Hospitality August 2018

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NO.746 AUGUST 2018

Legendairy FROM CHEFS TO CHEESEMAKERS — HOW TRADITION IS MAKING ITS WAY BACK INTO THE KITCHEN

Some like it hot HOW HOT POT IS TAKING THE CULINARY SCENE BY STORM

The real impacts of industry awards MELISSA LEONG PENS A COLUMN ON THE NECESSITY OF AWARDS

Battle of the

bubbles IS AUSTRALIAN SPARKLING JUST AS GOOD AS CHAMPAGNE?

Ed’s note

August 42

Contents 8 In focus

9 Openings 10 Business profile

9

14 Column 16 Best practice 18 Flavour of the month 20 Drinks 24 Trends

T

rends are the driving force behind some of the best and worst innovations in the industry. Deciding which trends to invest in can be difficult, and there’s nothing worse than spending your hard-earned cash on an investment that falls flat. The food industry has seen many fads come and go, from frozen yoghurt to freak shakes, which have crept back into the shadows — for the most part.

This issue, we shine a light on some of the biggest food trends we are experiencing in 2018. No longer a menu add-on, dedicated hot pot restaurants are opening around Australia, and we have an exclusive interview with the home of the ‘meat Barbie’ – Spice World. Read the full feature on page 26.

Creating an Instagrammable restaurant has also become a nobrainer for those opening new venues or relaunching old concepts. Operators are using social media to propel their brand across the internet and attract an abundance of diners in the process.

We talk with Baby Coffee Co. and The Botanica Vaucluse on page 30 about the inspiration behind their unique venues and how they’re using social media as a tool to drum up business.

There’s no doubt pork is a popular protein, and there’s been a noticeable rise in using less-common cuts. Chefs Ryan Blagrove, Regan Porteous, Jesse Blake and Tiw Rakarin reveal how they’re using pig’s head, neck and knuckle to create dishes that deviate from the norm.

Until next time, Annabelle Cloros Editor

4 Hospitality August 2018

26 Hot pot 30 Instagrammable venues 34 Cheese 37 Pork

10 24

40 Shelf space 41 Diary 42 5 minutes with …

PRODUCTION MANAGER Jacqui Cooper jacqui@intermedia.com.au

EDITOR Annabelle Cloros T: 02 8586 6226 acloros@intermedia.com.au

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ADVERTISING NATIONAL Dan Shipley T: 02 8586 6163 F: 02 9660 4419 dshipley@intermedia.com.au DESIGN Kea Thorburn kthorburn@intermedia.com.au

30

26

PUBLISHER Paul Wootton pwootton@intermedia.com.au

JOURNALIST Brittney Levinson T: 02 8586 6194 blevinson@intermedia.com.au

37

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hospitality insider

MEMBER’S MAGA

ZINE ISSUE #1

Join the club Hospitality magazine is proud to announce the launch of Hospitality Insider — a dedicated club for foodservice professionals.

F

inding information, advice and being part of a community are all helpful tools to grow your business and connect with peers.

Hospitality magazine has established a new platform for trade to do all of the above and so much more.

Membership to Hospitality Insider provides myriad assets including a quarterly digital magazine, dedicated monthly newsletter from the editor and access to a closed Facebook group.

The Facebook group will provide dedicated content and give members a first look at masterclass, best practice and kitchen tour videos before they’re released. Daily content will be added to the page, and the group will serve as the ideal gathering place for like-minded professionals to discuss the industry’s most pressing issues.

The club will also provide members with helpful industry resources including the Eating Out Report 2018 and the Reader’s Choice Suppliers Report. Access to presentations from the Restaurant Leaders Summit and Pub Leaders Summit 2018 will also be available along with discounts to the Restaurant Leaders Summit and other events.

Members will also receive an annual print subscription to Hospitality magazine, which is Australia’s longest-serving industry title. Ten issues packed with interviews, profiles and industry insights will be delivered straight to your door.

To celebrate the launch of Hospitality Insider, we are offering membership for $150 + GST until 31 August 2018. After this date, the annual membership fee will rise to $200 + GST. The total value of the membership is valued at $670, so our pricing represents extraordinary value.

As a further incentive to join up now, we’re offering $380 of bonus content FREE to those who sign up before the end of August. This extra content comprises the complete video packages from the 2016 and 2017 Restaurant Leaders Summits, as well as videos of five key presentations from the Pub Leaders Summit 2017.

So join before the end of August for just $150 + GST and you’ll get benefits worth $1,050 — a saving of $900!

Remember: the free bonus content is only available if you sign up before midnight 31 August 2018.

What are you waiting for? Apply now by emailing Hospitality Group Publisher Paul Wootton. pwootton@intermedia.com.au

6 Hospitality August 2018

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in focus

Expanding horizons

New research has revealed ‘ethnic’ cuisines continue to boom across the local foodservice sector.

T

here’s no denying Australia has an incredibly diverse culinary landscape dotted with cuisines from across the globe. And our appetite for unique flavours shows no signs of slowing down according to a CREST study by global research company the NPD Group.

Quick-service and full-service ethnic restaurants account for $5.7 billion of consumer spending within the $44 billion foodservice industry, resulting in a 13 per cent traffic share.

The study also shows ethnic foods have increased by $700 million since 2009, which is significant growth over a nine-year period.

The category of ‘quick service other ethnic’ has been marked as the fastest-growing foodservice category for the past four years, with sales increasing by 63 per cent over the past seven years. Mexican, Turkish, Indian, Greek and Italian are all included in the category.

Millennials are reported to have significantly contributed to the growth of the ethnic food sector, with the age group accounting for 53 per cent of ethnic fast food visits.

Customers who are consuming ethnic foods are reported to be driven by new experiences, healthy options and wanting to eat a specific menu item rather than price point.

With new restaurants, cafés and fast casual venues opening regularly, ethnic cuisines are expected to continue to rise in popularity among consumers. n

Ethnic food sales have increased by 13 per cent over the past seven years

Quick-service and full-service ethnic restaurants

account for $5.7 billion of consumer spending

Millennials highest consumers are the

of ethnic foods

8 Hospitality August 2018

Openings Some of the latest venues to swing open their doors in Australia’s foodservice scene.

1

Queen Chow

Manly, Sydney Merivale has extended the Queen Chow brand out of its Enmore home to the Northern Beaches. Executive chef Patrick Friesen and Eric Koh are dishing up classic Cantonese fare in the new waterside location. Halfshell scallops with XO vermicelli, garlic butter king prawns and black pepper Moreton Bay bugs are on the menu along with Koh’s prawn siu mai and prawn har gau. Frank Moreau and Adrian Filiuta have designed the wine list which features more than 200 local and international varieties.

2

1

Lesa

Melbourne CBD Christian McCabe and Dave Verheul have announced Lesa, a new venue that will open above their acclaimed wine bar Embla. Scheduled to launch early August, Lesa’s food offering will revolve around set menus, which is a deliberate move away from share plates. Verheul will run the kitchen which will house a wood-fired hearth enabling the chef to slow-cook, smoke and grill dishes. Highlights include semi-dried potato cacio e pepe with basil and pecorino and salted bergamot with walnut and koji ile flottante. The wine list will focus on minimal-intervention Australian producers alongside old-world vintages.

3

Terra

Canberra CBD Brothers Anthony and Marcus Iannelli are behind one of Canberra’s latest food destinations, Terra. The venue offers breakfast and lunch, with dishes evolving according to seasonal produce. Ex-Hartsyard chef Sung Son is running the kitchen, with breakfast options covering everything from pastries to a bacon sanga on ciabatta. Lunch revolves around spit-roasted meats, gourmet rolls, roasted vegetables and salads. Coffee is courtesy of Dukes Coffee Roasters from Melbourne, with Terra also offering a range of fresh juices and smoothies.

4

2

3

Tommy Ruff

Mordialloc, Melbourne Fish and chip aficionados Tommy Ruff have opened a new flagship location in the suburb of Mordialloc. The menu will offer classics including fish and chips, burgers, grilled calamari, seafood hot pots and their iconic fish wings.

Diners can opt for market fish that can be grilled, battered or panko-crumbed and choose from sides including black rice salad, potato cakes or the fish and chip shop staple, the dim sim. The store will also offer Tommy Ruff’s own line of wine, craft beer and cider.

4 August 2018 Hospitality 9

business profile

Liquid & Larder Sporting a new name and a brand new venue, Liquid & Larder is continuing to make its mark on the Sydney hospitality scene.

By Brittney Levinson.

Wilhelmina’s

A

Sydney hospitality group run by two blokes might not sound like the most unique business story.

But what sets Liquid & Larder apart from the rest is the years of friendship the business was founded upon. Here, we speak to co-owner James Bradey about how the group has evolved, their latest venture and what the future holds.

SOLID FOUNDATIONS James Bradey and Warren Burns have been friends since they were 12 years old, they attended high school together, grew up together and travelled together, so it was only natural they went into business together.

“We went travelling in 2001 and ended up in Edinburgh, Scotland, and that’s where we got stuck working in hospitality,” says Bradey.

“It certainly wasn’t our plan — I didn’t do any sort of degree in hospitality at all.”

After several years abroad, the duo found themselves back in Australia, running hospitality venues in Sydney. Tired of working for other people, Bradey and Burns founded 8 Hospitality in 2009 and initially began consulting. “We did a little bit of consultancy work, but our main aim was to open our own venue,” says Bradey.

10 Hospitality August 2018

In 2010, they launched a small bar in the heart of the CBD called Grandma’s. “At the time, I think we were maybe the third small bar in the city,” says Bradey. “There was lots of momentum and lots of interest — Sydney was really burgeoning and getting excited by these small little venues.”

Next was The Wild Rover, a neighbourhood bar in Surry Hills with a focus on whisky, craft beer and cocktails. After a nine-month delay due to liquor licence restrictions, the venue eventually opened in April 2012.

Each of Liquid & Larder’s venues follows the journey Bradey and Burns have been on together. As changes happened within their personal lives, their venues evolved. In 2014, the pair decided to open Wilhelmina’s, which is a more family-friendly venue. “I had just had a baby girl and Warren’s wife was pregnant, so we wanted that neighbourhood wine bar restaurant vibe where you could bring the kids in,” says Bradey.

Further adding to the family-friendly atmosphere, half of the Wilhelmina’s site was converted into a burger restaurant last year. “Wilhelmina’s was over two rooms in a heritage-listed arcade,” says Bradey. “We were probably a little bit big for the area, so we turned half of it into Burgerhood.”

A NEW ERA Liquid & Larder have just opened the doors to their latest venture, Bistecca, a multiconcept restaurant, bar and soon-to-open wine shop in the heart of Sydney’s CBD. The Italian restaurant specialises in one cut of steak, bistecca alla Fiorentina, while the bar champions Italian wines and cocktails.

“There’s a real focus on one cut of beef, which is not very common in Australia,” says Bradey. “A lot of restaurants around the world focus on one thing to really drive home their passion and their expertise rather than watering down with 20 different things on offer.”

Bradey and Burns found opening a venue this time around was much more difficult than before. “It’s a lot harder now to open up a new place because the licensing is restricted and it’s just so expensive,” says Bradey. “[Bistecca] is costing us so much more because the building industry is booming in Sydney, materials cost a lot and it’s very hard to find a licence. Landlords are more aware that their previously dingy basements that no one wanted are now a hot commodity because people want to put a bar or restaurant in it.”

With a new venue came a brand reboot, and 8 Hospitality was renamed Liquid &

business profile

“As we’ve grown, we’ve realised that although we have to understand how everything works, we can’t do it all ourselves.”

– James Bradey

Warren Burns and James Bradey.

Image credit Dominic Loneragan

Bistecca.

Image credit Dominic Loneragan

August 2018 Hospitality 11

The Wild Rover

“We ... make sure we’ve got good people around us so we can spend more time doing what we’re good at.”

– James Bradey

Bistecca. Image credit Dominic Loneragan

Larder. “The name 8 Hospitality came about because Warren and I grew up eight kilometres away from each other,” says Bradey. “Warren and I are very much like family and we like to operate our business like that — but we don’t necessarily want to just be in hospitality, and I think [the name] broadens us out a little bit.”

BUSINESS BASICS While each venue differs, they all aim to have one thing in common: great service. “When we first came back from the UK, we couldn’t believe how inhospitable venues in Sydney were,” says Bradey.

“They were all about the view and how amazing Sydney Harbour was and no one was really trying to deliver great service.” Bradey says achieving great service is all about reading the customer and striving to meet their needs.

“Whether you come in to The Wild Rover with 10 of your mates or you come in with 12 Hospitality August 2018

your boyfriend on a Tuesday night and just want to have a glass of wine, we feel that you should adapt your service style to make sure the customer is getting their desired experience,” he says. “That’s one of our key driving forces.”

When it comes to recruitment, Liquid & Larder’s approach is as down to earth as it comes. “One of our recruitment philosophies is [we ask] ‘Would we have a beer with that person?’” says Bradey. “We’ll give them the tools to be able to work, but we want them to bring their personality.”

The team dedicates a significant amount of time to recruiting and training, and recently overhauled their processes to ensure they have the best chance of securing and retaining good workers. “Last year we really changed how we get people on board, [for example] making sure we’ve clearly identified the type of people we’re looking for initially,” he says.

“We spend a lot of time training, whether that’s in-house training or with various brands.

Then we have a reasonably elaborate incentive platform where the further down the training you go, your pay rates go up. The longer you work with us; there are other incentives, whether it’s trips away or gift cards.”

LEARNING CURVES Looking back on their journey so far, Bradey says a lot has changed and some important lessons have been learned. “As we’ve grown, we’ve realised that although we have to

understand how everything works, we can’t do it all ourselves,” he says.

“I’ve got a background in interior architecture and project management, so the first couple of jobs I did the design and managed the build. But we’re just too big now, so we’ve got an architect and a project manager on board and we’re using a graphic design company for the first time.

“I remember one of the guys I worked for years ago in Scotland said one of the reasons [the group] was successful was because he surrounded himself with people that are better than he is. So that’s what we’ve tried to do, make sure we’ve got good people around us so we can spend more time doing what we’re good at.”

LOOKING AHEAD While he admits now is the “worst time” to be thinking about future plans after just opening Bistecca, Bradey says he and Burns have certainly tossed some ideas around. “We would love to buy a small neighbourhood pub that’s really food-focused, but nothing is solid yet,” he says.

Bradey says more burger restaurants could also be the next move forward. “We set up Burgerhood in Balmain as a test platform to see if it’s something we could roll out,” he says. “We’re certainly aware that it’s not a new trend, but it’s something that could potentially be opened in a few different places.” n

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column

“The role that restaurants play socially has been overshadowed by a focus on awards.” – Maurice Terzini

Are restaurant awards still relevant?

Melissa Leong poses the unspoken question to three restaurateurs and a PR.

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ew other industries possess as many awards and top lists as hospitality. That piece of paper taped to the kitchen wall printed with the faces of food media grows ever long with the augmentation of the digital age, and with it comes a confusing number of titles to compete for.

It’s not just Best Restaurant anymore.

Awards have been broken down by category so far that it feels as though any day we’ll be awarding Best Restaurant Dishy (we all know they’re the real kitchen heroes anyway).

Add to that the fact that every outlet in this ever-changing landscape has their own set of gongs to bang, it begs the question; in an era where awards are handed out just for turning up (and by everyone), do they mean anything anymore?

When it comes to the direct impact an award can have on a business, the extra bump can be crucial when you’re a newborn. “When we started out nearly 10 years ago, awards had a huge impact for us,” says Vicki Wild of Sydney fine dining gem Sepia (whose awards are too numerous to list). “We didn’t have the budget for PR and it really gave the business the attention that it needed.”

14 Hospitality August 2018

And what about these days as an established business? “Awards and lists are fun when you’re on them, and not when you’re not,” says Wild. “I’d be lying if I were to say we didn’t appreciate them, but Martin (Benn, executive chef and co-owner) isn’t a high-fiver.

We’re much happier when we do our own thing. I don’t feel the need to do certain things differently just to be considered.”

For industry veteran Maurice Terzini, it’s a matter of reassurance. “After all these years, the main awards (Fairfax’s Good Food Guide and Gourmet Traveller, for example), give me a sense of confirmation that I have consistency [in my business] and for my customers, the same. It’s a reinforcement of our standards, and of course, it’s great for staff morale.”

On the other side of the country, Joel Valvasori, chef/owner of Perth pasta palace Lulu La Delizia says it also reminds customers who may be distracted by new openings and other factors, that they’re still here (and awesome). “I’ve never seen the impact as much as I’ve seen it here to be honest. Maybe it’s because we are a small restaurant, but every handful of people per service [who come because of the media coverage from an award] adds up at the end of the week.”

Those ‘main’ awards Terzini refers to have plenty of company these days. So does this dilute the potency or value of being ‘in’? “Both internationally and domestically, there are so many awards,” says Wild. “A non-industry friend said to me, ‘God, your industry is SO scrutinised’. And the fact is we’re all doing something different, so sometimes it’s odd to compare apples with oranges. I think the industry and the public will ultimately get sick of it. For the moment, these things may get a run for a little while longer, but I don’t think they have legs for the future.”

In terms of PR, does a business need it to get a leg up on the awards front? While it’s widely accepted that certain international awards require a fair degree of lobbying from the right PR to even get on the playing field (a conscious choice Sepia chose not to undertake), is it any different at home?

Monica Brown, arguably one of the most powerful PR fixers in the world says ‘yes and no’. Brown has a roster that has included Heston Blumenthal and many of the top 20 in the World’s 50 Best. “It’s our job to bring restaurants and chefs to the media’s attention, but it’s still their job to decide for themselves if they’re worthy; we have no control over that,” she says. “But if you’re engaging PR to get you on a list or an award, that’s a sure path to madness. You may get your 15 minutes of fame, but it lends you no gravitas for longterm business viability.”

Terzini believes striving for awards has for some, distracted them from the soul of hospitality. “I’m a big believer in hitting your financial goals, but I think we don’t talk enough about the social role that restaurants play, and that’s being forgotten,” he says.

“People live their lives around the restaurant table. Celebrations, fights, business deals, entertaining; the role that restaurants play socially has been overshadowed by a focus on awards. Sometimes I feel awards will drive the industry to just a competitive place rather than what it is supposed to be, which is to provide a place to live life.”

Wild agrees. “Who doesn’t love an award?!” she laughs, “but that’s not why we do what we do.” n

BACK ROW

• Ben O’Donoghue – Billykart & Billykart West End, Brisbane • Dan Moss – Terroir Auburn • Jerry Mai – Annam & Pho Nom, Melbourne • Claire Van Vuuren – Bloodwood, Sydney & Popla, Bellingen

FRONT ROW

• Cameron Matthews – Spicers Retreats – National • Joe Pavlovich – Bondi Trattoria, Sydney • Dave Pynt – Burnt Ends, Singapore • Thi Le – Anchovy, Melbourne • Dan Fisher – Ku De Ta, Perth • Aaron Ward – Young Chef of the Year 2017, Appetite for Excellence

For these fun-loving chefs, the kitchen is their playground and Australian Pork is their favourite toy.

Whether they’re rustling up something classic, simple or a cutting edge creation, no other meat is as versatile, allowing them to explore and indulge their imaginations.

Be a PorkStar. And get some Pork on your menu.

best practice

Waste not, want not Eight ways to cut costs and improve your bottom line. By Ken Burgin.

C

ombine these eight types of waste and the cost reduction will be considerable. Some are more common than others, and some have never been considered as a real problem.

Many managers attempt to fix problems or reduce costs by watching everything when the problem is with the lack of standards, systems and consultation.

OVERPRODUCTION Creating more of a product than is needed. The enthusiastic bar staff over-prepare fruit garnishes for the evening, salad trays are filled beyond what’s needed and too much meat is carved. Forecasting accurate sales of different products reduces this — overproduction is usually the default.

EXCESSIVE WAIT TIME Staff shouldn’t have to wait to do their job because of bottlenecks, shortages of equipment or lack of support. Insufficient glassware means drinks can’t be served while glasses are being washed. A deepfryer that’s under-powered takes too long to cook chips and slows up service. Insufficient mise-en-place means delays for chefs.

TRANSPORTATION This relates to the unnecessary movement of products and equipment such as carrying one box at a time instead of using a trolley to transport them together. When the bar is not set up for efficient service, with highdemand bottles a long way from where they’re needed. A barista who has everything at hand can push product through quickly and efficiently.

PROCESSING WASTE Intentional over-processing might be a barman creating a complex cocktail with far more garnish than the customer wants. Non-intentional over-processing is when an apprentice finely chops vegetables that will only be used for stock — no one told him it’s not necessary. Both are repeated actions that add no value to a product or service.

INVENTORY WASTE Over-ordering that results in spoilage or theft. Just because the salesman 16 Hospitality August 2018

Some managers don’t want to listen or think they know everything. Just because you’re busy doesn’t mean there’s no room for improvement. offers you a bonus box of wine if you order 10, doesn’t mean it’s a good deal. Where will you store it? High-value items in abundance lose their value in the eyes of staff and may start to disappear or be used carelessly.

MOTION WASTE Unnecessary movement that does not add value such as when untrained staff take longer to complete a task. Are there too many steps required to do the roster or payroll? Can essential forms be found quickly on the computer? Do you need unnecessary approvals for standard ordering decisions?

DEFECT WASTE When a product or service must be redone to meet a standard. It could be a human or equipment error. Failing to follow a recipe means mousses don’t set and failing to keep the oven in good condition means baked goods burn easily. Job interviewers don’t ask the right questions, so unqualified people are appointed and must be let go.

UNUSED EMPLOYEE TALENT AND CREATIVITY The waste that’s far too common, from a failure to listen. Some managers don’t want to listen or think they know everything. Just because you’re busy doesn’t mean there’s no room for improvement. If an employee notices an inefficient or unnecessary process, will they be listened to when they mention it to the manager? n

Flavour of the month Add the vibrant red fruit to your menu to give sweet and savoury dishes some punch.

Quandong Q

uandong is a small native Australian tree that produces shiny red fruit, commonly known as desert peach or native peach. The fruit was an important food source for Indigenous Australians who would eat them fresh or dried. Surplus fruits would be collected and dried for later consumption, keeping for up to eight years. Today, chefs across Australia are championing the native ingredient in a range of dishes.

GROWING AND SEASONALITY Quandong grows wild in Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria, with smaller numbers of the plant found in Queensland. In the Northern Territory, quandong populations have been in decline due to poor conditions and feral animals.

The species is hemi-parasitic, meaning it attaches itself to the roots of host plants — including acacias, bluebush and saltbush — to extract water and nutrients. Tiny flowers appear on the plant in summer, forming a shiny, red fruit that ripens in the following spring.

FLAVOUR PROFILE The flesh of a mature quandong has a yellow to red colour, dry texture and tart taste. The flavour profile is described as slightly sour and salty with its sweetness varying significantly between trees. Its aroma is likened to dry lentils or beans with earthy, fermented notes.

Quandong has been found to have high levels of folate and vitamin E and is a good source of magnesium, zinc and iron.

FOOD USES While Indigenous Australians ate the fruit fresh or dried, early European settlers were known to use quandong in jams, pies and jellies. Today, quandong is found in commercial lines of jams, sauces, relishes and drinks.

Restaurants use quandong in a variety of ways and the fruit is usually supplied as whole dried fruit, sun dried or frozen. At Sydney’s 12-Micron, it’s included in a dish consisting of pork belly with pine and slippery jack mushroom and broad beans along with a dessert of strawberries, Valrhona Orelys mousse and vermouth. At Restaurant Orana in Adelaide, the fruit can be found on the tasting menu paired with kohlrabi, dorrigo pepper and lemon myrtle. n Information courtesy of Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, Australian Native Food and Botanicals and Australian National Botanic Gardens.

18 Hospitality August 2018

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drinks

Sparkling wine Australia is making its mark as a producer of top-quality sparkling wines — but are they good enough to rival the French? By Brittney Levinson.

C

hampagne is widely considered the benchmark for sparkling wine and is the go-to celebratory drop of choice for many Australians. But in recent years, people have turned their attention to Australian sparkling wine and rightly so — there are a number of homegrown producers crafting exceptional products. Here, a winemaker and a sommelier make a case for Australian sparkling and why it deserves a spot on every wine list.

SPARKLING THAT RIVALS CHAMPAGNE Peter Went from Pierre’s Wines in the Hunter Valley has been in the business of making wine since 1986. His first attempt at making sparkling wine was in 2002, and he hasn’t looked back since. “The first one was a bit of an experiment and it sold out very quickly, so every year we made a little bit more,” he says.

Pierre’s Wines produce a range of six sparkling wines made in the authentic Méthode Traditionelle, the traditional method originating in Champagne. The process begins with picking grapes that are at an early stage of maturity. Went says goodquality fruit is a must. “It has to be as close to perfect as possible,” he says. “You can’t put up with any bird damage or disease and certainly no sunburn, which can be a problem in our warmer climate.”

After the wine is fermented once in a barrel or tank, sugar and yeast are added and it’s bottled for secondary fermentation. The wine bottles are then stored on their side, sometimes for many years.

Once ready for disgorging, the bottles are lightly shaken and gradually turned until they are facing downwards, moving the yeast sediment, or lees, to the neck of the bottle. The inverted bottle necks are then cooled until a small block of frozen sediment can be removed. The bottle is then topped up with wine and corked.

Pierre’s Wines deviates slightly from this method, in that the bottles are fitted with a crown seal instead of a cork. “The rate of cork problems just drove me crazy,” says Went. Along with cork taint that can also occur with table wine, he found the glue from sparkling corks left a bad taste in the wine as well. “If you store the wine for a length of time, you also run the risk of the cork shrinking and letting the gas out,” says Went. “So all things considered, the crown seals seem to do a vastly superior job.”

CLIMATE CONTROL

Pierre’s Wines 20 Hospitality August 2018

While the Hunter Valley might be a surprising region to be producing sparkling wine, Went says it’s simply a matter of adapting your growing method to suit the warmer climate. “In other climates, you would maintain your vineyard differently,” he says. “In a warm climate, you can have too much light, so you need to manage the exposure of the bunches to less light. But in Tasmania or Champagne, you might want to have more light on the fruit.”

Went says warm climates are more than capable of producing high-quality sparkling wines. “There are some fantastic wines made in Tasmania — it’s such a cool climate,” he says. “But that doesn’t mean warmer climates produce bad wine, they’re just slightly different.

“We also buy fruit from other climates — I buy fruit from Tumbarumba and Orange — but having said that, some of my best wines have been 100 per cent Hunter fruit. It’s all about knowing exactly what the fruit flavour should be and harvesting at the right time.”

drinks

Caviar and Champagne at The Atlantic

PUTTING AUSTRALIA ON THE MAP Aleksandar Jeremic is the head sommelier at Melbourne seafood restaurant The Atlantic.

Complete with a dedicated oyster bar, The Atlantic boasts a lengthy wine list that focuses on sparkling wines from around the world.

Jeremic says Australian sparkling wines are increasing in popularity every year, and the venue’s wine list constantly changes to meet the demand.

“We change our wine list according to season,” he says. “In December and January, the volumes of sparkling wine are four or five times higher than in the winter.”

The current menu features eight Australian sparkling wines, ranging in price from $75 to $135 per bottle. Compared to The Atlantic’s Champagne selection, which starts at $150 per bottle, the Australian sparkling range is a popular choice among customers. “Australians like to order their own sparkling wines, which is quite nice to see,” says Jeremic.

“For special occasions, Champagne probably dominates in that area, while sparkling wine is more for everyday occasions.”

International customers are also more inclined to order from the Australian selection.

“They want to see what Australia can offer,” says Jeremic. “I enjoy getting feedback on sparkling wine from Australia, especially when they first taste it. Ninety-nine per cent of the time, it’s good feedback.”

22 Hospitality August 2018

STAMPING OUT STIGMA While Australian sparkling wine is growing in popularity, both Went and Jeremic agree there are still some hurdles for the industry.

“Wherever you are in the world, people use French Champagne as the benchmark because they’ve been doing it for a long time, but I think Australian sparkling wines are very good quality — especially when you compare them to the price of some imported wines,” says Went.

Went also says it can be challenging to convince Australian buyers that sparkling wines are great value compared to international products. “Customers will buy an inferior imported product, partly due to the reputation of the region or producer,” he says.

Jeremic agrees that consumers still associate Champagne with the most premium sparkling wine, which is partly due to the region’s branding efforts and promotion. “Some Australian sparkling wines are simply outstanding, but I still think people will definitely pay a higher price for Champagne,” he says. “Over the past five years, Australian sparkling wine has become more popular — we definitely sell more in volume, that’s for sure.”

Customers are opting for Australian sparkling due to its value for money and — above all else — premium quality. Consider expanding your range of sparkling wines to cater to a wider market and champion local producers. n

“Over the past five years, Australian sparkling wine has become more popular — we definitely sell more in volume, that’s for sure.”

– Aleksandar Jeremic

Trends They’re designed to bring more patrons through the door and put money in your pocket, but are all-youcan-eat deals worth it?

By Brittney Levinson.

All you can

eat

O

nce reserved for Pizza Hut and Sizzler, all-you-can-eat dining deals are making a modern comeback. Venues ranging from restaurants to casual pub bistros are enticing customers with unlimited food in order to create buzz and increase revenue. For the owners of Salt Meats Cheese and The Coop Bistro, all-you-can-eat deals have boosted their brands and attracted a new wave of diners.

WHAT’S THE DEAL? Across Salt Meats Cheese’s portfolio of Italian restaurants in New South Wales and Queensland, Monday night is dedicated to all-you-can-eat pizza. For $20, plus the price of a drink, customers can eat as many pizzas as they like and choose from five options. “The main goal for us is to get people to know the brand, try the pizzas and come back another time,” says co-founder Stefano De Blasi.

Brisbane chicken pub The Coop Bistro offers an all-you-can-eat chicken nugget deal on Saturdays. For $20, customers are given a wristband that grants them access to bottomless nuggets, French fries and house slaw.

Co-owner David Flynn says while they don’t encourage people to overeat, the deal has a “competitive, fast-eating” appeal that customers are drawn to.

“We wanted something on a Saturday that would be a value option for diners but also something that’s a little bit fun,” he says.

LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS A hot pot restaurant in China made headlines recently when its all-youcan-eat deal failed and was forced to close. Ultimately, poor planning and underestimating how much customers can consume left the restaurant with an enormous debt which led to its demise. But don’t let that scare you — 24 Hospitality August 2018

The Coop Bistro

Salt Meats Cheese and The Coop Bistro both agree most diners don’t go overboard.

De Blasi says customers at Salt Meats Cheese generally eat between 1.5 to two pizzas per person. “The pizzas usually cost $24–25, so customers are getting two for $20 — they love it,” he says. “We have a wall of fame in Brisbane for people that eat more than three pizzas, but there aren’t many.”

Customers at The Coop Bistro eat about 20 nuggets each, plus fries and slaw. “When we costed it out, we figured if most people eat around 20 nuggets we’re still doing alright [profitwise],” says Flynn. “A lot of people eat less and some people will eat more, but the 20 nugget mark is pretty substantial with the chips and the slaw. We put a two-hour limit on the eating time, but generally people don’t last that long.”

MINIMISING WASTE In order to keep food waste to a minimum, Salt Meats Cheese only delivers a new pizza to the table if the previous pizza has been eaten. Similarly, The Coop Bistro serves bowls of 10 nuggets at a time to ensure there’s no wasted food.

“From a business perspective, it’s not great to be wasting food and from an ethical standpoint, I don’t think it’s ever pleasant in any food-related business when you’re taking plates into the kitchen and scraping a whole heap of stuff into the bin,” says Flynn.

“We have what we call the house rules, which advise [customers] in a friendly way that we don’t want to waste food.

You’re welcome to eat as much as you like, but we just keep topping you up rather than serving a big plate of nuggets and having it sit on the table.”

DON’T SKIMP ON QUALITY There may be a certain stigma attached to all-you-can-eat offers that suggests the food quality is lowered in order to make it profitable for

“The main goal for us is to get people to know the brand, try the pizzas and then come back another time.” – Stefano De Blasi venues. However, De Blasi says premium ingredients and a high level of service are critical to ensuring the deal is successful.

“If we don’t use premium ingredients, the customer won’t be happy or come back — they’re going to have a bad experience,” he says. “I get upset when competitors offer all-you-can-eat pizza with cheap bases and not much topping — they cheapen their own brands and they cheapen the concept.”

Salt Meats Cheese

BOOSTING PROFITS AND BRAND AWARENESS While extra profits are a welcome benefit for Salt Meats Cheese, the deal is primarily about building brand awareness and attracting new customers. “It’s important to breakeven, but if there is a small loss, it’s not the end of the world,” says De Blasi. “From a marketing point of view and brand awareness, it’s amazing.”

By encouraging customers to purchase an alcoholic beverage, De Blasi says the deal becomes more profitable. “Most people are very polite and have an [alcoholic] drink — they understand there’s a business behind it, so they’re not coming in just to have pizzas and tap water,” he says. “Sometimes they order a beer and drink half of it for the sake of making it work for us.”

Creating a busy environment on a normally quiet night also ensures staff are kept busy and happy. “Bringing in a lot of people on a quiet night is amazing — the team is always busy and you boost staff morale; it’s not just about the customer and the profit.”

Venues often use all-you-can-eat deals to increase foot traffic on weeknights, however The Coop Bistro use it to create atmosphere on the weekend. “Saturday worked best because it’s a day where people can come out for lunch or mid-afternoon — they’re not restricted with office hours,” says Flynn. “We want to give people the opportunity to hang around and have a couple of drinks with their nuggets. A weekend day is just a little bit more conducive to that.”

Flynn says the deal has also been beneficial as it aligns well with the brand. “We take a different approach to the typical casual pub-bistro idea in that we champion chicken and that’s our core offering,” he says. “Chicken nuggets are a good fit with that as a weekly offering.”

The deal has also created a buzz throughout the media and social platforms. “It has given us a little bit of free publicity — we had a lot of local publications pick it up and we even had Qantas do a Facebook post,” he says. “It’s one of those ideas that’s fun and a bit on trend.”

All-you-can-eat deals are a sure-fire way to create excitement around your venue and attract new customers. Offering a highquality product and setting out clear guidelines is key to making it profitable and ensuring customers return for more. n

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August 2018 Hospitality 25

hot pot

Winter warmer With an emphasis on premium ingredients and communal eating, hot pot is the latest dining craze to arrive on our shores — so what’s all the hype about?

By Brittney Levinson.

26 Hospitality August 2018

H

ot pot is a shared dining concept where customers cook a variety of raw ingredients — think sliced raw vegetables and meat — at the table in a pot of simmering broth. Originating in China, hot pot appears in different variations all over the world. In Australia, both Chinese and Japanese hot pot restaurants are gaining momentum, enticing diners to experience the global dining craze.

Master Den’s Poppu Uppu

Here, we talk with three hot pot venues to ask how it works, the secret behind making the perfect hot pot and why Barbie dolls covered in meat are the key to attracting diners.

HOT POT DOMINATION Whether it’s Japanese- or Chinese-style hot pot, the foundations are the same across the board. Customers sit down at a table fitted with a burner or hot plate that keeps a boiling pot of broth bubbling. Then it’s up to the customer to cook their ingredients before fishing them out and dipping them into an accompanying sauce.

Global hot pot chain Spice World recently opened its first Australian venue in Sydney’s CBD, adding to its portfolio of around 500 stores worldwide. At Spice World Sydney, customers select their ingredients from an order form, which includes six broth flavours, around 50 proteins and a long list of vegetables and other condiments. The pot is placed in front of the customer before their

hot pot

chosen foods are wheeled out on a trolley and delivered to the table.

“Spice World originated in Sichuan, where hot pot is from,” says head chef Waimun Len. “If you go to Sichuan, every restaurant is doing hot pot.”

A popular Japanese style of hot pot, known as shabu-shabu, is also making an appearance on Australian menus. The term ‘shabu-shabu’ is onomatopoeic and is derived from the sounds of the meat waving through the broth.

Melbourne diners are getting a taste of shabu-shabu with the recent opening of Master Den’s Poppu Uppu. The pop-up restaurant is inspired by the hot pot dining experiences of Japan, known as nabemono (nabe). The venue is serving three varieties of the dish during the pop-up including traditional shabu-shabu with a kombuflavoured broth, a Hokkaido-style seafood nabe and a vegetarian mushroom option.

“It’s meant to be fun and a little bit communal,” says co-owner Simon Denton.

“Japanese people love shabu-shabu and hot pot, they go out for it, they have it at home and it’s something everyone knows about and does.”

Denton explains there are some slight differences between the two common types of hot pot. “Japanese tend to cook the vegetables and then cook the protein separately and more individually,” he says, noting ingredients are typically cooked together in Chinese-style versions of the dish.

Brisbane restaurant Shabuhouse offers a buffet-style Japanese hot pot experience, giving customers plenty of options for customisation. “As we are a buffet restaurant, customers can choose from any

of the ingredients we provide,” says head chef Ken Cho. “We have three different types of broths, Katsuobushi (Japanese dried fish), tom yum soup and miso soup.”

THE ART OF HOT POT Mastering the art of hot pot comes down to a number of elements, but most would agree it begins with the broth. Spice World is so particular about their soup base recipe they import ingredients from a central kitchen in China to ensure consistency across the venues.

“The soup base is very important, and the most popular is the spicy one,” says Len. “The most important part of the spicy soup base is the oil, which we directly import from the central kitchen in order to keep the quality the same as the one in China. We applied for a special certificate to import ingredients like dried chili and fresh pepper as well.”

For Japanese hot pot, the base typically begins with boiling water flavoured by selected ingredients. “A lot of the time [restaurants] just put a slice of kombu with the hot water and then build the flavour of the broth,” says Denton. “It is really about quality ingredients — we’re using fresh vegetables and uncooked meat, so you’ve got nowhere to hide.”

While there might not be much cooking involved for chefs, hot pot requires a significant amount of preparation. “We slice the beef to order, but most of it is done beforehand which makes [service] quick and efficient,” says Denton. “[For customers], there’s not a lot of waiting time, it’s just setting them up and managing it throughout service.”

When it comes to hot pot ingredients, no expense should be spared in sourcing Shabuhouse Brisbane

August 2018 Hospitality 27

Wagyu-dressed Barbie at Spice World

hot pot

Spice World

“Hot pot is not fast food — it’s a slow dining style.”

– Nick Liu

top-quality, fresh produce. “We try to source as local as possible,” says Denton. “We get some New Zealand pippies because they’re really tasty and they’re not too far away, but we mostly use local bay fish and mussels.”

One of Spice World’s most coveted menu items is the Kobe Wagyu beef topped with edible gold leaf that’s priced at almost $190 per serve. Len says they have carefully chosen a few reputable suppliers to ensure the produce is high quality. “It’s not cheap — especially for the Kobe Wagyu beef,” he says.

CATERING TO ALL NEEDS Traditionally, hot pot is designed to be shared, however many modern restaurants, including Shabuhouse, have introduced smaller hot pots for individual diners. “Our restaurant gives the customers their own pots to cook their shabu-shabu,” says Cho. “Then, they select their ingredients and sauces and bring them back to the table to cook it for themselves.”

Spice World offers both individual and shared hot pots, with special tables designed to cater to single or multiple diners. Owner Nick Liu says the Sydney location is the first Spice World restaurant to offer the smaller, single hot pots.

For customers dining alone or those who simply don’t want to share, the tables are also fitted with individual hot plates. “It’s much 28 Hospitality August 2018

Spice World

easier and gives customers more options,” says Liu. Spice World also offer split pots, so diners can try two different soup bases.

Meanwhile, Master Den’s Poppu Uppu is sticking to tradition and encourages customers to experience hot pot together.

“We’ve gone down the path of sharing and it’s a minimum two people [per hot pot], unless they’ve got dietaries — we’ll be flexible in those situations,” says Denton.

THE FULL EXPERIENCE While the three restaurants take a slightly different approach to the concept, one thing they all agree on is that hot pot is all about the experience. Spice World have added some unique touches to enhance the experience, including Barbie dolls dressed with slices of beef, seasoning in the shape of Hello Kitty and robots that roam the venue serving mints. “Hot pot is all fresh and all raw, so the presentation must be nice,” says Len. “It’s all about [being] creative. So that’s why we

developed some different ways to decorate the dish.”

Liu says customers are encouraged to take their time and enjoy the meal. “Hot pot is not fast food — it’s a slow dining style,” he says.

“It is about sharing and getting together with friends.”

Cho says while some customers still aren’t overly familiar with Japanese hot pot, its popularity is steadily growing. “Many Australians are getting to know the food and are coming to love shabu-shabu,” he says.

Denton agrees, and says hot pot is more popular than ever in Melbourne. “I think hot pot is the next thing that’s come along,” he says. “There is a lot more people talking about it and more places popping up.”

There’s a lot to love about hot pot: fresh ingredients, the ability to customise your meal and the fun factor. Success lies in high-quality produce, thoughtful presentation and giving customers a memorable experience they won’t forget. n

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social media-savvy

Instagrammable venues They say you eat with your eyes, and restaurateurs are extending the notion beyond food to fit-outs. By Annabelle Cloros.

The Botanica Vaucluse

30 Hospitality  August 2018

social media-savvy

O

pening a venue in Australia is a hard slog for your everyday operator who may not boast celebrity chef status.

Building hype around your venue is essential in a challenging marketplace, and there are so many factors to consider during the launch phase.

As much as food is make or break, attracting customers is the first step to getting them into your venue — and what better way than creating an environment that’s not only photogenic, but one customers will travel far and wide to experience?

Sydney venues Baby Coffee Co. in Waterloo and The Botanica in Vaucluse are two social media-savvy restaurants that put a lot of thought into making their food and venue Gram-worthy from the get go.

Alessandro Panetta and Evette Moran discuss the benefits social media has brought to their businesses, why you don’t need to spend big and how they ensure the food looks just as good as the venue.

LAUNCHING PAD Research from TripAdvisor reveals social media has become the most commonly used form of marketing for venues. In line with hospitality venues ramping up their online presence, Intermedia’s Eating Out Report found Australian customers rely on social media channels to not only find new places to eat and drink at, but learn more about the brand they’re potentially giving their hardearned cash to.

Creating social media accounts is simple enough, but utilising the self-promotional platforms is a valuable tool operators can take advantage of before and after opening a venue.

Baby Coffee Co. has become widely known in Sydney as ‘the millennial pink café’ or the ‘one with the neon sign’.

Co-owner Alessandro Panetta worked closely with an interior designer and a brand consultant during the launch process where the brand’s social media presence was front of mind.

“Social media has really become the way people talk about their dining experiences,” says Panetta.

“I find out about places on Instagram from my friends. People don’t ring their friends and describe a dish — it’s just about taking a photo.”

Evette Moran from The Botanica Vaucluse wanted to capture the venue’s surrounding environment and create a space that attracted a wide range of diners. “We wanted to create something really Instagrammable that appealed to everyone,” she says. “People will stay for the food, but you have to get them there first. We knew it would attract and hook people the prettier we made it.”

Creating a beautiful environment was important due to the restaurant’s location, which is essentially hidden and is without street presence. “People having to walk up the stairs and discover us is a small barrier,” says The Botanica Vaucluse’s chef Perry Hill.

“If you’re a small restaurant tucked away, you have to reach out to people.”

TALKING POINTS Australia is full of venues that are aesthetically pleasing, and there’s no shortage of beautiful dining rooms filled with Danish furniture and minimal prints. Creating a focal point that distinguishes your venue from the rest is a major drawcard for consumers who don’t want to miss a photo opp.

At Baby Coffee Co., there are two signature attractions — the neon sign and the velvet pink chairs. “People will first know about it because of the cool neon sign and will come and check it out because they’ve seen it online, but you have to work hard to ensure the service and product is there so they will return,” says Panetta.

Baby Coffee Co.’s colour palette isn’t just reserved for the chairs and extends to their logo, menus, take-away coffee cups and merchandise, which are all awash with millennial pink, adding continuity and weight to the customer experience.

At The Botanica Vaucluse, there’s no shortage of spaces for diners to capture, with custom carpet, Ottoman Empire mirror, indoor plants and a botanical mural that all make it hard not to take a photo. In fact, it’s a rarity when a customer doesn’t reach for their phone. “The more beautiful a place is, the more people want to document their attendance,” says Hill.

“Social media has really become the way people talk about their dining experiences.

People don’t ring their friends and describe a dish — it’s just about taking a photo.” – Alessandro Panetta August 2018 Hospitality 31

Image credit Baby Coffee Co.

The restaurant is also surrounded by a lush garden, which served as inspiration for the design. “I wanted to create a space that was very comfortable with a sense of whimsy,” says Moran. “I wanted to have carpet to keep the noise levels down and create beauty as well. We decided on a mural which brings the outside in.”

LIVING UP TO THE HYPE Consumers have high expectations when they see a venue that’s visually appealing, and naturally assume the food will be just as good as the dining environment. When creating a ‘pretty’ venue, it’s important to think about how your food offering fits in with the brand’s overarching message along with considering the value of repeat customers. If the service and menu falls short, customers are unlikely to return.

“It’s all about brand and what people expect,” says Panetta. “So if you are putting out a certain style and image online, you need to live up to expectations. People already have preconceived notions of what the food and space will look like and you need to live up to the food you served yesterday — it’s about consistency.

“We stress to our team and guests that we don’t just want to create pretty food, it has to be tasty,” Panetta continues. “While having a pretty plated dish and having a venue that translates in photos is important, it’s still about great food and a quality experience, otherwise you won’t have a sustainable business.”

As a chef, the notion of people taking 32 Hospitality August 2018

Image credit @harleyquinnandco

“We wanted to create something really Instagrammable that appealed to everyone. People will stay for the food, but you have to get them there first.” – Evette Moran photos of their food is still a novelty to Hill and the kitchen team, but one they nonetheless appreciate. “People are sharing their stories and photos with their friends, so it certainly has a lot of benefits and risks because everything has to taste and look amazing,” he says. “I’m very apprehensive about putting flowers on plates just to make things look pretty — it’s not about that for us.

We just want to have fantastic food.”

BIG SPENDER When designing or refitting a space, it’s easy to get carried away and deviate from your initial budget. Panetta says it’s about being smart with your money and putting in time to achieve the desired result.

“We are three young guys that own the place together, so we didn’t have a huge budget,” he says. “We knew what we wanted and went with a certain colour palette — I don’t think it was that much more expensive than other options. It’s about being smart and

having a style that you’re going for and making sure everything you do design-wise goes towards achieving a certain result without compromising the functional features and flow of the space. As a restaurant, you need functionality over everything.”

Moran decided to go all out with the interior of The Botanica Vaucluse, and is accepting of the reality that a return on investment is a few years off. “To make money off a restaurant is a headache,” she says. “When I do something, I want to do it right, and eventually we will get that money back — but I wouldn’t be saying ‘run out and do a huge refurb’ because they are really expensive.”

There’s an important lesson when it comes to designing venues that make a splash on social media — the food and service experience must be equally as good — ideally better — than the fitout of the space. Establish a vision and stick to it, and you’ll be well on your way to running an Insta-worthy venue. n

cheese

Say cheese From burrata curds to blue vein, making cheese inhouse is not for the faint hearted, but it’s something any diehard chef should try. By Madeline Woolway.

A

rtisan ingredients are now the norm in kitchens around the country. From ‘ma and pa diners’ to high-end restaurants, there’s a renewed commitment to age-old traditions that went out of fashion with the rise of modern food manufacturing.

It’s common for contemporary chefs to pledge resources to labour-intensive pursuits in order to make the most of bounties unexpectedly offered by local farmers and producers. Tight-knit relationships with purveyors mean kitchen teams are exposed to processes which were once completed before delivery — think whole animal butchery and ageing, preserving and pickling, and baking bread.

While it might seem like an obvious addition to the list, cheese-making has yet to experience the same explosion. There is, however, a dedicated few who are forging forward. Among them is Jo Barrett, co-head chef at Yarra Valley’s Oakridge Winery. The team is known for their quest to create a menu inspired by ingredients found around the region. Taking the farm-to-fork ethos seriously means doing whatever they can to utilise whatever goods are thrown their way.

And that’s exactly how they got started on the restaurant’s cheese program.

“We’ve been making cheese at Oakridge for probably about two years,” says Barrett.

“We got an allocation of amazing milk we didn’t want to turn down. Colin Wood was working here at the time, and he was really 34 Hospitality August 2018

interested in making cheese, so he started the program for us.”

Fast forward to 2018 and Oakridge is now making two soft cheeses — a washed rind and a brie — as well as a semi-hard Swiss variety and burrata curds. The cheese program at Oakridge is very much about honouring the venue’s relationship with their dairy supplier.

“We use the same milk for all varieties during the year, but how the cows are going depends on the season,” says Barrett. “In winter, it drops down a bit and there can be a bit of a lull if it’s dry in summer because the pastures dry up and the cows just don’t produce as much milk. In spring, we get quite a glut. The dairy we work with supplies a lot of families who are the first people to get the milk, so if there’s not much to go around, we’re kind of at the end of the list, which I love.”

Over in Western Australia, Shadow Wine Bar’s head chef Sue Hutchins tells Hospitality a similar story. Before opening the venue, situated within the Alex Hotel in Perth, Hutchins found herself with a little spare time, which led to her participation in workshops. “I met Tanya Barretto who runs The Cheese Maker in the Swan Valley,” she says. “At her workshops, we learnt how to make fresh cheeses.”

It was these workshops that inspired Hutchins to add house-made cheeses to the menu, and the restaurant now offers a range of free varieties including ricotta,

“It’s important for our team to document any variances between the recipes, as there can be challenges with using different types of milk.”

– Sue Hutchins mozzarella, stracciatella, haloumi, crème fraîche and mascarpone.

“The list is endless and we keep experimenting and adding to our program,” says Hutchins. Like Barrett, however, Hutchins says the availability of ingredients can alter the program.

“Sometimes the market dictates which cheeses we buy and make,” she says.

“We can’t buy any buffalo milk in Western Australia at the moment, so we buy that from Shaw River in Victoria.”

cheese

KEEPING IT FRESH Just like a good cheese board, any restaurant’s in-house cheese program requires careful curation. Although the availability of different milks can have an effect on which cheeses are on offer, the varieties that are included largely depend on three things: time, space and experience.

Fresh cheeses, including the ones produced at Shadow Wine Bar, tend to be the best fit for most restaurants — they require less time and space than aged varieties and are often more approachable for beginners.

“We tend to make more fresh cheeses than aged due to time and space,” says Hutchins, adding the team is looking into more options.

“We try to allow for only two or three fresh cheeses on the menu at one time to ensure consistency as there can be many variables.”

Oakridge started out making burrata curds before moving on to bries and semi-hard cheeses as their confidence grew. For Barrett, the biggest hurdle has been time. “The hard cheeses are the most difficult because you have to let them mature for so long,” she tells Hospitality. “You don’t know if you’ve stuffed it up. You could be making one per week and then you find when you crack into the first one

Oakridge’s brie

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August 2018 Hospitality 35

cheese

Oakridge’s semi-hard cheese rubbed with wattleseed

two or three months later, you’ve stuffed it and they’re all wrong.

“There’s quite a lot of trial and error. It probably took us about a year until we got really good results, and this year we’ve started turning out the best cheeses we’ve done.”

On top of trial and error, there’s the question of how much to invest in resources and equipment.

“As you become more experienced, you can do a few things at once,” says Barrett. “Because it is quite detailed with temperature, you do have to focus.”

When it comes to equipment, kitchens looking to build a large program of cheeses might find it worthwhile to invest in some hoops, and if semi-hard and hard cheeses are on the cards, proper maturing conditions are a must. “We’re lucky because we’re a winery with a museum room with back vintages and it sits at a constant temp of 13–15 degrees Celsius, which is ideal for maturing cheeses,” says Barrett. “It’s something you need to put time and effort into. From 10 litres of milk, we yield about 15 cheeses.”

One must-have is a sterilising pot and enough space to keep bacteria from spreading. Process is everything, from keeping hands clean to flipping the cheeses every day.

BETTER WITH AGE With the current roster under control, Barrett is looking to the next challenge — blue cheese.

“We’ve tried a couple of styles,” she says.

“It’s hard though because once you get the blue cheese bacteria, it’s really hard to get rid of, so you really need to keep everything separate. I’m a massive fan though, so I’d love to do more of that, but we need to make sure 36 Hospitality August 2018

“I get asked about it by other chefs all the time. Everyone should have a go, it’s really rewarding.” – Jo Barrett we’re completely in control.”

Ultimately all varieties offer plenty of room for experimenting. Both Barrett and Hutchins extol the virtues of giving staff a challenge.

“There are so many benefits to making fresh cheeses – [it’s] very rewarding,” says Hutchins. “[It] can seem basic but also creative as you can adjust the recipe to suit your own tastes.”

Regardless of what varieties make the cut and how they’re incorporated into the menu, successfully producing house-made cheese is a matter of consistently reassessing and testing reliable recipes — which is all part of the upskilling process.

“At Shadow, we rely on recipes that have been tried and tested,” says Hutchins. “It’s important for our team to document any variances between the recipes, as there can be challenges with using different types of milk.

“Our training is ongoing as we are always adjusting recipes and ingredients.”

Barrett agrees that it’s best to follow a recipe when starting out and attributes her team’s success to the guidance of local Yarra Valley Dairy cheesemaker Jack Holman.

“We’re lucky to be really close with Jack,” she says. “If I have any doubts I’ll ask him and send photos.”

BEYOND THE BOARD At Oakridge, Barrett encourages the team to try out different coatings. “We’ve got a few with flavours on the outside, which is really fun because you can draw out the different characteristics.”

An added virtue has been the opportunity to play with unusual uses. At Oakridge, the team was inspired by a visit from renowned Japanese chef Shinobu Namae, creating a dessert that takes the washed rind cheese and combines it with lees from the Pinot tank.

“Shinobu does a version with sake lees, so ours is a play on that,” says Barrett.

“Together, the washed rind cheese and the lees taste like cheesecake.”

Another dish encapsulates that famous farmto-fork Oakridge ethos. “We’ve got a really cool dish that uses polenta made from corn we grew and milled with a cheese we made grated into it,” says Barrett. “That’s our ultimate goal — to be making everything. We’re pretty close.”

While a select few are currently tackling the challenge of cheesemaking in-house head on, the process is something both chefs would encourage others to give a go.

“I get asked about it by other chefs all the time,” says Barrett. “Everyone should have a go, it’s really rewarding.” n

pork

Pork talk

Apera's Bangalow Farm porchetta

From crispy pork knuckle to pig’s head croquettes, we explore how venues are championing pork on their menus. By Brittney Levinson.

V

ersatility and value for money are important factors when considering what proteins to add to your menu, which is why more and more chefs are seeing the benefits of cooking with pork.

According to Pork Australia, diners are lapping it up. “We’ve had steady growth for a decade, with pork becoming more and more popular to the stage now where consumers are eating more pork than they are beef and lamb,” says Mitch Edwards from Pork Australia.

Contributing to the rise in consumption rates is Pork Australia’s PorkStar campaign, which aims to celebrate chefs and encourage pork usage and creativity. “When we started the PorkStar campaign just over 13 years ago, we understood chefs had a passion for pork, but they didn’t feel they had permission to really get it on the menu because consumers didn’t have their heads around it as much,” says Edwards.

With diners becoming more educated about pork, its nutritional value and the various ways it can be cooked, chefs are now free to push the boundaries. “A lot of small farmers are working directly with chefs and delivering not just a cut of pork, but the whole pig,” says Edwards. “It’s making chefs really play hard and I think they get some joy out of utilising a whole animal and paying respect to the beast.”

Regan Porteous, Ryan Blagrove, Jesse Blake and Tiw Rakarin are among the many chefs working with pork and showcasing cuts that are often left behind. As these four chefs can attest, there’s endless ways to incorporate pork on to your menu.

Crispy pork knuckle at Riley St Garage

PORK KNUCKLE Reminiscent of the German dish found at any Bavarian-style restaurant, crispy pork knuckle is a menu staple at Riley St Garage in Sydney.

Having been on the menu since the restaurant’s launch in 2013, group executive chef Regan Porteous says it’s still one of the most popular items with the restaurant going through up to 500 kilograms on a busy week.

“It’s a generous portion and feeds two to four people,” he says. “It’s a pretty impressive dish when it comes out to the table.”

Using the hind quarter, or the back end of the knuckle, the pork is slow-cooked overnight for about 14 hours. “We dry it for a further 24 hours in the fridge and then we roast it to bring the texture back,” says Porteous. The pork is served with seeded soy mustard and pickled apple.

He says using an alternative cut of meat such as pork knuckle makes for a profitable dish. “It’s a second-grade cut of meat that’s not too common or popular,” he says.

The crispy pork knuckle has become such a hit with customers that it was added to the

“You get 30-50 portions out of one head. One head can range in price, a cheap one will cost $10 and it wouldn’t be any more than $20.”

– Jesse Blake August 2018 Hospitality 37

pork

Grilled pork neck salad at Mekong

menu at Parlour Group’s latest venue, Stanton & Co. “It’s not a dish we’re able to take off at either of the venues anymore,” says Porteous.

PORCHETTA An Italian staple, porchetta has become a popular fixture on menus across the country, especially during the colder months. Apera restaurant and bar in Sydney’s Castlecrag has received glowing feedback from customers about its porchetta, which uses Berkshire pigs from Bangalow Farm near Byron Bay. “They’re a beautiful free-range, ethically raised pig,” says head chef Ryan Blagrove.

The restaurant is conscious of using topquality produce, and Blagrove says this is reflected in the end product. “The way the animal is raised is definitely reflected in the meat,” he says. “For a farmer to give the animal free-range pastures means they’re most likely going to be feeding it high-quality food as well.”

Taking the belly cut, Blagrove starts by covering the skin in rock salt, leaving it to cure for 24 hours. “Then we scrape it all off and all the moisture has been drawn out of the skin to ensure that you get the perfect crackling,” he says. Next, a spice mix of Dijon mustard, garlic, fennel seeds, chili flakes, sage, oregano, pepper and smoky paprika is rubbed over the belly before it’s rolled up and tied.

After aerating in the cool room for a further four hours, the porchetta goes into the rotisserie at around 280 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes to get the crackling activated.

The temperature is then dropped down to 180–200 degrees Celsius.

“It’s kind of cooking by feel and eye,” says Blagrove. “We leave it there for roughly an hour, depending on the size of the belly, and bring it up to an internal temperature of around 69–70 degrees Celsius.”

To serve, the porchetta is sliced and topped with a fresh sage and oregano mix, a dash of ’Nduja oil and aged sherry vinegar to cut through the fat.

By stating the pig’s provenance on the menu, Apera invites customers to start a discussion about what they’re eating. “It’s something they’re really interested to know about, and 38 Hospitality August 2018

even if they’re not, we can give them some form of education as to where Petition Kitchen’s pig’s head croquettes the product is coming from and show that we care about what we’re and it wouldn’t be any more than $20. It is a using and serving,” says Blagrove. “It’s also very good dish to have on the menu.” good to give a little bit of cross-promotion to the guys up there as well and help them out.”

PORK NECK SALAD Mekong restaurant in Chippendale, Sydney, PIG’S HEAD CROQUETTES takes influence from Indochine cuisine, At Perth’s Petition Kitchen, working with a melting pot of flavours from Vietnam, underused cuts of meat is an important Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. Pork practice for head chef Jesse Blake. Case in features throughout the menu in different point, the pig’s head croquettes are one of the forms, such as the grilled pork neck salad. most popular dishes on the menu.

“The dish is very spicy and not something “It’s a very underutilised cut — there’s actually most Sydney diners would be used to,” says a lot of meat left on the head,” says Blake. chef Tiw Rakarin.

“I’ve made a few arrangements with butchers To make the dish, the pork neck is because a lot of them tend to throw away [the marinated overnight with coriander root and head] as there isn’t a high demand. You get a garlic. The following day it’s grilled for five good deal for the price you pay, and I happily minutes on each side before being tossed in a take the fresh heads from the butchers.” garlic, chili and lime sauce. The pork is served Using whole pig heads from local farms, on a salad of tomato, snake bean, red onion Blake slow-cooks them overnight in stock made and coriander and topped with pork crackling. with carrots, onions, fennel seeds, garlic, white “Pork neck is a slightly fattier cut of meat wine and white wine vinegar. They go into the which means it tenderises in the marinating oven in the evening at 150 degrees Celsius, and and cooking process,” says Rakarin. The result by morning, the head is soft and gelatinous. is a soft and juicy meat that pairs perfectly The kitchen team then starts the rigorous with the fresh salad. task of picking through the meat to remove While pork neck is a popular cut of meat in any bones or teeth. “We pick through about Asian cultures, Rakarin says it’s still relatively three or four times just to make sure there are underused in Australia. “It is very popular in no shards of bone,” says Blake. “Everything Asian cuisines, and many other cultures in the else goes into the croquettes, from the gels to world, to use all parts of an animal,” he says. the snout, the brain, eyes and tongue.”

“I have grown up eating many dishes including The meat is then broken down by hand, pig’s brain soup, trotters and pork cheek.” seasoned with mustard, white wine vinegar Using the entire animal is an important part and leftover garlic from the stock before being of Rakarin’s food philosophy. “If you are going pressed into a tray. Once set, the mixture is to take an animal’s life, you may as well use all cut into square portions and crumbed. “We fry parts,” he says. “For example, you can use the them to order, which takes a few minutes, so pork brain for soup, pork cheek and the hock they’re nice and golden,” says Blake. “The heat for everything.” from the oil softens all the gelatin and fat in the Pork’s versatility means there are endless croquettes, so they’re nice and soft inside.” opportunities to add it to your menu, whether As one of the restaurant’s top-selling dishes it’s slow-cooked, grilled or deep-fried. Be and priced at $12 per serve, the croquettes are prepared to answer questions about where a highly profitable menu item. “You get 30–50 the pork is from and how it was raised, as portions out of one head,” he says. “One head diners become more interested in learning can range in price, a cheap one will cost $10 about what they’re eating. n

Get inspired by Australian Pork From ribs to roasts, schnitzels to snags, it’s time to Get Inspired by Australian Pork!

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shelf space

Citrus surprise

Sparking a movement

Tanqueray has introduced two new gin products into the Australian market — Flor de Sevilla and Rangpur. Both varieties showcase citrus flavours from Seville and Bangladesh respectively, with each offering a unique flavour profile. Sevilla features Seville oranges, orange blossom and botanicals to create a golden amber liquid with a tangy, sweet flavour. Rangpur showcases Rangpur lime, ginger and bay leaves alongside London Dry Gin’s base of four botanicals. Both have an ABV of 41.3 per cent and are available for $65 for 700mL. tanqueray.com

Seco Sparkling has launched three lowsugar beverages created by Australian chef Tom Milligan. Manufactured in Kyneton, Victoria, the range includes green apple and elderflower, cucumber and mint and spiced pineapple. Each drink contains a maximum of 27 calories per 275mL bottle and is ideal to pair with food or use as a mixer with gin, vodka and rum. Seco beverages are made with all-natural ingredients. secosparkling.com

Tomato crush

SPC Chunky Crushed Tomatoes are made using 100 per cent Australiangrown tomatoes. The tomatoes are available in a 2.9kg pack, making them ideal for foodservice professionals. The product is low in sugar and has no added colours, flavours or preservatives. There are myriad uses for the tomatoes, and they are a great base for pizza sauces, pasta, bruschetta, chicken parmigiana and other recipes. spc.com.au

40 Hospitality August 2018

Limited run

The Glenlivet have launched a new single scotch malt, with just 10,000 available worldwide and 2000 available in Australia.

The Glenlivet Code is the second whisky in the distiller’s portfolio to be released without cask information or tasting notes.

Consumers are invited to embark on a digital journey by scanning a code on the back of the bottle which will launch an interactive tasting experience with master distiller Alan Winchester. Glenlivet Code is only available at Dan Murphy’s for $220. theglenlivet.com

For the diary Upcoming events in the hospitality industry. Find out more at hospitalitymagazine.com.au Food & Hospitality Queensland 5-6 August Food & Hospitality Queensland is a new event to be held over two days at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre.

The event will feature more than 150 exhibitors and showcase a range of food, drink and equipment for operators. Special events will be hosted throughout the exhibition including Queensland Chef of the Year and Brisbane Café School. Registration is free and restricted to those working in the hospitality industry. foodandhospitality.com.au

Danielle Alvarez at Halcyon House 17-19 August Chef Danielle Alvarez from Sydney’s Fred’s restaurant will host a gourmet weekend at Halcyon House in Cabarita Beach, New South Wales. Guests are invited to experience a

masterclass with Alvarez, breakfast at Ben Devlin’s Paper Daisy, cocktails and canapes and a four-course dinner with matching wines by Alvarez and Devlin. For locals, limited Saturday 18 August masterclass and showpiece dinner tickets are available from $195 per person. halcyonhouse.com.au

Skills Australia, the Nestlé Golden Chef’s Hat Award National Final and the Australian International Tea Expo will also take place during the show. finefoodaustralia.com.au

Fine Food Australia

5-7 March 2019 The Australasian Hospitality Industry Exhibition, also known as Hospex, is returning to Sydney. Hospex will showcase the latest innovations, products and services for all providers of hospitality services including hotels, motels, clubs, pubs, cafés, restaurants, hospitals and schools. Taking place at Sydney Olympic Park, the event will also include a conference and seminar series addressing issues of development, design, fit-out and technology for new and existing venues. hospex.com.au

10-13 September It’s Melbourne’s turn to host Fine Food Australia in 2018, which will see more than 1000 exhibitors on show over four days.

Visitors can expect to see the latest in bakery, drinks, dairy, meat and seafood, technology, fitout and design, packaging and equipment. Taking place within Fine Food is the revamped and rebranded Drinks Collective Show (formerly Commercial Drinks Show), which will showcase Australia’s $16 billion on-premise liquor industry. Bake

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August 2018 Hospitality 41

5 minutes with ...

Joel Bickford

executive chef, Aria restaurant Joel Bickford has hit the ground running in his new role at Aria restaurant in Sydney, impressing guests and critics alike with his simple, seasonal cooking style.

M

y passion for cooking comes from a genuine love of good food and quality ingredients along with being able to learn every day from my peers, guests, equally passionate suppliers and the always unpredictable Mother Nature; who ensures every day is like no other. I grew up in a typical Australian household in the early ’80s. [I ate] meat and three veg pretty much every night, so different types of foods and cuisines always seemed quite exotic to me.

From the age of 14, I was working in kitchens after school and on weekends and the more I saw, the more I wanted to see. The appeal of cooking is not just the food — it’s the industry, the buzz of the kitchens and the frenetic pace that somehow becomes addictive.

I wouldn’t say I have a food philosophy, rather just a few simple things I take into account when cooking — cook what’s in season, treat the ingredients with respect and know your produce. These are simple 42 Hospitality August 2018

guidelines that will always serve you well.

One of my career highlights was meeting and getting to work alongside Rene Redzepi. I was lucky enough to do this twice during my time at Biota. Helping Aria obtain a 17/20 score for a recent review with a major publication was a great achievement and a feeling I won’t quickly forget.

Diners who come to Aria can expect a complete experience from the moment they walk through the door. Warm, friendly knowledgeable service accompanied by a menu that represents the best Australia has to offer with a fresh, new approach that champions great produce and artisan suppliers.

In my new role, I am looking forward to playing my part in a piece of history.

Aria is by far the most iconic restaurant in Australia and my position comes with a great sense of responsibility. I’m looking forward to helping Aria enjoy future successes as it has in its first 19 years. n

The appeal of cooking is not just the food — it’s the industry, the buzz of the kitchens and the frenetic pace that somehow becomes addictive.

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