Digest the degustation - Marque my words!

It was Boyfriends birthday recently, so instead of buying him something that we don't need (like a Playstation 3, when we already have an XBox, Wii, DS and 2 computers - hint hint) I took him out for an amazing meal at Marque. We had the Saturday night degustation and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Evidently a lot of people agree with me since Marque has 3 chefs hats and chef Mark Best recently won Chef of the Year.

Marque is a small and unassuming restaurant from the street. A simple sign at the door lets you know you've arrived, but once inside it's all class with sleek black lines, quirky artwork and a light feature (I hesitate to use the word chandelier) that I would have liked to have put in my handbag and taken home (sadly, my bag wasn't big enough, and they probably frown on such things anyway - see pic on right).

The staff were nothing short of spectacular. Having recently been to another 3 hat Sydney establishment where the staff were cold and pretentious and looked down their noses at us, the team at Marque were polar opposites - friendly and welcoming, talking us through the menu while making drinks suggestions. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that we weren't the youngest people in the restaurant. Quite often we feel uncomfortable going to expensive eateries because we are at least 10 years younger than anyone else there, but the Saturday night crowd at Marque was a real mix of ages (perhaps a result of the attention the restaurant received on Masterchef?).

The real star here though is the food - eight courses of pure gastronomic heaven. The dishes change weekly based on what's in season and what's available (and silly me didn't bring my copy of the menu home) but the standouts for me were the signature chaud froid egg entree with grissini, the blue swimmer crab with almond foam and the 2 desserts - sauterns custard with caramel (the burnt toffee caramel sauce was un.be.liev.able) and the lemon sorbet with white chocolate crumbs and goats cheese. The lemon sorbet almost blew my head off, it was so tangy and electric.

Marque also offer matching wines for the degustation. We chose not to do the wines though as I was driving and Boyfriend wanted to sample the exotic beers instead. All in all, it was a lovely meal and I highly recommend it for a special occasion.

Price: Degustation $145; matching wine $75
From: Marque - 355 Crown St Surry Hills
Why you need to go: To experience the culinary creations of Mark Best and his amazing team.

Picture credit: black-box.net.au