Artemis H.
Yelp
When I first booked this restaurant they did ask whether we were arriving via sea plane or boat but I much prefer the drive, it's part of the experience. And it's not incredibly hard to get to, it's just windy roads, no lines on the roads, elevation and barely any street parking. You then walk down a steep pathway to the wharf and restaurant. Now the best time to come here is for lunch on a beautiful sunny day, if anything else don't even bother. The ambiance is to be enjoyed when you can actually see it well. Upon arrival we were seated inside but as the waiter described "the best thing about this restaurant is every table has a view". Which is the case, we had a view most definitely. The main server who took our order and recommended the only cocktail on menu made awkward conversation with us and tried to suss me out as a chef.
We opted for the a la carte option as not everything appealed to us on the degustation menu. For starters we choose local grown mushrooms with roast hazelnut, shallots, coffee & brown butter sabayon and line caught snapper served raw (carpaccio style), persimmon vierge, finger lime & basil. My favourite was definitely the starter dishes, the snapper was delicious and my partner adored the mushrooms. They did serve small entrees including a bread basket before the starters, what I liked to call cheese balls and escargot sponge.
For mains, we had New Zealand blue eye trevalla with confit young onion, sorrel purée, marjoram & clams and a wagyu dish I can't recall the name of. I wasn't completely sold on the fish, I had such high hopes though, but it was cooked more on the raw side. I didn't like any of the supplements, they didn't really suit the fish especially that purée. My partner enjoyed the wagyu the most, it was well medium. He was unimpressed by this latest trend we're seeing of waiters pouring the jus or finishing touches of mains at the table though, especially with shaky hands. Finish it in the kitchen or give the diner the choice. Unfortunately it was more downhill from there, to be honest I wish we had skipped desserts but we went ahead anyway. We ordered the Mont blanc tartlet with chestnut & rum cream, white chocolate ganache, buttermilk sorbet and an odd combination of chocolate & peas called "green" chocolate. My tartlet tasted raw and unfinished and that green chocolate combo..well let's just say that fusion was a complete disaster, a destroyer of taste buds and not in a good way. So after all that, only two dishes actually tasted nice and it was an entree and side of pommes dauphine.
After that we'd had enough and were ready to leave. It turned out there was another surprise of chocolate honeycomb bits on sticks to be provided but we were already at the register trying to pay so we could leave.
The service was very slow and initially attentive at the start but then the main server pretty much disappeared after that and then as we were ready to pay, we had to wait for him to finish up chatting up other guests as it seems no-one was allowed and/or too afraid to serve us our check except the first waiter who took our order was ready to attend to us and then they still expected a tip.
The real point of coming here is novelty of the views and secluded location. After that worn off, it was simply over priced, unremarkable food & service and long drive home. Definitely could get much better elsewhere for the same novelty experience. I was unimpressed and not likely to return.
