Le Montage, Lilyfield

I'm taking another blogging moment to reminisce the fun-times of post-HSC 2012, a place with all my high school friends that is the SGHS 2012 Formal, held at the lovely picturesque Le Montage, the day after The Boy's Formal.  My energy from the night before still hasn't died, and I had my fingers crossed that with the $100 ticket, will it be able to afford better catering?  And my parents broke the news that at the end of the week, I'll be returning to Le Montage to attend a spectacular wedding function! :) Hopes were very high, and hopes of a happy formal night were even higher. 

The venue is certainly quite a wonder, inside and out.  Although I'm not too fussed about water views, this place definitely has a great one.  After settling in, everyone was rushing out for sunset shots!

Us included! Hehe :)

I'd like to thank Sophie Z for providing me with the school formal menu a few days before the event :)

Aperitif - Welcome drinks served on arrival

Entree - Poached chicken and avocado salad with fresh witlof, roma tomatoes, cucumber and baby herbs, dressed with a chive, mandarin mayo resting in a crisp lavosh basket.

Immediately after reading the entree, I knew The Boy would like this dish - he's a sucker for chicken.  Pretty looking dish with so many textural elements.  Thumbs up to the crispy lavosh basket to serve the salad, and the creamy avo and mayo contrasting with the lovely fresh vegies, oh man, such a lovely starter!

Main - Oven roasted breast of chicken, wrapped in pancetta resting on a creamy risotto of spinach and mushroom finished with lemon and thyme butter sauce.

My first time tasting risotto, and I'm not a big fan, just too creamy of a consistency for me.  But the chicken breast was soooo lovely and well-seasoned!! 

Alternate - Char-grilled sirloin steak, resting on a bed of potato mash infused with truffle oil, served with seasonal greens and topped with a beef jus.

My god.  SO SO MUCH BETTER considering last night's steak was very disappointing.  The truffle oil just made the mash all the more creamier and it had such a pleasant aroma that complemented the very well made steak, which was tender and juicy and every bite of the steak left the most pleasant tastes of the infused seasoning.  I love everything about this dish, and the chicken main dish was great as well - I'm so glad we chose Le Montage for the formal function!  

Dessert - Montage tiramisu tower consisting of layers of marscapone with Marsala and espresso coffee soaked sibiatti biscuits, served with chocolate butterscotch sauce.

And it just got better and better.  A freaking divine dessert this one is, it just went down so easily and quick! I wanted more!! And Guiseppe, the lovely waiter, was walking around holding 5 tiramisus, and after casually requesting to have more desserts, he actually came back and gave us some! :) But as the Vietnamese proverb goes, one's eyes can be bigger than their stomach, and I was quite full from the previous meals, although they weren't gigantic servings.

Girl's formal night was a little less dancing, and a little more photo-time, but nonetheless, it was a great night with all our friends.

And a few days later, Le Montage held the spectacular wedding function for the lovely couple Christina and Patrick.

And I got to bump into the lovely dessert waiter Guiseppe again!! :)

Me and my lovely sister Ann - she really knows my love of food; she bought me an icecream maker for Christmas, and a whole heap of Zumbo goodness for my birthday :). Love this girl :)

Aperitif - Welcome drinks served with a selection of canapes on arrival

Entree- Fresh Tasmanian smoked salmon tower filled with a creamy kipfler potato, avocado and cucumber salad, resting on fresh wild rocket, surrounded by a  cherry tomato and citrus dressing, finished with salmon caviar and chervil

Lift up the salmon slice and the potato and avocado salad is just divine.  Creamy, delicious, lovely presentation, what more could one ask for? It was a very generous serving size for an entree as well!

Alternate - Chilled Canadian scallops accompanied by celeriac remoulade and petite letteca dressing

A much smaller serving size compared to the former, with 4 scallops and a lovely dressing.

 Main Course - Double roasted pork belly, rubbed with Murray River salt with crisp crackling, resting on piped buttered mash, served with wilted seasonal greens, apple and seeded mustard confit with star anise, finished with a cider and rosemary jus.

As much as I love the relative who bought the roasted pork especially for this wedding, the roasted pork belly was hard and we couldn't even cut it with a knife and fork.  It was a shame because the meat tasted decent, and the sides, mash and jus were great.

Alternate - Fresh fish of the day oven baked, resting on warm potato salad, served with crisp green beans, finished with a tomato and basil salsa

Soft, very well dressed fish, so it's a thumbs up relative to the pork belly main, but I'm a pork person, so I would've loved to see that pork done well - a tender pork would've made that dish the winner for me.

Dessert - Vanilla bean creme brulee, served with fresh cream, an almond biscotti and fresh strawberry

Not exactly a brulee - no hard caramelised sugar to crack open :( - so it was more like a creme caramel, but that's the only criticism I have for an amazingly creamy dessert with the scent of vanilla throughout it.

 Alternate - Toblerone semi freddo pyramid, drizzled with a crunchy caramel sauce

YUMYUMYUMYUMYUM! I have such an appreciation for anything with caramel, this was such a refreshing dessert!  Simple yet amazing :)

30 seconds later...

And after the entree, they gave us a plate of freshly shucked oysters, served with fresh lemon.  Then after dessert, it was fresh seasonal fruit, and Christina and Patrick's Wedding Cake.  

Yum...chocolate marble cake with a generous layer of vanilla fondant!

And a cute little scented candle for a wedding gift :)

Credits for photos:
Wedding photos: Dad's camera, Canon DLSR 60D
Formal photos: Most were from The Boy's camera, and one from Lizz H and some from Lindy Chen, who is a fellow foodblogger friend of mine, and writes http://www.flouritdevourit.com/ .  Check out her lovely baking recipes!