For one of my birthday treats each year, I go out for dinner with one of my favorite couples. They choose the restaurant and never disappoint! Last year, we dined at Morimoto in Philly, and the year before at Buddakan, also in Philly. I loved each restaurant, but I think this year, the restaurant took the cake (pun intended). We had a true dining adventure!
Where did we do go, you wonder? We went to the Blackfish Restaurant in downtown Conshohocken. This BYOB restaurant offers a seafood-centric menu of modern American cuisine, as well as tasting menus ranging from five to seven courses. We opted for the five-course tasting menu, which was an experience I’ll never forget!
Blackfish, which opened in 2006, has received numerous accolades and lots of praise, including being named "Best Restaurant" in Philadelphia magazine's 2011 "50 Best Restaurants" issue, as well as earning a coveted "Three Bells: Excellent" review from The Philadelphia Inquirer's food critic, Craig LaBan, who most recently named Blackfish among the area's top five BYOBs for 2012.
I’d give it five out of five stars, if I was a critic.
When you choose the tasting menu, you have no idea what you are going to be served, because it is at the Chef’s discretion … so I was a little nervous, but totally intrigued! When reading the menu, it all sounded delicious. There were a lot of words I recognized from watching Top Chef, but if I had to explain them, I’m not sure I could. So, before we totally committed, we asked the server some questions to see what we were getting ourselves into. She explained that they prefer the whole table to take part in the tasting menu, and they would ask us some questions about our tastes and gear the tasting menu accordingly. The questions included things like, “Do you eat raw oysters?”, “Do you eat sashimi?”, “Will you eat organ meat?” I tried to keep my cool, but inside I was thinking “Oh my goodness, what are we doing?”
But then it began … and it was so exciting that I had some trouble controlling my enthusiasm at the table.
The dining adventure started with an amuse bouche, which is a single, bite-sized hors d’oeuvre served as a complement from the chef. It gives you a little glimpse into the chef’s approach to the art of cuisine. It was after that first delicious bite that I knew we had definitely made the right choice.
1st Course: Hibiscus cured Artic Char with sea buckthorn syrup & breakfast radish.
This dish was so visually appealing you almost didn’t want to eat it. The hibiscus added a touch of sweet, which was a nice complement to the cured Artic Char. At this point, you could hardly wait to see what would come next.
2nd Course: House Smoked Salmon with deep-fried egg, sour cream, crispy potato & mizuna greens.
This dish was unbelievable. When you cut into the salmon, the egg yolk oozed out, creating a delicious sauce. The best part was getting a little bit of everything on your fork at the same time to truly marry the flavors together. Absolutely delightful! My friend Angela (who didn’t think she liked smoked salmon) is now a convert and loves it!
3rd Course: Grilled Longfin Tuna with smoked eggplant romanesco, artichoke and brown butter gribice.
The tuna in this dish is by far the best tuna I’ve ever had. And topped with the artichoke and brown butter gribice - nothing even comes close. It was absolutely the freshest-tasting food ever. It was almost as if it woke up taste buds in my mouth that have been asleep for a long, long time. I really could not stop thinking about it; I wish I could have some right now.
4th Course: 12 hour roasted Hanger Steak with farro, sunchokes and sweet onion puree, served with a bordelaise sauce.
This dish had the sauce poured at the table which is such a nice touch. The hanger steak was just delicious with such flavor I can’t even put into words. I’ve learned I love farro and didn’t know it. Sunchokes I think I may have to learn to love, but I love that I had the opportunity to try them.
5th Course: Dark Chocolate Ganache with white chocolate powder, lime and almond.
This dessert was the perfect ending to an unbelievable meal. The consistency of the ganache was spot on, and running your fork through the white chocolate powder, almond and lime spots was perfect. My friend Eric suggested that you then also run the chocolate over your tongue in your mouth – and wow, it was like a flavor explosion!
The portion sizes for all 5 courses were just perfect; we were full when we were done, but weren’t at the “uncomfortably full” stage. And we all finished every single bite of every single portion. If I had been in the privacy of my own home, I can pretty much guarantee that I would have literally licked the plate clean on each course. And I don’t think I’d be alone in thinking that. Actually, if you took a look at the plates going back to the kitchen from all the tables, they were all food-free. What a compliment to the Chef that must be!
So, if you are looking for a true dining adventure just a little outside of Berks, I highly recommend it! And seriously, try the tasting menu, you won’t be disappointed – it is worth every penny!
For more info visit www.blackfishrestaurant.com.
