The $39 bread and butter you can't miss at this new Sydney restaurant
And don't even get us started on the calamari.
I'm shooting the breeze with a cool young food writer when she drops a hot buttered bombshell. "The $39 bread and butter service at the Sofitel Wentworth is so-o-o worth it," she says.
My eyes widen. It's not a heart attack; I'm merely calculating how soon I can tuck into this dish at the revamped Sydney hotel where Princess Diana once twirled around the dancefloor with her husband.
Is butter, finally, having a moment? I'm also reading the Japanese novel Butter, which describes the almost orgasmic deliciousness of eating warm rice with cold French butter and a drop of soy sauce (readers are rushing to replicate the combo).
At the hotel's restaurant Tilda, the bread and butter extravaganza arrives for me and a friend. Our eyes, round as dinner plates, take in the butler's tray cradling a mountain of whipped Pepe Saya butter, a round of saltbush focaccia, seared cheese drizzled with wildflower honey, macadamia cream and a spray of watercress.
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A waiter conducts this riveting tableside performance - spooning, slathering and seasoning a generous portion of butter before popping it onto our table. Other diners can't look away.
All the world's a stage and we're merely (hungry) players. I don't mind the eyes upon me as I heap butter onto a chunk of bread and shovel it in. My informant was right; the decadence is worth it. There's enough to make it our entire meal but it'd sound weird - wouldn't it? - to say we dined only on bread and butter? Space is duly saved for calamari, barramundi, green beans and potato gems.
If you're onto a trend, I say stick with it. My waistline won't love me but I'm planning to sample another buttered-up sensation: the much-hyped Lune Croissanterie croissant made with not one but two types of butter. My heart's already melting at the thought. tilda.sydney
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