Altitude Restaurant - The Rocks

Having not fine-dined in a little while, I was super looking forward to our dinner reservation at Altitude in Shangri-la hotel. I booked last minute so was not surprised to be left with either a crazily early 6.30pm spot or a 9pm spot. For the views, I went for 6.30pm and was not disappointed - the view was an amazing spectacle~

Altitude Restaurant view

For the night, my partner and I opted for the $135 Epicurious menu with 7 courses. For starts, freshly baked bread - white ciabatta, wholemeal or sourdough. All three options were wonderfully warm and soft. I particularly adored the ciabatta which had a crunch top with fluffy insides which the butter just melded with.

freshly baked bread

Course one was cured hiramasa kingfish. The fish tasted awesome. Fresh with a vanilla-lime vinaigrette. On top of the rounded kingfish pile was creamy avocado mousse and baby celery leaves. Quite a delicious start.

Cured Hiramasa Kingfish

The next course was quite interesting. There were flathead fillets rolled in savoy cabbage. I think these were then steamed and accompanied with clams, sauteed chanterelles which appeared to soak in the buttery sauce, and spotted with tarragon and peas.

flathead rolled in savoy cabbage, sauteed chanterelles, clams and tarragon

There was also a roasted and braised chicken terrine. I think that there was foie gras in the terrine but it wasn't too overpowering. The chicken chunks were nice, but not spectacular. With the terrine was a curried cauliflower beignet which was interestingly deep-fried yet mushy and crunchy little bits of apple was... umm... OK?

Chicken terrine

The next course went back to the seafood arena. There was a decent chunk of suzuki mulloway with crispy skin (or mostly crispy skin). This came with a beetroot puree, beetroot noodles and kohirabi noodles. I didn't touch the beetroot (and amazingly, my hubby didn't touch it much either). But the fish was cooked relatively well :)

crispy skin suzuki mulloway

In terms of the main, there was a choice of either duck or lamb. I opted for duck, my hubby - the lamb. My confit duck leg was sauced with a fennel and pedro ximenez-sultana jus and sat on a black pepper spatzle. The duck was tasty and the meat was tender. Unfortunately, the skin wasn't crispy... which is something I would have rathered. But notwithstanding, it was still quite yummy.

confit duck leg, black pepper spatzle

My hubby requested his lamb to be cooked medium. Unfortunately, it came out pretty much well down. I was disappointed at how un-pink the whole thing was. My partner didn't seem to care too much...either the lamb was seasoned well anyway, or he was just too busy messaging his friends to care. The lamb was accompanied with savoy cabbage, braised chestnuts and potato fondant.

roasted murraylands lamb loin

Next was the pre-dessert of bethonga pineapple jelly with a malibu sabayon sorbet. The pineapple jelly was really flavoursome and to my liking. The slimy cold jelly-like texture was nicely complimentary to the sorbet and the white fluffy egg-whitey substance. YUM.

Pineapple jelly with malibu sabayon sorbet

Last but not least, there was a dessert of warm dark chocolate fondant. My fondant, unfortunately was not gooey enough to leak out. However, it did meet my chocolate cravings :) There was also a chocolate mousse which was yummy, rich and smooth and a prune and armagnac ice-cream (which was not to my liking).

warm dark chocolate fondant, milk chocolate mousse, prune and armagnac ice cream

We ordered coffee to finish. The coffee was good - both my cappuccino and my hubby's long black. Disappointingly, no petit-fours came to bid us goodbye.

Coffee

All up, views and ambiance was magnificent. Food was good. Service was average but not lacking.

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 9/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 31/40

Altitude Restaurant
176 Cumberland Street
The Rocks
NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9250 6123