinpoint what is in it but wow!

Soy braised chicken, daikon & green beans

Peach granita with fruit in white wine jelly

The desserts at Rise are not too big of a deal, more of a palate cleanser. This comes as a bit of relief most of the time because you are usually stuffed full from all the previous courses. The peach granita and white wine jelly with bits of strawberry and blueberry is refreshing and light and leaves both of us happily satisfied. And I'm sure I will be returning Rise in the future.

Rise Restaurant (CLOSED)
http://www.riserestaurant.com.au/
23 Craigend St,
Darlinghurst NSW 2010
(02) 9357 1755
Tue-Sun:6-10pm(Last order)
Tue,Wed,Sun: $45 7 course degustation
Thurs,Fri,Sat: A la carte & $70 7 course degustation