Last year's anniversary celebrations were a bit of a dud; dud restaurant; dud hotel. Really forgettable. This year we made up for it alright.

The hotel first (because it was least noteworthy). The Harbour Marriott is reportedly a 5 star hotel but I don't quite see how. Many attention-to-detail type issues. Lost reservation. Tiny bathroom. I won't go on.

The best, the most wonderful, part was dinner at Quay. Sydney Harbour is by far my most favourite part of Sydney. I love everything about that part of the world: the Opera House which awes me each and every time I see it; the majestic expanse of the Sydney Harbour Bridge; the ferries on the harbour; the bustle of Circular Quay; the simple beauty of the water twinkling in the sunlight or the moonlight. For almost that reason alone I chose Quay, because it offers one of the absolute best views of the harbour. I'd also heard that the food was quite good.

We started the evening in the bar. My cocktail was divine (though only half full, I had been warned about this phenomenon, odd). Flavours of vanilla vodka, lemoncello and star anise. Gorgeous.

The bar area offered a taste of the wonderous view but our table (specially booked weeks in advance) provided the full Sydney Harbour VIEW experience. I would suggest we had the best table in the restaurant and I would have been happy not to eat at all, just drinking in the sights of my favourite place on earth would have been enough. But I'm so glad that we did eat.

I have never eaten or seen food like this in my life. We chose to go with the legendary Signature Menu and were very glad we did. For the details take a minute to look over the menu at the restaurant link above. Suffice to say each of the seven courses was superb, the presentation beautiful, the flavours sublime. The service was just the right combination of friendly, professional and attentive. The Happy Anniversary written in chocolate on the petit fours platter a sweet final touch. It is a meal and an evening I will never forget.

Happy 9th Anniversary, Big Jay. Next year - the BIG TEN - it will be you and me at the Australian Open.