Marque Restaurant

The cuisine is mediocre at best. Some dishes are a downright disappointing. I had high hopes for this restaurant because of what they promised on their website. In the end all I can say is that there are better ways to spend 3 hours than being there.

We had the winter degustation menu.
Overall — not bad BUT not amazing.
The pressure is on these fine dining establishments to really wow and impress, marque ‘missed the mark’ in my opinion. The food was good, service was good and décor not bad. Nothing really stood out.
The parsnip ice cream to finish off — I really did not like, neither did anyone on the table of 5 I dined with. Left with a poor taste in my mouth.

Degustation is a taste sensation! Matching wines are also good. Ambiance romantic but the tables were close together

Marque. Per the Gourmet Traveler, it’s considered one of the best restaurants in Sydney and just outside of the downtown area. It was a 15 minute drive to Marque from downtown and you really have to pay attention to it. The sign outside isn’t very distinctive or bright, so it’s not very noticeable if you walked pass it. The restaurant is very dark, so it’s a good place to take someone you don’t want to see in light. Hence, why I took my cousin here.
Anyway, we went with the Degustation menu. We didn’t know what was going to be served to us until the end when we received the menu. It was 8 courses with mainly savory dishes. All the courses were okay to good. I’m only going to touch on some of the better parts of the meal like four play. Yay or nay? Not a fan of Anthony Bourdain?
The service was good. Our drinks were always filled. They did a decent job of explaining the prep and ingredients. Every great restaurant has its signature service and their way of doing things. For example, Eleven Madison Park, Alinea and Per Se. It just seems like Marque was missing their voice like women who are very vocal during you know what. Don’t know what? Well… they can only ask you so many times then they start to yell at you to take out the trash then they lose their voice. Duh?!?
Overall, I wouldn’t consider Marque to be one of the best meals I ever had but it was a good dining experience. I don’t regret trying it out and tasting Sydney’s interpretation of fine dining. Would I come back? Not until I tried other restaurants in the area.

We came here for our NYE dinner after reading great reviews but were unfortunately disappointed. We noticed a theme throughout the tasting menu: I love creamy sauces when they are served right but almost every dish was accompanied or soaked in a creamy sauce that was too overpowering to the point where I could not taste the crab in the crab dish (left mostly uneaten), and even the otherwise delicious bite of uni was ruined under a giant dollop of creamy salmon-​based substance. The eel with Parmesan gnocchi that looked so promising also failed to deliver as the pairing did not work and the eel was too fishy (I usually love both eel and Parmesan gnocchi).
The wagyu beef and the honeycomb dessert were the only winners out of the 8-​course menu.

As always, Marque Delivered expertly crafted Modern French food with solid wine pairings. I always feel they limit their horizons a little by not incorporating more asian /​middle eastern flavours. But what they do, they do very well so if you’re after sophisticated, refined French fare, get involved. You won’t be disappointed.

Love the overall texture!!! Sweet & a bit sour, light & full. Nice sphere, excellent service! Love the desserts so much!!! Crispy honeycomb & parsnip ice cream are very impressed!!!

I love this place. The dego menu is simply amazing. The sommelier does an amazing job pairing the wine with each course. I went for dinner as well as the Friday special lunch. And I loved it both times. Fridays are a treat because it’s an experimental menu. Highly recommend trying this place if you’re going to be in Sydney.

Poor Marky doesn’t seem to be getting much lovin’ on Unilocal.Not sure why, been here for lunch and back last night for the degustation, both times I was pleasantly surprised (which is hard, I hate surprises).
After we ordered our drinks, we were asked if we have any dietary requirements because they don’t want to give us the menu until AFTER our dinner… err what? Nooo I hate surprises! My anxiety gradually eased as each dish is served (the explanation of what was on my plate as it was served helped), the food are both delicious and beautiful to look at. After the 3 hours of food trivia we were given our own printed menu to take home in the end, something I’ve only experienced once at Arzak, San Sebastián. It’s these little things that make fine dining a memorable experience, rather than just a good feed. Well down Mark Best.

We went on a Saturday for dinner for two and had the degustation with matched wines.
The food was pretty good, some of the dishes were excellent, the wine was good and matched well, the ambience was great but the service seriously let this place down — rushed, disinterested and mechanical.
I’m glad we tried it, and it’s worth checking out (maybe our waiter was just having an off day) but I don’t think we’ll be back.

Ok. To be honest. I was looking the kylie kwong restaurant which, as u know, is right next to marque. As its chinese new years eve, I was just looking for a place to have a nice meal.
I walked in with shorts and flip flop. The waiter asked if I had reservation… which I didnt. So they ki dly show me me the menu before asking if I would stay. I guess that isnt how u would dress for a restaurant like that hahah.
Anyway. The meal was pretty good… pretty good service. Nothing too memorable.
I havent been back since.

The good — Food is delicate, food is exquisitely presented. The degustation is very swanky and there is a lot of seafood on it.
You can see Mr. Best come out of the Kitchen and do the final preps to your plate. He seems very into his work.
You don’t HAVE to play it by their rules if you don’t want to. The name of the game is to not see the menu until after the meal. This means they can serve you their choice of accompanying wines etc. but if you say you want to choose your own, they wont stop you seeing it, and besides it’s on their webpage anyway.
The use of some Aus native ingredients was excellent.
It’s the 4^th best restaurant in Sydney.
The soundtrack is awesome. Radiohead, The Smiths, The Shins. I have a feeling Mr. Best and I are from the same era. We asked him who’s choice of music it was. he was proud to say it’s his own.
If you are a wine connoisseur their wine list is like a novel, as in. many pages…
The bad– Posh. It’s unusual for me to feel the need to conceal my tattoos in public, but at Marque I didn’t think it would go down too well with the other diners. Then realized it’s really really dark in there, and forgot about it. I couldn’t even see me, so how would anyone else. Take your phone to the bathroom, because you will need the assistant light app to see where to step.
When walking in we were announced by the maitre d’ by the booking name and she pointed to our table. We were standing in the walk way and were kind of waiting to be ushered over, but she pointed again as if to indicate hurry up and stop clogging the thoroughfare.Hmm. K.
She was also very good at interrupting our conversation to offer us things like bread. She did offer an apology immediately after interrupting, but it was not very sincere.
I think she may have been Mr. Best’s other half as we saw them leave together before the night was through. Maybe someone needs a holiday.
The ugly — Nothing inside the restaurant is ugly. Except maybe the OCD placement of tables and their decorations. I have a photo from the night in which you can see a row of candles behind my head that are in military precision straight lines.
The real ugly was outside. It was a Saturday night and just you try to get a cab on Crown street at 11pm.
Very very expensive. Save this one for proposing to your other half or a birthday.

Friday prix menu– Devine and creative with a Japanese twist.
Mark Best wasn’t present when we dined as he was giving cooking lessons in India!
Course after course was simply amazing (see pics)
So the seaweed dessert was a little surprising…

I went here with some friends on our trip to Australia. We made reservations for 4 for lunch since they have prix fix menu for $ 45. To be frank it was ok. The food was ok. Nothing spectacular for $ 45. Actually I would have preferred going to McDonalds for less than $ 5. But for what it was it was just an ok place. I wouldn’t go back.

After a holiday from degustation menues, I thought we were ready to re-​enter the fray, so to speak.
With a memorable night out needed for a special occasion, decided to come back to Marque after an absence of several years.
In the meantime Mark Best is no longer chef of the year, and the interior, formerly fairly intimate and cosy, has been cleared into a large single room stuffed with tables in regulation format. Sorry but, it looked a bit cold and heartless to me.
A twist I have not experienced before — no menu unti you finish, we want to surprise you! OK, I can go with that, but it does mean that unfortunately nothing has really lodged in my brain, since by the time I got a menu to read we had consumed one or two sherbets. We did not opt for the matching wines as we have learnt the hard way it doesn’t usually end well, instead a nice bottle of NZ Pinot Noir that should mingle with it all.
It was all lovely, I can tell you that, and I do remember something with fish milk, which caused some conversation about who milked the fish and how (and why!). Waiter was not terribly amused. Fish infused milk, Sir. Right you are my good man.
I wish I could regale you with detailed descriptions of the dishes, but I can’t. However, it was lovely, and I recommend it.
It did however serve to reinforce my view that personally I am now very cynical of fine dining, bit of a bugger really.

Dear Mark Best– I have no idea why this place is rated so highly. My friend and I wanted to try one of the three and decided on your seemingly lovely Marque. We had the hotel concierge make a reservation for us this past Tuesday. The first warning should have been that the hostess put us on hold for at least 5 minutes when the concierge handed us the phone for her to explain the menu. We were getting tired of waiting and were sure we’d love whatever the preset 8 course meal consisted of so we headed out. Warning 2 came when we saw the place was empty and warning 3 when we could tell there were two chefs sitting unimpressed at the table adjacent to us. Anyways, on to critique!
Service– The service at these types of restaurants should be top notch at all times. The waiters and waitresses constantly brushed into my friend’s chair and coat as they passed through. Nothing was explained besides that part of the experience is to see the menu at the end of the meal. Henceforth, when a waitress says, «champagne to start» implies that it is included in the meal, not that it is a 30 charge for a quarter of a glass. We couldn’t understand them– one mumbled, one spoke too quickly with an accent, and one spent all her time negatively impacting the atmosphere.
Atmosphere– The place is well decorated and is in-​between a moderate and classic look. However, the hostess was on her apple laptop constantly changing the music. The fluctuation between loudness and softness of volume deterred from the food. The fact that the playlist ranged from opera to 80s rock to today’s hit music to everything in-​between with each song did not help their cause. My recommendation– put on a playlist and stop touching it.
The food– A for presentation, F for flavor and execution. We found out that you weren’t on this night so I’m just going to chalk this up to poor sous chefs…
Sitting through this 3 hr dinner was excruciating. All we did was hope that the next dish would be better, which is wasn’t. To top it all off, I had a birds eye view of the kitchen throughout the meal. There were still about 6 tables finishing up meals as the kitchen help were changing in the kitchen! Did not expect to see this from a «classy establishment». Obviously, I question the cleanliness standards here. About 6 workers dressed inappropriately proceeded to march right through the front doors. Finally, the check… 160 per person was expected, but 5 dollars for water and 30 for champagne which you offered seemingly as part of the meal? Trickery. I will definitely be sharing this experience with many sites and through word of mouth. I hope this review helps your establishment to strive to be as good as its reputation.

Food was OK but not particularly memorable. Nothing really stood out for us except for the duck egg, which was delicious. We made the mistake of ordering the optional dessert course on the tasting menu, which was some sort of pungent blue cheese cake we could barely stomach. I didn’t like the bitter bon bons at the end of the meal.
Also, at the risk of sounding like a cheapskate, charging a compulsory $ 5 per person for filtered, carbonated water is pretty ridiculous. We live in Sydney, not Bangladesh, and I would be more than happy to have my water served to me straight from the tap. Surely serving water straight from the tap would also be ‘more environmentally friendly’, which is the justification they give for the compulsory filtration cost (filtered water being more eco-​friendly than bottled water, which only idiots order anyway).
Service was faultless and the décor was pleasant.

I’ve been delaying posting a comment for Marque because words seem to escape me. I can’t describe the food. You have to experience it for yourself.
Fine dining with something distinctly casual. Maybe it’s the fact that the restaurant has found a home in Surry Hills, or it’s young attractive staff. Perhaps it’s because of the amuse bouche that you eat with your hands, and a «wine pairing» of peach beer somewhere down the list. Whatever it is, it’s perfect.
I love restaurants that have no menu. You put your faith in them to take you on a gastronomical adventure. We went for the degustation with matching wines. I could not fault the service, the flavours, or the luxurious pace of our evening. We arrived for an 8:30pm seating, and without noticing time, we exited at 12:30am. Eating, drinking and laughing our way through an amazing evening. I’m sure you could rush through the experience if you were in a hurry… but why the hell would you?!
For 4 hours of luxury, 2 glasses of French Champagne (that’s a capital «C»), Degustation with matching wines for 2, mineral water and 1 glass of 30 year old Congac, we paid about $ 700. It’s not cheap* (if you want cheap then book in for Marque’s $ 45 Friday lunch special) but it is worth every single cent. Magical.
*Note: Without the extras it is actually the cheapest 3 hatted fine dining experience out there. DO IT!

It literally started storming halfway on our way to Marque on foot. While we took cover in periodic intervals on the way to Marque, we got a little wet from the rain (me in my dress, my man in his suit) by the time we arrived. Thankfully, things only started to get better at Marque that led to a fantastic night of food and service. We went in the door and was greeted by the host who offered directions to the restrooms if we wanted to dry ourselves with their towels in there.
I won’t give a detailed explanation on our 8-​course degustation as I believe Chef Mark Best changes the menu seasonally, but I have to say that the execution and preparation really made an impression on us. After the potato mille feuille with foie gras butter that we had as the amuse bouche, we knew we were in for a great meal ahead. The pork belly was so tender and almost free of any fat which made us wonder they achieved that. One standout was definitely the wagyu beef sashimi that came in a very generous slice that almost filled up half the size of the plate. I’ve had rare beef alot e.g. tartare, carpaccio, etc, but this beef sashimi was unlike anything I’ve had before. The presentation of flavors for the degustation was excellent.
Service throughout the night was very good with the servers sometimes chatting with us. It’s a wonderful place for a date night but at the same time not pretentious. Easily one of the top restaurants in Sydney.

This is my favourite restaurant in Sydney — if I could give it 6 stars I would.
Wow, where does one even begin?
Going to Marque is a culinary experience. Don’t go there expecting your usual good because you will not get it. Mark Best is the mastermind behind this special place and I cannot thank him enough for bringing his skills to Sydney and I’m not the only one to sing his praises — Australian Gourmet Traveller Restaurant just awarded him with Restaurant of the Year (2012) — and let me tell you, well deserved.
We went their to partake in his legendary degustation — and let me tell you i had no idea what we were in for. I called ahead to tell them I was pescetarian and they catered appropriately that i never felt like I was missing out.
Expect frozen flakes of food you’d never think of having ice cold or exploring pineapple with a twist of truffles… somehow, someway, this food will leave you feeling like your mouth went on honey moon and enjoyed every sensual second.
The degustation costs $ 150 and with matching wine another $ 85. We ad both the wine and food — and whilst I did love the sommelier — the problem was at the end of the evening I was a bit tipsy and to be honest i would have preferred to have been sober enough to remember the who experience…
Please please please go… it’s a once in a lifetime food experience you will never forget!