YOUR RESERVATION HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
They might just be five words we’re going to have to learn to live with, as Sydney masks up, and Melbourne slowly ventures out to dine again. So, how best to cope?
The best strategy is to celebrate what we have, and never take dining out for granted. So here’s what I’ve been eating this month around Sydney, and why.
*Spoiler alert*: it may involve chocolate crackles at Bennelong, pork belly at Amah, dumplings at Lucky Kwong and granola at bills.
This isn’t to wave delicious food in your face, nyah nyah, it’s to acknowledge the joy there is in going out to eat something delicious, surprising, challenging, familiar or covered in cheese. And that even when we can’t go out, we can still have the joy of recalling past pleasures and reading about future ones.
It’s also time to acknowledge that the way that we dine out is changing. How could it not? Whether we go to the best restaurant in town, try a new café, or stay home with take-away, we’re increasingly looking for more than flavour; we’re looking for meaning.
Food has to be meaningful in some way, either to the eater, or to the people who have made it or cooked it. What does it say about us? Is it a genuine response to the new world in which we live? What belief system does it come from?
And how, after all the meticulous care I put into choosing organic and ethical foods that support farmers and growers, can I still rip into a bag of potato chips from the supermarket with glee?
Clearly we are multi-faceted beings, quite capable of holding several contradictory belief systems at once, and life is just an on-going, day-to-day matter of finding a balance between them all. Pass the chips.
Murray cod, honeydew melon and cucumber at LuMi Dining
Federico Zanellato channels both Italy and Japan in many of his perfectly fused dishes at LuMi Dining. This spiral of murray cod, cucumber and honeydew melon is either a very elevated form of crudo, or sashimi, or both. Among the calculated richness of his menu, it’s like a breath of fresh air to eat.
Soy-braised pork belly at Amah
You smell the star anise first, then you’re digging into fat bricks of soft, soy-braised pork belly awash in gently sweet, darkly spiced master stock, dotted with the cartoon eyes of softly cooked eggs. Thank heavens for rice, to make the most of those juices. Hun Loong and Junda Khoo of HoJiak pay homage to their grandmothers with the menu at Amah in Chatswood. It’s damn good.
Chocolate Crackle at Bennelong
I’ve always loved the format of Bennelong, at the Opera House. They make it so easy – you order your entrée, main course and dessert; you get bread and sides included; and all you have to worry about is your wine. There’s choice, but not too much choice. Glamour and refinement, but familiarity and deliciousness. And the desserts are like regressing to childhood; especially this new to 2021 delight called the Chocolate Crackle. I’ll leave it to Peter Gilmore to explain:
“The idea came to me out of the blue one day, when I was thinking about how the desserts I create for Bennelong are generally based on quintessential Australian classics such as pavlova. The practical side of bringing that idea to the plate then took several weeks of trial and error.
“The inner part of the Crackle consists of layers of chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, salted oloroso caramel, prune jam, chocolate ganache, and finally caramelised whipped cream. This is then covered with organic brown rice crispies that have been individually coated in different chocolates including dark Amedei chouao chocolate, Valrhona white milk, caramello, and dolce chocolate, with the addition of puffed caramelised rye and broom corn (puffed sorghum).
“The hardest part was working out how to evenly coat the rice crispies with five different types of chocolate. My Head Pastry Chef Rhiann Mead worked on this with me for weeks. Then it was a matter of fine tuning to find the perfect balance of flavour, textures and presentation.” Let me tell you, it was worth it.
Chicken vegetable soup at Zinc
I hope your local neighbourhood café does soups as sustaining as the ever-changing ones at Zinc Café in Potts Point. Peter and Nigel have built this sunny corner café into an all-seasonal champion café that offers everything from savoury mince on toast to bloody mary cocktails to a beautiful rendition of orange cake.
Bucatini with pippies and extra chilli at Berts Bar & Brasserie
How clever of Bert’s chef Sam Kane – to switch up linguine and clams to house-made bucatini with pippies, to fuse it with tiny threads of cuttlefish, and to serve it with a spoonful of fruity fermented chilli to add to your own liking. Not only high craft, but actually thinking and caring on behalf of the diner.
Crunchy granola and blueberries at bills double bay
Most people go for the scrambled eggs, I know. But they do a good job of other things too, at the latest evocation of bills in Double Bay, with Hannah Wilmott in the kitchen. Take the granola, elevated by a not-too-sweet blueberry and hibiscus compote, a coconut yoghurt, and very, very crunchy nuts and seeds. I’ll be trying her technique next time I do a batch and updating my own recipe forthwith. According to Hannah, the hazelnuts, almonds, pecans, pistachios, coconut, sunflower and sesame seeds are slow-roasted and turned over a couple of hours, with a glaze made of cinnamon and maple syrup.
Dumplings at Lucky Kwong
Will Queue For Dumplings. Kylie Kwong’s cafeteria hits the spot with simple Canto favourites- like these floppy prawn dumplings in a tamari broth - and no fuss. Once you’re in, you eat, and then you’re out.
Vegan snacks at Yellow
Brent Savage says the best time of the year to be vegan is the middle of winter. “All those root vegetables are my favourite things to be working with” he says. “There’s that feeling of satisfaction that comes with the slow cooking. I love throwing something whole in the oven and coming back in an hour or two and then turning it into a dish, whether its pumpkin, celeriac, cauliflower or parsnip. His vegetarian fine diner Yellow has turned 100% vegan, and it’s a joy from the snacks, shown, through to a show-stopper dessert from head chef Sander Nooij, who grates aromatic winter truffle over silken celeriac ice-cream perched on a chocolate toffee biscuit.
Sea urchin taramasalata at Alpha
The taramasalata at Alpha has always been mighty, but for its recent re-opening after renovations, chef Peter Conistis has not only whipped in a few sea urchins into the mix, he serves it in a spiky sea urchin shell to make sure you get the point (sorry).
Potato chips
I am profoundly thankful to have had all these experiences so recently, and look forward to many more in the future. In the meantime, pass the chips.
Thanks for reading (and liking, commenting, subscribing, knock yourself out). Copyright © 2020 Jill Dupleix.
I would like to acknowledge that I live, work and play on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and wish to pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging. I fully support the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to be enshrined in Australia’s Constitution.