Lume is unusual, very unusual.
Set in an old home in Coventry St. it stretches the length of the house
with a roofed atrium that can be opened if conditions are appropriate.
Faux marble tables
are a good size, well spaced and comfortable. Somehow it reminded me of a Roman villa
with herbs and plants hanging on one wall.
Decor was generally pleasant, uncluttered and uncrowded.
Food was brought from the kitchen on mini palettes to a serving table
Cutlery was also unusual, imported from Portugal
The meal began with a 2013 Blanc Pinot Blanc from Alsace and a warm buttered dough (steamed) with duck fat and truffle
The truffle was lost in this otherwise pleasing amuse bouche.
A very unusual, but also pleasing textural tour, oat congee made with entrails of calamari followed served with a 2009 Baumard 'Carte d'Or' Coteaux du Layon from the Loire.
rare roasted quince with notes of chamomile and honey, duck liver and nasturtiums had me tricked. Until I tasted it I thought the quince was meat! The duck liver was a soft mousse rich but not excessive.
native bird dressed with white soy and hibiscus came with a Maideni 'classic' vermouth. quite a good choice after the duck.
Sandra did not want to eat a native bird and instead was served a dried diakon chip, which she loved
pearl on the sea floor, another cute dish full of simple symbolism. The pearl was a an icecream filled sphere of chocolate. The nextwines were Sake - Usnigori, shaken to serve, made by Uehara Schuzo, and a 2008 Nakka Schuzo Asahi Wakamats. Interesting but hard to evaluate.
scallop dressed with Jamon dashi, honeydew and roe
saltbush lamb perfumed with cherry wood ash, macadamia cream and rhubarb. This came with a more traditional 2012 Narello Mascolese from the slopes of Mt. Etna
jerusalem artichoke La Serene Praline and quince peelings was over salty for me. The
Maideni 'dry' was appropriate
sea corn and dairy cow was yet another tricky dish the corn being made of egg! The accompanying 2014 Sentio chardonnay from Beechworth was OK.
meat hen cooked in chamomile, acidulated wild violets and salted yolk was delicious with another Sake a 1999 Nokano 'BC Chokyu' was a bit of fun.
cauliflower cheese with pastry smoked over pear wood Looked like cheese. We did not have the menu until the end of the meal so we dishes arrived looking like one thing and actually being entirely different we were constantly surprised. This came with a 2013 'Trenzano' from the Canary Islands. By now I was very glad I was not driving!!
lambs blood ganache rolled in maple oats, native apple jam and riberry pepper
Coventry truffle.
There were two more alcoholic beverages - a Donnybrook apple cider liqueur and a stout topped up with a splash of Ramate Iberia cream sherry, from Jerez of course.
and a dessert
followed by one more.
caxao pod from Maralumi with notes of tobacco, green banana and currants
Very cute indeed
Served with a very young Rutherglen port made by Simon at Simhoo & Co. There was some dissention as to how to rate this extremely unusual meal full of little tricks surprises and deceptions. It was very high on imagination, on variation in every way. Pleasing to the eye in a very pleasing venue. Our waiter, Dan, could not have been more attentive and was extremely well informed.
On the down side some of the dishes were under or over seasoned but in all they were extremely good and full of magic.
The table scored them from 15.5 to 19. My score was in the middle.Score:17.5 /20