CHEF’S TABLE MENUS

Here you will find several menus inspired either by a certain ingredient - such as the duck - or by a certain part of the world with which chef Vio has a special connection - such as Europe or Brazil. Also also here you will find the chef’s Signature Menus, made up of some of his favourite plates, developed over twelve years of cooking on two continents.

Contact us to discuss your event and find the right menu for your needs.

COUNTING THE DUCKS

This is a menu showcasing just a few of the uncountable savory and sweet culinary applications of the almighty and precious duck. It is a five-course menu in which duck elements are integrated in creative formulas on every plate. The intense flavour and strong personality of duck meat, gizzards, skin and fat are highly valued and underlined through elegantly built contrasts of both taste and texture. Entire menu is constructed on Australian-grown produce, sourced fresh within a radius of less than 50 Km around Meta Kitchen. 

Full explanations regarding the ingredients and methods of preparation will be disclosed during dinner, as well as more details about other derivatives or versions of the presented choices. Guests will also find out how the chef chooses his titles for the presented dishes, tips regarding cooking methods and pairing of ingredients.  

AMUSE BOUCHE: CREAMY CRACKLIN’. 

Crispy skin, pickled cucumber jelly, mustard cream.

STARTER: BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE…

Breast crudo, terrine, pickles and wild sourdough.

FIRST COURSE: CIAO, BELLO! 

Seared breast on pearl barley with asparagus shoots and fat noisette.

MAIN  COURSE: MESSING UP WITH THE FRENCHIES. 

Confit leg, smoked polenta, blood orange jus, maise crumble.

DESSERT: FIVE O’DUCK

Pumpkin Parisienne compote, lard short crust, Grand Marnier zabaglione.

A LA BRASILIENNE 

Brazil will always have a special space in chef Vio’s heart. A little surfers’ village from North Eastern Bahia was the place where he learnt a lot about appreciating humans, nature, diversity and life itself. He had the chance to completely immerse in the local culture and become a part of the simple mechanism of basic life and having the great chance to experience the local universe of ingredients and to continue fulfilling his mission: generating memorable experiences on plates, honouring and respecting the produce. This menu proposal is a mixture between the local Brazilian influences and the chef’s education and experience in French cuisine.  

AMOUSE BOUCHE: ROMEU E JULIETE

white salty cheese, guava jam

STARTER: BACALHAO BRISEE

cod fish in buttery short crust

FIRST COURSE: ESCONDIDINHO

pulled beef/chicken, vegetables, potato puree and melted cheese

MAIN  COURSE: MOUQUEKA DE MARISCOS

fish, prawns, calamari, mussels, coconut milk Bouillabaise sauce, crunchy fish skin

LAST COURSE: TIRABRIGADEIRO

chocolate mousse and mascarpone custard layered with biscuits and coffee cachaca syrup

EUROPOETRY

This is one of chef’s Viorel Copolovici culinary puzzles with a very strong and diverse European influence. The huge migratory movement of Europe’s last decade crucially changed the way Europeans relate to food and cuisine. Europe became a huge playground for taste combinations and influences, ingredients and contrasts, flavours and cultures. This menu proposal contains bits from diverse areas of Europe like Italy, Germany, Balkans, Northern Europe, Middle East, Great Britain, Portugal or France, all incased and highlighted with the chef’s keen interest for high standards of cooking and high respect for all ingredients.

AMUSE BOUCHE: SERIOUS TEASE

crisped Italian salami, sour cherries jam, thyme                                                                    

FIRST COURSE: LOST IN  THE MIDDLE EAST                                          

seared scallops, cauliflower humus, prawn baklava, pomegranate jus                                 

MAIN COURSE: SHANKS A LOT!                                                         

Braised lamb shank, parsnip Dauphinoise, kale chips, oregano demiglace               

CLEANSER: WILHELM & CURT                                          

sourdough crouttons, Jagermeister, aged balsamic                                                              

LAST COURSE: reMASTERED

pumpkin, filo pastry, dried fruits, cinnamon, port caviar  

FRENCH DEGUSTATION

Yes, this is serious! A seven-course degustation menu based on some of the most famous and most acclaimed French dishes around the planet. French cuisine by all standards, culinary history at its best, a potpourri of flavours, textures, techniques, ingredients and influences, all with LOCAL Australian produce. Don’t be afraid of the number of plates that will sit in front of you, on the table, because you will probably ask for even more. Because the French cuisine is so vast, so ample, so complex and so diverse, we would need hundreds of such seven-course menus and not even come close to any possible end of what the French created in their kitchens. So take this as a proposal for just one memorable evening and stay hungry for more.

AMUSE BOUCHE: LA PEPITE

chicken liver patee, pistachios, Cointreau jelly, pickles

FIRST COURSE: PARDON MY FRENCH…

seared foie gras, sweet wine syrup, fresh grapes, brined mustard seeds and green onions, rhye

SECOND COURSE: LA CAILLLE GONDOLIERE

stuffed deboned quails, corn puree, hazelnut vinaigrette, endives

THIRD COURSE: FROM PARIS TO DELHI

confit duck leg, curried caulliflower puree, spiced pumpkin, coconut pannacotta, lime sorbet

MAIN CURSE: TOURNEZ LE DOS

beef filet, truffles, potatoes, Bearnais sauce

PASSAGE COURSE: VAPEUR

mint and vanilla souffle straight from the oven, digestive sauce

DESSERT: THE DRUNKEN B**BS

pears poached in mulled red wine, cream jelly, chocolate sauce, red wine reduction

SOME SIGNATURES

These menus are a collection of some of the plates that chef Viorel Copolovici perfected during his first twelve years of studying and cooking in Romania, UK and Brazil. Even if he usually says that his favourite dish is the next one that he will try for the first time, there were a few plates and creations that returning guests asked for and became what the culinary scene might call a chef’s signature. This proposal contains some of the chef’s all-time favourites, like the combination between noble cheese and cooked fruit, his passion for octopus or prime-cut steak, French cooking fundamentals or hist super-acclaimed dessert.

“I am and will always be a chef de cuisine. Being a pastry chef is a completely different job because it’s about a completely different science that I haven’t studied. When it comes to desserts, “improvisateur” (the French for “impostor”) might be the best word to describe my position. But there is one interesting thing about this New York cheesecake that I’ve been making: even if it uses the patience and the obsessions so common to pastry chefs, it’s made from a cuisine perspective and based on some classic assets that we all value in the kitchen, like contrasts and depth of flavour.”

SIgNATURES I

AMUSE BOUCHE: PEACHY BLUES

grilled peach, roquefort, thyme, honey

STARTER: OCTOFUSS

octopus tentacle cooked three times, grilled wegetables, chickpea puree, wasabi vinaigrette

MAIN CURSE: LOVE, DIANNE

Rib steak, mushrooms, mustard and bourbon sauce, fondant potatoes/celeriac, quinoa cracker

CLEANSER: THE RAFT

 amaretto, ginger and lemon float

LAST COURSE: The Uhmmm…

51 hours New York Cheesecake with berries topping

SIGNATURES II

AMUSE BOUCHE: NO LEMON!

green oyster, toasted seasame oil, wasabi popcorn, green apple

STARTER: CAIPISTOLA

tiger prawns, cachaca, lime, coconut cream, fried rice

MAIN COURSE: THE IMPOSSIBLE LOVE STORY

braised short rib, turnip puree, gorgonzola doughnut scotch egg, green peppercorn sauce

CLEANSER: KIND REMINDER

yogurt and mint oil

LAST COURSE: PERSIMOO 

burrata/buffalo mozzarella, persimmon/peach, balsamic and toasted almonds