Aussie chef Nelly Robinson’s quirky take on ‘surf and turf’ menu
He is known as Australia’s quirkiest chef thanks to his “wacky” degustation menus. Now Nelly Robinson is at it again — this time with his Land + Sea of NSW bite-sized morsels.
NSW
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Australia’s quirkiest chef Nelly Robinson is at it again with another eccentric degustation menu at his city restaurant, nel.
The English ex-pat’s Disney-themed degustation menu went viral in April for a dish titled Bambi’s Mum — venison spattered with a beetroot sauce and served with rifle casings.
This latest degustation, titled Land + Sea of NSW, is notably less violent but creative all the same.
The 11 courses are served on pumice stones, pebbles (right), a varnished log and a dome of ice. The Spud In Mud even comes with a whole, unwashed potato while the pork doughnuts are doughnuts made out of pork and served as a smiley face (left).
While the menu is undeniably quirky, the intentions are pure — with all dishes championing local NSW produce. Launching next Tuesday, the degustation costs $118 plus $95 for matching wines.
CHEERS
Here is a martini that even James Bond wouldn’t shake or stir — he’d take out an insurance policy on it. Smoke Rooftop at Barangaroo House has created a $65 martini titled the Flame of Love, the city’s most expensive martini.
The pricey tipple is made from Grey Goose VX vodka, which retails for $200 a bottle and contains a splash of precious cognac.
It’s made like any other traditional martini, stirred, but with a dash of Tio Pepe sherry and garnished with a sliver of singed orange zest.
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Featured as part of Barangaroo House’s Martini Month, this exxy drop might hold the martini price record but isn’t even close to the city’s dearest cocktail.
Bar Patron at The Rocks has a $100 Millionare’s Margarita, and Madame Shanghai at Darlinghurst has a $130 ’76 Negroni.
They may seem like insane amounts to spend on a drink, but some people do pay. For skinnier wallets, Barangaroo House will have other martinis this month, including the ocean martini with scorched seaweed and the two-tone sunset martini.
HEMMES DECLARES SYDNEY IS DEAD
Lockout laws have made Sydney boring, Merivale boss Justin Hemmes says.
The billionaire owner of 46 city venues including Ivy precinct, Mr Wong, Bar Topa, Establishment Rooms and Chinese Laundry says, in its current state, the city he grew up in does not evoke pride — and if something does not change, nobody will want to live here.
“Sydney is boring,” he told delicious. Sydney.
“We’ve got fantastic operators but the shackles are on. I want people to go ‘I love Sydney, I’d love to live here’ and people aren’t saying that now.
“I’ve got thousands of young kids working for me, they’re saying ‘I think I might leave, it’s boring here.’
“I ride home every night and I ride around the city and it’s a dire situation — there’s no one on the streets, there’s no one in venues.
“Tuesday night I rode home — there was not even a ghost around. I hope we can reset the clock and get it back on track.”
Comment: Sydney, get used to being beaten by Melbourne
Hemmes has thrown his full support behind the parliamentary inquiry into Sydney’s night-time economy, announced by premier Gladys Berejiklian, that kicked off a month ago.
The inquiry has heard half of Sydney’s venues have closed since the laws were introduced in 2014. The laws prevent people entering city venues after 1.30am and mandate last drinks at 3am, and include other restrictions such as no straight spirits, cocktails or bottles of wine after midnight.
Hemmes made it clear that his intention was not simply for the lockout laws to be repealed, but for a revitalisation of the entire CBD happen through late-night shopping, cultural installations, late-night food and more large-scale regular events.
“This is a much bigger story about the city of Sydney, the city I love and have been in all my life,” he said.
“All my businesses are only in Sydney, this is about making Sydney a place I’m proud of and I’m proud to show my friends from overseas.
“But the lockout laws are isolating the CBD. They served a purpose at the time but the pendulum has definitely swung too far and we’re seeing the results of restrictive and negative effects of the lockout laws on Sydney as a city.
“It’s time to start fresh. It’s time to reset the clock, learn from what happened in the past, make sure we don’t go down that path again and really invigorate this city to a level we’ve never seen before.”
Hemmes said he hadn’t met with Berejiklian in person and therefore had not used his famous charm on the Premier, saying it would be redundant anyway.
“I think it’s the committee that makes the decision,” he said with a laugh.
It is uncertain when a decision from the inquiry will be known, but Hemmes is hoping it is sooner than later.
JOHN IBRAHIM LEADS HARRY’S CAFE BUNFIGHT BACKLASH
There is a hotdog bun causing some serious trouble at Woolloomooloo, and it’s making some very powerful enemies.
Sydney icon Harry’s Cafe de Wheels changed hands from long-time owner Michael Hannah last year and the new owner, Tino Dees, had made a few changes that aren’t sitting well with locals.
He changed the hotdog bun.
The dog drama has regulars fired up, including Kings Cross nightclub boss John Ibrahim, who has told friends he is “not happy” with the changes.
Opened in 1938 by Harry Edwards, Harry’s has been a part of Sydney’s heritage — so much so it was awarded heritage status by the National Trust in 2004.
So why would Dees mess with the bun?
Partner in Harry’s Keith Warren said it was to “elevate the customer experience”.
“We have been running trials with the top baking operator in Australia, they do a lot with Coles and Woolworths,” he said.
“They do a lot of fancy sourdough and stone-baked bread.
“As with everything there has been some positive and some negative feedback.
“Things change, things move on.”
Warren said their minds were not made up, however, and that customers are welcome to submit feedback.
The changes don’t just stop at the bun. Dees, who also owns wholesale German Butchery, has changed the proteins as well.
And it’s not only Ibrahim who is not ordering unless you’ve got the original bun, Harry.
It is believed Harry’s lovers including Erin Molan, Larry Emdur, and David Campbell are also not happy about the changes.
Molan said she hadn’t tasted the new dogs but said any changes would be “horrendous”.
“I’d be devastated if they tasted any different,” she said.
“The building and the structure is heritage protected — why not the food inside it? We need a heritage listing for food.”
Over the years Harry’s has had a plethora of famous faces for a dog or pie, including Frank Sinatra, Pamela Anderson, Elton John, Tara Reid, Colonel Sanders, Kevin Costner, Olivia Newton-John, Sir Richard Branson, Russell Crowe, Jason Biggs, Jimmy Barnes and Brooke Shields.
PARTY TIME FOR LuMi DINING
This month, chef Federico Zanellato celebrates five years of his first venue, LuMi Dining at Pyrmont. He will celebrate the milestone with a collaborative dinner on Sunday, September 15 featuring an insane line-up of Sydney chefs: Daniel Puskas (Sixpenny), Karl Firla (ex-Oscillate Wildly), Lennox Hastie (Firedoor), Alex Pavoni (Ormeggio at The Spit) and Pasi Petanen (Cafe Paci — coming soon). But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the harbourside venue.
What was it like when you first opened LuMi?
The first month was horrible. Horrible. We basically opened without any PR or marketing and we just opened — we were a bit naive — and we thought the restaurant will be great, we will be full every day, and that’s not the reality.
Especially the first two months it was very slow, very quiet. We had basically all the reviewers in the first week and we probably weren’t ready but we just had to open the doors.
We just couldn’t afford to come in and buy produce and cook for no one and also pay all the staff. The first year was the toughest one, it was very hard.
But you’ve hit the five-year mark, you must be feeling reassured?
In this industry you can never relax and really switch off and think everything is going to be fine, we’ve got a name, we’ve got a brand, we’ll be fine,
There is a lot of competition and people are always pushing to get better and better.
So it’s very consistent now, business is good but I don’t think I can sit down and relax and take a holiday every few months.
So would you ever open another restaurant?
I would love to open another restaurant. This time it will be Italian like at home in Italy. More casual Italian food, I don’t know where. I’m not going to rush anything but I do keep an eye on places that might become available. This time it has to be perfect.
How did you decide on the concept for LuMi?
It happened that we combined Italian food and Japanese technique and philosophy of cooking.
I went to Tokyo for a while when I was younger — that was an eye-opener, it was an incredible experience even though I couldn’t speak any Japanese, I couldn’t understand anything that was going on. The staff were all Japanese, but slowly I got to learn what they were doing. For the first few months I wasn’t allowed to touch anything. That’s the way it works over there. It wasn’t just because I was Italian; in Japan they are very strict and very disciplined. Before you get touch anything, for example tuna, wagyu fish, there is a lot of years of experience before you get to that level.
So here, our approach is cooking with a lot of Australian ingredients, with an Italian heart and a Japanese mind.
Who do you admire in the Sydney hospo scene?
All of the guys from the dinner I have a lot of respect for.
Josh Niland and Ben Sherry I admire the most and then there are people like Ben Savage and Peter Gilmore and Tetsuya (Wakada) that have been pushing for 15 or 20 years and they are constantly changing the food scene in Sydney.
Originally published as Aussie chef Nelly Robinson’s quirky take on ‘surf and turf’ menu
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