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Last night I was privileged to be able to enjoy a special meal at Restaurant Amusé. It was a degustation with a difference, code named Project Amusé, where much like a proud father, head chef and owner Hadleigh Troy, graciously stepped aside for one night and gave the floor to his team to show their creations to us.

Each member of the kitchen team crafted a dish to present to the diners, and wines were chosen specially to match each one.

On arrival we were given martinis (cherry ripe and dirty jelly) and the very deceptively named "snacks" plate, which was actually an array of intricate flavour and texture combinations. A "30 second sponge", lamb tartare and cornichons, watermelon cups filled with a list of ingredients that completely escapes me. Each taste was a guessing game to pick that flavour and ingredient.

I'll spare you the intricate details of every single course, but suffice to say they were all brilliant, and a wonderful reflection of the tutelage going on at Restaurant Amusé. None of the dishes felt like they were trying too hard to impress, and there was a real organic, produce driven aspect to all of the dishes which never felt over worked. Complex flavours married with textural elements to create a real sense of wonder all through the night.

It must be very rewarding as a chef to be able to open the floor up to your staff and know that they can perform at such a high level. Some of the technical aspects of the dishes was astounding (the coconut sphere frozen in liquid nitrogen (!) for instance - check the youtube video for it in all it's glory).

The list of dishes was as follows:

Team Snacks

Chris Lisle-Williams
Cherry Ripe and Dirty Jelly Martini

Gianfranco Monti
Nordic Kingfish
Scott, NV The Great Wave' Sparkling Pinot Grigio, Adelaide Hills SA

Paul Iskov
Pig, mushroom, onion
Paul Jaboulet, 2006 'Les Jalets' Crozes Hermitage, Rhone Valley France

Matthew Starling
Beef, squid and watermelon
Domaine Lucci, 2010 Petit Verdot, Adelaide Hills SA

Jake Stone
Coconut on the beach
Marcarini, 2009 Moscato d'Asti, Piemonte, Italy

Luke Butler
Chocolate and Beetroot
Woodstock, 2003, Barbera Recioto, McLaren Vale SA

Kim Eaton
Pyengana Cheddar
Barrel Aged Muscat, Rutherglen Vic

We had a fantastic night, joined by many other local food bloggers and food lovers from Perth, who all got into the spirit of things taking photos and obsessing over the construction of the dishes. After the meal we were fortunate enough to be greeted by all the chefs who were happy to answer questions about the thought process and technique that had gone into their dish, which was a fantastic insight into just how much planning goes into each course.

You can see more photos from the night in my slide show on Flickr, and if you've yet to try out Restaurant Amusé, do yourself a favour and head in. Chatting to Chef Hadleigh Troy after the meal it's obvious what a down to earth guy he is, he takes his food very seriously, but it's presented in such a way that anyone can appreciate it. Definitely one of my picks for meal of the year so far !

Restaurant Amusé
64 Bronte Street
East Perth WA 6004
P: +61 8 9325 4900