Gordon Ramsay’s Maze, Melbourne

I used to be such a Gordon Ramsay fanatic. I watched all of his shows, trekked out to see him at the Good Food & Wine Show and even waited an hour in line to get his photo. But then one day, I just got over it.

So when Maze opened in Melbourne, I didn’t jump at it the way I thought I would. In fact, it was on pure chance that we ended up there. The funny thing was, it turned out to be my favourite meal of the whole three days I was in Melbourne – it trumped Vue de Monde, Nobu, Fog and all 17 restaurants from Taste of Melbourne.

Earlier that day, I planned a spa morning for my girlfriends and I at Isika Day Spa at the top of Crown Metropol. The place was truly amazing and was purpose built as a day spa – not an after thought like most in-hotel spas are. After 3 hours of massages, lounging by the infinity pool, steam room and floating on water bubbles in the vitality pool, we were ready to eat.

As we headed downstairs to Maze, we approached the hostess for a table for five, which she happily accomodated. We even put the pressure on, with only one hour to finish our meals in time for our flight back to Sydney.

We each ordered the lunch set menu – which offered 3 courses for $38 or 4 courses for $49. This is unbelievable value and highly recommend it to those thinking of dining there.

As we waited for our first course to arrive, we were brought bread and a pot of seaweed butter, which reminded me of the truffle butter I had at Tetsuya’s. While it tasted different, it was every bit as addictive as the version at Tet’s.

I started with the tuna tataki which surprised with every bite – and every bite tasted slightly different from the last. There were notes of citrus, coriander, mayo and soy. The cubes of tuna was perfectly shaped and cut, not stewy at all. This was a sensational dish and really set the tone for the courses to come.

Another entree was the haddock. The creamy foam enveloped the smokey flavours in the fish while the watercress added a touch of freshness. The soft poached egg was the icing on the cake.

Second course was a picturescque square of barramundi fillet with crisp fried skin. This perfect piece of fish was finished off with a butternut squash puree, compressed cucumber and pumpkin seeds.

Another option was the ‘ox tongue and cheek’, featuring a braised piece of beef cheek which was fall apart soft and doused in plenty of jus to keep it moist.

My main course was the pork belly – and wow, what a dish. The pork had a beautiful crisp crackling and was a perfectly rendered. The accompanying dashi broth really brought the dish alive and bound eveyrthing together. My favourite part of the dish was the very subtle hints of szechuan which added flavour, and not so much heat.

With 20 minutes to spare, our waiters brought over our desserts. The coconut and white chocolate panna cotta looked nothing of the sort. Served with a steaming hot friand on the side, the panna cotta had a mango and black olive caramel centre. It sparked a little debate around the table whether the dish was adventurous and just too experimental.

The other dessert was a sheep’s yoghurt mousse with frozen blackberry, walnut ice cream and a honey oat crumble. It was a lovely dish of contrasts – not only in flavour, but also in texture and temperature.