Claudes

First published on 4 Apr 2008. Updated on 20 Oct 2010.

Back in the early 80s, when Woollahra was a little more edgy, restaurateur Damien Pignolet had to hang curtains in the front windows of Claude's to protect diners from flashers exposing themselves. Fast forward to 2009 and the blinds have been raised to a well-heeled suburb where the only thing being flashed is Visa Platinum.

Even though chef/restaurateur Chui Lee Luk has had the restaurant since 2004, it's only lately that she's really claimed it as her own. A lick of paint, some cool wallpaper and fewer things cluttering the walls has opened up the room, making it a much more relaxing place to dine. The attitude on the floor has had an injection of lively, too. Marco Taddeo (you might have seen him on the floor at Bentley Restaurant and Bar) is bringing it both in terms of wine and vibe - there's nothing like an Italian to shake up a serious French restaurant.

The menu has changed too. The old favourites haven't gone anywhere (smoked salmon consommé topped with a brush stroke of pastry, say, or Sydney's best soufflé - so light it disappears in your mouth before you can say 'gruyere') but they've been joined by some very intelligent Asian influences. Chui, who tells Time Out she has been restless for some time, is striking out with flavours that are anything but traditional French. "My dishes come from real things: I'm reminded of something but I can't necessarily represent it because it's generally street food."

Take the technique the Singapore-born chef applies to ingredients. Not satisfied with the quality of the foie gras we import here, Luk uses traditional Chinese cooking methods to get a similar result with chicken liver. The liver is blanched in salted water then dipped in a ginger-based glaze, then dried, then fried. This is just one part of the lobster dish, which, by the way, is tasty and interesting as hell. Little hunks of butter-roasted lobster tail join forces with a little, slightly doughy celeriac pancake. Luk reckons the idea came from Singaporean chilli crab, making it about the world's most luxurious hawker dish.

Slices of Aylesbury duck breast are fanned out and covered with the finest shavings of pickled Jerusalem artichoke. The J-chokes appear again, this time confitted, in chicory that's been slow-cooked with olive oil until it becomes a sort of paste. Accompanying all that is a single duck-filled zagareliai (a sweet Czech pastry) and a single chestnut. But is it good? Oh, yes.    

Then there are the little blood plums poached in curry leaf syrup with an extremely surprising peppered macaroon - it had us coughing and sneezing like the pig baby in Alice in Wonderland. Of course, you could always go the apple soufflé that tastes like pie.

Luk approaches food with brains rather than brawn. Things on the menu are never what they seem to be - each ingredient goes through multiple cooking processes. This kind of attention to everything on the plate can turn some people off but if you appreciate subtlety and skill, you'll see the appeal in Luk's food. Myffy Rigby