The Good Guys Out Back
By Jackie McMillan
jackie@alternativemediagroup.com
Last month the media was full of stories about the bad things that sometimes go on in restaurant kitchens, so I thought I’d take an alternate tack this month, and applaud some of the good guys out back.
At a recent meal to explore the new summer menu at Philipe Valet’s excellent Darlinghurst restaurant La Brasserie, I noticed (with pleasure) his little food and wine book collection. There’s something reassuring about seeing a copy of Larousse Gastronomique, and Thomas Keller’s Bouchon as you walk through the front door of a restaurant. Joining these gastronomic tomes on every food connoisseur’s bookshelf this month is a new release, The Complete Robuchon (RRP $79.99) from world renowned chef, Joel Robuchon.
Robuchon was in fact the youngest chef to ever be awarded three Michelin stars for his Parisian restaurant Jamin, but that of course is ancient history. He currently has a staggering seventeen Michelin stars for his worldwide ventures, making him the world’s most awarded chef. The book itself provides a definitive guide to French cookery relevant to the way we live today. With over six hundred pages, you’re sure to find something within that helps to change your own cooking for the better. Of course, if you’re not a cook yourself, it’s a great Christmas gift for the one who cooks for you (a gift with benefits, in fact).
Speaking of Christmas, between now and then, you can join the four gentlemen featured on this page and support StreetSmart Australia’s ‘Dine Out, Help Out’ campaign for 2008. These particular good guys should need no introduction if you’re interested in food. Sam Christie (Longrain), Ross Godfrey (Oscillate Wildly, The Codfather), Tim Connell (Coast), and the legendary Janni Krystis are all food ambassadors for the project. Their work is to encourage you to enjoy a meal that feeds twice at one of over 230 participating restaurants across Sydney. By enjoying the fare of some of our top chefs, you also fill the bowl for someone less fortunate with a two dollar voluntary donation (more if you’re feeling generous) being added to your table’s bill to help raise funds for charities in the surrounding area.
As patron Tim Costello explains: ‘StreetSmart empowers people to make a change for the better in their own neighbourhood.‘ It’s this local aspect of the StreetSmart campaign that I find particularly inspiring ‘ your donation will actually work to improve the lives of people you probably see every day. If you live in the Inner West, you might like to dine at restaurants including A’Mews (Glebe), Oscillate Wildly (Newtown), Blancmange (Petersham), The Codfather (Stanmore) and Restaurant at 3 Weeds (Rozelle). Their contributions will help local recipients like the Sydney Street Choir in Glebe, who were assisted last year with a $5,000 grant to support rehearsal space hire and administration.
If you dine in the Sydney Metro and Eastern Suburbs at Azuma, Coast, The Verandah Restaurant and Wine Bar, Apres, Bistro Moncur, Bodega, Four in Hand, Le Pelican, Longrain, or Universal Restaurant, you could be helping beneficiaries like the City Women’s Hostel ‘Meals for One Program‘ or the Wayside Chapel. Kathy King, the General Manager of the Wayside Chapel extended a sincere thank you to StreetSmart for a grant that they used to fund the opening of Wayside on public holidays. Kathy said this was ‘something we haven’t been able to do for many years, yet, as you can imagine, the crisis, drop-in and café service we offer at Wayside is as crucial to our homeless people on Public Holidays as it is on any other day (perhaps more so).‘ If this inspires you to help out by dining out, you can see what restaurants are participating in your local area here: www.streetsmartaustralia.org.
If you need some incentive to get back into restaurants after the horrors of last month, put your faith in an experienced chef/restaurateur like Sean Connolly. Sean has demonstrated a passion for cooking from the get go ‘ in fact he enrolled as the only boy in his Yorkshire school’s home economics class. In the last month I have had the pleasure of dining in both of his restaurants at Star City. At Astral I lapped up the spectacular 270 degree city and harbour view whilst enjoying one of Sydney’s great vegetarian degustation menus. At the recently opened Sean’s Kitchen I enjoyed one of the best steaks I have had to date, after a hearty plate of Spanish jamón that is! Sean’s jamón has a texture second to none in Sydney as it is stored in a fancy ham humidifier that ensures it is moist and unctuous. As a matter of fact, I can feel the need for another protein hit coming on.
