THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Claude’s

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Claude’s Restaurant Review:

If tapas was the Sydney food trend of the first decade of the new millennium, then tasting (aka dégustation) menus is that of the next. Several years ago chef Chui Lee Luk became the fourth and current owner of Claude's, a thirty-year-old restaurant set in a delightful Federation terrace house in Sydney’s inner eastern suburbs. Born in Singapore, she brought to the restaurant elements from her childhood in Malaysia and her time as sous chef with previous owner Tim Pak Poy, himself famed for so artfully melding French and Asian cuisines. As she grew into her new restaurant it was obvious she was reading the mood of diners, gently morphing Claude’s into a sophisticated yet approachable salon upstairs and something the area needed sorely, a smart-casual bar with matching dishes at street level. Little of the classical French past remains, except for the French-leaning wine list. Now the menu delves into the chef’s family heirloom recipes and styles --- palm heart marinated in fragrant oil, quail drunken in red rice wine, pigs tail and porridge of fermented millet, and much more. You could be nervous of these unusual ingredients and combinations if Luk was not in charge. But diners know they are in experienced and careful hands.