Mark's 50th Celebration Dinner at ARIA Restaurant

1st July 2011, Mark turned the big 50 and we celebrated in style. Mark & I and Al & Steve went for dinner at Matt Moran's ARIA Restaurant, on the edge of the Sydney Harbour, overlooking the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

In a word... W-O-W!!! What an amazing experience!!

And here we are, all dressed up and standing by the ARIA sign before going in for our meal...

 
 This was the view from our table...

First things first, Al and I attempted to select a bottle of wine to share. A little thrown with the fancy (16 page!) wine list and not recognising any of the wines at all, we were assisted by a waiter who's sole responsibility was to assist with wine selection! Al explained to him the type of wine we normally drink, and from there he recommended some from their list that we would like. We chose a bottle, 2009 Neudorf from Nelson, NZ. Al tested it first - the waiter was right on the money, it was PERFECT! Mark then had some fun with the same waiter, selecting a glass of red. He wasn't keen on the first one and asked if there was anything fruiter!!! It was hard not to giggle. "Certainly sir", said the waiter... he vanished, and returned with a fresh glass and a different bottle, which was much more to Mark's liking. Hehe!

 

And here we all are at our table, enjoying the evening to the max!

Mark and Steve

Best friends :-)

Me with the birthday boy!

Al and Steve

We were served with the a soup appetiser in a shot glass - creamy pumpkin with coconut cream on top, and some fresh bread and butter.

For entree, Al and I both had the scallops, spiced and roasted with glazed witlof, pistachios and dried apricots. Puuuuuurfect! Mark and Steve both had the Kurobuta pork belly, with pickled watermelon and crackling (which us girls tasted, and it was also perfection!). Here are the scallops...

For main, myself, Al and Steve had the lamb, roasted fillet with ricotta gnocchi, pumpkin and mustard fruit purée and a sage and balsamic sauce. Mark had the fish special, which was grilled and served with muscles - can't remember the details of that one as it wasn't on the menu! To accompany our mains, we shared a bowl of truffled potato mash.

Here is the lamb...

For dessert, we all had the passionfruit soufflé with white chocolate ripple ice cream. I think Al described it as "a cloud in your mouth" which was a fair description!! Here it is...

And then it was gone!

Our dessert was also accompanied by the most scrumptious petit fours... 

This was without a doubt, the most amazing dining experience of my life to date! Everything was superb. Every single mouthful from start to finish was pure perfection.

Once we had paid the bill (which we won't even talk about!!), the waiter came to the table to ask if we would like to see inside the kitchen! Steve had arranged this secretly for Mark's birthday. So off we went, to watch the 14 chefs in action. The place was absolutely spotless and running like a well oiled engine. It was very impressive to watch.

To cap off a perfect evening, Hannah was also the model baby! She slept from 7 without a peep til 11 when we got there to pick her up from my friend's house, transferred home in the car babbling dadada nanana, had a feed and went back to bed and midnight, without a peep until 7.30am!

All in all, an absolutely spectacular way to spend a special birthday evening and to cap off a wonderful week of celebrations.