SO SLEUTH (click here) and the Bishop of Rochester wandered into Australasia one Friday noontime to sample the new lunch menu.
It’s simple enough. Two dishes £11, three £15, four £20.
Sleuth and the Bishop went for the latter choice and thus ate two thirds of the twelve dishes on offer.
The Bishop of Rochester wearing his mitre at a rakish angle
There were four and a half favourites including Collingwood Dinkies, the red fish curry, the teriyaki, the Nigiri selection, and the odd but beguiling popcorn tempura.
The latter came with an excellent red/orange salt of quite extraordinary intensity.
"How's that prepared?" Sleuth asked Edith, the French waitress and charm and professionalism personified.
"Salt, garlic, ginger, fish sauce, lime, water (and another ingredient Sleuth missed). We then dry the salt on a window for 10-15 hours," she replied.
"And is it used to accompany anything else?" asked the Bishop dipping his finger into the salt and licking it.
"No, just this," said Edith.
This seemed like a massively complicated process by which to arrive at a powerful partner for a single sweet corn kernel covered in a tempura batter. Is it a sign of psychopathic foodie obsession or just a paranoid desire to overdo things? Either way it was gorgeous, and an almost fanatic attention to detail.
Edith about to welcome the Bishop of Wrongchester
The seared teriyaki beef was exquisitely tender, the sushi rice in the Nigiri was just perfect for the refined fish selection on top while the red fish curry and sticky jasmine rice was strong in flavour with a graceful kick.
The Collingwood Dinkies were a revelation though.
These are Lilliputian pies that are surprisingly filling. They come as a trio with fish, chicken and pork filling all sat on a complementary and tasty glue/sauce. There's some herb and oil magic going on inside a pastry which is chunky yet forgiving and crying out to be ripped into for the soft innards. None of these dinkies disappointed.
Sexy pies named after Collingwood in Melbourne, Australia
Collingwood, Melbourne, named after some pies in Manchester
So what was the half fave dish?
Sleuth reckons it's the popcorn tempura. Excellent though the massively manipulated salt is, the popcorn won't satisfy if you're only going for the two dishes for £11.
Popcorn tempura
In fact anything less than the three for £15 on this menu is missing the point - even if you're used to the Oceanic treats the main a la carte menu of Australasia delivers. With complex flavours like this and the modest scale of the individual dishes then variety literally becomes the spice of life.
The only dud dish was the sate chicken on a noodle salad which came cold and was overly coconutty. Why do this dish cold? Shame that this was one of the more substantial bowls of food. Australasia should change or amend it.
Sate chicken - boo
Ruth Allan, fellow food reviewer, loved the pies as well.
She'd dropped by late in proceedings on the invite of the Bishop. She ordered separately her favourite thing at Australasia, the mango soufflé with coconut ice-cream and mango soup. This is categorically not on the lunch menu but here's a picture of it anyway. 'Twas as gentle yet intense as ever.
Sweet dreams are made of this
To drink we had the Australasia Albariño (£30). This helped the conversation about work and architecture flow beautifully. Clean Spanish wine this, a good nose, not flabby in the least, occasionally fruity, and a sharp, crisp, disciplined finish.
Australasia's lunch menu provides a condensed, very modern, luxury afternoon repast. There's room for that in Manchester, so don't go along and complain about small portions as though you're a Yorkshire penny-pincher. Enjoy the details and nuances, but beware the Albariño.
Sleuth and the Bishop spent the rest of the afternoon spreading love, purity and truth in a gibbering way across Manchester starting at the City Arms on Kennedy Street.
Australasia is at 1 The Avenue, Spinningfields, City. M3 3AP. 0161 831 0288. www.australasia.uk.com
Follow Sleuth on twitter @Sleuth
Fishy
Teriyaki beef
