Hospitality May 2021

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NO.772 MAY 2021

YOGHURT IN MIDDLE EASTERN COOKERY • MEZCAL EDUCATION • JOY'S SARAH BALDWIN

CONTENTS // May

Contents MAY 2021

26

Regulars 6 // IN FOCUS A look into seafood fraud.

10 // NEWS The latest openings, books, products and more.

12 // PRODUCE Mangosteen is the queen of fruit for good reason.

14 // BEST PRACTICE Forecasting is the key to boosting sales.

18 // DRINKS Mezcal education and certification in Australia.

4 | Hospitality

36

26 // PROFILE Sarah Baldwin is running the show at Joy restaurant.

54 // BEHIND THE SCENES Glorietta’s Alaskan king crab spaghetti.

56 // EQUIPMENT Master precision with a dough scraper.

58 // 5 MINUTES WITH …

Tamaleria’s Rosa Cienfuegos.

44

Features 30 // FOR THE LOVE OF BREAD Sonoma Bakery’s Andrew Connole on his global baking series.

36 // CULINARY INFLUENCES Mum’s the word for three chefs who pay tribute this Mother’s Day. 44 // YOGHURT Yoghurt is foundational in Middle Eastern cookery.

48 // POS SYSTEMS A guide to selecting the right POS system for your venue.

EDITOR’S NOTE // Hello

Social

Keep up with the Hospitality team

TOWER OF DELICIOUSNESS Harbourfront Seafood has launched a new menu and we can’t go past the seafood tower. @hospitalitymagazine

Taking a risk

SLURP CITY Jidori shio ramen at Sekka sees a broth made from a 16-month-old rooster. @annabellecloros

IT’S ALWAYS A gamble when a chef decides

Cienfuegos who has gone on to grow her

to leave the comfort of being an employee

tamale empire across Sydney.

and make the jump to owner-operator. Sarah

INDULGE YOURSELF The Star Sydney’s signature restaurants are offering premium menus throughout May including a supreme snack selection from Flying Fish. @hospitalitymagazine

I’m also pleased to announce the

Baldwin opened Joy in Brisbane just a few

Hospitality Leaders Summit will be returning

short years ago and completely took over

to Sydney on 9 August. As always, the day will

the restaurant in the midst of a pandemic.

be packed full of panel discussions, Q&As

Baldwin has worked in the industry since she

and presentations from some of hospitality’s

was in high school, and it's beyond clear Joy

most inspirational figures. Tickets are now

is a vessel for her creativity, passion and grit.

on sale and I encourage you to join us in the

I personally found it so inspiring to speak with

conversation at Doltone House Darling Island.

the chef, and I hope you find her story just as

I hope you enjoy this issue.

engaging as I did.

This issue, we look at mezcal education in

Until next time,

Australia with two of the industry’s leading

Annabelle Cloros

figures; cover the application of yoghurt in

Editor

Middle Eastern cookery and speak with Rosa

Follow us @hospitalitymagazine #hospitalitymagazine PUBLISHER Paul Wootton pwootton@intermedia.com.au EDITOR Annabelle Cloros T: 02 8586 6226 acloros@intermedia.com.au JOURNALIST Kirsty Sier T: 02 8586 6194 ksier@intermedia.com.au

ADVERTISING NATIONAL Simon York T: 02 8586 6163 F: 02 9660 4419 syork@intermedia.com.au GROUP ART DIRECTOR – LIQUOR AND HOSPITALITY Kea Thorburn kthorburn@intermedia.com.au PRODUCTION MANAGER Jacqui Cooper jacqui@intermedia.com.au

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May 2021 | 5

IN FOCUS // Seafood fraud

Something fishy A new series of studies by The Guardian has exposed seafood fraud on a vast global scale.

WORDS Kirsty Sier IT’S FAIRLY COMMON-SENSE market logic:

the global network of seafood fraud. As The

is most prevalent in restaurants, where

if you order Mediterranean swordfish, you

Guardian wrote, this complexity makes the

it occurs at a much higher rate than in

expect your order to contain Mediterranean

industry “highly vulnerable to mislabeling”.

supermarkets and fishmongers. Arguably,

swordfish. You don’t expect it to contain,

Regardless, the ramifications of this fraud

this may not be entirely the fault of the

for example, shark. Seafood fraud has been

are dire, spanning issues of sustainability

restaurants, considering they sit at the

in the media for years, but it has largely

to potential health risks for consumers. The

bottom of the supply chain and would cop

ebbed and flowed without generating any

vast majority of items found to be mislabeled

the effects of fraud perpetrated elsewhere

significant waves of change. However, a

were less expensive and less coveted

in the market. Nonetheless, the statistics are

new study by UK-based newspaper company

varieties of seafood than they claimed to be.

disconcerting. The studies found that fish

The Guardian has put the issue firmly back in the spotlight.

The Guardian’s analysis was conducted

such as dusky grouper, butterfish, perch, sole

across more than 30 countries. Many of

and bluefin and yellowfin tuna have up to a

the individual studies were reliant upon

50 per cent chance of being mislabeled at

which were published in March this year,

relatively new DNA analysis techniques

many restaurants.

found that nearly 40 per cent of the 9,000

that allow a higher level of accuracy

seafood products tested were mislabeled.

than has previously been possible with

a spectrum. And while the analysis didn’t

The statistics left almost no country’s

species identification. In one comparison

conclusively state all mislabeling was done

seafood supply untouched, and found it

that focused on the sale of “snapper” by

deliberately, many cases involved substituting

affected the products on sale at restaurants,

fishmongers, restaurants and supermarkets

a low-cost fish for a higher priced one,

supermarkets and fishmongers alike.

in Australia, New Zealand, the US, the UK

indicating much of the mislabeling is the

and Canada, researchers found mislabeling

result of fraud rather than carelessness.

in roughly 40 per cent of fish tested.

On the comparatively harmless end of the

The analysis of 44 studies, the results of

Due to the complex and intertwined nature of the world’s seafood supply chain, it is difficult to know where the blame lies in 6 | Hospitality

Worryingly, The Guardian found mislabeling

The seriousness of the fraud sits along

spectrum, some of the seafood products

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IN FOCUS // Seafood fraud tested were found to be a different species

Nonetheless, it is still cause for concern

of the same family. For instance, in Germany,

for restaurant operators and, by extension,

48 per cent of products purported to be king

customers. There are ways for chefs and

scallops were Japanese scallops.

restaurant owners to help avoid putting

Other instances of fraud posed issues to ocean health and sustainability, with

falsely advertised products on their menus.

One way of doing this is to buy whole fish

substitutes found to be of vulnerable

instead of fillets. Whole fish are easier to

or endangered species. In one study

identify if you have a basic knowledge of what

conducted in 2018 across the UK, 70 per

you are working with. Also make sure to pay

cent of products claiming to be snapper

attention to the price of the product. If you

were a different fish, many of which were

are getting what you believe to be a bluefin

reef-dwelling species threatened by habitat

tuna for way below market price, for example,

degradation and overfishing.

chances are the deal is too good to be true.

Elsewhere, the mislabeling was more

If you order fillets, be wary of sellers that

blatent. According to The Guardian, prawn

advertise endangered species or use generic

balls sold in Singapore were “frequently”

names such as snapper and skate, which can

found to contain pork and not a trace of

account for up to 60 different species.

prawn. And in China, 58 per cent of fish

Finally, opt for products certified by the

products from commercial brands bought

Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). MSC-

at local markets were misrepresented, with

certified products are identifiable via the blue

some of the substitutions coming from the

tick on the label. The aim of the international

deadly puffer fish family.

non-profit organisation is to set the standard

Seafood mislabeling has been an ongoing

for sustainability and traceability within the

issue. Back in 2016, a report by sustainability

seafood supply chain. Not only does the MSC

not-for-profit Oceana similarly found

chain of custody standard mean it can trace a

seafood fraud was a problem worldwide.

product back to a certified fishery or farm, it

And The Guardian article admits the studies

also carries out DNA testing on all its affiliated

conducted were partially biased towards

products, saving restaurants much of the hard

seafood varieties more prone to mislabeling.

work of identification. ■

8 | Hospitality

If you order fillets, be wary of sellers that advertise endangered species or use generic names such as snapper and skate, which can account for up to 60 different species.

NEWS // Entrée

Entrée

The latest openings, books, events and more.

EDITED BY Annabelle Cloros

Bings is back

Zero-waste bar opens in Sydney Icebergs’ Maurice Terzini and Scout’s Matt Whiley have teamed up to launch Re, a progressive bar

Bings in Sydney’s Barangaroo has

based on a no-waste philosophy. The venue is

reopened its doors after remaining

located in the South Eveleigh precinct and has a

closed for more than a year. The bao

considered approach to waste from the interior to

bar from Lotus Dining Group has

the glassware and ingredients used to make the

relaunched with a revised menu from

drinks. The cocktail menu features drinks made with

Group Head Chef Steve Wu. Diners can

produce saved from local markets including a spritz

sample new additions such as salads

that incorporates peaches and plums destined for

and a range of Asian-inspired chicken

compost. Guests are in good hands with the bar

schnitzels including the OG, Seoul

team which includes Evan Stroeve (Bulletin Place),

flavour with gochujang and kimchi

Jake Downe (Scout London) and Ho Song (Cantina

as well as mustard mayo, bonito and

OK!) Icebergs’ Head Chef Alex Pritchard is behind

seaweed. lotusdininggroup.com Photography by Alana Dimou

the snacks menu, which takes the same sustainable approach as the rest of the venue. wearere.com.au

Reduce your kitchen footprint The Zero-Waste Chef Anne-Marie Bonneau Avery; $39.99 Sustainability warrior Anne-Marie Bonneau has penned her debut book which motivates people to reduce waste in the kitchen. The Zero-Waste Chef covers a range of tips as

The Boathouse Group expands to Rose Bay

well as 75 veg-centric recipes that make use of offcuts and produce that’s past its prime.

Readers can turn a stale loaf into Mexican hot

The Boathouse Group has opened its first

chocolate bread pudding or wilted greens

location in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. The

into pesto. penguin.com.au

group took over the former Regatta site last year and has slowly renovated the Rose Bay Marina space, unveiling a takeaway window, kiosk and now an upstairs Brownrigg has designed a seafood-leaning

Helios Distillery launches Ryukyu Bijin Awamori

menu that is split up into raw, entrée, pasta,

Acclaimed Japanese distillery Helios has released an

mains and desserts. Diners can kick off

Okinawan liquor into the local market. Comparable

their meal with fresh oysters and yellowfin

to sake, Ryukyu Bijin Awamori is made using natural

tuna with finger lime and move into lobster

spring water from the distillery’s site and emits a sweet

ravioli and dry-aged duck breast. The

aroma. It’s recommended as a cocktail base or to sip

restaurant is open daily for lunch and

on its own. The distillery has also launched a sparkling

dinner. theboathouserosebay.com.au

yuzu which is ready to drink. Available from Dan

restaurant. Group Executive Chef James

Murphy’s for $55 for 700ml.

10 | Hospitality

PRODUCE // Mangosteen

Mangosteen The ‘queen of tropical fruit’ is highly prized for a reason.

WORDS Annabelle Cloros Origins Mangosteen is part of the Malpighiales family and is

Trees grow between 6-25m high

known by the scientific name Garcinia mangostana. The tropical evergreen tree is native to parts of South-East Asia including the Malaysian peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo.

Usually grown as part of a mix of

Mangosteen was first introduced to Australia in the

tree crops

1940s, however initial growth efforts in New South Wales and Southern Queensland were unsuccessful. New

High in antioxidants,

cultivators were imported in the 70s to North Queensland,

calcium, phosphorus

which led to the first mangosteen win. Nowadays, most

and vitamins B and C

fruit is grown in Darwin and Far North Queensland.

Two types of mangosteen have been identified: spherical and oblong. In Australia, seashore mangosteen, yellow mangosteen, Cambogia and madrano are grown alongside the more common purple mangosteen, however they are part of a niche market.

Growth and harvest Trees are slow growing and can take up to 10 years to bear

30 per cent of the fruit’s total weight is edible

fruit. Mangosteens are typically grown from seed and flourish in wet, tropical, humid climates. Rich, deep soil with solid water-holding capacity is a must, with trees also doing well on deep river loams.

Peak season in Australia is between November and March. Fruit mostly grows outside the edge of the tree’s canopy and is ready for harvest once they have turned from green to purple. A mature tree produces between 400-900 pieces of fruit, which have a bright green stem when they’re ready for harvest.

Appearance and flavour profile Mangosteens are between 4-8cm in diameter and typically weigh 50-150g. They have a thick purple leathery skin with a green crown on top. Inside, the creamy white flesh is split into segments, with four to seven pieces found within. The flesh is comparable to citrus, with some

North Queensland has 98.6 per cent of Australia’s mangosteen plantings

segments containing an almond-shaped seed.

The fruit has a sweet and tangy taste and has been likened to a mix of lychee, peach, strawberry and pineapple.

Culinary applications and storage

Small

The fruit can last up to four weeks at room temperature

amounts are

after it has been picked. It’s recommended they are not

exported

refrigerated as cold temperatures can damage them.

Mangosteen is best enjoyed fresh. To eat, cut around

Yearly production is

the fruit with a knife and twist in opposite directions. They

highly variable due

are also commonly found canned, frozen, juiced or made into syrups and preserves. ■ 12 | Hospitality

to environmental difficulties

BEST PRACTICE // Forecasting

Looking ahead Better forecasting helps boost sales and improve control costs.

WORDS Ken Burgin WITH SMART FUTURE watching,

on last month? Rephrase this as a

you can adjust staff and

number so everyone understands:

Use a good weather app and track regularly

purchasing to reflect expected

“We’re expecting 120 people

Yahoo and TV weather channels

business more accurately.

instead of the usual 90-100.”

will show up to seven days in

check what’s allowed under Fair Work rules.

staff for the weekend? How do

low food and wage costs because

Predict the effect of TV and sporting events

Develop an ordering standby system for the weekend

changes in temperature, snow

You want just enough stock on

they have exact numbers. With

If you know football means a

and rainfall affect numbers?

hand to be able to cover an

the growth of data gathering

hit in trade, organise an event

Many bakers adjust the cooking

unexpected rush. Emergency

and artificial intelligence, online

for ‘everyone else’, e.g. a wine

of hot items such as pies to the

runs to the supermarket are

ordering and rostering can do

dinner. What about Married at

temperature and have become

expensive — what alternatives

a much better job predicting

First Sight or The Bachelor —

quite exact with it as a money-

can you set up?

demand. Here are some ways to

positive for trade or not?

making exercise. What’s your

Caterers usually work with 100 per cent certainty — they can achieve

advance. Will you need extra

make improvements.

Keep daily logbooks and diaries

Watch for local events that will boost business

equivalent product?

Watch population changes in your area Census data can help, but it is

Record customer numbers,

accordingly for popular concerts

Develop flexible staff schedules and rostering systems

weather, special events, the

and local festivals. It can be a

Explain how changes are

reliable guide. It can also give you

pattern of customer visits, etc.

great time to open especially

decided so it’s not ‘unfair’

a guide to adverse events that

Logbooks are more informative

and catch the crowds. The local

when shifts are increased or

may be looming, e.g. a business

than a blank diary page. The

tourist information office and

decreased. If you are developing

relocating from an office block

immediate past is often a good

internet will have information —

a new workplace agreement,

may mean the loss of hundreds or

guide for the coming weeks or

subscribe to relevant newsletters.

take flexibility into account.

thousands of potential customers.

Adjust your opening times

months — use a printed diary or

only updated occasionally — local observation may be a more

Online rostering systems allow

Work out the ‘strike rate’ for product demand

you to put out urgent calls

Watch industry trends

for more people — make sure

Faster service, table ordering,

Make sure staff understand business numbers

If 100 people order food out of

everyone knows how it works.

healthy options, ingredients and

500 visitors to your club or bar,

You might even develop a staff

new flavours, legal regulations,

For example, how many more

you have a strike rate of 20 per

standby system. If someone is

the ageing population — these

customers to expect if the bar

cent. It will be a guide for when

on call, pay them an agreed

can all have a significant effect

will be 10 per cent busier than

you are expecting 200, 500 or

allowance to be available, and

on the type, preferences and

last week or 20 per cent down

2,000 visitors.

pay it if they are called in —

number of customers you see. ■

online system.

14 | Hospitality

ADVERTORIAL // Grana Padano

Wheels of fortune With 600 years of history, Grana Padano outdoes generic parmesan at every turn.

PASTA IS A staple dish in foodservice, and one

Unlike parmesan, the quality and consistency

The three vintages are:

of the most-loved meals around the world. In

of Grana Padano is strictly enforced by a

Grana Padano PDO: a softer and grainier

most cases, a crucial step in serving a pasta

regulatory body. Established in 1954, the

version aged between nine to 16 months

dish is the final grating of cheese over the top.

Consortium for the Protection of Grana

for a mild and milky flavour. It’s perfect as

Even if the quantity is small, the quality of the

Padano PDO cheese — or the Consorzio

a topping for meats and vegetables and is

finishing cheese can make all the difference to

Tutela Grana Padano — ensures each wheel

great as an appetiser or snack.

the flavour of the dish as a whole.

of Grana Padano cheese is made according

Grana Padano Over 16 Months: has a

to production specifications so it can be

grainier consistency and a stronger, tangy

fine to fine dining, most standard parmesan

awarded its PDO (Protected Designation

taste. It’s ideal for grating, cheeseboards,

doesn’t cut it. Parmesan, as a generic cheese

of Origin) status and fire-branded with the

meat and vegetable fillings and to make

product, is unregulated by any governing

Grana Padano mark.

crispy wafers.

For chefs looking to elevate dishes from just

Every maker of Grana Padano is required

Grana Padano Riserva: aged over 20

inconsistencies in quality. Generic grated

to strictly observe the guidelines laid out for

months and required to pass additional

parmesan products contain up to 10 per cent

the production of the cheese, which regulates

quality tests. The end result has a dark

fillers and preservatives and are often aged

everything from the cow’s diet to the milk

straw-yellow colour and a rich, full,

for just six to 12 months — not nearly long

supply area and the ageing process. After nine

persistent taste. Aside from being a

enough to establish a flavour profile robust

months of ageing, each wheel undergoes strict

special ingredient in a great variety of

enough for top restaurants.

testing for appearance, aroma and texture

dishes, Riserva also works well when served

before receiving its fire-branded certification.

as part of a luxurious cheeseboard with

body, meaning producers can get away with

Grana Padano, on the other hand, is a superior alternative. The original recipe is

The final product is a crumbly, delicate

thought to have been invented in 1135 by a

cheese with an intense flavour profile and a

group of Benedictine monks in Northern Italy,

granular structure that’s capable of elevating

who transformed surplus raw milk into a cheese

sweet and savoury dishes. Grana Padano is

finish a meal, create a meal or to enjoy as

with a distinctive and intense flavour profile.

differentiated into three separate vintages,

part of a cheese board, the high quality

the consistency of which can be relied upon

and consistency of the historic product is a

from wheel to wheel.

guaranteed way to satisfy customers. ■

For almost 1,000 years, the original recipe for Grana Padano has remained unchanged.

16 | Hospitality

nuts, fruit and chutneys and aged balsamic vinegar Whether you are using Grana Padano to

ITALIAN

EXCELLENCE

OF ORIGI N

•

OTECTED PR

SIGNATIO

N

DE

•

DRINKS // Mezcal

Community spirit Mezcal is one of the most culturally significant drinks in the world — and it’s finally having its moment.

WORDS Kirsty Sier “PARA TODO MAL mezcal y para todo

The resulting hospitality group, Milpa

bien, tambien” (for everything bad,

Collective, now has five venues in Sydney

Mezcal, a smoky agave-based spirit

a casual Tulum-inspired taqueria, with

mezcal, and for everything good as well). traditionally made by Mexico’s indigenous peoples, is more than just a drink; it’s an ingrained part of cultural life, ritual and tradition in the country.

Often compared to its agave-based relative

tequila, the comparison is in some ways

fair and in others not at all. Of course, they are made using the same family of fruit.

But not all agaves are the same, nor are

and another four in the works. Taqiza is

Sonora focusing on the regional cuisine of Mexico’s coastal north-west and La Palma offering a Caribbean cocktail bar inspired

partners Pablo Vargas and Liber Osorio.

The two met six years ago working in a CBD kitchen and decided to go into business together two years later.

18 | Hospitality

understand the market a bit more and the Australian palate.”

Collective was supporting authenticity

a stewardship of mezcal in its purest and most traditional form.

“We started Milpa Collective as an idea

Pablo has been here for 11 years, and

ambassadors in Sydney are business

first home, not my second — I think we

to authentic Latin American cuisine and

and tequila — as well as their cultural and Two of mezcal’s most ardent

here for a long time — Australia is now my

One of the first things Vargas and Osorio

revolution Cuba. All share a dedication

to elevate Mexican food and drinks,” says

culinary significance — differ greatly.

But at the same time, because we’ve been

by the flavours and atmosphere of pre-

the methods of production. As a result, the flavour profiles and complexity of mezcal

flavours are and what it should taste like.

Osorio. “I’ve been in Australia for 10 years, he noticed Mexican cuisine in Australia is really Tex-Mex. Our interpretation is more authentic because we come from

Latin America. I’m from Chile and Pablo

is from Mexico, and our grandmas raised

us with food from there, so I think there’s a different understanding of what the

first agreed upon when starting Milpa

and small-batch producers across their

entire portfolio of food and drinks (even

the name Milpa comes from an indigenous method of agricultural production in

Meso-America, which precedes and rejects western bias towards monocultures).

When it comes to mezcal, there is an

added level of importance considering

the enduring indigeneity of many of the harvest and production processes.

Although tequila and mezcal come from

the same family of fruit and the same

part of the world, much of the similarity

agave. While tequila is only made from

the widely available blue agave, or Agave tequilana, mezcal can come from any

variety of agave. The usage will depend

on the region of Mexico where it's made,

the traditions of the communities making it and the environmental factors that influence what is available.

“The types of agave used to make

mezcal vary a lot and some of them

are very hard to find,” explains Vargas.

“Tequila is mass-produced and uses agave that grows for a year and is used as fast

as possible, but the plants used for mezcal need to be found rather than cultivated;

the traditional producers go and find them.

“The good thing about mezcal is that

it’s not mass-produced. There could be

bad years when there is a lot of rain and it will affect the flavour or the profile of the

agave, but the communities produce what they can; they don’t force it. They have a

lot of respect for nature and for the plants.

Most of the production of mezcal is very

sustainable, so you won’t have bad years like with wine.”

“Certification for mezcal is a controversial matter. Some say it benefits the small producers, but others say it benefits the big companies that can afford to pay for all the permits.”

– Pablo Vargas The respect exercised by producers is present throughout the entire mezcal production process. It’s common

knowledge an ageing process improves the flavour profile and deepens the complexity of a spirit. And while the spectrum of

ageing for tequila sits between a few years and not at all, it’s said mezcal is the only spirit with a built-in ageing process.

There are three different categories

into which mezcal is divided: ancestral, artisanal and industrial. It affects how

long an agave is allowed to mature for,

how long it is cooked and the length of

fermentation and distillation. The agave itself can be left to mature for decades,

May 2021 | 19

DRINKS // Mezcal

stops there. The first difference is the

DRINKS // Mezcal Pablo Vargas and Liber Osorio

“There are different regions in Oaxaca, but if you take agave

but the minimum time for the process alone is

The sheer scope of variables that can affect the

for three to four days (the source of its famously

most diverse drinks. Every bottle of mezcal is

seven years. The fruit is cooked underground smoky flavour profile), fermented for several

from the hills, it’s

days more and distilled until the master distiller

going to be more

“Some agaves can mature for 20 years, 50

mineral in flavour.

If you go to the valleys, it’s sweeter because you have higher sugar content.”

– Liber Osorio

pronounces it ready.

different to the next, even if they’re from the

same producer. Osorio compares it to natural wine, where “every batch is different”.

And much like natural wine, which is also a

years,” says Vargas. “It changes the flavour

fast-growing market in Australia, the uniqueness

from the soil and from the sun, and it will taste

challenge when it comes to knowing which

completely because it’s getting all the nutrients completely different to an agave that has only been on the ground for a year. The methods

change the flavour as well. The main difference

is a huge drawcard. But it can also prove a

mezcal to purchase. After all, sometimes you do want to know what you’re getting yourself into.

There are a few tell-tale signs that can help

is the agave is cooked underground for mezcal,

professionals predict what they're going to

The tools used after for fermentation [are also

A huge amount of Mexico’s mezcal is made in

which gives it a very distinctive smoky flavour.

different]. Pretty much every mezcal and every production can have a different flavour. It’s not mass-produced; it’s very artisanal.”

It’s evident mezcal and tequila simply cannot

be compared; and a demanding market has

had a huge impact on the production process of tequila. “Blue agave needs sometimes seven or

eight years to reach maturity before you can cut it and make tequila,” says Osorio. “But because

taste from a particular bottle. One is terroir.

Oaxaca, a state in the southwest of the country.

“There are different regions in Oaxaca, but if

you take agave from the hills, it’s going to be

more mineral in flavour,” says Osorio. “If you

go to the valleys, it’s sweeter because you have

higher sugar content. But if you take agave from Durango or Jalisco from the north, it will be drier because it’s from the desert.”

Mezcal’s smokiness is what many connoisseurs

there’s a lot of market pressure with tequila, they

love about the spirit, but it can also be a barrier

can make tequila with 55 per cent tequila and

factor to take into consideration is the time the

cut it by four years and mix it with sugar. You

45 per cent sugar, and that’s what you get with cheap tequila. It’s why everyone hates tequila; you shoot it and it’s disgusting, but that’s because it’s full of sugar.”

20 | Hospitality

end result of mezcal makes it one of the world’s

for those who are new to the drink. Another

agave spends cooking underground, which is the source of the smokiness.

Although there is a certification process in

place in Mexico, there are pros and cons to using

DRINKS // Mezcal certification as an indicator of a mezcal’s quality.

the reason mezcal is finally having its moment

— ensuring a particular agave is being used or

among Australian consumers for authenticity and

While it helps to regulate the production process confirming foreign sugars aren’t being added —

the cost of certification can also be prohibitive to producers and smaller indigenous communities.

An

mezcal can

underground

mature for

cooking

anywhere

process

between

generates

seven and 50

mezcal’s

years

smoky flavour

Oaxaca is

good mezcal

the heart

is detailed

of mezcal

information

production

printed on

in Mexico

the bottle

drink because the method of production is very

the permits. It’s good because there is quality

control, but obviously there are more business

people involved. I think the people involved are recognising mezcal doesn’t have to become like

tequila, which is suffering at the moment. There is a shortage of tequila because there is a plant

Vargas. “Before that, it was not considered a nice traditional. The way they make it comes through generations and generations, and the people who have been making this drink in the past

were mostly indigenous communities, which had been relegated — and still are very relegated — in Mexican society.

“When I was growing up, the biggest

shortage, so I think everybody needs to respect the

celebration we would have in school was the day

that produce it and the environment, because that’s

and we would celebrate that. The perception has

traditional methods, the indigenous communities

For Osorio and Vargas, the importance of

supporting small, family-run mezcal producers is multi-pronged. Not only does it feed money

back into traditional communities, it also keeps

sustainable mezcal-making practices alive, which

in turn ensures the endurance of all the things that make mezcal such a distinguished and enjoyable

drink — from the complexity of its flavour profile to the fact that every bottle is unique.

Luckily, all of these influences are also part of

22 | Hospitality

“In the last 20 years, mezcal has become

producers, but others say certification benefits

the only way it can be sustainable.”

A sign of a

awareness of what we are eating and drinking.

more of an appreciated drink in Mexico,” says

the big companies that can afford to pay for all

to make

sustainability, which corresponds to a heightened

“Certification for mezcal is a controversial

matter,” says Vargas. “Some say it benefits the small Agave used

in the sun. There is a growing appreciation

the Europeans came to Mexico and invaded it,

changed. There’s a sense of pride when, a long

time ago, there was not a sense of pride. With this knowledge and the new conversations around

that, there came an appreciation for things like

mezcal, and that’s when it started to hit a lot of

markets and when people started to drink it more and it started to receive more appreciation. It’s

when I also started to get a sense of what mezcal was compared to tequila. After being relegated

for so many years, it’s become a drink that is so

important, and it’s getting more important on an international level.” ■

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PROFILE // Joy 26 | Hospitality

PROFILE // Joy

Sarah Baldwin The chef on maintaining the joy.

WORDS Annabelle Cloros SARAH BALDWIN IS behind Brisbane’s

The chef decided to take a time out

most-lauded tiny restaurant. At just 10

from fine dining and moved to Northern

wouldn’t have it any other way. As she puts

chef and her partner at the time. Baldwin

seats, Joy is pocket-sized, but the chef

it: “There’s nothing that doesn’t go through my hands at Joy.”

Hospitality talks to Baldwin about going

from a dishie to a chef, finding her calling by the sea and creating an experience at

her restaurant Joy that gives as much to the customers as it does to the people running

New South Wales with Tim Scott, a fellow commenced an education degree and

began working in an all-female kitchen

on the side. It was here, by the sea, where things really fell into place. “Working in a stress-free café was a nice reminder

that cooking doesn’t have to destroy you

the show (hint, it’s a two-person show).

Sarah Baldwin got her start in hospitality in high school, working as a dishie at a

local Chinese restaurant. She moved into

front-of-house and barista roles soon after,

however a change of ownership at her café

workplace resulted in the team being let go.

Baldwin decided to move into cheffing

after a friend told her about a job

opportunity. She became an apprentice at 20 years old — an age considered ‘ripe’

at the time. The budding chef spent three years learning the ropes before she shed

her green apprentice skin and moved into a more serious role.

A stint at the now-closed Urbane

“We don’t want to force anyone to eat our egos or our ideas. I have a restaurant so I have an outlet to feed people; food is my love language.”

– Sarah Baldwin and completely take over your life,” says

Sydney wasn’t the place for me,” says

I found myself taking days off uni to work

Baldwin. “I always had the goal to go back to Brisbane, but working in Sydney or

Melbourne is part of what you do when

you’re a Brisbane chef. In Sydney, there was a lot of ambition and people who pushed

you to be better, which I loved, but it’s such a busy city and I found it so suffocating.”

and decided to build our own restaurant in Brisbane,” says Baldwin. “While Tim was

driving, I was booking appointments to see

commercial sites. The second site we looked at was the one we decided to build Joy in, and now I have Joy.”

Joy has been described as “meaningful”, “highly engaging” and “personal”, and Scott toyed with the idea of opening a

mid-size restaurant, but 10 was the magic number. “The space is 36sqm and we

knew 10 was something we could manage between ourselves if one person stepped away, like Tim has,” says Baldwin. “I

wanted to be in touch with every single part of the business.”

After opening its doors in 2019, Joy

operated with Scott and Baldwin working as both the chefs and the front-of-house

team, creating a multi-course set menu oftcompared to an omakase experience. The

restaurant quickly scooped up prestigious

accolades, receiving a Good Food rating of 16/20 and two hats in 2019.

When asked to describe what Joy’s

team. “I worked there for a couple of years, and the only reason I left was because

life-altering decisions. “We both quit our jobs

it’s easy to understand why. Baldwin and

Restaurant ensued before she decided to move to Sydney and join the Six Penny

and conversations abounded, which led to

Baldwin. “I studied primary education, but … being a teacher wasn’t quite it for me.

Working at the café was the first time in so long where it was just cooking because it

was yum and people enjoyed eating. It was a necessary reminder of why I cook.”

Scott and Baldwin later headed off on a

road trip around Tasmania. Plenty of food

offering is all about (images are purposely few and far between on the internet), Baldwin uses the word “holistic”; the restaurant is a space where food and

service exist on an equal playing field.

“It’s always been food-focused and

an experience where we can give the

customer everything they need while

they’re in our space,” says the chef. “We don’t want to force anyone to eat our

egos or our ideas. I have a restaurant so I May 2021 | 27

PROFILE // Joy

“If a customer thanks me on the way out, it’s enough to know what I’m doing is worth it.”

– Sarah Baldwin

have an outlet to feed people; food is my

asked if he thought I was the chef,” says

of house, altering Joy’s dynamic for the first

focused, hospitality-focused experience, I

throughout my whole career and the first

doing menu testing and it was really

love language. If it did stop being a foodwould probably close Joy.”

In 2020, Joy hibernated during the

pandemic for six months. Scott decided

to step away from the business in August,

but Baldwin knew she should keep going.

“Selling Joy wasn’t an option for me and I

wasn’t ready to let go,” she says. “I figured if it was going to close anyway, I should try harder and do it myself. There were definitely moments of self-doubt and if

I could do it without Tim, but I had the

benefit of the closure to take the time to make it my restaurant.”

The media attention from Scott’s exit also

didn’t help; with outlets insinuating the

‘chef’ of the restaurant had left. “We are both chefs, but because of the way we operated service, people assumed I wasn’t a chef,”

says Baldwin. “The articles said the chef had stepped away and now Sarah is running

Baldwin. “I’ve been surrounded by men time I worked with all women was in

Northern New South Wales. It took me a while to get used to interacting with

Baldwin doesn’t mention a particular cuisine

don’t think it’s our customers’ fault for not assuming I’m a chef. It’s just that if there was a man standing next to me in chef’s whites and I’m pouring wine, guests are going to assume the man is the chef.”

During the time Scott and Baldwin

worked alongside each other, the faux pas was common, but he was quick to

intervene. “Tim and I were in charge of certain dishes, but often people would

direct all their compliments to him,” says

public. “There are still customers who

ask me who the chef is … someone leant over to their husband the other day and 28 | Hospitality

is one of Joy’s core points of difference.

or direction when discussing what the Joy

experience is all about. Instead, she breaks it down like this: “I think about things I

like to eat or have eaten and want to share

with other people, but maybe in a way they haven’t had before,” she says. “The main

goal for me is to have delicious food that

highlights what other people in the industry are doing. A menu at Joy is 10–12 courses with lots of little bites in between.”

The notion of cohesion is ever-present

Baldwin. “He was so good at saying it

throughout the menu, with each dish

constant support was really reassuring.”

think about balancing a single dish, it’s not

was me who made the dish; to have that

choice: to be the sole chef of Joy. “I had

floating around — especially in the dining

If you try to seek out Joy’s menu, you’re

weak. Being a chef is a male-led role; I

without worrying about being tough or

the media saying, ῾Sarah isn’t a chef’.” the industry, but stereotypes are still

which was really hard.”

in for a treasure hunt. Being menu-free

After moving ahead with her decision to

Women make up more than half of

important to write a menu that was mine,

women and finding my own personality

it. It was bad timing because I was having

moments of, ‘Can I do this?’ and then I had

time. “I spent six weeks before we reopened

keep Joy open, Baldwin made another

to think about if I wanted another chef

and mimic the roles Tim and I had or take

control of the cooking and have someone do front of house,” she says. Baldwin recruited Maddie Sim, who previously worked as a

bartender at Savile Row to take care of front

linking together to tell a story. “When I

typical to the way you’re taught to do it;

I think about balancing an entire menu,”

says Baldwin. “I do a lot of building around vegetables rather than proteins and every dish relies on the course before and the

one after to help. I forget we are a little bit strange by not telling anyone what they’re eating because we decided to take away

menus. When people see a menu, it gives

them an opportunity to think, ‘I don’t like

PROFILE // Joy

beef tartare, so I’m already nervous about the third course’. When they sit down, I explain to them I’ve prepared the food

overshadow the other beautiful things that are happening.”

Joy is Baldwin’s outlet and she’s

and they just need to work out what they

naturally protective of the space she’s

course (all the courses are dropped with

lets angry messages fall by the wayside,

want to drink. After the second or third

extensive explanations), they’re eating as if they’ve chosen the food. It takes a few dishes to gain that trust.”

A core perk that comes with Joy’s size is

that Baldwin can focus all her energy on

just two people; but it’s people who offer the biggest challenge. If you follow Joy on Instagram, you would have noticed Baldwin posting, reminding people of

the restaurant’s number of seats and to exercise a little kindness.

Unfortunately, manners, patience and

courtesy are lost on angry diners who have missed out. “People want more seats than we have,” says Baldwin. “We don’t have

someone who handles reservations; it’s just

worked so hard to create. The chef often but they do take their toll. “If I respond and said, ‘I’m so sorry if I upset you, let me see

where I can fit you in’, they would have to sit at the bench knowing they hurled all

that abuse at me and I would have to give

selfless service knowing they’ve caused me a lot of heartache,” says Baldwin. “I can’t let people take control of it just because

they’re angry. Hospitality is run by humans and we are doing this because we love to

create an experience for customers. It’s not a job we can do light-heartedly; we really care about hospitality as an industry and

we want to keep being able to share it. But it’s important people try and understand it a little bit.”

Maddie and I. Customers get frustrated

Bookings are the main pit, but the peak

and often direct that anger via email or

“The best moments are when you’ve

when they don’t get the booking they want Instagram in a really aggressive way. They

say: ‘Get a different booking system, yours doesn’t work; it’s not fair; you’re abusing

your customers’ — basically all variations

of, ‘I didn’t get what I want and I’m angry

about it’. It’s hard when you’re working so many hours trying to create a customer

experience and those few emails will often

“There are still customers who ask me who the chef is … someone leant over to their husband the other day and asked if he thought I was the chef.”

– Sarah Baldwin

of running Joy is deceptively underrated. done a really good service, everything has gone smoothly and everyone has

left happy,” says Baldwin. “Those days are the greatest reminder of why Joy

exists. I don’t need a lot of huge-scale

achievements; if a customer thanks me on the way out, it’s enough to know what I’m doing is worth it.” ■

May 2021 | 29

FEATURE // Sonoma

30 | Hospitality

Sonoma Bakery Founder Andrew Connole speaks to Hospitality about his globe-trotting, bread-obsessed new television series.

WORDS Kirsty Sier THE NAME SONOMA is a clue Andrew

and one in Canberra. Among their A-list

elsewhere. Before he was running one of

and Bar, Aria, Tetsuya’s and Quay.

Connole’s baking inspiration comes from

Australia’s most successful artisan bakeries,

According to Connole, one of the main

Connole spent time in Northern California,

reasons behind the unlikely success

with people who would later become

was the decision to switch from baking

laying the foundation for connections

influential figures in his career. But even

though Connole’s career is book-ended by international experiences, the beginnings of Sonoma Bakery are hyperlocal.

Roughly 20 years ago, Connole moved

back to Australia after his late father came up with a “ridiculous idea” to restore the

Busy Bee General Store in Bellata, a small village in north-central New South Wales.

“My desire was to go to America and

stay there, to be quite honest, but once

this idea was born back in 1997, I guess

my destiny was to stay with my younger brother Christian and my dad,” says

of his small-town, family-run bakery

Italian wood-fired bread to naturally

fermented sourdough, back before it was common practice. “We were innovators, not imitators,” he says. Connole’s

international connections also played a

role in cementing Sonoma’s place amongst Australia’s notable bakeries. “Fortunately I

connected with Alan Scott, a former woodfired oven builder from California, and

he connected me with Chad Robertson,

who later went on to found Tartine, which is the North Star of sourdough bread,” Connole tells Hospitality.

“I went over there in 1998 and got

Connole. “They were baking bread in a

inspired and my destiny at Sonoma was

had no money, and it sounds like we were

bread to baking naturally fermented

24sqm bakery in a town of 100 people. We destined to fail.”

Although there are plenty of locations

throughout the course of Connole’s new television series For the Love of Bread

that prove quality products — and large reputations — can come from small-

scale bakeries, it was not his destiny with Sonoma. From its humble beginnings,

the company has since expanded to nine Andrew Connole and Chad Robertson

clientele have been Icebergs Dining Room

locations throughout New South Wales

changed from baking Italian wood-fired

sourdough bread. We’d baked in Bellata from September 1998 to May 2000.

Christian and I used to drive back and

forth — a 1,080km round trip journey

on a Thursday and a Friday — and we’d

bake 300 loaves. Then I moved to Sydney in May 2000 when we stopped baking in

Bellata. I got a job throwing luggage bags with Virgin, moved to Brighton Le-Sands

and we found our first site for Sonoma on

May 2021 | 31

FEATURE // Sonoma

For the Love of Bread

FEATURE // Sonoma

Wollongong Road in Arncliffe. We flew Alan Scott out and he built us a brick wood-fired oven in December 2000. It was the first

Alan Scott wood-fired oven that was built in Australia. We got our first customer in

March 2001, which was the Hilton at the airport. I guess the rest is history.”

In For the Love of Bread, Connole makes a clear return to his vision of himself as an international rather than a national

baker. The series, which is currently airing on SBS On Demand, sees him travel to a different country in each of the six

episodes — Greece, Malta, Germany,

France, England and Austria respectively — to interview the best bakers and visit

the best bakeries in each of those places.

Filmed before lockdown, the timing of

the release was a boon: just as people’s

urge to travel (even if voyeuristically) is at its peak, and after many have discovered a passion for at-home sourdough bread-

making as a pandemic salve. “I think that

with COVID-19, everybody has discovered

the beauty of baking sourdough bread and

calibre — and often near-royal historical

“The premise of this documentary isn’t to

introduced to.

trying to bake it at home,” says Connole. go to big industrial bakeries or bakeries

lineage — of the bakers viewers are When asked what differentiates

that are specific, it’s to go and find the very

Sonoma’s bread-making style from other

day at Sonoma is to make it the best it can

on the importance of friendships with his

best guys. My desire and goal every single possibly be, not just on a domestic scale, but on a global scale.

“I wanted to do a show that highlighted

the world’s very best bakers who had

perfected the craft of sourdough bread

specifically and to tell their story. I wanted to highlight the city that we were visiting,

and to combine the elements of travel and beautiful bread.”

At one point in the sixth episode, when Connole is visiting the Kruste & Krume Bröt Festival in Vienna, he assesses the vast and impressive group of bakers in attendance and asides to the camera:

“There’s a healthy rivalry between bakers, but when they come together, it’s like a brotherhood.”

Connole’s place within this international

baking brotherhood becomes clear over

the course of the television show, and this is part of what makes it so affable and

charming, even despite the intimidating 32 | Hospitality

bakers in Australia, Connole elaborates

over-water contemporaries. “In comparison to every other baker in Australia I think Sonoma started from such humble

beginnings that it’s not even comparable.

We started from a place of absolute

adversity. But we were fortunate enough that our inspiration and our learnings

came from Northern California,” he says.

Sonoma started baking naturally

store had the

with Chad Robertson from Tartine, which

fermented

only Alan Scott

sourdough

wood-fired oven

“I was fortunate enough to spend time

makes one of the most revered naturally fermented sourdoughs in the world. I

spent time with him back in 1998 before

Sonoma’s first

before it was

in Australia

commonplace

at the time

he was even Tartine, and in the summer of 2000 my brother Christian went over and baked for Della Fattoria, which is a

bakery in Petaluma, and back then those

guys were supplying French Laundry when French Laundry was the best restaurant in the world. Our pedigree and our

inspiration weren't founded nor formed

from anything in Australia; we managed

to create relationships with guys that were

Borough Market

The three primary

in London, which

ingredients for

appears on

sourdough

For the Love of

are the same

Bread, is 2,000

all over

years old

the world

FEATURE // Sonoma

outside while remaining firm on the inside.

Even this, though, doesn’t require advanced technologies or heavy investment. Many of

the formidable bakeries featured on For the Love of Bread are multiple generations old,

and have forged reputations with the same brick or wood-fired ovens they used when they first started.

With such a limited palette of factors to

play with, Connole says that what makes an excellent baker stand out from the

pack are passion, attention to detail and

an unwillingness to compromise — three

notions that come up a lot throughout the course of the series.

Off the back of his experience making

For the Love of Bread, Connole says he

will take the learnings from the historical artisan bakers, who have protected

their small scale of production to ensure consistency and quality over many

generations and decades, and apply it to the large scale and relative youth of Sonoma.

“My desire is to refine and polish the

brand of Sonoma significantly; to simplify

the retail experience to make it better and

to make Sonoma as great as it can possibly be both domestically and internationally,” he says. “What we’ve done in the past 20

Andrew Connole and Alexandros Rizos at Rizos Bakery, Athens

“I want to try to keep the small quality and consistency

years is Sonoma 1.0, and my goal is to globally relevant and not locally relevant.

That’s what gives us the difference. We’re

create Sonoma 2.0, which is a significantly better version of itself as it is right now.

“We bake a significant amount of

Northern California-inspired, inspired by

bread, so the ethos for me is maintaining

bakery when you’re only

applied it to Sonoma in Australia.”

Obviously we had humble beginnings and

doing 100 or 200 loaves,

But it’s the rivalry component of the

that comes from being a small

but I want to be the guy who can nail that and master it to scale.” – Andrew Connole

the best, and we took what we learned and

rivalry–brotherhood dichotomy that

Connole has taken with him from his

experience with the television show and which he is determined to channel into creating what he calls “Sonoma 2.0”.

The components that you need to make

good bread — even good sourdough bread — are essentially the same all over the

world. The three foundational ingredients

made the focus daily on the quality and

consistency of our bread. And obviously the experience of this documentary is

going to visit these great bakers who are small-batch bakers essentially. I want to try to keep the small quality and

consistency that comes from being a small bakery when you’re only doing 100 or

200 loaves, but I want to be the guy who can nail that and master it to scale.

“It’s the same for everything in life I

— flour, water and salt — and a natural

suppose: if you’re highly motivated and

need to pay attention to atmosphere,

product and if your motivation is to do it

starter made from flour and water. You humidity and heat to maintain a high

water content in the dough. And you need an oven that can bake the bread at a high

enough temperature to get it crispy on the 34 | Hospitality

the significance of how we started.

you’re highly discontent, you can look at a to its very best possibility, then every day

you’ll relentlessly pursue the unattainable.

And that’s what the mentality and the

mantra has always been at Sonoma.” ■

Chef’s Choice

www.markwellfoods.com.au

Tel: 1300 781 555

FEATURE // Culinary influences

Family ties Three chefs reflect on influential culinary figures, who they just happen to be related to.

WORDS Annabelle Cloros TO CELEBRATE MOTHER’S Day,

Hospitality speaks to On Saengyojanr,

Cuong Nguyen and Dan Cooper about how important family figures have shaped their

culinary careers. Whether it’s working with family to honouring traditional recipes or understanding seasonality, lessons

learned at a young age have proven to be invaluable for these chefs.

Cuong Nguyen, Hello Auntie Cuong Nguyen grew up in Perth before

moving to Melbourne and later Sydney. The Hello Auntie founder and executive chef

started cooking when he was 12 years old, and says his parents worked hard to give

him a new future. His early culinary forays

were based off what he watched on TV and ate for school lunches, where baked bean

sandwiches and cream cheese and mustard relish abounded. “I was cooking western food at home,” he says. “I was watching

it on TV and it was what everyone ate at birthday parties. Maybe in hindsight it

was me trying to fit in. Now I know I was fighting my identity for a long time.”

His mum, Thi Da ‘Lynda’ Tran,

immigrated to Australia from South

Vietnam and worked at Miss Maud in Perth where she made pavlovas and dressed cakes. She later opened a takeaway

store in Sydney’s Inner West, selling

regional Vietnamese stews and pho along with Chinese-influenced stir fries. Tran closed the store, but retirement wasn’t

on the cards for long. “Mum got bored of retirement and she wanted to open

a restaurant,” says Nguyen. “I told her

running a restaurant was very different, but she assured me she understood.”

At the time, Nguyen had come off

the back of closing his own restaurant 36 | Hospitality

The Prince Hotel

FEATURE // Culinary influences

“My mum has easily been the biggest influence, and learning from her has been a humbling experience.”

– Cuong Nguyen

and had lost interest in cooking. He was

the essence. It’s definitely made us closer

mum intervened. “I see now she was

is as a human and what she’s sacrificed to

mainly working catering jobs until his

manipulating me to get back into food,” he laughs. “I was depressed for a long

time and stopped cooking, so I think the

and made me realise how strong my mum give me the life I have now. She’s shaped my career and the person I’ve become.”

restaurant was always her plan.”

Dan Cooper, The Prince Hotel

The pair went on to open the first Hello

a little surprised by just how influential

Auntie restaurant in Marrickville five years ago, but Nguyen had a lot of learning and unlearning to do. You see, the chef spent

most of his career cooking European food.

“Everything is the opposite technique-

wise in Vietnamese cuisine, even flavour profiles,” he says. “My mum has easily

been the biggest influence, and learning

from her has been a humbling experience.

I thought it was easy to cook Asian food,

but it’s more difficult than western food.”

Tran is a huge part of the R&D process,

and Nguyen has made the call to start

shining a light on more traditional dishes

versus taking the contemporary route the restaurant first revolved around. “At the

Dan Cooper’s family were supportive but everyday tasks were on his future career

as a chef. But it’s not hard to understand why when he describes a childhood in

the Hunter Valley where his grandparents kept a kitchen garden or the family trips that saw him plucking oysters from the

water. “We spent a fair bit of time at my

grandparents’ house after school picking

carrots, beetroots and tomatoes,” he says.

“They had some fruit trees as well that

we’d help ourselves to. I remember picking blood plums and my nan would slow-roast them in the oven and make a classic old-

school custard. I still think they’re the best blood plums I’ve ever eaten to this day.”

beginning, she wasn’t against the things I

Cooper went from observing his grandma

it,” he says. “She’s been trying to get me to

pickle and preserve vegetables. Witnessing

was doing, but she didn’t really understand do this for ages and we get to work more

closely together because I have to tap into her brain and see how things work. We

have similar thoughts about what we want to do with certain dishes and how to bring them into the 21st century while keeping 38 | Hospitality

to getting more involved, learning how to produce flourish and understanding

seasonality has been ingrained in the chef from the get-go, and has proven

to be a continual influence throughout his culinary career. “It’s about having

a connection and an understanding of

OF ORIGI

N

•

OTECTED PR

SIGNATIO

N

DE

•

FEATURE // Culinary influences what it takes to grow something and the rewards you get from growing your own

produce,” he says. “I think it played a role in my want to learn more about the food world. The further I dove into learning about it, the more I wanted to see and

understand different cultures and foods. It opened the door and was the pathway to gaining more knowledge.”

A connection with producers is

paramount for chefs, and is something

“I remember picking blood plums and my nan would slow-roast them in the oven and make a classic old-school custard. I still think they’re the best blood plums I’ve ever eaten to this day.”

– Dan Cooper

Cooper has been privy to for much of his

and used the egg yolks as the natural thickening agent. It was blitzed back

together with cocoa butter and resulted in a silky-smooth mouth-feel. The juice

from the peaches turned into a pectin-thick syrup and basically sauced itself.”

On Saengyojanr, Ging Thai Ging Thai Chef de Cuisine On Saengyojanr has been working in food for the past 30 years, with her culinary education beginning at a young age. And it’s no

life. His grandpa knew an oyster farmer

wonder, with her mother, aunt and

near the family’s holiday house which saw

grandmother all owning their own

them hop on a boat to visit oyster leases.

restaurants across Thailand. Saengyojanr

“We’d come back with pots of oysters,”

grew up in Udon Thani and would cook

says Cooper. “Nan and Pop would shuck

alongside her mother on a daily basis.

them or put them on the fire and let them

“Food [has been] a big part of my life

open and Nan would say, ‘You could sell

for as long as I can remember,” she says.

that one Daniel’, and I’d hunt through the

“I was in the kitchen with [my mother]

bag for the biggest oysters and try to open

from as little as five years old … at 7am

them myself.”

we’d start making congee and curry and

But it’s the baked plums that have

we’d have a sit-down meal with the entire

remained front of mind for Cooper, who

family before any of us started our day.”

went on to create a dish inspired by his

A connection with the land has been

grandmother’s creation at The Prince

ever present for Saengyojanr, who recalls

swapped plums for purple peaches sourced

harvested daily. “In the morning we’d pick

Hotel, where he is head chef. Cooper

memories of a kitchen garden which was

from Seymour. “We baked them in the

the veggies for the meals we’d be eating

wood-fired oven until they were almost stewed,” he says. “We made an orange

blossom custard, which was overcooked 40 | Hospitality

that day,” she says. “[My family] taught The Prince Hotel

me how to let seasonal ingredients shine in cooking.”

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FEATURE // Culinary influences

Ging Thai

“My mum was so instrumental in empowering me to run my own kitchen … she was proud of me for becoming a chef and following in her footsteps.” – On Saengyojanr It wasn’t long before a 12-year-old

Saengyojanr took the skills she picked up at home and moved into a professional

environment, which just happened to be her aunt’s restaurant in Bangkok. The budding

chef would prepare herbs and continued her education on traditional Thai cuisine.

It’s no wonder Saengyojanr credits her family as the most influential figures on her career,

which saw her working at the Thai embassy in Bangladesh before she was scouted by Crown Melbourne in 1997. “My mum, aunty and

grandmother were three inspirational women in my life who really helped carve my career path as a chef,” she says. “My mum was so

instrumental in empowering me to run my

own kitchen, and while she’s no longer with us today, I still think of her often when I’m

cooking. She was proud of me for becoming a chef and following in her footsteps.”

The dishes Saengyojanr cooked with her

mother have continued to take pride of place

in her culinary repertoire, with the chef citing

nam ya pla as a standout dish. “It’s a fish curry with vegetables including cabbage, snake

beans and vermicelli noodles,” she says. “Mum cooked it for us as kids and then we started

making it together. It’s still one of my favourite dishes … and we have a fish curry on our menu just like it thanks to her.” ■ 42 | Hospitality

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FEATURE // Yoghurt Gerard's Bistro

Smooth operator From kishk to labneh, there are many applications to explore with yoghurt in Middle Eastern cuisines.

WORDS Annabelle Cloros

YOGHURT COULD EASILY be described as

yoghurt and burghul, which sees the two

cookery. It’s at home in both savoury and

a number of days. The product is spread

a foundational ingredient in Middle Eastern sweet dishes, often appearing in drinks, as a vessel for sauces or in the form of products including labneh and kishk.

Paul Farag from Nour and Adam Wolfers

from Gerard’s Bistro talk to Hospitality about making products from scratch,

working with different milks and why

yoghurt is a staple that can bring a dish

Over at Gerard’s Bistro in Brisbane’s

mixed together before it’s fermented for

Fortitude Valley, Executive Chef Adam

out and left to dry in the sun before it’s

“Johnny’s [Moubarak, Gerard’s owner]

crushed into a powder. Farag overcame his childhood aversion to the product, and has since become a fan. “It has a

salted lemony flavour and it almost has a nuttiness from the caramelised sugars in the lactose,” he says.

Kishk is commonly used to make drinks

Wolfers has an ultra-convenient kishk source. mum makes it for us, she uses an old-school technique where she makes porridge out

of the wheat, folds it through the yoghurt,

spreads it out and dries it in the sun,” he says.

“As it dehydrates, you get crystallisations of

yoghurt and powdered wheat. It has a super fermented flavour profile and I like to use it

together and create cohesion.

and is added to stews or soups, but Farag

Executive Chef Paul Farag used to hate

at his Surry Hills kitchen in Sydney and

cheesecake form where it’s combined with

features on a Mooloolaba yellowfin

kishk powder into yoghurt which creates

kishk as a kid. Commonly referred to as a mouneh (a Lebanese tradition of storing

and preserving food), kishk is made from 44 | Hospitality

decided to take things “a step further” caramelised it to make a sauce, which nayeh dish.

in savoury and sweet dishes.”

Kishk is currently found on the menu in

biscuits to make the base. “We also blend an interesting flavour,” says Wolfers.

Labneh has become one of the buzziest foodstuffs in recent years, which can potentially be attributed to Yotam

Ottolenghi’s global reach. Labneh is

interchangeably referred to as cheese or yoghurt, and is made in-house at Nour and Gerard’s.

Farag used to refer to labneh as “hung

yoghurt” before he started cooking Middle Eastern food, and has experimented with

buffalo, sheep and cow products. “The main difference in the milks is the whey,” he says.

“The fat content is different; sheep’s milk is more acidic and loses a lot of whey, so

you end up with less than you would with cow’s milk which has a higher fat content.

Buffalo also has a high fat content, and it’s May 2021 | 45

FEATURE // Yoghurt

“I went delving at 4am and I found a 14th-century Egyptian cookbook and the Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens [written 1,000 years ago] and it’s all about how food was made, stored and preserved.”

– Paul Farag

FEATURE // Yoghurt

“We inoculate our milk and then make yoghurt to make the labneh. We also use the whey from the hanging Gerard's Bistro

process in sauces and for fermenting.” – Adam Wolfers

more velvety on the palate. But it lacks strength

Barambah Organics is the supplier of choice

more oomph.”

for milk. “Cow is the main milk we use; I’ve

in flavour, so we season it up with zaatar to give it The chef works with Chtaura Dairy Products

in Sydney’s west, which manufactures

everything from yoghurt to shanklish cheese and ayran, a savoury cold yoghurt beverage Gerard’s

Kishk

use cow’s

is made

milk from

from

Barambah

yoghurt

Organics

and burghul

mixed with salt. Nour mostly uses cow and

through

classic Middle

80 litres

Eastern flavour

of yoghurt

pairing

per week

he says.

The team make the yoghurt for labneh,

we like to make it ourselves,” says Wolfers. “We

The cow product is hung overnight while sheep

“We cold smoke it while it’s solid and then it gets

whipped to smooth it all out,” says Farag. “We play around with it and we can press it into a firmer texture comparable to a crumbly feta.”

Labneh is present throughout Nour’s culinary

offering, with one particular dish coming from

the history books. “Cumin labneh is used on the sea urchin dish which is a combination I found

cow’s milk every week. “It’s labour-intensive, but inoculate our milk and then make yoghurt to

make the labneh. We also use the whey from the hanging process in sauces and for fermenting.

We use the whey to make a beurre blanc that goes with our prawns.”

Gerard’s labneh is hung overnight in a cheese

cloth before it’s seasoned up with confit garlic

and salt to use on a lamb dish. One of Wolfers’

favourite ways to enjoy labneh is at the end of the night, slathered on some leftover flatbread. “With a bit of zaatar on top, it’s awesome,” he says.

in an old cookbook,” says Farag. “I went delving

Yoghurt’s role in Middle Eastern cuisines is

cookbook and the Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens

providing boundless opportunities for chefs.

at 4am and I found a 14th-century Egyptian

[written 1,000 years ago] and it’s all about how

food was made, stored and preserved. It’s one of those books that had a big influence.”

46 | Hospitality

larger volume and it works out best cost-wise,”

week’s supply for the restaurant.

After the straining process, the labneh is smoked. cumin is a

towards cow’s milk because we can do it in a

churning through 80 litres of un-homogenised

going through 80 litres of yoghurt to make a

least time-consuming, taking around three hours.

Nour go

tried with camel, sheep and goat, but we lean

sheep yoghurt to make labneh, with the team

is hung for about three to four hours. Buffalo is the

Urchin and

for Wolfers, who prefers to use a local farm

ubiquitous, appearing in myriad forms and “They use it in basically everything,” says

Wolfers. “It’s probably one of the most important ingredients in the Middle East.” ■

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FEATURE // POS systems

Make your point When it comes to POS systems, there’s no one-type-fits-all solution for hospitality businesses.

WHEN SETTING UP a hospitality

business, you might think first about the overall concept — what type of food or drink offering you want to provide, the

branding and interior design you envisage communicating your concept and the staff members you want working for

you. Of course, there will be budgetary considerations, but when it comes to

technologies such as point-of-sale systems, you might be tempted to neglect doing your research.

POS technology has come a long way

since it was essentially limited to keying in

If your business offers online ordering in any form … ensure all the channels you are using can be integrated into your POS system.

an item number, selecting your customers' preferred payment method, making the

exchange and printing out receipts to tally your total sales.

A 2018 study by Finder revealed

Australians spent a total of $2.6 billion dollars on food and drink delivery

through apps such as Menulog, Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Foodora accounting for 12

per cent of sales within the restaurant, café and takeaway foodservice industry. On top of the organic growth the online ordering market had already been experiencing,

COVID-19 only served to make it an even 48 | Hospitality

the hospitality industry, the options for

customisation within POS systems is endless,

and the better you are able to tailor your POS to your own unique set-up and offering, the

easier — and more accurate — you can make day-to-day operations.

With so many variables to keep in mind,

we’ve put together a checklist of services that modern POS systems can offer.

Payment types An easy place to start when choosing a

POS system for your business is to figure

out whether the payment types you accept are compatible with those the POS system

larger share of the total transaction pie.

Research by IBISWorld found the online

food ordering and delivery platforms

industry experienced growth of 81.1 per cent in Australia between 2015-2020, bringing it to a market size of $756

million. According to the analysis, it is

predicted to grow even more rapidly over the next five years.

It is just one example of how different

points of sale look in the foodservice industry compared to even half a decade ago. Within

can handle or whether there are certain fees associated with different payment

types. Many POS systems will charge a

fee for card transactions — whether this

comes through Visa, MasterCard, EFTPOS or Amex — but some may charge more

than others. When you are shopping for

POS systems, compare the rates they are

charging and keep your customer base in mind. It helps to know, for example, how

many sales come through major credit card brands and whether or not the percentage justifies passing the surcharge onto your

FEATURE // POS systems

customers. Ask about the finer details — some

POS software will not charge a flat rate for credit card transactions or might apply different rates month to month.

If a large percentage of your sales are from

card transactions, you’ll also want to make sure your POS system incorporates a contactless

payment option and that it can handle Apple Pay and Google Pay transactions.

Finally, if your business offers gift cards as

a form of payment, ensure these can be easily integrated into your POS system. Ideally,

redeeming them will be as easy as processing any other form of card payment where you can track them within end-of-day reports.

Payment protection With the rise in online payments comes an

increase in online scammers. Thankfully, there

are a range of protections in place in Australia — and your POS system should be on top of these.

The central standard for credit card payments in Australia is governed by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS),

which sets out a number of requirements you need to comply with to ensure that customer card information is always secure.

As most (if not all) of the card payments

you accept will go through your POS system,

it is crucial the software company behind the

technology is compliant with current PCI DSS requirements. Up-to-date information on PCI

Any POS system worth its salt should be able to provide real-time information on customer orders.

DSS can be found on the business.gov.au website, but any POS software company you speak with should be able to tell you with transparency

what level of the standards they comply with.

Certain POS systems will also be able to offer

added measures of protection. For instance,

some POS systems come with integrated fraud protection and monitoring as well as options to add levels of security (such as two-step

verification) to ensure only certain employees can access stored payment data.

Multi-channel integration If your business offers online ordering in any form — via your own website, third-party

delivery platforms or a mixture of the two — ensure all the channels you are using can be integrated into your POS system.

An easy recipe for a nightmarish night of

service is if your Uber Eats orders are coming in

through a different platform than your Deliveroo 50 | Hospitality

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FEATURE // POS systems and website orders or if your front-of-house

For instance, if you regularly need to send

back-of-house (BOH) system.

allows you to do it. If tips form a regular

(FOH) POS system isn’t integrated with the

Any POS system worth its salt should be able

to provide real-time information on customer orders, with multi-channel integration that

neatly packages data from various platforms in one place. There should also be easy

integration between the software being used

on the floor and in the kitchen. It might require different hardware for FOH and BOH staff, depending on the information required to

invoices online, there is a POS system that part of your cash flow, choose a POS system that can not only track tips for individual employees, but pay them straight to your

employees’ bank accounts. There is even the possibility to track inventory through your

POS software, with some systems having the

capacity to send you email alerts once certain items run low.

receive and communicate.

Depending on the type of business, your must-

Sales and reporting

there are myriad tools modern POS systems

Almost as important as making sales is being able to accurately and easily track them at the end of the day. When shopping for a POS system, look closely at the reporting tools offered.

More than just closing out tabs and

creating sales reports, many POS systems offer comprehensive suites of sales tools.

52 | Hospitality

haves from a POS system will be different and

The online

Ensure

food

payment

ordering

systems comply

and delivery

with Australia’s

industry in

Payment

Australia was

Card Industry

worth $756

Data Security

million

Standards

in 2020

requirements

Modern POS

The more

can offer you. The only way to know which

systems can

customisable

integrate

your POS

market and compare the features that are

orders from

system is, the

currently available. At the end of the day, the

multiple

better it will

delivery

be able to

that is customisable and can work with your

platforms into

grow with your

one place

business

system suits your business best is to shop the

most important thing is to find a POS system unique operations. ■

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VIDEO // Behind the scenes

Glorietta’s Alaskan king crab pasta An in-depth look at Hospitality’s masterclass series.

GLORIETTA HEAD CHEF Alberto Facci focuses on premium ingredients treated simply, with hearty dishes lightened up with fresh and fermented elements. Pasta is made in-house daily, with the crab, pea and chilli a firm favourite for customers.

Ingredients 120g di Grano Duro spaghetti 60g Alaskan king crab meat 10g extra virgin olive oil 50g freshly blanched peas 1tbsp chilli garlic mix 5g butter Zest of half an orange Handful of chopped parsley Pinch of sea salt

Method 1. Pan-fry chilli and garlic with extra virgin olive oil. Add peas, butter, king crab and a pinch of salt.

2. C ook the spaghetti for 10 minutes in boiling salted water until al dente.

3. Drain and add spaghetti to the saucepan. Sauté for about 30 seconds before adding orange zest and chopped parsley.

Scan the QR code to watch the full video brought to you

by Cookers.

54 | Hospitality

EQUIPMENT // Pastry scraper

Pastry scraper Also known as a dough scraper, the versatile tool comes in a variety of shapes and materials.

Ruler on the edge helps cut even portions Blade typically made from nylon, metal, rubber or plastic Also known as a dough scraper or bench knife

Blunt-edged blade has multiple other uses such as smoothing icing or crushing garlic Full-length handle makes it easy to grip onto without slipping

Curved shape is ideal for scraping dough out of mixing bowls Rectangular shape makes it easy to lift, turn, cut and work dough on surfaces Stainless-steel blades are easy to clean and durable

56 | Hospitality

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5 MINUTES WITH ... // Rosa Cienfuegos Rosa Cienfuegos and her father Julio Cienfuegos

Rosa

Cienfuegos The ‘queen of tamales’ on labouring for love.

MY DAD HAS been working as a chef in

Dulwich Hill [Tamaleria] to begin my

excited to have all of us (my sister, brother

and are known for being hard to make.

Sydney since 1999. I think he got super and myself) here [from Mexico] to the

point where he decided to open a Latin-

American restaurant on Enmore Road. We

all worked with him and he taught us a lot of techniques and how things work in the hospitality scene here.

Sadly, he had to shut down his

restaurant in 2013. The lack of Mexican food pushed us to make the decision; it

dream. Tamales are a pre-Hispanic dish

wants to make them, as they might not be

takeaway food. In Mexico, it’s very common

all of them are handmade. Not everyone a profitable item considering the labour involved. I want to educate and teach

[the dining public about] some of our

most-loved dishes without thinking if it’s profitable or not.

Respect of tradition is important

that, rent, salaries and the expenses were

mixer. It’s also important to have the right

to change the reviews in a positive way —

not by trying to make a profit out of it, but by teaching and educating people about our gastronomy.

I stated to do small markets and

people loved the food. After a few years, I got the opportunity to rent a space in 58 | Hospitality

I’m leaving all the staff from Tamaleria

when we open Itacate & Mexican Deli in

when making tamales; you hand-mix

not easy to deal with. I was determined

to have them; we are very lucky.

It takes a long time to make them and

was very sad to get horrible reviews for not being ‘Mexican enough’. On top of

slowly learning. It’s very important for us

the dough instead of using a commercial ingredients and to use the proper corn

husk or banana leaf to wrap them, steam

them instead of baking and generously fill them using quality ingredients.

In the kitchen, my dad and I split the

Redfern. Itacate [Nahuatl language], means to have a takeaway container with leftover

food from a party, and everyone says, ‘Take your itacate!’ It’s just my dad and I moving to Redfern and we are getting more staff for the shop. Itacate has a different and

larger Mexican menu. There is also a retail

shop with Mexican ingredients, seating and hopefully a liquor licence. I think I need

to bring out more from Mexico and show

that we are not just tacos and burritos. The release of my cookbook Comida Mexicana convinced me to cook some of the dishes and put them on a menu.

I love the name I’ve been given in

work; tamales and masa items are my job,

Sydney. ‘Queen of tamales’ comes with

at Tamaleria also give us a hand and are

[have] it.

meats and condiments are his. The staff

a lot of responsibility and I love to ■

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Airex’s innovative and sleek line-up will fit seamlessly into any commercial setting, in retail, commercial kitchens, cafés, in either front or back of house applications.

Providing outstanding food safety standards, hygiene and high-quality components, Airex sets a new standard for refrigeration and display within the food service market.

DESIGNED AND ENGINEERED IN AUSTRALIA TO MEET AUSTRALIAN STANDARDS

MASTERING THE ELEMENTS