Devon by Night

It has been a few months since Devon launched it's dinner menu and at last Fat Friday is here to try it out. Before I start, please excuse the inconsistency in the photo qualities. Still not use to taking photos in dark places, but I'm getting there! Unlike Devon during the day, at night they opt for a dim lighting, not exactly the warm "mood lighting" but more of a relaxed, laid back and comfortable atmosphere. Good food minus the fine dining etiquette? Perfect for chilling with the FF foodies. The menu is designed for sharing and if you chose to have the banquet ($60 pp, available for 2 or more people) you get 8 courses and 2 sides, which if perfect for those who want to try a bit of everything, and this is exactly what we went for. It's not often FF gets a chance to come here and have dinner, so might as well try as much as we can while we're here.

Our little table with fresh flowers :) 

 Drinks: pear cider, choya, white wine

Of course, to start this much anticipated dinner, we got drinks. This is what Friday nights are for right? Nothing much to say about the drinks, cider is cider and wine is wine, as for the choya, it's a Japanese plum wine, known as umeshuu. It's sweet with quite a distinctive plum flavour, however, most people I know who have tried it tends to like it. I personally like my umeshuu on the rocks so I was a little disappointed to find that this one tasted like it was mixed with water (mizuwari).

Coffin Bay pacific oysters served with passionfruit and  yuzu granita

The first of our 8 course + 2 sides dinner was the oysters. I'm not one for raw oysters but it was fresh and the passionfruit and yuzu granita was a nice touch, giving it a bit of citrus zing and a hint of sweetness.

King salmon sashimi, avocado, jelly, ikura, chives 

Then came the salmon sashimi. This was a light and refreshing entree. Combined with the fresh salmon were bursts of saltiness from the ikura and the occasional garlic-y taste of chives. The tomato jelly was quite interesting, with a very subtle flavour, it gave the dish a hint of sweetness. The avocado was actually mixed with wasabi, which is the perfect combination with sashimi!

WA black truffles~~ 

Since we were having truffle on one of our dishes the waitress presented it to us, letting us smell the aroma and admire the not-so-attractive but deliciously amazing truffles before it got served.

Chargrilled corn, coffee miso butter 

Next we got two dishes delivered to us, the chargrilled corn and the sate babi. The first thing that could be smelt when the chargrilled corn came was the smoky fragrant of coffee. I love baby corn so there was nothing to complain about this dish, but it was so small and at $4 each if you get it individually I don't think I would have ordered this if it wasn't with the banquet.

Sate Babi: Penang Hainenese style pork sate with sweet potato sauce 

Sate Babi, yum yum! It was seasoned well and the sauce was just spicy enough, but honestly I had no idea it was sweet potato sauce until I got home and read the menu again. The bread was a little unnecessary and a little too burnt for my taste, though it was good for soaking up the remaining sauce.

KJI fried chicken: Korean style chicken wings, gochujang and peanut sauce 

If you have had the KJI burger this is pretty much the same, but for some reason I think I enjoyed these a bit more than the burger, there must be something about chicken wings.... the crumbs on the outside were crunchy and golden while the inside was still juicy, who doesn't love fried chicken wings??

Devon's lobster roll: lobster, radish, tatsoi, kewpie 

At last the glorious lobster rolls arrive looking delicious and very photogenic! The rolls were soft, fluffy and on a sweeter side while the kewpie mayonnaise gave it subtle, mild, creamy flavour which did not overpower the lobster, which was cooked to perfection. Though the flavours weren't unexpected it was very enjoyable and tasty.

Chinese egg custard, shitake, fungus, yellow needle flower, chinese fried bread and Perigord black truffle 

The second main was also amazingly delicious!!! The truffles were very aromatic and was perfect with the soft and silky egg custard. I absolutely love steamed egg custard so I would have happily eaten this even without the truffles. The Chinese fried bread (you tiao) was light and crunchy as oppose to some doughy ones you can sometimes find. It would have been perfect with congee, which is what they're usually eaten with. It was unusual for it to be served with egg custard and I wasn't exactly sure how I should eat it together...

Coconut jelly, guava sorbet, freeze dried pineapple 

Moving on to the desserts, out off all the desserts on the menu there were two items which were "must try"s for me. The guava sorbet and the matcha fondant. The coconut jelly and guava sorbet was a refreshing finish to the meal. So basically this dessert contained three main components, tapioca on the bottom, then coconut jelly topped with a scoop of guava sorbet and sprinkled with crunchy freeze-dried pineapple. The slight tang of the sorbet complimented well with the refreshing jelly and the sweet (palm sugar...?) of the chewy tapiocas. The only down side to this was the proportion of the components. In my opinion there was a lot of tapioca and not enough coconut jelly so it would have been better if the layers were more even.

Special: matcha fondant with houjicha ice cream

The matcha fondant was one of my favourite of the night. This item is a special and is not on the menu so it is not one of the dessert options available for the banquet, however, you can still enjoy this by paying a few dollars extra. I must say, it was worth it! If you're a matcha fan you'll definitely love this one. The fondant was warm, gooey, oozy, rich and full of matcha flavour. The crumble gave the dish texture and the melons which have been soaked in lemon and basil (? or something along the lines) were tangy (and interesting) and helped cut through the sweetness of the fondant. The houjicha ice cream? So good!!!

Overall very enjoyable experience and will definitely be back for their new menu soon.