Posted by Jan
Grant King, head chef and owner of two-hatted Gastro Park, is doing it again. Celebrating the release of
Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season on Blu-ray and DVD, Gastro Park is returning with its themed dining experience, fit for the any of the five kings battling for the Iron Throne.
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| The Game of Thrones decorated bar at Gastro Park, Roslyn Street, Kings Cross |
The Game of Thrones (GoT) menu of five themed courses inspired by the second season of the hit show is available from tonight through to 25 April 2013 at the Kings Cross restaurant.
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| Game of Thrones' Lady Catelyn Stark, actor Michelle Fairley |
With last year's GoT-inspired menu selling out almost instantly, I was very keen to experience the new dinner menu at the media preview launch.
As a fan of the show, imagine my excitement when I saw actor Michelle Fairley, also known as GoT's Lady Catelyn Stark, perched on an Iron Throne when I arrived.
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Gastro Park head chef and owner Grant King with Game of Thrones'
Lady Catelyn Stark, actor Michelle Fairley |
Renowned for his creativity and technique, chef King said: "The series’ medieval fantasy themes, brutal battle scenes and stunning settings really lend themselves to creativity and that’s what I thrive on as a chef.
"I've had a lot of fun collecting and torching animal bones, and foraging for driftwood to create the main inspired by the aftermath of the Battle of the Blackwater, which is my favourite scene in season two."
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| Gastro Park dining room all decked out |
Indeed, the Gastro Park dining room was in full theme; decked out with 'snow', skulls and candles, instantly taking me back to winter beyond the 'Wall' in the television series.
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| Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season menu at Gastro Park |
The GoT menu features five elaborate courses that will surely bring a smile to the faces of fans of the showing adventurous eaters alike.
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| Dragons & bones - Roast veal bone marrow with crostini and parsley salad |
Diners start on the 'Dragons and Bones' entrée, inspired by character Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons. The dish of roast veal bone marrow served on slate was a jaw-dropping sight to behold. Scoops of the roasted marrow were perfectly rich on a bit of crostini and necessarily refreshed with the parsley salad.
The entrée was also served with 'fossils' of roasted artichokes and goat's cheese; flavoursome little nuggets which had me keenly scavenging among the roasted bones for any undiscovered treasures.
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| Whole grilled flathead |
Fans of GoT will remember the ships up in flames and sinking amid green wildfire (fire that burns on water) in season two.
Inspired by the Battle of Blackwater, the main 'Beach Fire' course of grilled flathead arrived at the table on a platter of sand and charred twigs and leaves.
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Aftermath of Battle at Blackwater – Whole grilled flathead, smoked roast almonds,
barley crackers, wild weed and fresh milk curd |
Reminiscent of the fiery aftermath of the battle, the whole fish was served with wild green weeds, a delicate goat's milk curd, crisp barley crackers and smoked roast almonds - the latter two components adding texture and crunch.
The whole flathead was cooked to flaking perfection with rosemary, with the flesh moist and tender although diners need to be wary of bones.
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| Fondue for the kings - Fondue of cheese, roast grapes and crackers |
A cheese course snack was served before dessert. The 'Fondue of Kings' is a melted Vacharin with a sprinkle of powder that tasted of caramelized onions.
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| Crackers and roast grapes (back) |
This decadent 'snack' was paired with an intriguingly warm bunch of roasted grapes. The cheese, grapes and wafer-thin crackers disappeared with haste between four.
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News from the Raven by Candlelight - Edible candles with flavours of
hibiscus, bolero tea, plum and a letter from the raven |
The dessert course of 'News From The Raven by Candlelight' arrived at the table to incredulous gasps. It looked impressively real, with a burning wick, melting 'wax' and all.
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| Edible candle with flavours of hibiscus, bolero tea, plum |
It's intended for the flame to burn down and caramelise the white chocolate coating. Then someone needs to blow out the 'candle' before it's cracked open, revealing a filling of plum slices and a pink mousse perfumed with flavours of hibiscus and bolero tea.
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| Mulled figs |
The candle is so stunning and delicious that I almost forget to try the mulled figs. Not being too keen on overly sweet flavours, it was a pleasure to tuck into the bowl of gently cooked figs in red wine and spices.
It's an amazing menu that chef King has put together and fiction or not, one will certainly eat like a king at Gastro Park's Game of Thrones dinner.
The Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season 5-course themed meal at Gastro Park is available for dinner from 14 March to 25 April 2013. The set menu is $100 per person (excluding beverages) with a minimum of 4 people per booking - reservations are essential.
Food, booze and shoes attended the Game of Thrones degustation launch at Gastro Park as a guest, with thanks to One Green Bean.
Certainly an interesting looking feast!
ReplyDeleteYuck. I would never go to such place where people love seeing and collecting bones of some dead animal. Feast for me is something like a place where you could eat a lot, and drink a lot.
ReplyDeleteRegards
That is a pretty spectacular feast!
ReplyDeleteNot having seen this blog prior we were very let down by the "Game of Thrones" "themed" 5 course dinner. Having only seen the main Gastro Park web page we were not aware that the pictures on the site were of the previous years themed menu. We went in with the expectations of meat and a hearty meal, instead we were met with single pieces each of a burnt/stuffed potato chip, completely charred/hard crustini, a bland dry flathead with a hint of rosemerry but not much else and various other servings. Dishes came out so randomly that we were not sure which course we were up to and when the desserts came out we were still hoping for a proper main... The only saving grace was the good wine. For the price at the very least if they had plated the flathead up on the dish, with all the elements together rather than in separate small bowls then we might have enjoyed the meals as they were meant to be enjoyed. Only the the final cake/dessert seemed to have a representation of gastronomy. Without the lure of the "Game of Thrones" theme we can only chalk this up to being a very expensive and disappointing dining out. Most of our party were tempted to pop into Oportos next door for a follow up meal. enough said.
ReplyDeleteThis year's feast looks so different to last year's! :o
ReplyDeleteHi missklicious - Isn't it? Even for a non-GoT fan like me.
ReplyDeleteHi Kopi Luwak - The dead animal bones are part of the meal, with the bone marrow not going to waste as is often the case. Bones aren't for everyone, but then neither is coffee that comes out of animals...
Hi Melissa - I love the imagination and creativity that's obviously gone into it :)
Hi Sung Hahn - That's a shame that your expectations were different; I wonder if it was an off night for them.
Hi Lorraine - Different season, different feast ;)
Ok wow... I'm kinda glad I didn't read this before I went to the dinner last month (but also wished I had).. I had purposely stayed away from reading your blog post about it because I wanted an element of surprise when I had the feast. To be honest, I was kind of disappointed on the night. I couldn't agree more with the comment by Sung Hahn. Last year's feast sounded/looked more involving/theatrical than this year's. So when we went, there was an element missing, it felt like there was not much enthusiasm from the waitstaff as they present us with the courses. It was a GoT themed dinner afterall, so it would've been nice just to have an explanation of the dishes etc Food was ok and $100pp was a bit much.. I know your experience was part of the media launch so everything was jazzed up but it would've been nice to have a similar decked out experience to suit the theme, well at least to make it feel like an event rather than just another night out... Even the menus you had received was different to the scrolls we had received... And not all of the waitstaff wore their cloaks :(
ReplyDeleteCATELYN STARK WAS THERE?!? What on earth did I miss out on. I hope it's not just gimmicky. Oddly, out of all things, I remember the vacherin I had at Gastropark to definitely be the highlights of the night.
ReplyDeleteHi Phuoc - That's unfortunate given the effort they've put into the overall event. I hope the feedback gets back to the restaurant.
ReplyDeleteHi Neil - She sure was ;)
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