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As tasty as it is visually pleasing,
Tetsuya's "checkerboard" alternates squares of tuna
with hamachi
Photo: Courtesy of Ten Speed Press
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Sydney's Cosmopolitan
Cuisine
By Carole Kotkin
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Like many Americans who learned about Australia's gastronomy via
the Outback Steakhouse, I went to Australia full of culinary misconceptions.
I expected Vegimite sandwiches for lunch and rustic dinners of overdone
sides of beef. Instead, I discovered Australia's cuisine to be so
much more than "shrimp on the barbie" and "bloomin'
onions."
In fact, Sydney, arguably the most recognizable city in Australia,
has one of the most exciting food scenes in the world. And it's
difficult to think of another metropolis that matches Sydney for
its international flair and joie de vivre.There is more than a touch
of Hong Kong in its balmy climate; Los Angeles in its laid-back
lifestyle; Paris in its smooth self-assurance; and New York in its
energy. Its four million residents are imbued with a pioneering,
do-it-yourself spirit, a zest for challenges and an innate curiosity.
This attitude, similar to the one that launched California cuisine
two decades ago, has likewise influenced the way Aussies eat today.
The birth
of Australian gastronomy coincided with the rise of Australian wine.
By the end of the 1970s, wine production had become a major industry
in Australia. Vineyards flourished across the southern half of the
continent. Vintners were turning out wines that were among the vanguard
of the New World offerings. Australian diners were becoming more
knowledgeable about the country's increasingly polished wines, and
they expected sophisticated food to go with them.
Mirroring accomplished California chefs like Michael McCarty (Michael's,
Santa Monica) and Wolfgang Puck (Spago, Los Angeles), who were pairing
their state's wines with first-rate regional ingredients, a similar
movement got underway in Australia more than a decade ago with ambitious
Sydney chefs taking the lead. Naturally, the impression they've
made on the world at large is based on the quality of their building
blocks: lush produce, world-famous beef and lamb, bountiful seafood
and farmstead cheese. And while these chefs enjoy showcasing native
ingredients, such as kangaroo and emu (both taste like venison);
yabbies (crayfish); caviar; sea urchins; barramundi (a white, bony
fish); Sydney rock oysters; Margaret River Marron tails (small lobsters);
and warrigal (a spinach-like green), they do so with cosmopolitan
flair. "We are like California, with everything close at hand,"
observes super-chef Neil Perry of the Rockpool Group. "It all
comes down to produce," he continues. "From a young age,
I was taught the meaning of freshness and the importance of developing
a keen eye for quality."
Almost exponentially, the success of Australia's restaurateurs in
re-interpreting area foodstuffs has inspired the production of ever-better
ingredients. Just as Alice Waters did at her groundbreaking restaurant
Chez Panisse in California, many Aussie chefs, including Tetsuya
Wakuda of Tetsuya, a Sydney institution, demand that regional farmers,
foragers and fisherman aim for distinctiveness.
"I like to make simplicity seem like abundance," Tetsuya
explains. To achieve excellence, "we use the best quality ingredients
- all the technique and effects, such as herbs, spices and salt,
only enhance the essence of the taste."
In recognition of regional foodstuffs, Tetsuya (no one refers to
him by his last name) and his colleagues highlight a product's provenance
on their menus. So it's not just chicken and fish, it's free-range
Kangaroo Island chicken and farm-raised Tasmanian salmon.
Many of Sydney's top chefs believe Australia's artisanal cheese-making
industry can turn out cheeses that match the quality and variety
of Australian wines; notable offerings include the luscious, creamy
Trago River blue orchid from Victoria and the tangy, nutty goat's
milk kervella rondolet from Western Australia. It gives chefs like
Perry, who also hosts a television cooking series and consults for
Qantas Airways, great pleasure to offer such cheeses to their patrons,
serving them with Australian wines.
Rockpool, Perry's signature establishment, opened in 1989 in the
historic Rocks section of Sydney. Its wine list here focuses primarily
on Hunter Valley bottlings. Indeed, many wines on the list were
made especially for Perry, whose wine instincts are impeccable.
"I remember sitting at the table and enjoying a glass of wine
with the family at 15. I'm sure this was critical to the development
of my fascination with food and flavors," he says.
At Tetsuya's namesake eatery, the wine list fills 13 pages, and
every recipe in his eponymous cookbook is accompanied by wine recommendations
(sparkling wine, Pinot Noir and Riesling dominate). "Cooking
is balance," Tetsuya notes. "It is flavors and textures
that combine so that nothing sticks out. And [taken together] that's
what food and wine should be."
In addition to utilizing natural resources, Sydney's chefs have
appropriated the variety of emerging ethnic influences. Pre-1980
fine dining meant surf-and-turf (just as it did in the United States),
but the early 1980s brought relaxed immigration laws that enabled
Vietnamese, Malaysian, Korean, Thai, Chinese and Indians to take
up new lives in Australia. These newcomers infused neighborhoods
across Sydney with their distinctive flavors. As a result, Perry
insists, "I can get better Asian produce here than in Hong
Kong."
"We're all immigrants, except for the aborigines," says
Tetsuya, whose family is from Hamamatsu, Japan. "What's interesting
to me is that each immigrant brings centuries of his own culture's
food history." Both his cuisine and the pages of his cookbook
display a sophisticated minimalism associated with Asian culture.
Rockpool's Perry says he happily borrows an idea here, a flavor
there. "Born of a truly multicultural, New World society, it
has been easy for me to weave myriad cultural threads into a dish
that I believe is uniquely Australian."
Of the 130 nationalities that comprise Australia's population, southern
Europeans and Middle Easterners are becoming more visible. On every
foodie's radar screen is Janni Kyritsis, executive chef of MG Garage.
Born in Greece and an electrician by trade, Kyritsis learned to
cook from Julia Child's book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking,
when he arrived in Australia in 1970. Before becoming an "overnight
success" at MG Garage - which Terry Durack of The Sydney Morning
Herald's Good Living magazine deems "the best restaurant"
in Sydney - Kyritsis' career spanned 25 years between Stephanie's
restaurant in Melbourne to Berowra Waters Inn and then to Bennelong
Restaurant at the Sydney Opera House.
Most notably, Kyritsis helped introduce Mediterranean flavors to
the Australian palate.
"I was bringing the olive oil in as the butter was going out,"
he says. Now considered one of the most innovative chefs in Australia,
he derives his dishes - Sicilian grilled mullet stuffed with pine
nuts and oranges; galantine of suckling pig served with broad beans
and lentils; and quail and pig's trotters sausage wrapped in grape
leaves - from both his heritage and his present surroundings.
Despite the cornucopia of antipodean and ethnic ingredients, or
maybe because of it, Sydney's chefs have difficulty agreeing on
one name or one definition for a national cuisine, which is sometimes
called "Mod Oz" (modern Australian). "We don't have
an Australian cuisine," Tetsuya claims. "We don't have
the history yet. Maybe after 30 or 40 years we will. We definitely
have good food, good ingredients." Perry, who has helped significantly
to shape modern Australian cuisine, is just as heartfelt, if a bit
more prosaic. "I call it Australian because I am Australian.
If I were cooking in New York or Paris or San Francisco, my food
would not be what it is."
Kyritsis takes a historic view: "[Europeans] have only been
in Australia for 200 years. The true Australian tradition belongs
to the aborigines."
He believes modern Australian cooking is based upon what is done
in the homes. "It's the ability to adapt what is in their hands
to their particular ethnic cuisine." This culinary Darwinism
has resulted in restaurant menus that are as creative and eclectic
as New American restaurants in San Francisco and Chicago.
Many of Sydney's restaurants are visceral representations of this
colorful gastronomic tapestry. Restaurateur Stan Sarris, credited
with spearheading the trend toward regional foodstuffs ten years
ago, is also noted for bringing hip, savvy, sophisticated dining
venues to Sydney. "Although Australians have learned about
quality food, they want more," he states. "Our restaurants
offer a whole package - quality food and wine, fun, provocation,
mystique, music, fashion and theater."
Sarris proved his theory with the 1997 opening of the award-winning
Banc (and Wine Banc), located in a splendid, old bank building in
the heart of Sydney's business district. Below ground, Sarris and
gourmet products purveyor Simon Johnson filled a vast cellar, the
former old General Post Office, with a walk-in cheese cave, an aging
room for meats, a tapas and sushi bar, a seafood bar, a greengrocer,
an espresso bar, a bakery, a brasserie and a steakhouse called Prime.
It's like Dean & DeLuca and Balducci's rolled into one or, in
Sarris' words, "an infrastructure designed for an evolving
lifestyle."
And one can't speak about lifestyle without revisiting MG Garage,
considered Sydney's most striking dining room. Co-owned by an epicurean
car importer, the restaurant is also a showroom for vintage MG sports
cars. For those who can afford one - and many of the diners here
can - the classic cars are available for purchase along with dinner.
With its long bar and leather banquettes echoing the cars' interiors,
the space won the Society of Interior Designers' award for best
interior design of 1998.
But when it comes to food, Sydney attracts great chefs for the same
reason New York does: They jump at the chance to work alongside
star chefs to develop their own skills. Even Tetsuya, who had never
even taken a cooking class, found himself transformed after making
sushi at Chef Tony Bilson's Kinsela restaurant. He had arrived in
Sydney in 1982 at the age of 22 with little more than a suitcase
and a love of food, intending to stop over for only a year or two
before moving on to America. Instead, with Bilson as his mentor,
Tetsuya developed an interest in French technique, and wound up
opening his first restaurant in 1989 in a tiny storefront in the
Sydney suburb of Rozelle. It was always booked, with a lengthy waiting
list.
In November 2000, he relocated to central Sydney, where he renovated
a historic site to create his dream restaurant, which includes a
Japanese garden. "I still have a Japanese palate, but I don't
have fixed ideas about food," Tetsuya admits. Thus his patrons
are treated to a dégustation of some 14 separate dishes, many just
a few delicious bites, served in shot glasses or martini glasses
to show off the rainbow of fish, caviar, vegetables, fruits and
sorbets that dot the menu.
Standouts include a sublime tartare of tuna with tomato sorbet;
a confit of Tasmanian ocean trout with roe and marinated fennel;
and a tian of marinated scampi with pawpaw, cucumber and tonburi
- each selection exquisitely presented on ceramic dishes designed
to Tetsuya's specifications. His skill in combining Japanese inspiration,
French technique and the freshest Australian ingredients is apparent
with his treatment of raw fish, which he "cooks" so slowly
in olive oil that it melts in your mouth much like foie gras.
Perry also employs Asian techniques lavishly, both at the Pacific
Rim-oriented Rockpool and XO, a recent venture that features Malaysian
cuisine.
He attributes his abiding interest in the Pacific Rim to the influence
of two Chinese students whom his family took in. "I'm sure
that this grounding in Chinese culture started my love affair with
all things Asian," he says. When he started cooking (after
working as a waiter in upscale restaurants), it seemed natural to
make dishes such as stir-fried squid with black-ink noodles, garlic,
chili and coriander, or stir-fried blue swimmer crab omelets. "My
food is very individual. I use the parts of Asian cooking that I
enjoy and merge them with my own background in Western cooking,"
he explains. Along the way, he also developed his fundamentals of
French Provincial and Mediterranean cooking. Of his fare at Rockpool,
The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide notes, "The Chinese,
Thai and French flavors and techniques meld together like friends
at a party."
Like Tetsuya and many Sydney restaurants, Rockpool makes no distinction
between starters and main courses. "We don't have a strong
tradition to hold us back. I can be a free spirit," Perry enthuses.
Other chefs feel similarly unbound. Take Banc's Irish-born executive
chef Liam Tomlin, who began his career at age 14 and honed his skills
in some of Europe's finest kitchens. Moving to Australia in 1991,
he joined forces with Stan Sarris when Banc opened. Tomlin and his
peers are now embracing French cooking styles, but because they
aren't constrained by French tradition, they have a good time with
it. The food at Banc - for example, a terrine of tomato and blue
swimmer crab with sweet crab and tomato layers wrapped in a delicate
sheet of leek, garnished by a dice of raw vegetables - is fundamentally
French in technique, but it's prepared with a light, modern Australian
touch.
And while the ascension of Australian wines may have been the impetus
for the changes wrought on Sydney's dining scene, the convergence
of regional products and Aussie tenacity with French methods, Japanese
precision and Asian spices made for a perfect recipe.
RECIPES
Checkerboard
Tuna and Hamachi with Orange Oil - Adapted from the Tetsuya cookbook
3 1/2 ounces tuna
3 1/2 ounces hamachi (yellowtail)
3/4 teaspoon ginger juice*
1/4 teaspoon orange oil*
1 drop grapeseed oil
Sea salt
*To make orange oil substitute, infuse grated orange zest into grapeseed
oil; to make ginger juice substitute, wrap grated ginger in paper
towel and squeeze out the juice.
Trim the fish into square blocks. Cut the fish into 1/4" thick
slices. Combine the ginger juice, orange and grapeseed oils and
mix well. Place the fish on serving plates in a checkerboard pattern
and spoon over the vinaigrette. Place a few flakes of sea salt on
top and serve. Serves 4 Wine suggestions: Aromatic, medium-bodied
white - 1999 Henschke Gewürztraminer; 1998 Martinelli Gewürztraminer,
Martinelli Vineyard Select; 1998 Mann Gewürztraminer.
Parmesan-
and Olive-Crusted Australian Lamb Chops
Courtesy of The Australian Meat & Livestock Association
12 Australian loin lamb chops, about 1" thick
3/4 cup grated Reggiano-Parmigiano
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
3/4 cup imported black olives, pitted and finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
9 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the Parmesan cheese, garlic,
black olives, thyme and 6 tablespoons of olive oil. Spread 1 tablespoon
of cheese mixture evenly on one side of each chop. Heat the remaining
oil in a non-stick sauté pan over medium heat. Place the chops in
the pan, with the Parmesan mix side up. Brown the chops, then flip
and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Using a spatula, flip the chops
again onto a baking tray and place in a preheated 350-degree F oven
for 4-5 minutes or until the chops reach an internal temperature
of 130-135-degree F for medium-rare. Serves 6
Wine suggestions: Rich, full-bodied red - 1998 Cosentino, The Poet;
1999 Crane Family Merlot, Don Raffaele Estate; 1998 Yalumba Cabernet
Sauvignon, The Menzies.
Food Editor
Carole Kotkin is a Miami-based cooking instructor and consultant
who co-authored Mmmmiami
- Tempting Tropical Tastes for Home Cooks Everywhere. It
provides clear, simple directions for 150 dishes, from the simple
(good old Key Lime Pie) to the sublime (Coconut Mahi-Mahi with Passion
Fruit Sauce). The wide array of flavors is especially wonderful
and startling to those used to monocultural cooking; Miami cuisine
is the product of many generations of interbreeding and hybrid vigor.
Click on the link below for more details or to order.
Mmmmiami
: Tempting Tropical Tastes for Cooks Everywhere
Article
first published in The Wine News
|
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Eat Your Vegetables!
Pairing Wine with Plant-Based Cuisine
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Bed, Breakfast and Bottling Lines
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Farming Tomales Bay Oysters
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All
articles courtesy of The
Wine News
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