Maze Melbourne

I first ate at Maze in London back here and I had been quite impressed with the nosh and overall experience.  Hence, I was pretty keen on seeing what the Australian outpost had to offer.  Technically it's French cuisine (reflecting the skills of Gordon Ramsay who heads the chain) but the menus are heavily influenced by local produce.

The occasion of the day was a certain someone's 21st (hehe).  For a lazy Sunday lunch, it was rather puzzling to fight a traffic jam on the way to the casino.  It all finally made sense when we neared the Exhibition Building to see that Sexpo was on!  Along for the meal (though they were probably there for Sexpo too) were Moo, Suboo, Male Suboo, Mona, Bao and litle Sbee.  Maze were very accommodating and provided a most comfortable highchair for Sbee.  He sure seemed to enjoy sitting in it and showed us his new found skills - projectile raspberry-blowing, shrieking randomly and charming the pants off all the wait staff.  One waiter in particular was so taken aback by Sbee, that he dropped Mona's tuna tartare.

So far, so good.  We were given the set lunch menu.  Huh?  When I made the reservation, I was informed we could have the a la carte menu *whiiiiiiine*  Ok, whatever.  The lunch menu had a decent sampling so we all settled on four courses each.

My cocktail.  I can't remember what was in it.  Passionfruit juice and basil I think.  Moo and I enjoying our drinks. 

The menu is no longer online so I'm a bit airy fairy about describing some of the dishes.  A few photos of what we ordered:

Pork belly.  My 'winter vegetables with pork terrine'.  This piece of terrine was cut with a ham slicer or something.  It was that precise.  My winter vegetables were laid out using a ruler and a pair of tweezers.  Barramundi with butternut squash.  

Tuna tartare - very nice!  Artichoke with baby root vegetables.  Marinated beetroot with goats curd and cabernet sauvignon vinaigrette - also yum! 

Wagyu beef (or was it lamb?)  Smoked eel and green pea veloute.  It didn't sound that great on paper but it was very tasty too!  I like food surprises! 

Despite ordering four courses each (including dessert), I decided that we could fit a few more morsels and doubled up on some of the dishes.  The dishes were very technical, precise and pretty but the portions were small and degustation in size.  Or maybe I'm a pig.

Dessert.  I really wanted to try the Maze Lamington but it wasn't a Sunday option :`(  However I was not disappointed by the alternative.  Dish of the day, I'd say!  Chocolate jaffa with freeze-dried (forgot the more culinary term) mandarin pieces and mandarin sorbet.  Yum yum!!!  Mooey was the only person who didn't have the jaffa and settled on the coconut pannacotta.  I'm sure it was nice but the jaffa was better!

A *bonus* part of the day (or repulsive, depending on how you swing) was the people-watching.  The large Maze windows faced a block of Southbank apartments and one male resident in particular enjoyed coming out to his balcony in his tracky-dacks.  He gave us a friendly wave.

Overall I have to say it was a positive experience at Maze.  Having been to the London counterpart, the Melbourne version does feel more casual and less snooty despite having similar decor and identically clothed wait staff.   That probably has more to do with the crowd who tend to frequent such restaurants in class-divided UK versus the more egalitarian (eating) scene in Australia.  Of course that's not to say that the cooking standards dropped accordingly in Australia or that I received haughty service in London.  However there was definitely an 'air' within the London restaurant.

The Australian prices were comparatively cheaper too even with the strong dollar - $49 a head for four (albeit small) dishes is still a good deal from an institution which tips into the fine dining category.  The price range for the a la carte dishes was $12 to $24.  Very reasonable.  You could argue that it is still quite expensive as you may require more than four dishes to be full but let's put it in perspective - to dine out decently these days your budget has got to be at least $50-70.

Friendly and efficient service, well executed, tasty, pretty dishes and casual atmosphere.  All good things yet I can't shake the feeling that there was something hollow about Maze.  It was like a well oiled Tin Man, just off the production line with an empty heart *sob sob*.  I'll still go back though.  I want to eat the nine course degustation menu, Tin Man or not!