Jamie’s Italian leads the renaissance of a new type of restaurant chain
By its third night, Jamie’s Italian was dishing up home-made pasta and free-range prosciutto to 400 diners. British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s Australian beachhead opened this week on Pitt Street to a strong start. It’s the latest of several high-profile restaurant openings, including David Chang’s Momofuku Seiobo, Stefano Manfredi’s Balla, Teage Ezard’s Black by Ezard (all at the Star) and Chase Kojima’s Sokyo due to open at the casino’s Darling hotel next week. These follow a raft of new offerings at Westfield mall including David Tsirekas’s Xanthi, Alessandro Pavoni’s Spiedo and Justin North’s new Becasse. But the reality is that for the past year restaurants have been closing their doors faster than new ones are opening, industry head John Hart from Restaurant Catering said. “There is quite a lot of consolidation going on,” Hart said, noting a strong shift towards corporate ownership and away from independents. “Unless you’ve got economy of scale behind a number of businesses, you really can’t make a buck,” he said. The Star’s new restaurants are owned by the casino and operated by individual chefs’ teams. At Westfield the restaurants are mostly second, third and fourth businesses for corporate owners. “While they’re multiple outlets, they’re not cookie-cutter operations – you’ve still got all that difference in the market and you get the economy of scale as well,” Hart said. Jamie’s Italian is owned by a listed company, the Pacific Restaurant Group, which also owns the Chophouse and three Kingsleys Steak Crabhouse restaurants. With more than 20 restaurants (in Britain and Dubai, with Moscow and Brisbane on the way), Jamie’s Italian is a global franchise. Sydney Morning Herald, 29 October
Drunkorexia: girls starving to drink more
IT’S a new dangerous drinking fad dubbed ‘drunkorexia’ and gripping NSW – women starving themselves so they can booze and not gain weight. Medics say the growing craze is most common among university students faced with the challenge of staying slim and peer-pressure drinking. Research shows substance abuse like binge drinking co-exists with eating disorders – 50 per cent of women with eating disorders will have a drinking problem. “This is tied in with the increase in binge drinking in Australia which is a real problem,” Eating Disorders Foundation spokeswoman Naomi Crafti said. “We also know there is an increase in the number of people suffering from eating disorders and disordered eating and there is no reason to believe that their alcohol intake is any different to their food intake.” Dr Crafti said many young Australian women were ‘drunkorexics’, the common term for multi-impulsive bulimia. “They are not eating all day because they know they are going to drink at night so they are saving their calories,” she said. “Then they are drinking large quantities of alcohol which has no nutrients, getting excessively drunk because they have no food in their stomach and often engaging in promiscuous sexual activity because they have no control over their behaviour and later on purging to rid themselves of the calories of alcohol.” Sunday Telegraph, 30 October
Time to advance, Australian fare;
If we defined Australia by its food, what would it be? The barbecue, pavlova or lamington? I don’t think so. We can barely lay claim to the barbie, almost certainly did not create the pav and the latter is a none-too-flash bit of sponge cake. Brazilian chef Alex Atala was challenged to think about his country’s food during a meal at legendary El Bulli restaurant in Spain. He says a course called Countries “transformed my life”. Thailand was portrayed by coconut milk, curry and kaffir lime; Japan by soy sauce, seaweed and fish; Italy by tomatoes, basil and olive oil. Atala began looking at his nation’s little-known indigenous ingredients and, in 1999, opened D.O.M. restaurant in Sao Paulo. The restaurant’s use of native Brazilian and Amazonian produce, such as acai and cupuacu, has had a profound effect on his country’s attitude to its native foods. Move 12 years forward to the luxurious surrounds of a dinner party in the Paspaley jewellery store. Despite pearls the size of mini tomatoes displayed all around, a group of diners is more focused on their plates and, in particular, a sophisticated and memorable dish – Native Fruits of Australia – served by Ben Shewry of Attica, Melbourne. A wonderful amalgam of sharp and sweet, there are muntries, candied desert limes, lemon aspen, finger limes and rosella petals served on a sheep’s milk yoghurt infused with the flavour of gum leaves. It is all part of a quiet revolution in the kitchens of Australia’s top chefs. Chefs such as Shewry are looking to their own backyard for ingredients. Chef Martin Benn serves a finger lime mousse at Sepia, while Peter Gilmore of Quay restaurant makes a ewe’s milk ice-cream with lilly-pilly. Today’s chefs are teaching themselves to use and understand the tastes and textures of our indigenous plants in a sympathetic, subtle and exciting way. Sydney Morning Herald, 29 October
Restaurant The Bridge Room
The single most important ingredient in the Australian restaurant kitchen today? A passport. What is putting ideas into dining today like never before is the need that creative Australians have to head abroad and learn from others before bringing it all back home. It curves the ball and shakes up the predictable, an unfortunate by-product of Australia’s relatively small training pool. Which takes us into Sydney’s sandstone corridors of commerce, to Bridge Street, where Ross Lusted and head chef Stephen Moore are, metaphorically, still unpacking. Lusted has been away 10 years, mostly with Aman Resorts, setting up restaurants the world over. Stephen Moore has been with Lusted much of that time, with forays into serious Spanish restaurants. What they bring back to Bridge Street is an attitude and experience contributing to a unique cuisine. Their menu is diversely inspired but truly their own. Just don’t ask us to categorise it. The thread is great produce presented in a manner that eschews richness and weight for flavour, texture and levity. A “salad”, for example, of shaved, raw heirloom carrots, grilled baby turnip, beetroot and its leaves, house-made sheep’s milk curd and coconut ash; it’s fleshy and crunchy, and proudly shows off the kitchen’s little Japanese charcoal grill. But there’s better to come: citrus, salt and rich, creamy pork flavour in a salad of bitter red baby radicchio with oysters, blood orange and wafers of lardo, all glossed over with a dressing of pineapple, lime, fish sauce, mandarin juice and pork fat. And Lusted’s take on lamb and mint sauce is rump from Junee, cooked sous vide in olive oil and dried oregano. It gets a run on the charcoal before slicing – dark exterior, almost red inside – to be served with pureed Jerusalem artichoke, fresh peas, a little chicken broth and pounded mint. The Australian, 29 October
Snakes and turtles ‘for Thai tables’
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian authorities have seized nearly 450 protected snakes and turtles – many dead – that may have been destined for dining tables in neighbouring Thailand, an official said yesterday. Authorities raided a house in northern Kedah state on Wednesday and found the animals in small cages and boxes, said Celescoriano Razond, a senior wildlife department official. A total of 302 cobras and five Malayan box turtles were taken into the custody of wildlife officials, who planned to release them into the wild, Mr Razond said. Another 141 turtles were found dead. He said two men were arrested for keeping animals that were protected under Malaysian law, an offence punishable by several years in jail. The animals may have been destined for restaurants in Thailand, he added. Weekend Australian, 29 October
Kids’ menus out of order
PARENTS eating out with their children are fed up with Melbourne’s pubs and restaurants offering unhealthy kids’ meals such as chicken nuggets and chips, fish and chips, wedges, and macaroni and cheese. Health Kick dietitian Melanie McGrice said traditionally offered children’s options were extremely disappointing. “Kids’ meals are usually kilojoule-laden, high in saturated fat and lacking in fruit and vegetables,” she said. “They do not set a good example for kids on how to eat healthily and are just perpetuating the obesity epidemic.” Father of two and qualified chef Roger Chandler said he would never take his kids to a city pub to eat. “No thought goes into the food – the menu is always just whatever is going to be cheapest and easiest for kids,” he said. “This generally means something deep fried that comes with a soft drink and chocolate mousse. “There is no reason why kids can’t order from the regular menu and get a smaller portion size of whatever adults eat.” Ms McGrice agreed restaurants could do many things to make kids’ meals healthier. “They could make sure all their kids’ meals come with a side of vegies, swap chips for salad, or offer grilled fish and chicken instead of fried,” she said. “Milk instead of soft drink is also good.” McGrice said adult portion sizes were often too big, so if parents were really worried, they could always get a healthy meal themselves and share it with their child. Sunday Herald Sun, 30 October
Raided Civic restaurant facing health inspection
The Civic restaurant raided by drugs squad detectives on Thursday has subsequently faced probes from health and work safety authorities. Inspectors from WorkSafe ACT and the ACT Health Directorate arrived at The London Burgers and Beers in the wake of the police, and WorkSafe shut the premises down for 24 hours. The London Circuit venue was given the all clear by the work safety authorities to open its doors again yesterday after “several” safety problems, mostly relating to emergency exits, had been fixed. But food safety inspectors said that they had not finished their investigations and have not ruled out taking further action against the business. Health Protection Services director John Woollard said his inspectors had also been called in by police and had found some “matters of concern to us”. “At the moment we’ve completed our review and are taking some action to rectify some matters,” Mr Woollard said. “There is the possibility that it will go through the court system so I don’t want to be saying too much at this stage. “But we are working through some issues with the owners.” Mr Woollard would not confirm whether he had ordered the venue closed. ACT police were remaining tight-lipped yesterday as to whether any illegal substances had been found after the drug-related raid on popular civic restaurant on Thursday. Canberra Times, 29 October
Drug-tainted fears for seized gelati
GELATI sold at nine Adelaide cafes and restaurants has been seized by health authorities after a methamphetamines laboratory was allegedly found in the manufacturer’s premises. Police and SA Health officers feared the gelati may have been contaminated by dangerous chemicals discovered in the Bambino Gelato factory. The owner and his brother have been arrested and charged. SA Health said officers found “there was the potential that food and equipment could have been contaminated”. Sunday Tasmanian, 30 October
Beer culture rocked to core
I’D like to have a cider with Duncan – it doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. But that doesn’t matter to a new generation of Aussie blokes choosing a cold cider over a beer at the pub. And it is Generation-Y men who are driving the trend. According to Roy Morgan research, 58 per cent of cider drinkers are men, and 30 per cent are aged under 25, while business analysts Nielsen recently found the cider drink category was growing between 30 to 35 per cent a year. The Arkaba Hotel, in Fullarton, has recorded a 300 per cent increase in cider sales in its bottle shop in the past year. Arkaba promotions manager Glen Aikman said cider was no longer considered a girl’s drink. “We have blokes who are footballers and guys from other sporting codes through the hotel regularly and they are now all ordering cider,” he said. “It’s probably been in the last six months that we’ve really noticed a swing on and off premises to cider.” Alex Weeks, 22, said his female friends introduced him to cider. “You don’t feel as full or bloated,” he said. “It’s a great Sunday sesh drink, especially on a summer’s day.” Adelaide’s Wright St Hotel decided to focus on cider when it opened eight months ago, even including a “cider garden” in celebration of the drink. Owner Mike Pettigrew said he had seen growth of 85 per cent in cider sales in the last two months alone. Beer sales grew just 10 per cent in the same period. The Hills Cider Company owner and cider maker Steve Dorman said the company had experienced “astronomical growth” since its launch last year. “We started in five hotels, now we are on tap in 40, and bottles are selling in 180,” he said. “People are sick of drinking beer, cider is lighter and fresher.” Sunday Mail, 30 October
