Walking quietly with a big stick
The first time I went to Bilsons was in November of 2005, with S and B. A great meal, served by a wonderful waiter with an equally wonderful name : Pierre Paris. This seemingly simple gratin of fresh raspberries that I had for dessert was a great way to end the meal. The generous scattering of perfect raspberries were snuggled under a pillow of sweet champagne sabayon. Under all of this, a surprise bed of sponge, holding all the flavours together.
Everyone loves a bit of a surprise find in a dish they have ordered (unless of course it’s a bit of a foreign object like hair, or wire, or a bug on a lettuce leaf) .. somehow it makes you feel as though you have been given a bonus extra. A head chef I once worked for, called this “Walking quietly with a big stick”. It was his way of not listing every component of a dish on the menu, so as to leave some of it to the imagination of the customer, and also to create that element of delightful surprise. This head chef had many other funny sayings, none of which I have forgotten even though I haven’t heard them in a long while.
Bilsons
Radisson Plaza Hotel
27 O’Connell Street
Sydney 2000.
