Restaurant Review - Montrachet

I was taken to Montrachet last night for my birthday. I hadn't been there before, but it's on my list of "must do" restaurants. I have only ever heard good things about the place, and people generally rave about how it is the best restaurant in Brisbane. My boss knows the owner, Thierry, and also raves about it. He only eats at the best places and is extraordinarily picky, so I expected the place to be fantastic. He recommended I have the crab and cheese souffle for entree.

To further add to the hype, it has regularly been listed very highly in Australian Gourmet Traveller's Restaurant Guide Awards each year since it has opened, and I haven't read a bad review of it yet.

This site had the following comments from diners:

"If this isn't Brisbane's best restaurant, I'll eat my own head."
"Easily the best restaurant in Brisbane, the owners [sic] delightful, the staff professional and warm, not enough good things to say about Montrachet."
"The best food I have ever had."
"Absolutely delicious food. Had the crab souffle which was amazing!"
"Our waiter was very attentive and constantly ready to serve professionally and with a smile."

I must say I was very disappointed. I ordered a prawn "spring roll" for amuse bouche. It was oily, and had very little flavour. I then had the recommended crab & cheese souffle, while William ordered a scallop and truffle linguine dish. My souffle had clearly been in the oven too long. It was overdone, and the bisque accompanying it was burnt towards the edge of the plate, and congealed. William's scallops were overcooked and rubbery.

For mains, I ordered the bouillabaisse, and William ordered the much hyped steak frites. My bouillabaisse was ok, but nothing special. It was slightly overseasoned, and there wasn't really that much seafood in it. The aioli accompanying it had far too much garlic in it, which overwhelmed my taste buds and burnt my tongue. William's steak had a line of gristle running through it, and his frites were limp and seemed like they had been cooked some time ago and just left to sit out.

Dessert was somewhat better. I had the profiteroles and William had the chocolate and cognac ganache. Both were supposed to be served with a scoop of ice cream, but that was missing. William's ganache had so much cognac in it, I took one bite and nearly choked. It burned on the way down my throat.

The service wasn't exceptional either. We started off with one waiter, but while William was mid sentence asking for a wine recommendation, he just walked off. He was replaced by a waitress who didn't really seem that knowledgeable about the food. Again, William was mid sentence when she was taking our order when she suddenly turned around to start talking to another waiter. She also hovered over us throughout the meal, and asked at least twice through each course whether our meals were ok. I wanted to tell her that, no, they were awful, and I wasn't impressed. However, I am old fashioned and let the men speak for me when out at a restaurant, and William is much more polite than I am, so he said everything was fine.

And it wasn't like Thierry was off for the night and the sous chefs couldn't keep up the standard. I saw Thierry come out of the kitchen twice, so he was definitely there.

I don't know whether we just got a bad night, but I certainly wouldn't be recommending the place. I've had far better meals at E'cco, Absynthe, Shuck, B, Joseph Alexander's, Gianni's, 2 Small Rooms, Il Centro, Vanitas, and even Dell'Ugo at Southbank, and it's not really meant to be a high end restaurant!

Overall, I was very unimpressed by Montrachet. I don't know why people rave about it so. Perhaps they think because they've been told it's the best, they convince themselves of it? I don't know. All I know is that it certainly wasn't the best meal I've ever had. I can cook better than what I was served last night, and I hate going out to a restaurant when I know I can cook better than what I've just ordered and have to pay for.

We didn't tip.