The mad scientist behind one of Brisbane’s most progressive fine-dining restaurants is applying his unique culinary lens to dessert. Andrew McCrea, the visionay responsible for Perspective Dining has just launched a brand-new offshoot in the form of The Eucalyptus Room – a degustation restaurant where dessert takes many forms. We took a peek at the mind-bending menu – here’s what we saw …
When Andrew McCrea talks about dessert and how it makes people feel, the chef cant help but get a bit giddy himself.
“People’s emotions come out at dessert – it’s pure play,” says Andrew, excitedly. “People can’t help themselves when they’re playing with desserts. They’re literally on cloud nine – they just can’t hide their emotions.”
When we sit down with Andrew, the creative force behind rule-breaking restaurant Perspective Dining is hours away from pulling back the curtain on his newest venue, The Eucalyptus Room – a ten-seat degustation-only restaurant that is dedicated entirely to dessert. According to Andrew, The Eucalyptus Room is looking to tap into the instinctual emotional response that dessert elicits, playing with senses and form in order to stir something within diners. It’s a bold concept – but so was Perspective Dining, which has grown to become a must-try spot for those seeking a fine-dining experience with a progressive twist. What’s more, as is evident while chatting with Andrew, The Eucalyptus Room is an idea propelled by an undeniable passion and desire to push boundaries further.
“When you cook from nostalgia or draw from experiences and times, you’re cooking on a different level,” says Andrew. “You’re cooking with ingredients, but you’re also cooking with feeling and emotion and depth. I think building on [Perspective’s] philosophy – those food theories and that ethos – it just makes it ten times more exciting to do [The Eucalyptus Room].”
The Eucalyptus Room, which sits next door to Andrew’s acclaimed fine-diner inside the Duncan Street entrance of the TC Beirne & Co building, is an intimate space. Curtains shroud the dining room from prying eyes, but if folks could peer in they’d see ten comfy leather seats clustered around a single timber table adorned with cutlery and rocks. Yes, spherical rocks, which double as place settings and serving ware for The Eucalyptus Room’s bread and butter course (more on that in a second). Andrew has knocked out a portion of the wall separating his restaurants, connecting The Eucalyptus Room to Perspective Dining’s kitchen, where most of the cooking takes place. That said, a small prep area lines the feature wall (itself covered in decorative light boxes) and a drinks cabinet sits in the corner. The space is simply adorned, but that serves to draw attention to the food, which Andrew hopes will mess with people’s minds.
“There’s something fun and playful about sitting down to a rock and eating seven desserts with people you don’t know,” says Andrew. “As soon as you sit down, you’re going to get laughter and a level of giddiness. That’s what we want.”
At The Eucalyptus Room, much like at Perspective next door, Andrew is cooking with feeling. The classically trained chef, who is legally blind with only six percent vision, is known for relying on more than sight to create his culinary masterpieces. Andrew has plumbed the deepest depths of nostalgia for the inspiration that anchors the restaurant’s offering, taking familiar desserts and pulling them apart before reassembling them in brain-melting ways.
The restaurant’s seven-course menu traverses tart and sweet flavour profiles, starting with the aforementioned bread and butter course, which sees a piece of translucent bread placed upon the stone and piped with delicate butter sorbet. The Golden Meringue, inspired by pavlova, is a zingy standout that mixes textures of fizzy honeycomb with white chocolate and passionfruit, while an ice-cream sandwich sees Lamington ice-cream smushed between beetroot-infused, macaron-like biscuits. Other dishes boast a more nebulous description, with earth, air, smoke and wind the key listed ingredients for the the menu’s crescendo Chocolate course. Soon, The Eucalyptus Room team will add matched wines to the offering, with bubbles, riesling, a sticky dessert wine and port expected to feature.
All told, The Eucalyptus Room is a suitably left-field endeavour for a chef that prides himself on delivering the unexpected.
“I’m doing something that I really dreamed about doing – and not many of us get a chance to do what I do,” says Andrew. “I live in this crazy bubble where I just create stuff. Everyone that comes in we just want to make it so amazing for them that they can’t wait to come back. That’s all I wanted to do as a chef – I want to make people insanely happy.
“To do seven courses of sweets, to balance seven courses and hold diner’s attentions for a period of time, is ambitious to say the least. But, at the same time, I think Brisbane’s ready for it.”
The Eucalyptus Room is now open to the public – head to the Stumble Guide for booking info and contact details.