Montrachet’s new takeaway with a DIY twist

You have to do a little bit of work yourself but then, voila, you have a fine dining restaurant in your home. But are Montrachet’s semi-prepared meals up to their usual standards?

Owner Shannon Kellam of Montrachet preparing takeaway food in their Bowen Hills restaurant last month. Food is now prepared in their new production kitchen. Picture: Josh Woning

The dog’s barking out the front, there’s a television blaring in another room, computer equipment set up at one end of the table. The ambience is a little, ’ow you say, lacking.

That’s because we are in the living area at home, doused in a light spray of eau de mosquito repellent, about to transform our working-from-home day into a French fine dining evening. We’ve ordered fare from Montrachet, Brisbane’s premier French restaurant, which pre-coronavirus shutdown was known for its classic dishes, smart service and an opulent interior complete with a marble bar, red leather booths, brass rails and white-clothed tables in King St, Bowen Hills.

Serious chefs turn to takeaway

Gerard’s Bistro review: Delivering a new take on takeaway

Now, the staff are creating semi-prepared takeaway meals in the business’s new production kitchen at Newstead so diners can DIY a restaurant-quality experience at home. The menu is simplified to what will travel well and assemble easily in a home kitchen.

Appetisers run to ham and parsley terrine or duck and cognac parfait; French onion soup is one of three entrees; the four mains include braised black angus cheek bourguignon and pressed pork belly with veg and du puy lentils braised in roast pork jus, and there’s a line-up of side dishes, freshly cooked breads, cheeses, petit fours, desserts and French wine and beer.

Montrachet in King Street, Bowen Hills

I pick up a brown paper bag packed with containers of varying sizes and shapes from King Street Bakery, which is also owned by Montrachet restaurateurs Shannon and Clare Kellam. Everything is cold and I’m given a pamphlet with cooking instructions and told there are also short videos on the restaurant’s Facebook page if I need more help.

At first glance the bag of sauces and garnishes and components looks a little overwhelming, but putting the dishes together is easy. The crab soufflé ($19.50), is the star turn of the evening. It’s a simple matter of placing the soufflé in an ovenproof dish, snipping open a bag of light cream bisque and pouring it over, adding a little grated comte on top and putting it in the oven for 20 minutes. It’s delicious, the soufflé puffy and packed with chunks of crab meat, and although you’ve done virtually nothing there’s an unexpected sense of achievement in having played a part in creating something so amazing. It’s also evident why the Kellams decided on this approach, if this had been picked up as a hot takeaway it would be a disastrous mess after a drive home.

The crab souffle, semi-prepared by Montrachet, finished at home

A little more effort is required to put together the gnocchi ($18), with the pieces cooked in simmering water for three minutes then drained and placed in a pan in the provided olive oil and caramelised onion butter. Mushrooms and St Agur cheese are added last. This, too, is terrific.

Gnocchi semi-prepared meal from Montrachet

The bouillabaisse ($40) involves simmering stock along with chopped tomato, fennel and saffron, adding chunks of fish and prawns, then scallops and cuttlefish and finally the rouille (a garlicky bread-thickened sauce) and tarragon. It all comes together quite easily and manages to again be the equivalent of what you might have had in-house.

We have less success with the duck a l’orange ($30), the skin not crisping, possibly because we forgot to spoon duck fat over while it was cooking, but it still tastes wonderful.

Somehow, despite the distractions of working-from-home detritus, it does feel like an escape into special occasion dining, a momentary trip to France when none of us are going anywhere. Magnifique.

MONTRACHET AT HOME
Food: 5 stars

Ease of ordering: 4 stars

Value: 4 stars

Must try

Crab souffle

Available Mon-Sat, must order by 7pm the day before.

Pick up from Montrachet (Mon-Sat 4-7pm) at 1/30 King St, Bowen Hills, or from King Street Bakery (Mon-Fri 11am-4pm, Sat 11am-2pm) at 20 King St, Bowen Hills.

Free delivery – strictly within a 5km radius.

montrachet.com.au

3367 0030