The festival of Tim continues...

Rather than spend hours over a hot stove creating something that would wind up being wolfed down while sitting on the floor, in our trackies, in front of the coffee table, with Tim reading the junk mail and me watching something British on TV, I opted to take him out for his birthday dinner.

But where was worthy of this occasion??? Sabayon, in Canberra's West Row.

We'd been there once before - the night before Tim had to go off on a 5 month posting, a night when we both wound up drunk on emotion and one bottle of red, and a night when his ex-girlfriend who he hadn't seen since the breakup a couple of years before, wound up sitting at the table behind us in full view. Memorable for all the wrong reasons, although I do recall thinking it was a great meal.

This time around was no exception. We opted for the degustation menu, without wine, since we'd already started drinks. There were 5 courses, starting with perfectly cooked scallops, followed by even more perfectly cooked calamari strips on a sweet salad. I was so impressed by this as most places manage to turn out slightly rubbery calamari. This was exquisitely tender and salty. After this, we moved on to a tourine of chicken, pistachio and I think a more gamey meat. Finally for mains, we had the most perfect little piece of beef known to man of beast. This was served with what I can only describe as the most flavoursome mini-meat and potato pie in the universe. I can't explain how good it was - it was like there was a party in my mouth and everyone was there! Despite being roughly the size of a 50c piece, it was enough. Any more would have been overkill.

The palate was freshened with a mouthful of mandarin sorbet, which we thought was it. But wait, there's more... A sort of chocolate mousey cake thing with strawberries and vanilla sorbet for proper dessert. Tea and coffee was then served with rosey turkish delight and caramel.

The thing about this degustation is that while everything is in small, and sometimes tiny proportions, it's all the best of the best. I mean, every morsel was carefully thought about and beautifully presented to you at just the right interval, by waiting staff who took care of you without crowding you.

We walked out feeling full and happy. My guess is that we felt so full because of the richness of every course, and because eating at intervals lets your system start to feel the food before you keep going. You don't just wolf down a big plate of whatever, not thinking much about it, and then wonder why you're about to burst.

Without wine cost $65 and with is $95. That might seem pricey but we both felt it was value for money - it's the whole experience you're paying for and well worth it. In fact, stay tuned next month when we will have gone back for another birthday and indulged in the version with wine.

The menu and all the details can be found on the website: http://www.sabayon.com.au/