Terry Durack shares his favourite dining moments of the month in the September issue of the(sydney)magazine. Among them is a snippet on Rockpool‘s rich and noble lobster congee – delicious!
“The Lord” as it is affectionately known is Sydney’s oldest licensed hotel and home of Australia’s oldest pub brewery. Established in 1841, although built years before, this magnificent hotel is encased with local sandstone quarried from up the road at Observatory Hill.
Tristan and Blaire have had the Hotel in their family for nearly 25 years (only slightly longer they their long time neighbours, Rockpool, down the road). At Rockpool Bar & Grill we have been stocking the super popular Three Sheets Pale for close to 12 months now, and have had nothing but amazing feedback on this beautiful hand crafted, 100% natural ale.
No added sugars, preservatives or additives, these beers are delicious and a such a pleasure to drink. A true art form, and made to perfection daily at the brewery in the Rocks in one of our oldest drinking establishments.
The Waiting Room will be a celebration of all things bespoke, special, and wonderful about liquid. From our hand crafted tonic water, ginger ale and cola, to our tailored, specialized ice program – we want to ensure all we do is at the highest possible level. Incredible wines, wonderful spirits, great service and of course, delicious family made Natural Ales.
With the opening in October we saw this as a great opportunity to bring “The Lord’s” Three Sheets Pale Ale on draft to our friends in Melbourne. The only place outside those sandstone walls at the Rocks in Sydney you will be able to sample this fine product.
The Waiting Room is the ‘Jewel in the Crown’. Not only because it is our first stand alone bar, or because it will be the only cocktail bar at the Crown Complex, but because we just love this concept and how it fits into our family of restaurants. With all the design signed off, and the builders in, our challenge is… how do we recreate that magical feeling you get when you step into one of your favourite cocktail bars from around the world? Capture that buzz, that moment of excitement when you first walk through the door. We traveled the world, spoke of design, tasted cocktails and more cocktails, and shared experiences of service. A classic American Bar in Rome was a mood that excited us -tradition, cocktails, exclusivity – in a place of modern luxury. We drew inspiration from the great hotels of Europe and the United States during the post WWII years – new travel, globalised tourism and the link between these two great continents.
The Waiting Room represents a place for a cocktail on the way out; a hideaway with a pretty lady; or a piece of comfort away from home. We benchmarked the Connaught Hotel, London; Salvatore @50 St James; Hemmingway Bar Ritz, Paris; PDT NYC; Pegu Club NYC; Milk & Honey London, to name but a few inspirations. Grant and his team have done an incredible job creating a space that combines grandeur with intimate detail and style. Now it is almost time to bring it to life.
Produce driven bespoke cocktails
Original classics and contemporary twists from around the globe
Tasty and delicious bites to eat
Crystal glassware, copper mugs, coupettes
Antique cocktail equipment and soda guns
Sophisticated Wine Program – offering premium wine by the taste, glass, carafe or bottle
Five star Rockpool service
Impeccably dressed staff.
More than anything this is a place for adults to have fun! It doesn’t get much more exciting!
Here are a couple of cocktails we have been playing with to whet your appetite.
Here is another classic. It really is worth using both beef and pork; it adds to the flavour and texture. The bacon also adds great complexity and if you caramelize the vegetables really well, you will get even more flavour. Make this and serve it on toast if you want something easy. I always remember my father making lots of spaghetti bolognaise, and we would have the sauce for breakfast the next day on toast. Try it; it really is delicious.
400 g (14 oz) spaghetti
extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, sliced
1 small carrot, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
100 g (31/2 oz) smoky bacon, diced
sea salt
400 g (14 oz) minced (ground) beef
400 g (14 oz) minced (ground) pork
500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) full-bodied red wine
600 g (1 lb 5 oz) tinned whole Italian tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 sprigs thyme, leaves stripped and roughly chopped
freshly grated Parmesan
freshly ground pepper
Heat a little oil in a large frying pan. Add the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, bacon and some sea salt and cook for 15 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. The vegetables should caramelize, but not burn.
Add the minced beef and pork and a little extra salt and cook for 5 minutes, stirring to colour the mince well. Add the red wine and bring to the boil, then simmer until reduced by half. Add the tomato and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the chopped thyme; taste and check the seasoning.
Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in a saucepan of well salted boiling water, until al dente, then drain.
Divide the pasta among four bowls, add the sauce, some freshly grated Parmesan and pepper and serve.
Spaghetti Bolognaise - Good Food by Neil Perry
Serves 4
It is so exciting taking Spice Temple down to Melbourne. We consider it a great honour to go to a city which has one of the world’s greatest Chinese restaurants in Flower Drum and also has terrific regional Chinese restaurants like Dainty Sichuan. I took the team to Dainty on Saturday after our day looking for staff. It was fun to eat many of the dishes that we do in Sydney and get renditions that are so on target. These dishes are as good as the best ones I had in China.
Fiery hot and full of flavour we had chilli clams, strange flavoured chicken, fish fragrant eggplant, cumin lamb, firewater beef and Sichuan fish, plus many more all swimming in spice, all delicious.
We will bring our brand of regional Chinese food down and pair those Great flavours with sustainably fished and farmed produce. Humanely raised and treated animal with free range and organic back grounds with be seasoned with wonderful Chinese flavours and create food that is both yummy and ethical. This is a great combination and the produce really sings with these great flavours.
We can’t wait and I will be having many dinners at Flower Drum, my favourite restaurant in Australia, and Dainty Sichuan when I’m down opening Spice Temple and our new bar The Waiting Room…….hell, that is if I can find time between working like a mad man!!
It
This is our new bar The Waiting Room…and yes, I promise it will open a week or so before Spice Temple!
All the structural work is done and it is really now about building it and adding all the joinery and furniture as it arrives, all on time. The small kitchen won’t hold us up. The Bar itself is made from glazed lava stone and it looks fantastic. I love it and we have used a bit of the lava stone in Perth as well.
Wait till you see it, very beautiful and a great place to drink and have fun!
Well here we go, Spice Temple demo has finished and we are building like crazy.
Walls are going up the electrical and plumbing is being roughed in. The work in the kitchen starts tomorrow. The plinths, screed, tiles, wall panels, extraction units and then ceiling go in, then the kitchen equipment will be put in. I expect this to be finished in about 4 weeks.
The whole thing will come together quickly, well it better we only have about 8 weeks till training starts!
The staff are starting to come on board and Ben, Andy, Brendan and I are finalising the menu for opening. We have lots to do for the front of house and the wine list will start to shape up in the next few weeks. I think everything has been ordered, we will have a meeting about it all this week and put any remaining issues to bed. The shots will start to look more like a restaurant in about 5 weeks or so, I can’t wait.
A good friend, Greg Fraser, passed this recipe on to me many years ago, and now Sam and I have it almost every day. It is very simple and good for lowering cholesterol levels. You can have any fruit you like with it; we tend to have fresh berries in summer, and either poached quinces or pears during the rest of the year. A really good yoghurt, such as a sheep’s milk yoghurt, will make the muesli taste even better, though taste as you go and adjust the lemon juice a little to balance the yoghurt’s sharpness.
HOW TO ROAST NUTS — Hazelnuts can be roasted by simply cooking in a preheated 180°C (350°F/Gas 4) oven until golden brown. To remove their skins, allow the nuts to cool, then put them in a clean tea towel, fold it in half and rub the nuts inside the towel on the bench. Tip the nuts into a strainer and allow the skins to fall to the bottom. To roast nuts such as almonds and walnuts, you must first blanch them in boiling water for 2–3 minutes to loosen their skins. Strain, then peel away the skin. Put the nuts on a tray and roast in the centre of a preheated 150°C (300°F/Gas 2) oven. Shake the tray often to ensure an even roast. The nuts will continue to cook on removing from the oven so take them out when they are a light brown colour. Desiccated or shredded coconut may be roasted in the same way.
Ingredients
200 g (7 oz/2 cups) rolled oats
juice of 2 lemons
2 sour green apples, such as Granny Smith
500 g (1 lb 2 oz/2 cups) plain yoghurt
150 g (51/2 oz/scant 1/2 cup) honey
poached fruit, such as poached pears (page 432), or fresh fruit, to serve
40 g (11/2 oz/1/3 cup) roasted hazelnuts, skinned and crushed, to serve
Method
The night before, mix the oats, lemon juice and 125 ml (4 fl oz/1/2 cup) water together in a bowl. Cover and soak overnight.
In the morning, grate the apples, with their skin on, and add to the bowl of soaked oats. Add the yoghurt and honey and mix together well. Divide the muesli among four bowls, top with your fruit selection and sprinkle with the hazelnuts.
Serves 4
Bircher Muesli from Food I Love
The Waiting Room bar menu is coming along. 20 dishes tested, just need to do the 8 hot ones tomorrow and all done. This will be followed by costing and then just food notes for the waiters. We need to do prep lists and fridge positions for all the produce, plus design how the service will run in the small galley kitchen. The food is not meant to be a meal, it is a snack, perhaps a replacement for a meal, and perhaps just enough fuel to keep the alcohol at bay when you spend hours enjoying yourself in the bar. For what else is a waiting room for? Other than a place to spend time, enjoy and embellish life!!
The bar will be a place to eat great snacks yes,.. but it will be the quality of the drinks that define us. With fresh juices, sodas, essences and infusions the cocktails will be hand tooled and totally driven by freshness. The tap beers will be micro and delicious, the range of bottled beers will be extensive and very well thought out. The wine will be by the glass, half carafe or bottle and some great reds and whites will be available by the glass protected by a fantastic preservation dispenser. We will be able make sure all the quality wines are served at the right temperature and do not oxidise when open. What else would anyone expect from the Rockpool Group? 2 transtherm cabinets will make sure all the wines served are at their perfect drinking temperature. Oh, how I hate warm red wine in bars!
With this bar we extend all the good work we have been doing in Food and Drink at Spice Temple bar and Rockpool Bar & Grill. For us it is about purity, the best possible drinks, in comfortable surroundings with delicious food and great service….what a grown up idea!!
Well what a great week in Perth . Lots of things sorted out and it looks like we have some great suppliers coming on board.
All the plans are finished for the three restaurants. Spice Temple Melbourne is up on the site, the waiting room will be next and then RB&G Perth will take its place. In the next 6 months we intend to be running 7 world class restaurant and bar experiences. I hope that all the new ones will add to the offer of their respective cities.
All the planning has gone in, now all are finished the demolition stage and Melbourne is starting to streak ahead in the building stakes. I will be down with the Melbourne team this Saturday looking at staff. I hope we get a good roll up to the staff call. Friday will be a number of meetings with the builders and project managers and I’m hoping all is running to schedule as we are trying to do what very few have done before and need the timing to be perfect.
We start the bar food testing tomorrow so I hope to have a few shots of food you can expect soon up on the web. Lots to do and so little time. Plus a couple of fund raisers and a couple of major announcements with other stuff we are involved in.
All in all the pace is quickening and my life is about to fly past and be surrounded by nothing but work!
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