Getting into Autumn, some new projects and more Shandong Mama

Happy to say it has a been a very busy fortnight, with too much to do, places to go, birthdays and dishes/ingredients I want to try at work, in too little time!

As I mentioned on Twitter, now is the time to start using chestnut, cavolo nero, kohlrabi and quince, a little bit of venison and I’ve been getting into flavour-packed jumbuck (basically old sheep)  from Greenvale Farm (Grampians) apples, pears etc! Oysters are fabulous right now, and they are on menu’s everywhere, so I eat them almost everytime I am out, as well as a sneaky one every now and then during service!

Chilli brisket at Shandong Mama

Tuesdays out have seen us at Shandong Mama for dumplings (again!) where we also had the brisket with chillies (like, whole ones, which were a little too OTT). Some Ribolla at Grossi Florentino after, and the following Tuesday we got to France Soir for some  bistro fare including fried lamb’s brains, beef tartare, steak au poivre, whole baked fish and duckling a l’orange. A memorable Chablis was had.

At Neighbourhood Wine charcuterie projects included croustillant au pied de cochon (crumbed and baked pig’s trotter) served with a velvety red wine sauce, pressed pig’s head terrine with tartare sauce and pork & hazelnut terrine. The one currently on the menu is a quail & pork terrine with apricots, wrapped in Greenvale Farm bacon. I also got in some ox heart, a product seldomly seen on menus,  but when tasted  surprises nearly everyone – meaty but not at all like liver or kidney. I slice it wafer-thin, then sauté it for about 4 sec in a smoking hot pan, and serve it in a watercress salad with kohlrabi, a mustard vinaigrette and pickled walnuts. A slightly British dish, and I love it!

Ox heart salad

Pressed pigs trotter

Tonka visit and other autumny stuff

Kingfish from the tandoor and Goan fish curry at the back

A bit of kitchen action

Tonka hasn’t been open for long, but since it’s by the seasoned operators of nearby Coda, we chose it as our Tuesday night dinner spot. Being new to Melbourne I never saw it’s previous incarnation as Honkytonks nightclub, although Simon did, and testifies to the space having had a complete modern makeover.We sat at the bar as they were fully booked, and started with some of the smaller dishes (grilled prawns, tuna tartare, lamb cutlets) with a Chenin, and then had the Hiramasa Kingfish with slaw and the Goan fish curry – incredible – with a food-friendly ‘Les Granits’ Saint – Joseph (M. Chapoutier).

It’s not cheap, but then again the city never is, and I was quite willing to pay for the skillfully crafted food, arrangement of flavours (we dubbed it Pan-indian) and top-notch fantastic use of fresh produce. These things cost money, people.

The choice tipple of the evening

The tete pressée – rolled pigs head with shallots, nutmeg and parsley

Back at work I’m feeling autumn, (on my bike rides to work I certainly do) and quinces, beef cheeks, witlof and tete pressee have crept onto the menu alongside the pine mushrooms that every year announce the changing of the seasons. The bread now takes twice as long to prove, too!

Last week’s slightly Italian version of the pine mushrooms

Monday sauce

Cruising op-shops last week I stumbled upon a book I’ve been wanted to get my hands on for a long time – Gael Greene’s Insatiable: Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess.  It’s her memoir from her days (well, over 30 years) as the powerful New York restaurant critic for New York Magazine. It certainly contains all the juicy bits of her crazy life back then, and names are named! Her website is here, and definitely worth checking out! She has also written a fair few other books – can you tell I’m a big fan?

On an equally salubrious note, I just found this article by James Hamblin in The Atlantic – about the aphrodisiac qualities of radishes (who would’ve known) and a great story behind their so-called powers. I’m about to plant some in my garden, so we’ll see… I noticed in the comments on this article that some people are whinging on about radishes being bitter. Now I’ve never come across a bitter radish but if you do, the same rule applies as for all other veggies (even ‘sweet’ ones like carrots) if they are bitter, they are simply old, and probably only fit for the compost worms. Except for aubergine, which has a bit of a bitter tendency, of course.

Anyway check out the article, go buy a bunch of radishes and maybe pick up a copy of Isabel Allende’s Aphrodite : A Memoir of the Senses...

Stuff this week: A new terrine and restaurant-hopping

The terrine – which still needs a lot of perfecting work!

Making the terrine

Continuing with the  charcuterie theme, this week’s terrine is a pate en croute, which is quite an old-style type of terrine – ours is chicken, ham, sherry and pistachio, encased in a savoury pastry. After baking, the space where the pastry rose above the cooked meat is filled with an aspic (a savoury jelly). I’m still serving it with pickled walnuts and caper mayonnaise, and although it’s perhaps not the most suited garnish, it is very popular with all who order the terrine. Good wine food too, and currently Simon has paired it with the 2011 Cantina Valle Isarco Kerner from Sudtirol – Alto Adige. The bresaola is coming along nicely and should be ready to use in about two weeks time.

I use a lot of meats from Savour & Grace, and on the cured meats plate this week we’re using a beautiful french Saucisson, spanish Fuet Anis, and there’s some Coppacolla and Chorizo and a smaller slice of the terrine as well.

Ray Cafe

Day off this week saw us wander around in Sydney road checking  out the rather iconic Ray Cafe in Victoria Street, having the most incredible oysters and La Goya Manzanilla at Pinotta in St Georges road and a seriously impressive Japanese meal at Kumo Izakaya in Lygon street. Highlights were the daikon and yuba salad, and raw baby octopus with wasabi and seaweed.

Coffin Bay oysters

Sashimi & octopus wit wasabi

They have a great sake selection too, and then we finished off the night at the cute Atticus Finch for a few drinks… before I really needed a nap!

Bread, charcuterie, Vermut & Pastis

Water biscuits with sesame for the cheese plate

The cool thing about opening in the evening with a small menu, is that there is ample time for our small team to make quality menu items ourselves, including the bread, terrines, some cured products and my long-time obsession, puff pastry.

Starting the puff pastry with a detrempe

I am well aware of the fact that very good alternatives can be bought, and especially in artisan-food crazy Melbourne there’s definitely a host of alternatives, but for me it’s more about the process, anyway. Plus bread baked at 5pm for dinner is way better than bread baked 12 hours earlier, no? Regarding puff pastry, well ever since I have taught this elusive technique (along with brioche-making by hand), I’ve been trying to perfect it by hand. Because I can.

Last week’s effort with prune and walnut (under the pass lights unfortunately )

Simon taking over the kitchen after hours to simmer the botanicals for the vermut. And make a fine mess.

I also really enjoy putting together (and eating!) terrines and charcuterie, so whilst for the past two weeks we have been doing a fairly simple one with pork, chicken, nuts and prunes, I have FINALLY acquired nitrates and can now go crazy with sausage meat and what-have-you. Bresaola is is also in the making.

Blurry pic! of filling the amphorae with wine, brandy, caramel, botanicals and orange

The sweltering weather of the last two weeks was reflected on the menu, but now that the season seems to have caught up with the calendar, I’ve started getting in some pine mushrooms, quinces are in season, and soon a thick hearty braise will be a permanent fixture on the menu, which is continuing with its retro old-school feel. Still loving the last bit of summer but excited about using the fireplace every night!

Aromatics and botanicals for the pastis. A force to be reckoned with

And I spotted this inbetween the deliveries, pretty exciting!

Continuing the trend of creating our own, our newly acquired amphorae is finally filled with botanicals (gentian, orange, juniper, marjoram, hyssop etc), caramel, brandy and about 2 dozen (!) bottles of wine and slowly oxidising to create the perfect Spanish vermut. Next to it is our pastis, made with botanicals (mostly from my garden in fact) and a whole lot of very strong booze. It’s quite something, and certainly acts as a rather effective digestif!

Day off this week saw us make it to Top Paddock in Richmond, which was good, and have the largest mud crab gumbo at our local – The Gem. We’re back now and in the middle of our week – we have decided to rather close on Tuesdays and open Mondays, due to customer requests, gladly!

Brunch sort of stuff at Top Paddock

Mud crab gumbo. Cause its Tuesday

Done

Almost a week old now! It looks beautiful, and I’m glad Melbourne is giving us a few more warm days so that we can appreciate the sunset through our first-floor windows!

Small things have been tweaked, and we feel more and more comfortable with where we’re at in our venue. Thanks to everyone who came to our soft opening and putting us through our paces!

Japanese Koshu

The wine list has grown, and apart from interesting specimens from well-known regions, we have also acquired Chinese and Japanese samples. The food is still simple with retro quirks, which works well in the venue.

Yes, it is a prawn cocktail

Pork, chicken, cognac & prune terrine

On the stress scale that week reached a solid 10. However all weeks have to end with a Monday (thank heavens) and yesterday I checked out Shandong MaMa off  Bourke Street, to see whether all the deliriously gushing blogger reports about the dumplings were justified. (Unlike with HuTong Dumpling where it’s all just hype). And it is, absolutely, very good. Oh and the gelati at The European’s Spring Street Grocer Gelateria Primavera is seriously proper too, although I think I’m the last to find that out!

Finding crockery, testing recipes, finishing a thousand loose ends

Sunset in the dining room

Tables in

The door was a bit of a drama but it’s up now

Even though the kitchen is not yet done  (that’s a whole different story altogether) and various other bits and pieces are still to arrive, I’ve been raiding Ebay and all manner of second-hand stores for crockery of a certain type to fit the style of food we’ll be doing at the bar. Here and there we’ve found some beautiful pieces that must been someone’s dear grandma’s treasure once, all to the benefit of the general look of the venue.

Suitable receptacles

The wooden tables have finally arrived, and the stained glass front door is up. We, and quite a few helpful friends spent a weekend on the floors of the bar, cleaning the grooves in the wood meticulously, and by now the floors have been finished with a natural oil.

Most importantly, we’re down to the wine ordering stage – as that is what we’re about, right?

Slowly cooking the pork, note the crackling!

An opening menu has been written, sporting some classics from bygone days to start, and below are a few pictures of a pork dish I’ve played around with for dinner one night which would probably feature on the menu at one stage. The cut is slowly cooked entirely on stovetop – a good method for home but done different a la restaurant, and then served with melted leeks, sage and soft polenta. Simple.

The finished dish

This reflects most of the food we’ll be doing. Rustic that really means rustic, cooking without any smarty-pants tricks, with an emphasis on old-school technique and skill. It’s time that got en vogue again! We’re counting down a week and a half until opening, so its all getting quite real now!