The
Good Life
Yulli’s secret song
Cliffy and I amble into Yulli’s Byron Bay for an early Thursday night dinner. We’re greeted warmly by Gabby, the lovely restaurant manager, along with fragrant chilli and garlic cooking in the kitchen. Cliffy promptly orders his favourite Yulli’s Brews beer, the Norman Australian Pale Ale, and starts with the beer chat. Before he really gets on a roll, I cut in with my Chilli Margarita order. Gabbyy knows us well and there’s an n unspoken question: ‘Banquet for two?’ At $44 a head it’s an absolute bargain and a great way of sharing lots off little bits from the menu. Our dinner opens with Yulli’s secret song, the Tom Yum Broth. Not mentioned on the menu, this flavour-packed broth is a punchy mix of citrus and spice with a savoury finish that preps our palates for our meal. Our first course is a very pretty tasting plate of zingy Leek and Ginger Dumplings, gorgeous Edamame and Coconut Money Bags and decadent Korean Fried Broccolini.
My margy is slipping away and I think it’s time for a glass of skin contact wine to enjoy with our second course. First off are Falafels served on Swiss Chard. We dollop the pineapple and ginger salsa and harissa relish onto the crunchy little balls then eat through the leaf. All the elements come together with a bang!
Next we have the Kratong Tong and… OMG. This is my favourite dish of the night. Served in activated charcoal cups, they burst with flavour – think umami peanuts, textual water chestnuts, a subtle vegetable sweetness then an explosion of kaffir lime. By now, Cliffy and I have melted into our chairs and conversation. The final
Unique dishes from Japanese Kitchen
savoury course includes a Turmeric Cauliflower Pad Thai, Eggplant Involtini and a mixed leaf salad. The diverse styles work together with the zesty Pad Thai complimenting the deep flavours of the Involtini, and then the mixed leaves give a balanced freshness. Well, our silence professes our o satisfaction and before I can whisper the word ‘elegant sufficiency’, words Ga is setting us with G Gab dessert spoons. We tuck into a couple of absolute crowd pleasers in Sticky Da Pudding and D Date a Rhubarb CrumBerryy and serv with scoops of ble served house-made coconut and apple and cinnamon ice cream. As we wander to the flicks, Cliffy comments that something about Yulli’s is just right. The beautiful food plus professional, caring staff and an edgy but comfy venue make for a wonderful dinner out. Q yullisbyronbay.com.au
The Japanese Kitchen crew – from left: Gota Hareyama, Taishi Kayamoto, Tomoka Ichinose and Satomi Hook. Victoria Cosford It’s referred to, variously, as a Japanese pancake or a Japanese omelette. The gloriously named (and tricky to pronounce!) Okonomiyaki loosely translates as ‘however you like it, grilled’ and is a popular street food native to both Osaka and Hiroshima, consisting of a wheat-flour batter to which ingredients like cabbage, meat or seafood are added then cooked on a flat grill, with toppings such as bonito, pickled ginger, and mayonnaise. Japanese Kitchen serves these gorgeous things up for breakfast at the farmers’ markets, although, chefowner Takayuki tells me, they are usually eaten for lunch or dinner. ‘It’s probably
because we use eggs’, he suggests, so similarities to fritters are understandably drawn. It’s not only eggs, however, that make Taka’s Okonomiyaki special – and especially delicious. The batter has been fermented, unheard of in Japan. Taka tells me that ‘at food festivals I’d eat it – but it was too doughy.’ He wanted to recreate this savoury dish but render it a lot healthier than it traditionally is, so started making it with the same culture as the bread they make. ‘It’s just like a sourdough’, he explains. ‘The gluten breaks down during the long fermentation – it turns out so well! The dough is so melty!’ The other hugely popular breakfast they offer is also
healthy and also all about fermentation. The hakko boxes – ‘hakko’ means fermentation – consist of mixed rice with grains and beans, pickles and tempeh and miso eggplant. Meanwhile, Taka is currently experimenting with what he describes as a ‘bread-ish rice bread.’ Utilising rice instead of rice flour, he’s not completely satisfied yet but is foreseeing the future wherein it’s offered as toast. ‘It would be really good with butter and honey!’ Of this I have no doubt: something magical happens at this market stall – and indeed at the ‘mothership’ Doma, in Federal. Japanese Kitchen is at Mullumbimby Farmers Market every Friday from 7 to 11am.
Bordeaux to Byron: modern mead as a sparkling rose Aurum Modern Honey Mead has taken mead, the oldest beverage in the world, and has catapulted it into the 21st century. Chief meadmaker and former winemaker/brewer Louis Costa has created an exquisite new range of modern honey wines, or ‘meads’, made from local Byron manuka and macadamia honey and native botanicals, that taste just like a fine wine or champagne but with no grapes! These premium ‘modern meads’, as Aurum has called them, are not sweet, but dry and elegant, and have surprised and delighted sommeliers worldwide with their finesse, taste and www.echo.net.au
complexity. A great choice for those with traditional wine allergies, or looking for a healthier alcoholic beverage that doesn’t leave you with a nasty hangover, they also pair delightfully with food – especially foods with unique and intricate flavours that are often hard to pair with traditional wine. ‘We have some of the best honey in the world right here in the Northern Rivers’, says Costa, a French winemaker originally from Bordeaux, and former Stone & Wood brewer who had been missing
winemaking since moving from France to Byron to be with his partner 11 years ago. ‘I wanted to create a range of still and sparkling wines that truly reflected the beautiful
area in which we live - the terroir of the Northern Rivers’. Aurum is at the forefront of a new revolution for the mead industry, which is
seeing a resurgence recently due to the health benefits of honey. Louis has been a pioneer in this area, and differs from other meaderies by creating a highly premium wine-style product that can be seen on the tables of the finest restaurants in Australia and Europe. ‘I want people to see how honey-based wines, made the right way, have the potential to hold their own amongst the most prestigious grape-based wines on the market,’ he says. Not yet open to the public, although a local
cellar door is in the pipeline for later in 2024 (stay tuned!) you can buy Aurum’s range directly from their online cellar door at www.aurummead.com and find it at some local restaurants and a few select bottleshops such as the Bangalow Cellars, Bottle and Hoop, The Natural Wine Shop and the North Byron bottleshop. If you live locally, pop in the discount code BYRONLOCAL for 10% off and free shipping on your first order. The cut-off for ordering before Christmas is December 21, they will be closed from December 21 to January 13. Q www.aurummead.com
@aurummead
'ĕĈĕŔćĕſ ǨǪǽ ǩǧǩǪ The Byron Shire Echo 23