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As much as I said I would not share a particular moment of great mirth, I believe I do have a licence from big brother to do so.
In the album below, there’s a photo of Tony and Anne with food on black slate in front of Tony. The joke is; they was no black slate plates. Tony had used the black hard-covered Menu book, mistaking it for his plate in all the excitement!
Imagine! Duck liver pâté smeared on one corner of the Menu cover; and oil from sardines all over another area; before we saw it. Much mirth, and surprisingly no embarrassment on the part of the perpetrator. I suppose you are 80 only once in your life.
Good-naturedly, the restaurant manager slipped it away and came back later to report that it washed up like new again.
T
Mark and Jenny made sure we travelled safely on a booked “Silver Service” taxi.
“Aquitaine” is a French styled restaurant at South Bank. The ambience is great. City views across the Brisbane River make an excellent backdrop. It was a warm evening and the brasserie atmosphere was relaxing. The menu was appropriate for “epicureans” like us and could be used “two” ways, as I was to find out (yeah!). The various tastes of the spectacular entrée platters were a tour-de -force and presented some interesting quirks.
The entrée platters were actual works of art and must have taken a lot of preparation. Although it is necessary to view the photos in order to appreciate these tableaux véritables . I can say that one was based on smoked duck, duck breast, foie, black pudding and other stuff. Another comprised grilled anchovies, anchovies and stuff. Then, there was one with false eggs, real yolks in two sizes and lots of other stuff and also an array of goats cheese and black olives that came a bit later. The trad. loaf was accompanied by quenelles of smoked butter and roasted garlic cloves.
There were duck, fish and steak mains plus several desserts including, ice-cream with sauces and others; I just can’t remember now.
The cortisone made me hungry and this was good. I chose a plat principal of smoked and grilled maigret-de-canard, cooked properly to medium-rare. I observed one of the neighbouring steak dishes to be appetizing (each of these plates was very attractive to the eye).
Interestingly, The restaurant permits BYO on Monday. Mark brought along some “Arras” méthode champenoise from Northern Tasmania (new to me and not unlike a fresh young Mumm with lots of stone fruit and zesty yeast aromas) His shiraz the name of which I can’t remember was rounded and fruity and very nice (I wasn’t doing the tasting thing). The point for me is that I have my taste for beer and wine back (almost fully).
Once again, mille remerciements à tous,
Amitiés
Tony and Ruth