Sage Dining Rooms in 2015*

* I enjoyed this experience as a guest of Sage Dining Rooms.

We’re just back from what I termed EuroChristmas – in two weeks Boyfriend and I packed in Copenhagen, Hamburg, Monchengladbach, Trier, Luxembourg, Brussels and Amsterdam. On its own it was a magical trip simply due to the locations and time of year, but these places are also home to some of the best and most experimental food in the world – as soon as we’d booked plane tickets I was booking us into restaurants. Two of these were Copenhagen  restaurants headed by former Noma staff: Bror and Relae. Relae in particular is consistently just outside the World’s 50 best restaurants list (53rd last year) last year.

These restaurants were great; delicious food, lovely atmosphere. But what struck me is I’d come half way around the world for experiences which were more than comparable to fantastic food I can access at home in Canberra: The Boathouse, the Artisan and Sage in particular. (And the service at all three is better than any of the service we had in Copenhagen!). I’ve always thought we do some truly innovative things in Canberra, and to have it confirmed through these experiences was heartening. To me, there’s nothing stopping numerous Canberra restaurants from making these sorts of lists.

And Sage might well be on its way to being of them. In November it was joined by Damien Brabender who comes with the professional experience of working at Lizard Island (before it got battered by Cyclone Ita) and the six-star Emirates Wolgan Valley Resort, as well as London restaurants. When offered to experience what zing he’s bringing to Sage (which as you know I already rate very highly!), I happily obliged.

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Human Brochure weekend – a review by Jane

If you’ve ever wondered what 48 hours in Canberra with me as your (eating) tour guide looks like, this is it. Before the Human Brochure weekend began, I gave you a sneak peek of what I expected our experience to look like. I’ll let my best friend, guest human and superb writer Jane take you on that 48 hour ride:

Sage Taste & Test, Spring 2014

This is my third trip to Sage Dining Room’s clever concept Taste and Test, where in exchange for a slightly cheaper five-course meal – and you’ve no idea what’s coming – you write out a score for each dish and a short ‘review’ of them right onto your paper tablecloth. The test lasts for four weeks, with the menu changing each week. If a dish gets an average score below 6.5-7 or so, it’s not going to make it onto the more permanent seasonal menu.

Here’s a quick look at the menu from 30 September to 2 October and my thoughts – but a quick summary? It’s really good.

Sage Taste and Test Redux

I loved Sage Dining Rooms’ Taste and Test last year. It’s a clever concept: offer five experimental dishes at a reduced price and, over the course of a few weeks, get a sense of what the Canberra dining public’s taste really is to help form the menu. But the last Taste and Test was only held in September – is Sage lacking some confidence in its future menus? Does it need to check with the public before it brings out each new season’s menu?

The short answer? No, and no.

A double helping of Sage

We recently had a great experience at Sage’s Taste and Test, and couldn’t wait to see what Sage ended up choosing as part of their permanent Spring menu, and book in as soon as it’s announced. In the meantime, we’re also told that the lovely Valhalla Wines from north-east Victoria is teaming up with Sage to present a wine matching dinner. Because of this, we end up heading to Sage twice in one week (!), and – unbeknown to us until later – end up sampling almost the entire Spring Menu over the two occasions.

Taste and Test at Sage Dining Rooms

Clever, clever, clever is what runs through my mind during our two hour dinner at Sage Dining Rooms. Sage is one of the best restaurants in Canberra (I have been known to wax lyrical about it here, and here, and elsewhere!) and in August they announced a ‘taste and test’ month – essentially, for three nights a week over the month, the restaurant would become an experiment as they test dishes for their new menu, and the diners become reviewers. The price is marked down: five dishes for $60. I book us in immediately and look forward to it for weeks.

Comparing Canberra to Europe

It’s been mentioned to me that Canberra “doesn’t even compare” to Sydney. Even though we all know people who say such silly things are wrong, I reckon it’s probably going to be seen as a pretty big call to do a post comparing Canberra to Europe of all places. But after a 5 week absence while I was in the northern hemisphere (hence the lack of T1 posts!), I’m happy to report back on a selection of a much wider array of things which Canberra simply does equal to or better than Europe.

Three course dinner at Sage

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About a month ago Johnboy wrote a charming review of his incredible experience at Sage restaurant at Gorman House . His conclusion that the experience was sensational had stuck with me; I felt like I was missing out! On the night that we were heading out to see the performance of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (tickets which I’d purchased), Boyfriend asked for dinner ideas. I sneakily suggested Sage and within seconds he’d booked. In shock, I responded with, “Did you read the price of the menu?” He hadn’t, but on reading it in the minutes since, thought that it was perfectly reasonable given its calibre and reivews, and that we deserved a bit of a treat after a hectic week.