With friends home from Egypt, we had a good excuse for a special dinner this week. The Buffalo club had been on my list of places to go for some time but we wanted a good excuse and needed the ablity to get a table (we had failed on the last point on a few occasions). Thanks to getting rave reviews from press around the country (eg GT's best new talent award and Matt Preston in this month's V E&T)
The universe aligned this week and we managed to get the best table in the place for Saturday night! I think it was fortunate timing as they only re-opened on Wednesday and many people are still on leave up or down the coast.
We had a few scares prior to the night, when I rang to increase the booking numbers and they couldn't find the booking. My fears disappeared on Saturday afternoon when they rang to confirm 9 people for 8pm and reminded me that their associated bar was still closed.
We had pre-drinks at Cloudland to introduce the Brisbane returnees from Egypt to some of the Brisbane changes since their departure and to set the scene for the night ahead. Such a dreamy atmosphere, where there is great people watching and good places for a drink before moving on. (Dinner at Cloudland was a possible back up plan had a table at the Buffalo club been a no go)
The Buffalo club is a small establishment so we were a little surprised to be greeted by a burly security type at the street level entrance. The Valley must get a bit scary at times so they need to protect the place from walk ins.
Once upstairs, we were greeted by our friendly waiter, Dan and shown to our table. We had scored an amazing table. I would describe it was the kitchen table set up so you can watch the food being prepared and be served straight from the kitchen via the centre of the U shaped.
The Buffalo Club serves their meals as a degustation menu so you're only choices are whether to match with wines or to choose from their wine list. The food component is $120 per head for 12 courses and $80 for the wine matching. This restaurant is a special occasion place unless you have deeper pockets than me and the molecular gastronomy menu will not suit every type of diner.
The food is amazing. Each course introduced us to another version of molecular gastronomy. We had purees, freeze dried meat and fruit, sorbets and minature leaves. I loved that the cooking style was so beyond anything I would cook at home. When I go out for a special occasion, I want to be dazzled with something and I don't want a disappointing meal which makes me think I could have catered something at home. The courses are not massive but the flavours are intense and you're definitely not hungry at the end of the night!
Attached is the menu. My favourites were the dried beef, the prawns and chocolate dessert.
I have an aversion of taking photos of every meal (I know many have no qualms about it but it is just not my type of foodie thing) but I did have my camera with me to capture the night with good friends so I took some photos of the kitchen as it was entertainment in itself.
My verdict on the Buffalo club is find a special occasion, plan ahead both to get a table and to justify the expense (sorry but years of being an accountant doesn't offset my foodism). I would recommend going with a group and ask for the kitchen table as part of the fun of this place is watching the chefs prepare the food.
http://www.thebuffaloclub.com.au/ for contact details
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