“Reaching deep into the south-westerly ocean…” reads a line from the degustation menu at Carte, a new 16-seat fine diner in Glebe. The poetry is a guessing game, says owner and chef Bing Liu, giving guests clues about their next course. In this case, it’s toothfish served with shio koji foam, baby zucchini and kabocha (a type of Japanese pumpkin) rice.

Liu is trained in classic French cooking and has worked at Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe and America. His Japanese-cooking education was partly honed at Sake in The Rocks. “I got great exposure to Australian seafood there – we used produce from all over the country. It inspired me to develop a menu that’s a combination of Japanese and French cuisines,” he tells Broadsheet.
“For example, the toothfish is marinated in shio koji, cooked at a low temperature. The flavours are Japanese but the technique is French.”

Carte, which means menu in French, is Liu’s first solo venture, and he brings all the passion of someone who’s been dreaming for years of opening their own place. It shows in the thoughtful decor – the walls feature artworks by celebrated Chinese-Australian artists such as Guan Wei and Jiawei Shen, curated by Liu’s business partner, who owns a commercial gallery. It also shows in the menu, which is constantly evolving; a new iteration (and a new poem) is on offer each month.

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“I always have new ideas exploding in my head, whether it be from eating out, trying new ingredients, or travelling. I’m Chinese-American – I lived in France, I studied in Japan, I moved to Australia. All those multicultural influences give me ideas to create.”

On the current menu there’s white asparagus with scallops, smoked butter and orange confit; squid gnocchi with preserved lemon, pickles and Jerusalem artichokes; and a selection of mignardises (bite-sized sweets, similar to petit fours) of matcha financiers, macarons, and canelé de Bordeaux. The dishes are complemented by a succinct, rotating wine list that’s as global as the food.

The only thing that doesn’t change is the duck.

“The free-range duck from Burrawong has been on the menu for a while. It’s dry aged in our cool room for a week, so that the skin changes, the flavour concentrates. We serve it with a gastrique sauce, which is a caramelised reduction of vinegar with stock from bones of the animal.”

The duck is a symbol for the balance every chef needs to strike between creativity and the practicalities of running a business whose goal is to please customers.

“Even though we’re so young as a restaurant, we’ve had customers coming back for the duck, and I don’t want them to be disappointed if it’s not there,” says Liu.

Opening a degustation restaurant in the midst of financially tumultuous times is bold. Liu knows Carte isn’t for everyone. “We wanted to focus on the people who really get the concept, why it’s special – people who appreciate fine dining and fine art.”

Carte
18 Glebe Point Road, Glebe

Hours:
Wed to Sat 6pm–10pm

cartesydney.com
@carte.sydney