A degustation in the city · Adelaide

Oriel; or, Dinner by Candlelight

A degustation of eight courses, brought one at a time to a candlelit stone room on the first floor of an old city building. With each, we pour a tea or a juice that answers it.

(The room is dark. One candle burns in the window; the other light is yours. Hold it still, and your eyes will adjust.)

Discovered

Read the evening

Playing: Wednesday to Saturday
Sittings: Early, 6 pm · Late, 8.30 pm
Running time: About three hours
Poured: Tea and juice, with every course

The Argument

A room on the first floor of an old stone building in the city, lit by candles. Eight courses arrive, one at a time, each to a table in near-darkness. With every course comes a tea or a juice, chosen to answer it: warm against cold, sharp against rich. Nothing is hurried. The evening ends when you let the pot go cold.

Your cursor, or your finger, is the candle. Move it to find each plate, and hold it still to see more. Press a name in the script and the light goes to it; on a plate, the arrow keys move it. In the margin are the prompter’s cues: LX for the lights, POUR for the tea or juice. A cue is called when your light finds something.

The persons of the play, in order of appearance.

Wattleseed roasted and ground, in the bread Prologue
Marron a freshwater crayfish, served cold Scene I
King George whiting under a clear broth Scene II
Lemon myrtle in a granita, briefly Interval
Beetroot baked in a crust of salt Scene III
Lamb shoulder over coals Scene IV
Dark chocolate baked to order Scene V
Quince set with agar Curtain call
The pours a tea or a juice with each, named in each scene

Prologue

In which bread is broken.

(Bread comes to the table in the pan it was baked in, still too hot to hold. Butter follows, and a pinch of saltbush.)

On the plate Wattleseed sourdough, baked in its pan · Cultured butter · Saltbush

Poured with it

Genmaicha.

Green tea with roasted rice, brewed at 80 °C for two minutes. It tastes of the crust.

Served hot

Scene I

In which the marron is served cold.

(A chilled bowl is set down. Nothing rises from it: there is only the light on the shell, and water beading at the rim.)

A chilled marron split in its shell with cucumber and pepperleaf, in a dark bowl beaded with water, lit from the left.

Discovered

Move your light across the plate, or press a name; the arrow keys work too.

Poured with it

Pressed that afternoon and kept cold, sharp enough to meet the sweetness of the marron.

Served cold

Scene II

In which the broth is poured.

(A shallow bowl, empty but for a fillet of whiting, pale and just set. From the left, a clay pot. The broth goes in slowly, over the fish, and stops.)

A hand pours clear broth from a clay pot over a whiting fillet in a shallow dark bowl.

Discovered

Poured with it

Hojicha.

Green tea roasted until it smells of hazelnut and brown sugar, brewed at 90 °C for one minute in the small iron pot. (It enters after the broth, poured from the same side, so the two steams meet.)

Served hot

Interval

In which nothing happens, briefly.

(The lights stay low. Nobody is hurried.)

On the plate A spoon of lemon myrtle granita · Finger lime

Poured with it

Chamomile and pear.

Chamomile steeped with slices of pear, and served warm against the cold of the granita.

Served warm

Scene III

In which the salt is broken.

(A dome of salt, baked hard. The back of a spoon, once, and it splits. Inside, a beetroot as dark as the room.)

A beetroot in a cracked salt crust, one shard lifted to show the crimson inside, with labneh and small leaves.

Discovered

Poured with it

Rosella, the native hibiscus, steeped and strained, with blood orange pressed into it.

Served cool

Scene IV

In which the lamb is carved.

(The shoulder has been over coals since the afternoon. It is carved at the table, and its juices are spooned from the side the light comes from.)

Slices of slow-cooked lamb shoulder with charred leek and saltbush, beside a small iron teapot in silhouette.

Discovered

Poured with it

Leaves dried over pine fires, brewed at 95 °C for three minutes and poured short, so the cup answers the coals.

Served hot

Scene V

In which the chocolate is broken open.

(A small pudding, baked to order. The spoon goes through the crust, and the centre gives way.)

A small dark chocolate pudding broken open to its soft centre, with cultured cream and crushed pepperberry.

Discovered

Poured with it

Quandong simmered with fresh ginger, strained, and served cool against the warm pudding.

Served cool

Curtain call

In which the candles are left burning.

(The plates are cleared. The pot is filled again. Stay as long as it is warm.)

On the plate Quince set with agar · Dates with walnut · A square of halva

Poured with it

Masala chai.

Black tea made in the pot with milk, cardamom and clove.

Served hot

The pours

The tea and juice pairing, in order.

Each course has an answer. Some pour alongside the plate, roast beside roast; some cut against it; some cross it, warm against cold. The last one settles the table. Everything we pour is tea, fruit, leaves or water, and a jug of water is always on the table.

The tea and juice pairing: what is poured with each scene, how it is made, how it is served, and how it answers the plate.
Scene	Poured	How it is made	Served	Answers
Prologue	Genmaicha	Green tea with roasted rice; 80 °C, two minutes	hot	alongside
Scene I	Green apple and sorrel	Pressed that afternoon, kept cold	cold	against
Scene II	Hojicha	Roasted green tea; 90 °C, one minute, the small iron pot	hot	alongside
Interval	Chamomile and pear	Chamomile steeped with slices of pear	warm	across
Scene III	Blood orange and rosella	Rosella steeped and strained; blood orange pressed that day	cool	against
Scene IV	Smoked black tea	Dried over pine fires; 95 °C, three minutes, poured short	hot	alongside
Scene V	Quandong and ginger	Quandong simmered with fresh ginger, then strained	cool	across
Curtain call	Masala chai	Black tea made in the pot with milk, cardamom and clove	hot	after

Alongside: roast beside roast, smoke beside the coals.
Against: sharp against sweet or rich.
Across: warm against cold, cool against warm.
After: to settle the table.

The room

The first floor, behind the oriel window.

oriel (noun): a bay window that projects from an upper storey.

The room is on the first floor of a restored sandstone building in the city.

The tables sit in and around the bay the room is named for. The ceilings are high and pressed metal, and the walls are bare stone.

The light is candles, and one lamp at each table.

Scene: a stone room, one floor above the street. Evening.

The oriel seen from the street, and the room in plan: tables along the stone and in the bay, the kitchen behind the wings, the stair at stage left.

The house

Notes for the audience.

There are two sittings, Wednesday to Saturday: early at 6 pm and late at 8.30 pm. The evening runs about three hours; the first plate follows the bread.
The room is lit by candles, low but never too dark to read the plate. Ask, and we will bring a brighter lamp to your table.
Tell us what you don’t eat when you reserve, and the kitchen will write the scene around it.
The tea and juice pairing is all we pour. Anything that sets is set with agar.
Come as you are. Nothing is required of you but an appetite.
If you need a step-free way up, or anything else, say so in the form and we will plan for it.

The same table in the bay of the window, now seen with the room around it.

In which the house lights come up.

Choose an evening and a sitting, and we will hold a table for you.

As you leave

This evening’s programme.

Discovered, in order of appearance

An iron pot · The oriel window · Marron · The broth · The clay pot · The salt crust · Lamb shoulder · The soft centre · Quince, set with agar.

The candles are left burning. Stay as long as the pot is warm.