Where to find a flamboyant dining experience
Fleur WA
You’ll need to time your booking carefully to enjoy the pomp and ceremony of flambéed crêpe suzette at this popular Perth bistro (fleur therestaurant.com.au) inside
The Royal Hotel, as it’s served on Wednesdays and Thursdays only. Cooked at the table for a light and airy texture, the theatrical moment arrives when the butter, citrus and Grand Marnier sauce is ignited, creating a flambé moment that gives the dish a subtle caramelised flavour.
TAS Landscape
The elegant restaurant inside Hobart’s Henry Jones Art Hotel (landscaperestaurant.com.au) is famous for its unmatched collection of John Glover paintings. Now, the presentation of its new cheese trolley course draws diners even further into the artist’s world. Choose from Coal River Farm Blue, Pyengana Cheddar and more – but the showstopper is a girolle of Tête de Moine. A few fluffy pieces of this famous Swiss cheese are dotted onto each plate to look like the clouds in a Glover masterpiece.
VIC Society
Big, bold gestures are all part of the package at Melbourne’s Society (societyrestaurant.com). In the dining room, white-gloved waiters carve salmon en croûte and finish it with a roe beurre blanc, while fragrant steamed mud crab is dressed with pickled daikon, ginger, curry leaves and a smoked bonito broth at the table.
NSW Saint Peter
Careful and creative preparation is at the heart of everything at Saint Peter (saintpeter.com.au), in Sydney’s Paddington, and chef Josh Niland has found a new way to show the story behind it. When you order a dish that includes the restaurant’s fishbone noodles, staff bring out an iPad to play you a detailed video that explains how they’re made. Other tricks include toasting the top of a lemon tart with a brick of charcoal.
The Charles Grand Brasserie & Bar
At this Sydney CBD spot (thecharles. sydney), wait staff assemble steak tartare, fillet flounder, carve and dress the spatchcock pithivier and present a flamboyant dessert trolley featuring an unmissable Russian honey cake.
I Maccheroni
If you’re serving cacio e pepe and not finishing it inside a wheel of cheese, did it really happen? At Woollahra’s I Maccheroni (imaccheroni.com.au), the core of its spaghettoni version – pasta, parmesan and pepper – is prepared in the kitchen then brought out inside a wheel of pecorino romano. There, the server twists the pasta inside the wheel to coat every strand in an extra layer of cheese.
QLD The Lex
Despite its Roman-sounding name, Caesar salad was actually invented in Tijuana, Mexico, where it was mixed tableside with a flourish. At The Lex (thelexbrisbane.com), in W Brisbane, the tradition has been revived, with servers combining the lettuce, croutons and dressing while diners look on.
Brisbane Phoenix
The Brisbane outpost of this classic Sydney restaurant (brisbanephoenix. com.au) pulls off one of the best Peking ducks in town. As is customary, the bird is presented whole and carved at the table before the first course of duck pancakes and your choice of sang choi bao, fried rice or noodles for round two.