Five courses of chocolate with Pierrick Boyer, Sofitel, Brisbane

Five courses of chocolate?  Could I do it? All it took was a nanosecond and I was there, already salivating.

We were seated against Privé 249's floor to ceiling windows framing magnificent city views overlooking Brisbane Central Clock Tower and the historic Anzac Square. The black glass table tops were set with white china and Italian titanium cutlery, a striking mix of gold and silver, so all the ingredients for a special night were present even before the food emerged.

Le Petit Gateau’s Head Pastry Chef, Pierrick Boyer is the latest guest in Executive Chef Craig Napper’s Prive 249 guest Chef program.

The multi award winning Melbourne-based Boyer has a wealth of international experience and has worked alongside some of the most internationally renowned chefs including Alain Ducasse, Christophe Michalak, Pierre Marcolini and Stephane Leroux. He has been a pastry chef for 23 years, the last eight in Melbourne.

The chocolate-inspired menu included foie gras macaron au chocolat noir villa gracinda, braised oxtail and bitter chocolate spring rolls and seared salmon along with a dessert specialty comprising of elianza white chocolate béarnaise, and caviar geometry of chocolate textures with pistachio and darjeeling tea sauce.

While chocolate naturally starred in the dessert, in the others it was a wonderful complement, enriching and deepening the flavours with a creamy smoothness with hardly a hint of sweetness.

Pierrick told me these were recipes that he only uses for special occasions and the macaron recipe was a personal favourite.  It certainly was a stunningly presented combination of chocolate, foie gras and macaron.

My favourites from the evening were the crisp skin seared salmon with white chocolate sauce and the dessert, of course.  Although speaking with some of the other foodies present, May King Tsang, Ewan MacKellar, Amanda Reboul and Danielle Dixon, the bitter chocolate oxtail spring rolls topped many lists.

The wine matches by Sofitel’s sommelier Wendy Hawkins-Leslie were well considered. Chatting with Wendy she shared her strategy of imagining how some dishes that she couldn’t preview might actually taste, when considering her wine match.  I’m going to try that at home Wendy!

I was tipped off that Pierrick had an uber cool tattoo which I should check out – it is pretty awesome.  K2 bonded with Pierrick over their mutual love of watches and was amazed to discover Pierrick had a watch winding machine for those pesky watches that need kinetic energy to keep them going.  One for the Christmas list I think!

If the menu piques your interest, Prive 249 is offering a four course chocolate dessert menu until Saturday 14th July with a selection of Boyer’s personal recipes from $99 per person, available for lunch and dinner.  Bookings or call 07 3835 3535.

We were invited to trial one of the Sofitel’s new rooms which is a prototype for the refurbishment set  to roll out. Got to say I liked the beds with their thick fluffy toppers and the slick room décor was another winner.  The bathroom also has one of those circular pull-out makeup mirrors that I love and a decent hairdryer – another big tick.  Another small, but important thing, even though the shower has no door the water doesn’t spill out all over the floor – another pet hate.

You also get your own Nespresso machine so you can have a great heart starter without worrying about room service. Yay!

Surprisingly we had room for breakfast and sauntered down in the morning to enjoy the French-themed offerings.  It was good and I managed to resist a glass of champagne for breakfast.

Disclaimer: E,d+bK was a guest of Sofitel.