Food bloggers' dinner - Dish Bistro, Teneriffe

Dish Bistro is run by Mark and Mary and has only been open for about 4 months.  Mark has a distinguished cooking career behind him, but I believe this is his first venture as a restaurateur.

Our hosts for this latest food blogger dinner were kind enough to put on a special “Mark’s table” tasting menu, focusing on spring produce and fresh flavours.  Apparently the “Mark’s table” concept is something they’ve launched on Wednesday nights as an initiative to get people along.  I believe the cost is $55/head, and you get 7 very generous courses.  Even more impressively, Mark and his team aim to do something different every week – for instance, they’ve done Moroccan, Italian and French.  Mark aims never to repeat the dishes as he gets quite a few repeat customers.  I have to say, this is a lot of time and energy to invest into a project, but you get a clear sense of Mark’s passion when he talks about the concept.

Numbers were slightly below normal at this particular dinner, which I believe is in part attributable to a big night for some bloggers at Conviction the evening before.  However, the crew on hand still had a ball chatting and savouring the food.

Course 1

Paleta de Iberico Bellota – Spanish Iberico ham with cornichons and olives and marinated garlic.  This dish was lovely, a beautiful balance of flavoursome ham, crisp cornichons and salty olives.  Well balanced and all elements were complimentary.  The ham is sourced from Spain and sells at $200/kilo!

Course 2

Seared Gold Coast Tiger Prawns with Gnocchi, Tomato, Garlic, Basil & Pine Nuts – The gnocchi was light as a feather and the prawns were cooked well without being rubbery.  I really enjoyed this dish, it was probably up there as one of my favourites on the night.

Course 3

Slow Roasted Pork Belly with Pear & Ginger Salad & Pear Puree -  I have to say, pork belly is not something I’m drawn to on a menu, but I always enjoy it when I try it.  I liked the use of pear with the pork – a bit different from the usual apple pairing.  The crackling was just as it should be – crispy and crunch, and added nice texture to the dish.

Course 4

Duck Confit with Garlic Potatoes & Caramelised Apple & Rocket Salad -  This was probably my least favourite dish of the night – it is a very salty dish.  Mark did warn us about this at the outset, so I presume it is meant to be this way. However, for me, I felt the salt overpowered the duck flavour a bit much.

Course 5

Spice Crusted Slow Cooked Lamb Shoulder with Cous Cous, Eggplant & Tomato Relish.  This was probably my favourite dish of the night – the eggplant and tomato relish was smoky and spicy and worked so well with the lamb.  I actually mentioned how much I enjoyed this dish to Mark and he said it was inspired by his time working for Neil Perry.  Colour me impressed.

Course 6

Lemon Tart with Citrus Salad & Double Cream.  I do like a good lemon tart, and this one was smooth and creamy.  Kudos for the portion size too – after so many courses just a little slice was a good idea!  However, my one criticism is that the tart could have been a bit more, well, tart.  That’s probably a palate preference of course.

Thanks so much to the Mark, Mary and the staff at Dish for a chance to see what you guys are up to in Teneriffe.

I’m hopefully going to have a few lighter meals to post about in the coming weeks as the weather warms up – to counter my repeated indulgences over the last few weeks!

Dish Bistro
110 Macquarie St
Teneriffe
Ph: 3257 3511
Web: http://dishbistro.com.au/