Straight to the point: What the … for years, you could only get a good meal in Glebe down at the Boathouse, then all of a sudden Atelier, A’Mews, Osteria dei Poeti, Roxanne – and now down on the site of the old Rosso Nero on the point – The Glebe Point Diner. And this one promises special. A number of players involved, one being Bart Gittmans who has Lambertus, the nearby boutique, and who was part of the group running The Burdekin – one of the great pub restaurants of the 80s. But it’s the hands-on team that’s intriguing. In the kitchen and part-owner: Alex Kearns, a graduate of the Sean’s Panaroma kitchen and who recently learnt baking at Bourke Street Bakery. He’s planning an Italianish menu using fresh local and seasonal produce – much supplied by Hugh Wennerbom – and doing things like boned roast suckling pig with rosemary, pan-roasted leatherjacket (a beautiful, underrated fish). You see the plan – using that sort of produce, you keep the quality up and prices down. His sommelier Ken John – first gig as such, previously assistant manager at Rockpool – is looking at a wine list to go with the food. It will be Australian, Italian and New Zealand, planned not to clash with the fine bottle-o up the road. "But with our prices and $7 corkage, it’ll often be cheaper to buy your wine here." The locals are looking forward to this one. If only they can get in once the word gets out. Planned opening May 17th. 407 Glebe Point Road, Ph 9660 2646. They’re thinking Wed-Sat lunch and dinner with weekend breakfasts – and Alex will be baking his own bread. Melbourne Society: Not the stuffy citizens of the Melbourne Club, but a restaurant that first opened its doors in the early 30s, owned by Guiseppe Codognotto, then run by his son Rino, one of the founding members of Melbourne’s "spaghetti mafia". For some reason, Melbourne had a large number of wealthy Italian migrants before the second world war, and many opened grand restaurants, including the Florentino (today run by the Grossi family), Virgona’s and Mario’s. We had to wait until 1956 for Beppi’s, before which there was only a handful of a working-class Italian cafes like La Veneziana in Stanley Street. The Society has been renovated and revived by the Di Mattina family, themselves descendants of a 1930s migrant who sold produce in the Queen Victoria Markets and who today run other restaurants in Melbourne (Blue Train being one). They plan simple nonna (grandmother) food for the new Society. Things like antipasta, osso buco and pizza. Upstairs there’s a cocktail bar called, naturally enough, High Society. You’ll find both bar and restaurant at 23 Bourke Street, Ph (03) 9639 2544 A dinkum farmers market: A bit along from Cabramatta, you’ll find the Warwick Farm Trackside Market every Saturday morning. Now for those of you wondering what all the fuss about farmers’ markets is, go visit this one. For one very good reason. It’s the only true farmers market in town. Why? Because it’s run by and for farmers, and only farmers sell the produce. The history is interesting. It was set up by the NSW Farmers Association about five years ago. When they realised they weren’t the right organisation to run the market, they handed it over to the stallholders, who formed a board and run it to this day. Board member and manager Ed Biel tells us there are people who’ve been coming every week for four years. And when you see the produce, you’ll know why. If it was any fresher, you’d slap its face. But remember, it’s seasonal and you’re not always going to get what you want if you go with a list – indeed, you should never go to a real market with a list. Go with your imagination, buy what’s fresh and good – and take it home and cook it. Last time I went, I found gorgeous English spinach, the best-looking baby bok choy and pak choy I’d seen for yonks and carrots still covered in dirt. There’s Saltbush lamb from Narromine and MR hormone-free beef from (I think) Casino and a very fine coffee, Echidna, from Byron Bay, which you can buy as beans or drink on the spot. Every Saturday 8am-12 noon Governor Macquarie Drive (turn off the Hume Highway at the miniature Sydney Harbour Bridge). Big cheeses hit city: Be warned. The large ballroom at the Four Seasons hotel will be very pongy come Sunday May 27. It’s the day of the Australian Specialty Cheesemakers Association’s annual Sydney show. Expect around 200 cheeses from 30 or so cheesemakers from all around the country. And expect to sample some very fine Australian cheeses. There’ll be cheese from Australia’s finest cheesemaker, Ueli Berger of King Island – if I was a betting man I’d give you good odds that his Endeavour Blue will win this year’s Blue Cheese prize (watch this space). And offerings from Gippsland, Woodside in South Australia and our very own Kate Woodward in the Hunter. ASCA president David Brown (Milawa Cheese) tells me it’s been a good year all round, bushfires and drought notwithstanding. The little Aussie cheesemaker has a real battle on his/her hands, facing competition from heavily subsidised European cheese and incessant propaganda that European is better because it’s made from raw milk. Well, let me tell you – and unlike a lot of the codswallopers offering that opinion – I’ve tasted both raw and pasteurised milk cheeses in Europe. There’s a lot more to it than that. One of the biggest hurdles faced by Australia cheesemakers is the lack of cheese culture here. And how do we overcome that? Get to the ASCA show on Sunday and work your way through at least half of those 200 cheeses and chat to the cheesemakers. Wines on the day from Langi Ghiran and beer from the Grand ridge brewery, also in Gippsland. 
| | My friend alcohol: I recently went to a useful seminar on drugs at the Wayside Chapel, the main speaker being Alex Wodak, director of the Drug & Alcohol Service at St Vincent’s Hospital. Dr Wodak makes more sense on the topic of harm minimisation than ten thousand ranting, red-faced politicians. But while sitting there and being reminded by him that that the real problem drugs in our society are alcohol and tobacco – especially tobacco – I was reminded again that whenever we talk about drugs – including my friend, alcohol – we talk about abuse, not use. I use alcohol practically daily. Am I an alcoholic? No. Are most of the people on the planet who use alcohol? No. But only abuse is discussed. And I was further reminded of this when reading in the New York Times (online www.nytimes.com) review of a book called The Joy of Drinking by Barbara Holland. The title struck a chord. I would have to say that, over the years, even given the unforgivable excesses of my teenag period, drinking has given me more joy than grief. In the book, Ms Holland quotes the Puritan minister with a wonderful name, Increase Mather, as saying, "Drink is in itself a good Creature of God, and to be received with thankfulness, but the abuse of drink is from Satan. The wine is from God, but the Drunkard is from the Devil." Hallejulah! Fred Nile, listen up. Secret heat: If you’ve spent some time eating in the tapas bars of Spain, in summer you will have come across pimientos de padron – baby green peppers, usually served simply fried and sprinkled with salt. You pick ’em up by the stalk and eat them, preferably with a cold cerveza – beer. They have a secret. Every now and then, one will pack a chilli punch. And it’s hard to tell which ones will do it. Everyone has a theory. It’s the big ones. No, the little ones are the meanest. Recently, we saw them on the tapas menu at Bentley Restaurant & Bar in Surry Hills (320 Crown Street Ph 9332 2344). Turns out they’re grown at Meleny in the hinterland behind Noosa by Richard Mohan and Margie Cronin. And now I’ve got yet another heat theory. They usually harvest from November through to late April, but this year, because of lack of rain, the last crop didn’t fruit until the end of December and took longer to mature because it was cool, and Margie told me that they got hotter towards the end of the season. Theory #3. If you’d like to buy some or know more about these delicious little fellers, email mtcc@ozemail.com.au or call (07) 5435 2605. Pommy food: Now hold the jokes, folks – there is a such a thing as good English food. And British chef Matthew Kemp, who until now has hidden behind the Froggy name Restaurant Balzac, is coming out of the closet and proclaiming himself an English chef. Well, not all the time, but at least from Sunday June 24 with a British degustation menu – should have been called "bi’ o’ this, bi’ o’ that" – which continues to June 30. $90 a head for food, $145 with matching wines – not British we trust. Call 9399 9660 for bookings, 141 Belmore Road Randwick. Irish food: Well, if there’s one thing worse than British food ... OK, joking over, Thorley Crump is actually a very fine chef – used to cook at the Michelin-starred Chapter One in Dublin. Now he’s in the kitchen at Caliniere, at the base of World Square. Crump has created an interesting menu that reflects where he is – in Sydney on the edge of Chinatown – with dishes like seared scallops with carrot and cardamom puree, tempura cauliflower and red coconut curry and others with, as he put it, "a little twiddle of Ireland": a belly of pork confit with colcannon mash, apple and parsnip tartin and pork juices (he gets my vote for that "juices" and not "jus"). Why did he come here? He’d been to Australia as a backpacker, done a bit of cooking up in the Whitsundays and "Dublin was getting a bit small." The restaurant is gorgeous with Broadhurst wallpaper and properly dressed tables. And an Irishman cooking French tucker in the kitchen. I reckon it’s worth a look. Shop 17/18 World Square 123 Liverpool Street, Ph 9264 3661. 
See it all:
I love Chinese barbecued duck and pork and was recently at a very special BBQ joint in Cabramatta where you can take a little peek behind the scenes. Tan Hong Phat BBQ Shop is at 6/48 Park Street, actually down a lane off Park Street – you’ll see the sign – and it has one unique feature. The shop is at the front, offering the usual luscious line-up of glistening ducks and slightly charred char siu (BBQ pork) as well as all the innards and even a whole roast pig’s head for those who like that sort of thing. But walk behind the scenes and through a full-length window you’ll see a line-up of dressed ducks and pigs’ carcasses hanging and being broken down by the butchers to be hung in the stainless-steel kettles, which you’ll see behind the chopping blocks. It’s a fascinating process and gives you a better understanding of how your char siu and your Chinese duck get to be sooo good. Vegetarians look the other way. Two down south: We’ve been tipped off about a couple of good places to eat at on the South Coast. Sugarbag in Kiama and The River Deli in Nowra, both owned by Daryl Potter and Nadine Cove. Daryl also cooks occasionally at Sugarbag, which won us over when they told us they specialise in fresh local produce – there was a local panfried snapper on the menu the day we rang. If you know these places, drop us a line. We’re always on the lookout for good places out of town – especially on the South Coast. Sugarbag is at 31 Shoalhaven Street, Ph 4232 2890; and The River Deli is on Kinghorne Street, Ph 4423 1344. Both are licensed and offer wines by the glass. |
