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Courgette

Bryan Martin

Balanced: Windsor strawberries and cream meringue, custard, mint cloud, freeze-dried mandarin.
Balanced: Windsor strawberries and cream meringue, custard, mint cloud, freeze-dried mandarin.Graham Tidy

Good Food hatGood Food hat16/20

Contemporary

As a counterpoint to the current trend that is casual dining, it has to be said that going out to a restaurant can still be that special occasion rather than something you might decide at the last moment. You may want to be able book rather than wait in a line and see if a table frees up. 

Also you want it to look like a restaurant rather than a shipping container or industrial laundry. A formal entrance, that big welcoming door, carpets - remember them? - the sound is mute rather than that of a basketball stadium during the play-offs. Don't get me wrong, I love the direction dining has taken, you can rock up in thongs and an ironic singlet but it's just one side of it. Places like Courgette, Ottoman, The Artisan and Aubergine offer that warm cuddly feeling of being embraced with hospitality.

James Mussillon has been plugging away at his site on Marcus Clarke street for seemingly an eternity, no doubt watching where modern dining has drifted but this place, Courgette, has been his beacon to the art of fine dining. And it has never been better; the rooms have that moody, quiet yet industrious feel, elegant, a place that has been the focal point of good food for decades. 

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The interior of the refurbished premises at Courgette.
The interior of the refurbished premises at Courgette.Graham Tidy

The menu is a set spend of $80 and as the rather keen host notes you don't have to have the four courses but that's what it will cost you. Love the pragmatism here, sure have one course if you haven't planned your day and can't manage a full meal, it'll cost you 80 bucks anyway.

This is all well and good - me, I've fasted just so I can enjoy another four course having being at another Canberra diner last night, not quite pulling of the same model - if the menu is designed well and varied you should come away with that complete feeling of being satiated with balanced choice and interest.  And this is the case, the four dishes within each course are varied and sound exactly like stuff you want to hook into and at an average of $20 each, well it's a bargain really.

Sauteed prawns with seared, rare swordfish and marie rose sauce. This "Thousand Islands-like" sauce binds together the huge plump prawns and pillars of swordfish, Mussillon uses garnishes like ruby grapefruit, lemony sumac and the texture of avocado deftly to pull off a stunning prawn cocktail of sorts. 

Joyously flavoured: Sous vide lamb rump.
Joyously flavoured: Sous vide lamb rump.Graham Tidy
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This sets the pace for the meal to come, needing wine and noting that the wine list has changed a lot; there is a wealth of international choice here. The dashing new Italian sommelier has put together a cracking list, his excitement at helping you choose a wine is palpable. Perfect with the next dish - scallops, smoky cauilflower, fennel and black garlic - is the 2012 Antonio Caggiano Falanghina. But let the sommelier pronounce this for you, it sounds way better and strangely, unnervingly romantic with his native tongue.

These dishes seem to have so much crammed into them. The combination of scallops, smoky stuff and cauliflower isn't particularly original but the twists and turns Mussillon puts on the dish make it unmistakably his. A beautifully weighted dish, with a couple of these huge, glistening plump scallops, they are just so turgid you think they'd explode on touch. The earthiness of the dish is what sets it apart, a hint of smokiness, the pungency and sweetness of black garlic and then the surprising cleansing quality of the anisette laced fennel. Really like this dish, lots of pretenders out there but this one is worth travelling for.

The third courses are, as you expect, more substantial. A couple of full-on meat dishes, one for the vegetarians and a seafood arrangement. Cooking dishes sous vide isn't anything special these days, if it suits and you have the right cut, sure go for it, doesn't necessarily need flagging. 

Reworked prawn cocktail: Sauteed prawns and seared rare swordfish.
Reworked prawn cocktail: Sauteed prawns and seared rare swordfish.Graham Tidy

But then again we talk about flame-grilling, or roasting, so it's just another way of cooking food. Here, a lamb rump is perfect for immersion cooking, it's a nice even piece of meat but difficult to get perfect. Right here tonight, the sous vide lamb rump is humming. So juicily perfectly cooked, it's an even reddy pink, charring from the finishing on the outside and seasoned to an inch of its life. So much concentrated lamby flavour here augmented by some Middle Eastern hummus and sheep's milk feta, served on a flourish of beetroot puree and asparagus. There are nice little discoveries of grilled onions and bright green broad beans lurking in the mix. It's certainly artistically arranged, surprising for how quickly the kitchen must be able to knock this together with all the swirls and dots but the plate is piping hot and absolutely joyously flavoured. 

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We conclude that a lot of skill, knowledge and care have gone in here. Desserts have always been a highlight at Courgette and, despite having ploughed through three fab courses and a bottle of Italian plonk, there's plenty of enthusiasm for the final course. Windsor strawberries and cream meringue, custard, mint cloud – yes a cloud of mint – and freeze-dried mandarin – phew, that's a lot for one plate. Well, you can imagine the intensely flavoured little strawberries are the main theme, then there's lots of textures going on highlighted by the cloud of mint, which isn't really a texture more a mood. It's very summery and detailed with a sound understanding of balance and the art of taking a dish to the point where anything else on the plate would be too much.

Courgette isn't and shouldn't be your everyday, pop in and have a craft brew and slider place. This is unapologetic fine dining, a special occasion or you just want to eat well, be looked after, and maybe have that Marco sing the wine list to you on a gondola "Zib-ibbo sec-co….Ci-cala del Gi-glio…Azi-enda Agri-cola, Bom-bino-bianco….."

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