Playing with Fire

WHERE THERE’S SMOKE THERE’S CULINARY FIRE AT THIS LANDMARK BLACKHEATH EATERY.

Words: Jacqueline Forster. Photos: Asia Upward.

Joe Campbell has come full circle. Since serving his apprenticeship and a 10-year stint as second in charge at Philip Searle’s legendary restaurant Vulcan’s, the chef is home to roost in familiar Blackheath surroundings.

“I always wanted to own this space,” says Joe, who bided his time at his popular Leura café Red Door before seizing the opportunity to purchase the property when it came on the market in 2017.

Renamed Fumo, Italian for ‘smoke’, and reinvigorated with a lick of paint, Joe’s intimate knowledge of the workings of the kitchen and its century-old wood-fired oven, coupled with a fresh approach to Asian-influenced comfort food, has breathed new life into the establishment.

Earthy and produce-driven, the small but perfectly formed menu at Fumo earned Joe a prestigious Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat in 2018, cementing a return to the upper echelons of regional dining for the venue.

Drawing inspiration from his travels – a love of snowboarding has taken Campbell from Japan to Kashmir and everywhere in between – and time spent at Martin Boetz’s seminal Thai-fusion restaurant Longrain, Joe’s signature dish of Sake Steamed Mussels with Kimchi Butter is a Fumo staple.

“Sake Steamed Mussels was the first dish I made at Fumo and it has never left the menu,” he explains. “It was one of those dishes where the idea in my head turned out to be perfect when it was made. I didn’t have to adjust or finetune anything, it was just one of those amazing moments.”

Subtle but punchy flavours abound, the combination of shiso, kombu, ponzu and house-made kimchi butter making a sauce perfect for mopping up with crusty, freshly baked sourdough bread.

Everything is made from scratch here, including the hand-churned butter and fermented foods. “I found that a small chamber of the oven, which is actually a viewing hole, is the perfect temperature to ferment things,” says Joe. “We make our own yoghurt and sour cream, and all the spice blends are roasted in the oven before being ground for pastes.”

And nothing goes to waste. The buttermilk left over from the butter-making process goes into another sauce for Fumo’s main fish dish.

ASIAN ACCENTS

While Japanese influences are easy to see, both in the décor and on the menu, other Asian flavours meld ingredients in Campbell’s intricate style. The Sri Lankaninspired dosa is a crispy fermented rice pancake stuffed with cashew nut curry and served with three sambals and crisp curry leaves.

Vegan and gluten-free, this dish doesn’t skimp on flavour. “In the old days you didn’t have to cater for dietary needs but now it’s important to,” Joe says. “This just happens to be the perfect package for vegans and people with coeliac disease, and it’s probably one of the harder dishes to make and the most flavour-intensive as well.

“I like to think it rocks their world because they’re being shown some love and are not just an afterthought on the menu.” To make the traditional Sri Lankan dosa batter, Joe ferments a mix of rice and black urad dhal overnight. The delicate and light dosa is cooked pancake style, filled with cashew nut curry and finished with a trio of sambals – seeni (onion), pol (coconut) and a Searle/Campbell creation of peanut sesame sambal, which is cooked for 12 hours in the wood-fired oven.

“This dish has evolved since I first started making it,” says Joe. “I thought, ‘Anyone can make rice’, so I pushed it a bit further by making the crispy pancake with everything hidden inside so it’s a revelation in more ways than one.”

“At Fumo it’s all about the oven: the smokiness, the slow cooking and the depth of flavour it produces.”

Fumo’s dessert menu sees a continuation of a Vulcan’s tradition – the Bombe Icecream Slice. Changing weekly, depending on which produce Joe can get his hands on, the bombe is a firm favourite with long-time fans. This one (pictured on page 21) features a combination of Sake Lees ice-cream, spiced ginger & coconut ice-cream, orange ice-cream, smoked blackberry sorbet, raspberry sorbet and walnut macaroon.

“The bombe pays homage to my mentor Philip for his foresight and talent,” says Joe. “I change the flavour combinations because I love working with suppliers and using what’s in season or abundant – it gets your creativity going.”

Joe sources locally grown organic produce from Epicurean Harvest in the Kanimbla Valley, and makes the most of foraged seasonal ingredients such as saffron milk cap and slippery jack mushrooms in autumn, supplementing local produce with excursions to Asian markets in Bankstown. Fumo’s international wine list also places an emphasis on local, with regional varieties from Orange, Bathurst and the Megalong Valley featuring. There’s even a hyper-local inclusion that hails from just down the road, where artisan vintner Bob Colman stomps grapes in his Blackheath shed.

“I like supporting local winemakers, but I wouldn’t have it on the menu if it wasn’t good,” says Joe of the local drop.

The small, close-knit team at Fumo includes chef Tony Hogan, who worked alongside Joe at Red Door for seven years, and Amanda Baldoni, who presides over front of house and is another trusted colleague from Vulcan’s days.

“I wouldn’t have opened Fumo without Amanda,” says Joe. “I spoke to her before I was going to buy it and asked if she was in, because if she wasn’t in, I wasn’t going to do it.” Luckily for mountains diners Amanda said yes.

The cosy 35-seat restaurant is open Friday to Sunday for lunch and dinner, with two dinner seatings – at 6pm and 8pm. Diners can expect attentive, informed service, a warm glow from Fumo’s ambience and the generous servings of Joe’s creative cuisine.

“There are no rules, I love to combine flavours and ingredients and I love this kitchen,” Joe adds. “At Fumo it’s all about the oven: the smokiness, the slow cooking and the depth of flavour it produces.”

fumo.com.au