Birthday Concert and Another Dinner

For Matthew's birthday, I got him tickets to a Philip Glass concert, who was in town as part of the Sydney Festival. The concert was last night, and first we went out to dinner at Est. Restaurant, which is has an elegant dining room.

When we first sat down, they offered us glasses of champagne from a Dom Pérignon-branded trolley(!), but we resisted. As we had to get to the concert, we didn't have time to do the tasting menu, so we ordered à la carte, and had a few wines by the glass. It was an excellent meal -- nothing that was simply amazing, but all quite refined and good overall.

To start, we shared:
Sashimi of tuna and Queensland scallops, lime, dashi, hazelnut, radish and white sesame oil.
Grilled white scallops, pork cheek bacon, king mushroom, tarragon and sweet corn salsa.

Our main dishes were:
Roasted, boned squab pigeon with cherries, almond cream, hazelnut picada and pan juices.
With a glass of 2008 Descendientes de José Palacios Pétalos (Bierzo, Spain; Mencia).
Juniper crusted saddle of venison with black cherries, beetroot, cocoa soil and semolina potato gnocchi.
With a glass of 2007 Pierre Amadieu Gigondas 'Romane Machotte' (Rhône Valley; Grenache/Shiraz/Mourvèdre).

Finally for dessert, we shared:
Valrhona chocolate delice with black cherries, sesame and cocoa nib ice cream.

We finished just in time to walk over to the concert hall and get into our seats without being too rushed. It was pretty exciting seeing Philip Glass again! The concert was about 1.5 hours of his various pieces on solo piano, and it was great.

The last piece was one that he collaborated on with poet Allen Ginsberg, and Glass said he hasn't been able to perform it much since Ginsberg passed away. But luckily, a special guest who was also in town for the Sydney Festival, would help him out, and out came John Malkovich to read the poem while Glass played! It was a wonderful surprise, and a great ending to a brilliant evening.