About two years ago my wife and I dined at Sage Restaurant and found the experience entirely pleasurable. The service was very good and the food as sophisticated and enjoyable as we had encountered in Canberra.
About the same time Sage Restaurant was apparently voted Tripadvisor number 1 fine dining restaurant in Australia.
On Saturday evening my wife and I returned to Sage Restaurant only to discover that in the intervening period a ship of intergalactic space ninjas had descended on Gorman House; that they had kidnapped the wait staff and the kitchen staff and made off with them and all of their recipes.
The cuisine, if it can be elevated by the use of that expression, which was presented to us on Saturday night was basic, uninspired and uninspiring and, frankly, akin to something which a high school student might present as part of a home economic assignment.
In short, my wife and I were bitterly disappointed.
The fact that the restaurant offered only a set degustation menu ought to have gone some way to ensuring that each course was polished and delectable.
The fact that two courses featured thinly sliced processed meat which one could acquire at any supermarket or delicatessen illustrates just what a devastating effect the space ninjas have had on this restaurant.
The photographs on the restaurant's web page must be the only thing those ghoulish invaders failed to take with them because they bear no resemblance to the food with which our taste buds were assaulted on Saturday night.
The matched premium wines were no better. A wine does not become “premium” just because it is imported and bears upon its label some foreign words. That might fool the uninitiated and uneducated but will never fool people who know a little about fine dining.
My suggestion to the owners/management is that if a ransom is outstanding, they pay it as soon as possible to get back their staff; their recipes and their reputation. See less
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4.4
