Sydney Eat Street: 2022 ClubsNSW ‘Perfect Plate’ competition entries
The ClubsNSW Perfect Plate competition showcases the best in club dining — and it’s your vote that decides which dish is a winner.
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It’s the cooking competition where chefs from clubs around NSW can showcase their culinary skills — where diners get to pick the winners.
Sydney Eat Street has revealed a few of the clubs and Perfect Plate entries for this year. The competition runs until June 19.
Here’s what you need to do:
1. TASTE a Perfect Plate competition dish at a club near you.
2. VOTE for the dish by scanning the Perfect Plate QR code at the club or search from the list — have your receipt handy.
3. WIN a $100 dining voucher daily or a ‘Foodie Getaway’ for two worth more than $3000 — the more dishes you vote for, the greater your chances of winning.
Take a tour of Sydney’s best eateries with The Sunday Telegraph’s Eat Street. Are you hungry for more inspiration? Follow us on Instagram or Twitter. #SydneyEatStreet
Watergrill
At the centre of the jet-black plate is a firm round of coral-coloured salmon tartare, topped with roe and herbs, surrounded by pearls of avocado puree and sesame crackers in place of a spoon.
It strikes quite an imposing picture, but Gavin Carfax-Foster, group chef and culinary director of Dedes Group (Watergrill, Deckhouse, Flying Fish), says this is what customers have come to expect.
Gavin says that there are several reasons behind this shift, but a standout in his opinion is the proliferation of cooking shows in the past few years.
“After multiple seasons of MasterChef and My Kitchen Rules with all the celebrity chefs on TV, people’s standards have really risen,” Gavin says.
“The customer’s expectations have really risen as well. People are a lot more educated with food now, and the Perfect Plate initiative has been really good because it’s really pushed the envelope for clubs and venues. It gets club eateries to really step up to meet those expectations.”
The dish’s stunning presentation would leave you to believe Gavin grew up with fine-dining prowess, but in actuality, his childhood restaurant experiences were limited to birthdays and special occasions.
By pure chance, he picked up an apprenticeship at a high-end venue in Perth and was introduced to a world where market-fresh produce and specialty seafood drove the day’s menu.
“It’s also where I honed my plating — keeping everything simple and paired-back and with balanced flavours,” he says.
It’s this refined approach that he has applied to each of Dedes Group’s multi-award-winning venues.
“From casual to fine dining, it’s all built on the basics of really great produce seafood driven menus, and, like all of Dedes’ venues, great water views.”
Even with those daily reminders, Gavin admits that regarding Watergrill’s Perfect Plate entry, he sometimes forgets it’s a seafood inspired dish.
“It just makes total sense. It’s what we do every day. Essentially, it’s just a really good dish that looks amazing, showcases the venue, and is easy and approachable to eat.”
And did we mention the water view? (Salmon Tartare, $24)
— Sydney Rowing Club, 613 Great North Rd, Abbotsford; and Cronulla RSL, 38 Gerrale St, Cronulla; watergrill.com.au
The Greens North Sydney
Too many cooks may spoil the broth but crafting a standout dish for ClubsNSW’s Perfect Plate competition was a team effort.
Adam Turnbull, The Greens North Sydney’s head chef, says: “Our dish this year was a calibration between Alan Compton (senior sous chef), Jordan Sturdy (sous chef) and me.
“While we were discussing our entry, I cooked a burger up for Alan using a smoked chorizo sausage patty I had a local supplier create for us for another purpose. After the first bite, he had decided that this dish was going to be our entry.”
With the decision made, they set out to finetune their submission.
“Alan added the onion rings, which are amazing, and the homemade pickle and Jordan’s sauce was added to the final dish.”
Rounding out this epic concoction is the soft potato bun, iceberg lettuce, fried egg, and aioli.
“We wanted a dish that was easily accessible and really delivered high on flavour and quality. We wanted people to have that ‘ahhh, I see’ moment when eating the dish.”
While the flavour was at the top of their checklist, Adam’s reasoning also considered more practical matters.
“With rising food cost, we wanted something that everyone could try and hoped to create something that people would come back for time and again, and it’d be just as good as the first time,” he says.
While customers can look forward to The Greens’ hearty contender, Adam says the Perfect Plate initiative also helps to promote the talent inside the kitchen.
“It gives the chefs something to look forward to each year. During the promotion, there is a new level of camaraderie archived between the chefs and front of house staff teams; some of the front of house staff are more excited about Perfect Plate than the chefs, which is fantastic to see.”
In addition, The Greens has the added bonus of lawn bowls, complete with a stellar view of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. (Grilled Chorizo Burger, $18).
— 50 Ridges St, North Sydney; thegreensnorthsydney.com.au
Coomealla Club Bistro
There’s no doubting the inspiration behind chef Jonathan Almond’s Perfect Plate dish — it’s right there in the name.
“We wanted to showcase the amazing local produce we have access to in our region (Murray River). We also felt it was important to support the local producers as it’s been a very tough couple of years for them,” he says.
Jonathan’s dish starts with a French-trimmed chicken breast.
“That (French trimming) is more for presentation, but the reason we used breast is so we can fill the breast with the goat cheese.”
Not just any goat cheese, though, but chevre (French for goat) locally made by Dean at Coomealla Dairy.
“I also think most people prefer breast meat over other cuts … and when we are serving it, you can see the goat cheese oozing out when we cut it up.”
But, of course, it doesn’t stop with the cheese. Once it’s prepped, it’s rolled in a salt brush crumb and later placed on potato rosti topped with cherry tomatoes (sourced from local Gol Gol farmers, Britt and Karl McNamara) and pumpkin, which is the literal definition of local in that’s “grown by Coomealla staff member Donna McGlynn”.
And as for the dish’s side of yabby popcorn: “Donna’s son Tim gets the yabbies fresh from the river that day.”
Jonathan wants Perfect Plate to promote the bounty of the Murray River region.
“It’s really important that we showcase regional NSW as some of the produce around is just fantastic not only in our region, and as a club, we are very proud to say it’s made with local love.” (Love Local Chicken Supreme, $32).
— Coomealla Memorial Sporting Club, 1150 Silver City Highway, Dareton; coomeallaclub.com.au
The Growers
Whether hanging out in a treehouse after school or joining the crew for a drink after work, clubs offer a sense of belonging and a sense of community on a larger scale, such as RSL and sporting clubs.
That notion is the inspiration for The Growers’ Perfect Plate entry, a Southern Creole-style prawn boil with clams, potatoes and corn served with hot sauce, herbed aioli, and a house made roll.
Andrew Gunn, chief operations officer at Shoalhaven Ex-Services Group, credits executive chef Patrick Haney with The Growers’ nominated entry.
“Patrick grew up in Southern California and this dish is inspired by his southern roots where Prawn Boils are a community event to bring people together,” Andrew says.
“His has a range of flavours that will bring you from smoky to spicy to sweet, loaded with sustainable prawns and clams, served with hearty corn and potatoes finished with a bread roll made by our in-house baker.”
Patrick’s prawn boil reflects The Growers itself, a modern bar/eatery that embraces a tried-and-true farm-to-plate menu. It’s where the coast meets country … by way of California. (Prawn Boil, $30).
— Shoalhaven Ex-Servicemen Sports Club, Worrigee Sports, 131 Greenwell Point Rd, Worrigee; thegrowersshoalhaven.com.au
ZIVA
A perk of being top dog in the kitchen is the prerogative to pick a dish for the Perfect Plate cooking competition, even if it’s for no other reason than you like it, or like executive chef Jason Stuart, love it.
“The bouillabaisse risotto was created from my love of the traditional bouillabaisse.”
In fairness there is a bit more to it.
“Our customers enjoy their seafood, and I wanted to create something that felt like value for money (more substantial), so I made the bouillabaisse stock and cooked out the risotto.
“The stock is made with lobster heads, fried in olive oil. Tomato paste is added and cooked out, deglazed with white wine, and then packed with aromatics, fennel tops and seeds, oranges, mirepoix, and saffron, topped with water.
“The stock is then reduced by half to intensify the flavour and used to cook out the risotto. We are using, prawns, scallops, bug meat and salmon through the risotto and it is finished with Rouille (saffron aioli).”
No doubt Jason is going all with this dish and it’s pretty clear that he has his eyes on the prize, particularly after tying as winner of the 2021 Perfect Plate Central Coast Region Award last year. (Bouillabaisse risotto, $32 for members, $38.40 for non-members).
— The Ary Toukley, 35-47 Holmes Ave, Toukley; thearytoukley.com.au
WHAT’S FRESH
Gather on Kensington Street
Consider this a gentle reminder: Sydney is back, baby. But if you still need a little nudge to head into town, the inaugural, Gather on Kensington Street event is just the ticket.
From We Are Gather, the team behind Sydney’s Open for Lunch which included the 600-person long table lunch along George St, this three-day street festival of food, drinks, music, and entertainment will see some of Sydney’s best restaurants converge upon Chippendale’s eclectic dining precinct and` set up stalls alongside some of Kensington Street’s established venues.
The food offerings have been specially curated by renowned chef and Automata restaurateur Clayton Wells who will also be joined by a number of lauded chefs to create unique snacks as part of Automata Snack Party.
The festival will also play host to a collection of NSW boutique wineries, spirits masterclasses, and non-alcoholic offerings. (Friday, June 3-Sunday, June 5).
— Kensington St, Chippendale; kensingtonstreet.com.au/event/gather-food-wine-festival/
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Everyone is happy to see the sun peeking through the clouds, but winter’s not all bad. Bid farewell to the colder days with one last hurrah of warming fare.
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