I’ve got something to confess to you today. As many times as I’ve been to Queensland in the past 12 months (I’m counting six times) I’ve never been to Brisbane. Gulp. Please don’t throw ripe fruit. I know it’s a glaring mistake given that I’ve heard that it is an up and coming food destination but you need to speak slowly to me. Be patient with me.
But that’s changing today. I’m dining at Alchemy, right on the Brisbane river and one of the many restaurants affected in January by the Brisbane floods. It has had a revamp by husband and wife team Brad and Angelica and they’re doing some very interesting things involving goggles and liquid nitrogen. Brisbane is an interesting city to dine in. It seems locals like having established versions of Sydney and Melbourne restaurants-case in point Aria, Sake and the Bavarian Bier Cafe but also local chefs have carved out an identity for themselves with their own restaurants. Today I’m lunching with Angelica and Edward from Alchemy.
Bread with paprika and manuka honey
The bread is served with a quennelle of soft manuka honey butter which is unusual and lovely.
Amuse bouche
The amuse bouche is a Kunamoto Coffin Bay oyster with wasabi cucumber jelly on top. It’s briney and piquant and refreshing the oyster slipping down easily.
Chilli crab omelette $25
The chilli crab omelette is full of South East Asian flavours and features a lime sesame broth, fried onions, mint, coriander and chilli and has a sweetness to it. The crab omelette has small shreds of crab in it. It’s slightly on the sweet side to me whereas I prefer it a bit more balanced with the sour, salty and spicy.
Bourbon barbecued ribs with corn bread and honey yogurt $28
Come to mama! The ribs have been sous vided for three days and as a result are fabulously soft and have the bones removed so that it becomes a neat rectangle. The ribs are then glazed with a Wild Turkey barbecue sauce. The ribs are fabulous and come with a cute little mini corn bread and orange marmalade and honey yogurt although I don’t know if I need that many sauces as the ribs are just right in themselves.
Veal Tri Tip with Caramelised Endive, Celeriac Puree, Roasted Hazelnuts with a Onion Paper and a Cardamom Jus
There are a lot of purees going on this plate with the veal tritip which has been sous vided for three hours and is lovely and tender. There is firstly the orange and celeriac puree, the fig, port and vanilla puree as well as braised endive, onion tuile and red wine jus. The onion tuile is more like a thin as paper fruit leather than a crisp tuile and of the purees I find I like the celeriac but the sweet and very aromatic vanilla puree is a bit too much for me.
Lychee and ginger sorbet
The lychee and pickled ginger sorbet is very refreshing and comes someway between a granita and a sorbet.
Floating Island
The œufs à la neige or floating islands here are coated in crunchy almond praline which is all sorts of win for me because I love texture in foods. The almond praline gives it a nice crunch and the basil ice cream, stewed rhubarb pieces, rhubarb consomme and basil ice cream (which has just the right amount of basil) go well together.
Honeycomb nitrogen bite
Now is the time for the scientist to come out. Chef Brad comes out from the kitchen and takes his place in front of the table where there sits a bowlful of liquid nitrogen. He is stirring two pieces of honeycomb with Pernod around the liquid minus 93°C liquid nitrogen (and reportedly when they first did this, Brisbane health and safety were all a twitter about it!). He fishes two bites out with a slotted spoon and hands them over. They’re crunchy and cold and infused with a lovely honeycomb and aniseed flavour.
Amaretto sour nitrogen bite
Our second taste comes out , an Amaretto sour and it reminds me of a refreshing meringue in texture with a distinct lime flavour.
Squirting the Malteser from the whipped cream canister
Our third taste is a Malteser ball. He squirts it out of the whipped cream canister into the liquid nitrogen. He stirs this for the shortest time for only a few seconds. The inside still retains a creamy texture while the outside has a thin crackly shell just like a Malteser and is my favourite out of the three as I like the contrast of the thin shell, soft creamy interior and malty chocolate flavour.
And of course this doesn’t happen in front of everyone without some curious souls taking a peek from other tables! They stop by and take a long look curious at the chef in the goggles and the crowd around him.
So tell me Dear Reader, have you tried much molecular gastronomy cuisine?
NQN dined at Alchemy Restaurant as guests of Alchemy
Alchemy Restaurant
175 Eagle Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000
Tel: +61 (07) 3229 3175
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38 Comments | Add your own
That ciabatta has a big hole!
I’ve been to Brisbane only once, a surprise visit to an ex (now) that I had never met previously. Brisbane is awesome for this reason, can’t remember much of the food though:) Glad you made it, its a great city
I’ve had a frozen mandarin before! It was frozen with liquid nitrogen. I’ve also had a desert using molecular gastronomy where it had frozen whipped cream in it! They were both when I got to meet Simon Gault here in Auckland
I am a bit of a hoarder when it comes to kitchen devices… love them. But I’ve yet to get a sous vide machines… they do fascinate me… cooking something to velvet for 3 days… now that would be worth the cost of the machine!
I do love me a bit of molecular gastronomy. I was just thinking how I’d love sous vide machine. I do have a science degree after all
Hi Lorraine, love love love the coffin bay oyster, I could just eat it off the screen. And the meringue treat too.
I have been to Alchemy, but he didn’t do any of this for us. Not to worry I think it is all a bit too tricky.
I would have loved to seen that chef doing that! here in the USA chefs don’t go that extreme due to health departments issues.
I try to keep up with some of what is going on with molecular gastronomy, but really have never been that taken with the idea. I must say that the bits you showed here done with the liquid nitrogen look lovely. But not as lovely as the bourbon barbecued ribs with cornbread…mmm. My nephew married a lovely Aussie from Brisbane. At the wedding in Dubai I met so many people from there that it made me want to visit in a serious way. Nice post. Thanks.
Basil icecream – I cannot imagine how it tastes, though it looks so pretty:)
Pretty sure it is Angelica Jolly, not Angelina! The ribs look ah-mazing.
Hi Lucy-oops you’re right! Silly me. I think I had Brangelina on the brain for some reason…
Sous vide is such a great technique, and those ribs look great! Molecular gastronomy is awesome, but is hard in non-controlled conditions, especially with dangerous toys like liquid nitrogen- but so much fun!
I haven’t but i’d be up for it, especially the malteser ball
The ribs look sensational too.
I wish I knew about this place before I went up to Brisbane 2 months ago! Well, I guess I didn’t have much time to eat out but would have been nice
Love the looks of that dessert! In fact, all the food look wonderful!
Oh, shades of Heston Blumenthal!! I lived driving distance to Brisbane for some 14 years almost a couple of decades back. Already then did it have some very good food and interesting eating places. Restaurants with degustation menus [not so well known then] and a beautiful riverfront pad with only savoury ‘taste’ courses for lunch: four was a good number
! Methinks the absolutely wonderful restaurants at the Brisbane World Expo may have led to a more sophisticated understanding? Molecular gastronomy – not one iota interested 
!, but can see the benefits of sous-vide cooking 
!
I love Alchemy! The first time we went we had the molecular gastronomy and loved it. Did you do the dragon breathing out your nose?
I can’t believe you’ve only been to Brisbane once on all those trips! We’re certainly not as developed food-wise as Sydney and Melbourne but we’re getting there.
This looks really interesting. The honeycomb got me.
I’m so curious with the molecular food, I don’t know a restaurant here that serve that kind of food, but I saw it on TV and now on your blog, it’s so interesting, so unusual…
as always I just come for the dessert.
Ommm nommm nomm
The liquid nitrogen sure makes for a show, huh? Sure beats flambe desserts of our parents’ generation, huh?
So glad you made it to Brisbane NQN! Hopefully Alchemy the first of a few Vegas posts?
Yum! I’ll take a honeycomb nitrogen bite please.
Yay! You finally went to Brisbane hehe seems like you had a love meal
I love how they use liquid nitrogen for those cute little honeycombs and Amaretto ~
Here’s hoping we have the chance to share a meal in Brisbane soon Lorraine!
Ooo love love molecular! The Boy fancies himself a bit of a foodie scientist wanabe
After that menu, I would take a drive up to Brisbane!
Can anyone tell me where I can source Candied Angelica from?
I’m too scared to try Molecular gastronomy cuisine but if I had Heston in the kitchen then I would feel quite at ease and give it a go!
I bought a molecular gastronomy kit from ThinkGeek, but much to my chagrin, I was left with decent looking but tasteless food, and a whopping great mess in the kitchen (included chocolate squirted halfway up a wall).
Hi there, I’m a long time reader but this is the first time I’ve commented
Really enjoying all your recent travel blog entries! I find the use of nitrogen in food preparation so fascinating and (pardon the pun) cool!
i love the crunchy floating island veru nice treat !!pierre
I’m always a bit skeptical with the new chemistry-type cooking. Not being a fan of foams, edible inks etc; but this place seems to have maintained the respect for natural food and made it absolutely delicious. Nice review Lorraine, I would go there if I could.
What an amazing restaurant, I love the new cooking techniques. Mr Glam and I had a fabulous meal at The Fat Duckthat was full of similar mouth bursting tastes. GG
What a beautiful meal! Love the sound of that butter
how unusual!
Yay, you came to Brisbane! I still haven’t been to Alchemy, which isn’t a great surprise as I’m only just getting around to going to Montrachet and it’s been here for 10+ years I think!
I grew up in Brisbane and it’s always been this shady little town with not much going on. But you can tell they are actually becoming a “big city” starting with the council hiking up the street parking fees lol. But yes, I’m glad they are getting some cool restaurants too. I love that floating island dessert!
Ohhh! The small Kumamoto oysters are the best! And I’m not usually an oyster lover.
Always enjoying reading your reviews!
I definitely get the novelty value of the molecular gastronomy show at the end, but do you know what I really want most of all from this post? That corn bread, piping hot, slathered in the manuka honey butter
All talk of molecular gastronomy aside. You had never been to Brisbane? I forgive you … x
My beloved Brisbane! Your photo of our bridge made me tear up, I’ve been away for 6 months. Alchemy is fabulous and you must come back to check everything else out, starting with Ecco and Montrachet!
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