Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Aria or Tetsuya's?

My finace and I are planning to take my mother for her belated 50th and my step-father for his 60th birthday when we are in Sydney in early March.

At this stage we are considering either Aria or Tetsuya's. Which is better for a group of 4? I am not a seafood eater, which may be a little problematic at Tetsuya's, but the other 3 people love it, so I can just order something else.

Any other recommendations would be appreciated! Looking to try and limit the damage to less than $1000AU (around 750US), if possible.

I've eaten only twice at Tetsuya's and will not be going back for a 3rd time; the food was disappointing both times. Perhaps I'm spoiled by having eaten frequently at Le Bernardin (maybe the finest seafood restaurant in the world), and each time I had flown in from HKG after eating at Yu (which has a multi-million dollar fish farm in the kitchen to keep the fish fresh). In any case, Tetsuya was good but just not in the Michelin 3 star league for food quality. Service was good for Sydney (which means quite poor by international standards, but I don't care about that, it is the food that counts, and for me Tetsuya simply did not deliver at its price point). I've had better meals at Rockpool (heretical as that statement might be).

Prefaced by saying I've eaten and much enjoy Le Berndardin... and undoubtedly service there is superior to Tetsuya... though I must say I had an outstanding meal there this past June.

This trip report of mine (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=444681) includes a significant discussion of my meal there, with each item on the menu a link to a photo of the dish.

See also:
Tetsuya's (Sydney)..is it worth it? (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=429767)

I am wondering about Tetsuya's after looking at some other web boards...41 looks like a good option too, as does Otto's for lunch, with Aria or maybe Aqua for dinner....so many places to choose from.

I'll be in Australia for about 3 weeks, with a week in Hong Kong on the way back to Korea- in between work contracts. A lot of different places are on our list to try- Aria, Aqua, Flower Drum in Melbourne, The Lake House in Daylesford- really a great place if you can get there for lunch! Caprice in the new HKG Four Seasons is going to get a run too. Friends in HKG said it was great.

Check out www.eatability.com.au for some reviews.

Have been to Tets and can't wait to go back...However, if you're trying to limit to $1k, that may limit the amount of alcohol you had. I've been to Rockpool's as well and I don't think it is even in the same league as Tets...even though it's only like $10-15 cheaper.

No more Tetsuyas for me either... really average the last two times, and no interest by the kitchen in hearing feedback.

If you're going for lunch, I'd recommend Icebergs... the views are great.

When you're in Melbourne, try Vue de Monde... reserve well in advance, though... (in addition to Flower Drum, not instead of! ;) )

I am wondering about Tetsuya's after looking at some other web boards...41 looks like a good option too, as does Otto's for lunch, with Aria or maybe Aqua for dinner....so many places to choose from.

I'll be in Australia for about 3 weeks, with a week in Hong Kong on the way back to Korea- in between work contracts. A lot of different places are on our list to try- Aria, Aqua, Flower Drum in Melbourne, The Lake House in Daylesford- really a great place if you can get there for lunch! Caprice in the new HKG Four Seasons is going to get a run too. Friends in HKG said it was great.Otto's (in Wooloomoolloo) is great but extremely snobbish, you have to know someone to get a good table and service. The food makes up for it (and for the disappointing wine cellar). Definitely a better choice for lunch than for dinner.

Is Flower Drum back to its former glory? I haven't eaten there in 3 or 4 years, but it had gone downhill quite a bit (from being excellent).

Tetsuya has enough good reviews that it clearly is outstanding at times; and enough bad ones that it is the restaurant which is erratic rather than the diners (always a consideration for food that is as innovative as Tetusya's). Interestingly enough Sydney was named one of the top-3 foodie cities in the world by the NYTimes (NY and Paris are the other 2, and London came in 4th behind Sydney). Not sure that it is possible or meaningful to rate cities like this (or that I agree; MEL has better food than SYD in my experience), however it does show the seriousness of the food scene in Australia (and the incredible transformation from the vegemite days).

Indeed, hard to imagine ranking Sydney above Melbourne in such a survey -- but I *have* had many wonderful meals in SYD.

In Sydney, you can also consider The Establishment, you may want to book well in advance though. I overheard them once on a phone call, they were booked solid for about 3 to 4 months...

in Melbourne, there's Grossi Florentino (the restaurant, not the Grill or the bar). The restaurant is an experience (for me anyway). There's also Taxi, it's a funky place, good food and good service, but tricky to have a private quiet meal.

COTTAGE POINT INN..
Sydney

For something really different, albeit slightly costly, take a float plane from Rose Bay to the Cottage Point Inn. The flight goes along the northern beaches to the Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park and Hawksbury River and then lands and ties up at the restaurant. Its only a 15 flight from the City, but on the return leg it flies a circuit over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House before landing back at Rose Bay. The cost PP is AUD$425.00 for the flight and lunch. See website hereunder. Have not been there for 9 months, considering its only a 40 min drive from my place, but the food was great.

http://www.seaplanes.com.au/cottage_point_inn_lunch.htm

Just my $0.02 - slightly off OP topic...

Neither Level 41 nor Flower Drum are up to their former glory. I would give both of those a miss.

Thanks for all of your replies. We have booked into EST. for dinner. The menu looks great, and the reviews of the place are very highly rated. It wasn't too hard getting a table either, though being a Friday rather than a Saturday night probably helped a little.

41 looks like a good option too

My spouse and I ate at 41 last month for the first time and were very pleased with the location, view of Sydney Harbour, meal and service. We enjoyed 41's version of a Menu Degustation with delicious matching wines for each course selected by 41's excellent Sommelier. As I recall, the price for each person was AUD$200 (USD$150) and my spouse produced the Sydney Entertainment Card, which got us $50 off the total price. The meal notes that I entered into my PDA indicated that the standouts served to us were an exceptional duck ravioli with blue swimmer crab meat, a fillet of sand whiting with white asparagus, crab meat and sweetcorn and a beef fillet with braised shallots, spinach and candied garlic. I'll be in Sydney during Easter and will visit 41 again.