Haute Cuisine at Vivaldi

Hot braised foie gras of other-worldly smoothness should be sampled first with snatches of Sicilian sweet wine sorbet, before spreading the three cold variations on warm yeasty bread.

Haute Cuisine at Vivaldi

text Matthew Stowell

photography LOUCA STUDIOS

“Change is Art, Art is Change,” said the French avant-garde poet, Baudelaire. If he were to dine at Vivaldi tonight, poetic inspiration would surely strike anew.

Floating above a shoal of salmon carpaccio and fish stockreduction infused with chive butter, pungent,squid-ink flavoured Northern Italian blackagnolotti is the perfect vessel for its tangy Alaskan crabmeat stuffing. The lush decadence of this refurbished beef carpaccio is intensified by an admixture of truffles, parmesan flan, artisanal baby artichokes and kosher salt with a final baptism of Planeta olive

Each time you walk through the doors of Vivaldi, you can be certain of at least three things: You will be welcomed like royalty; every plate will be beautiful to look at and pleasing on the tongue; and you will be wowed by something new.

The something new might be an innovative method of presenting a dish that has earned praise and loyalty from regular patrons – perhaps by employing a new style of cooking, adding different in-season vegetables, making subtle but improving adjustments to the sauce or its combination of spices. Or it might be a just-perfected, entirely fresh addition to the menu. And when we say perfected, we mean many weeks of planning, intense cogitation, experimentation and, yes, dreaming, before master chef Andreas Andreou and his 5-star team are willing to set it in front of you.

“It might sound exaggerated,” confides Andreas, “but I actually dream of these dishes almost every night. In my sleep, I’m trying out a new cooking method, a more interesting presentation on the plate, using a different colour scheme or design. The ideas are triggered by dishes I may have seen in Italy, France or England – or something that astonished me on the Internet. The next day, I can’t wait to start creating what I’ve dreamed about.”

This season the formidable menu at Vivaldi features several new items and a fine-tuned classic standard; and all sustain the level of visual and gustatory artfulness that Vivaldi’s loyal fans have come not only to expect but to demand… Your table, with relaxed banquette seating inside or on the star-ceilinged deck, awaits you.

This peppered duck breast, paired with crispy-fried, duck confit cannelloni and a bright beetroot, is coaxed to full savoury flavour by a Venetian Salbanello wine sauce.

Slow-poached Dover sole in this innovative new format is generously painted with saffron cream and a touch of cauliflower. Home-cured fresh salmon is lured to its peak byavruga caviar, bits of succulent prawn and zesty chilled tomato water.