Review: Rise

This is a whopper of a review for you. Prepare to salivate as we work our way through all seven courses of Rise's Easter banquet ...

Now before we get into anything meaty, I would like to say a big "thank you" to Rise for being so accomodating to my oyster allergies. Instead of oyster in the Sashimi and Pasta courses, I was offered a choice of alternatives from various other fishes, meats and vegetables. The substitutes I received were well thought out and just as nice as what they replaced. One thing I really appreciated was that the flavours were totally re-structured to suit the demands of the new ingredient rather than simply having a "stand-in". We'll get into more on the topic later as it becomes more relevant, but I wanted to mention it as it really made a special experience even better.




As a restaurant Rise is more suited toward intimate dining. Rise's genesis as a townhouse is deliberately apparent and lends the restaurant a welcoming, and slightly quirky feel. The lighting is low, the service inconspicuous and the mood relaxed despite the clockwork efficiency with which the food is prepared and served. It is the perfect atmosphere to enter and sooth yourself in. We noticed on our most recent visit that there was some very cliche ambient jazz music playing across the sound system, but unless you are an overt jazz-fighting lunatic its no problem. Its almost art-like how successful Rise is in creating it's sought atmosphere of calm.

The food itself is a modern take on traditional Japanese dishes, drawing influences from a range of cuisines. Thai, Indian, Vietnamese, Korean, Australian and Italian are among the cuisines we've seen represented alongside Japanese in Rise's seven course degustations with Thai making an especially strong presence in our most recent visit.




Our meal began with a fantastically prepared mix of tataki ocean trout, silken tofu salad and "zahsai" salsa. Calling the tofu component a "salad" might be stretching the definition, but the flavours were well conceived. The salsa, despite looking incredibly striking, was possibly a little complicated and tended to overshadow the beautifully simple trout. However, it was a fitting entry into a lovely meal.

Next up came the tom yum style soup with prawn and beetroot tortellini. This soup marked a refreshing change of pace from the creamy soups evident around of this time of year but we were pleased to find it was still heartily warming. Laura found it a little potent and it certainly did leave a tingle but I quite liked it. The tortellini was impressive in appearance, texture and the delicacy with which it was prepared, though the flavours were kind of weak. Which is a pitty because I was really looking forward to tasting the interaction of the prawn and beetroot. Ill mention here also that when we came to the end of the soup we noticed some tapioca sago at the bottom of the bowl. We're still puzzled as to what it was doing there. It certainly didnt harm the soup, but it didn't add anything to the taste as far as we can tell.




Promptly after the soup came the sashimi course consisting of salmon, kingfish and oyster for Laura and salmon, kingfish and scallop for oyster-avoidant Rob. Points all round for the sashimi. It was cut well, was very fresh and came with very complimenting sauces. The roe of the kingfish was beautifully crunchy and juicy. The platter is an absolute pleasure to look at as much as it is to eat. Shotglass presentation is among the eccentricites of Rise, but one that works to make the dish very aesthetically pleasing. I was talking earlier about how well thought out my oyster substitutes were. That comment was made in particular reference to this dish, where my scallop had some kind of garlic, seasame and mayonaise sauce that partnered the scallop seamlessly.

The seasonal plate that came next was a mixed bag. Present were a homemade fishcake, Rise's signature soft shell crab taco and a prawn spring roll. Tastes were good for the most. The fishcake was small, but its bedding of green papaya complimented its well honed flavours. The soft shell crab taco was nice as always, but like a conventional taco it is hard to eat without it falling apart. The spring rolls are well made and taste different to what you'd expect. They cover the sweet end of the taste spectrum in an attempt to counter-balance the fried items of this course. Both Laura and I feel like the spring rolls overstrove in this regard and were too sweet. There is some fruit in there (possibly mango) that when paired with a slice of cucumber throws the whole roll out. Which is unfortunate because the other flavours have a delicate subtlety about them. However, as the pictures can tell more than we can - the presentation of the seasonal plate is amazing. In fact, as you've probably seen (and certainly will with the main) Rise's presentation never slips and is consistently artful.



The powerful rhythm continued with the last course before the main: the pasta course, consisting of a soba salad and oyster tempura for Laura or braised pork for Rob. The oyster tempura was amazingly prepared. Cooking with oyster is difficult to do well, but Rise has mastered this dish. The oysters are crispy and warm on the outside but moist, cool and juicy on the inside creating an interaction that is entirely pleasureable. My pork substitute was good, having a slightly vinegared taste and a pleasingly soft texture. Nothing like the oyster, but certainly not bad. Notice in the pictures how intricately the shallots and other greens are cut.

At this stage I want to give credit to the staff. Whenever a drink was low or a dish finished, our waiter came quickly. The staff did their job with amazing thoroughness despite being very unobtrusive. Its a level of professionalism and politeness that makes the experience that much better.

Our chopsticks were traded for knives and forks as we prepared our mouths for the main. In the past we have found that the mains can be very different in conception and quality from the other courses. While the first five tend to be present on the menu for a long time, the mains are changed on a regular basis (possibly weekly). The entrees are well honed, precise and built up over time to be incredibly mature dishes whereas the mains tend to be less concise. Often they can pale in comparison. This was the case with today's main of grilled snapper, braised "daikon" and bamboo shoot with light soy sauce. While consisting of very interesting ingredients (Rob really got a kick out of the circular bamboo shoot the fish was sitting on), grilled fish is still grilled fish to us. The flavours seemed a little plain compared to the sublime flavours tasted in the courses before hand. It was certainly fresh and cooked to perfection, but it was just lacking a sort of kick that the other dishes seemed to have. However, one point it failed to disappoint on was its presentation. As you can see by the photos, the food was arranged breath-takingly. This detail shot clearly shows a visual theme of straight lines running throughout the dish. The presentation was so stunning it was almost a hard to eat instead of gawk at.




Dessert was also a bit of a sticking point (no pun intended). It consisted of green tea ice cream and jelly, pannacotta and balls of black tapioca. While certainly looking impressive on the menu, the green tea flavours tended to stay very seperate from the pannacotta. The two stood very opposed, despite both being well made. In particular the green tea ice cream was great on its own, evidently thick and creamy. However, I must say that I feel like green tea ice cream has become a bit obligatory in Japanese restaurants these days. I would have liked to seen something a bit more inspired like black sesame (which would have gone well with the pannacotta I think) or taro.

However, for all we've taken apart each course, we feel that Rise is unmissable. Its no suprise we go there often and send people there to treat them. The fact we are able to almost exclusively discuss the food on such a high level for a whole review gives testament to the excellence of not only the service, atmosphere and value, but also to the excellence of the food itself. Rise is good value on any day of the week, but especially Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays the degustation when is 40% off.

Even without the food its almost worth going to Rise just to observe the quality and professionalism of every aspect of the restaurant. Apart from dissecting particular parts of each course, we have absolutely no significant criticisms of Rise. It succeeds beautifully in what it does and provides great value in doing so.



What we ate:

Appetiser: Ocean Trout Tataki and Silken Tofu Salad with "zahsai" salsa
Soup: Tom Yum Style Soup with Prawn and Beetroot Tortellini
Sashimi: Kingfish with Roe, Salmon and Oyster or Scallop
Seasonal Plate: Soft Shell Crab Taco, Homemade Fishcake and Prawn Fresh Spring Roll with "Ponzu" Sauce
Pasta Dish: Oyster Tempura with Japanese "Soba Salad" or Pork instead of Oyster
Main: Grilled Snapper with Braised "daikon" and Bamboo Shoot, Light Soy Sauce
Dessert: Pannacotta Accompanied by Black Tapioca, Green Tea Jelly and Ice Cream

($48 p/p)


Rise

23 Craigend Street,
Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010
+ 61 2 9357 1755


Related Links:

Rise's webpage

Eatability's page on Rise