Sydney Eat Street: Fresh and tasty DIY home cooking meals
Since the lockdown last year, many Sydney restaurants created cooking kits diners could create at home — and kept these meals on the menu due to popular demand.
Eat Street
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What to cook for dinner during the COVID-19 lockdown has been one of the not-so-great daily conundrums but what’s magnificent about this week’s options is the ease of effort and choice – and you still get the taste of home cooking so you can take the night off.
Take a tour of Sydney’s best eateries right here with The Sunday Telegraph’s Eat Street. Are you hungry for more inspiration? Follow us on Instagram. #SydneyEatStreet
VIC’S MEAT
Whether you have six mouths to feed or 10 (depending on how big your family is!) Vic’s Meat should be at the top of your list for an almost home-cooked dinner.
Vic’s is one of Australia’s leading butchers and is a go-to for hatted chefs around the country.
It’s family-owned and operated and offers a fantastic set of DIY kits for dinner including the BYOB (Build Your Own Burger) and BYOBB (Build Your Own Brisket Burger).
The BYOB feeds six and has six 150g Angus beef patties, six buns, six American cheese slices, 200g Kurobuta Berkshire Smoked Streaky Bacon and a tube top-secret BYOB sauce. It’ll set you back $65.
The BYOBB feeds 10-12 using premium marbled beef, seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked low and slow for eight hours. You won’t go hungry with a 1.2kg Rangers Valley Smoked Wagyu Brisket, 12 buns, 200ml bottle of sauce, 350g pack plank pickles, 150g pack Jalapeño pickles and 200g Pickled Spanish Onion. It costs $130.
Vic’s Meat is meticulous about suppliers, entrusting their meats (and reputation) only to those that provide ethical and sustainable practices to produce the highest possible quality products.
And it’s the demand for their premium products that have driven their online business and made it possible to take your next family BBQ from fine to fantastic.
LA FAVOLA
Were “comfort food” to be listed in Websters, there’d surely be a picture of pasta as there are few other dishes that are both good for the belly and good for the soul.
La Favola’s chef/owner Fabio Stefanelli took that sentiment to heart when after starting his career at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Rome he moved to Newtown where he swapped the pomp of fine-dining for rustic communal tables.
To Stefanelli, this new set-up is akin to the “family kitchen table” where the “honest flavours of home cooking are served”.
La Favola first made its mark on Sydney’s food scene with a simple six by six menu: a choice of six different kinds of pasta paired with six different sauces.
It’s fast and because everything, from the pasta to the stock is made daily — it’s incredibly fresh.
That approach won him a loyal following, and prior to lockdown, it was those customers as well as his own family and employees he considered when trying to determine what they’d all want and need to “eat in”.
So, along with his regular menu, he began to sell each type of pasta and sauce individually. It stuck.
You can now order 500g of different egg-pasta styles, including gnocchi and because they’re so fresh, they’ll cook in mere minutes. Add to that 500g containers of their delicious sauces such as Napolitana, seafood and four cheese.
There are other entrees available as well, but don’t even think of skipping the tiramisu for dessert.
— 170 King St, Newtown; favola.com.au
TOTTI’S
“If you can boil water and turn on your oven then you are ready to crush this Totti’s at Home box,” says Totti’s executive chef Mike Eggert.
“We’ve taken all the stress out of entertaining or cooking for your family.”
That’s not even the best thing about Totti’s — these DIY dishes such as crab chitarra with chilli and garlic, and lamb ragu are awe-inspiring and sure to wow everyone at the table.
With the order, you’ll also get Eggert’s famous wood-fired bread and other more-ish sides. The meal box serves two to three people for $120.
You’ll find simple cooking instructions, online along with plenty of pretty pictures to inspire plating and even a playlist to set the restaurant vibe.
There’s also an option to add beverage bundles including wines, beers and cocktails from the online bottle shop.
Totti’s delivers up and down the coast and ACT (check postcode for delivery details).
— 283 Bondi Rd, Bondi; merivaleathome.com.au
KID KYOTO, INDU AND MEJICO
Two worlds collide in the most-clever culinary manner at Kid Kyoto where head chef, Rhys Watson-Lamb’s goes to geographic extremes to find inspiration for his Japanese fare.
Think Tex-Mex jalapeño poppers where the cheddar cheese cream cheese has been swapped out for kombu (a type of seaweed) cream cheese then deep-fried in a light tempura batter.
Sam Prince Hospitality Group’s (Kid Kyoto, INDU and Mejico) operations manager, Jamie Heather says: “Like the entire industry, we had to adapt and shift the business model in a matter of days. As a group, we have never offered takeaway, but once we had found our feet, they proved really popular, and at times we were producing and delivering over 200 a week.
“The beauty of it is it only requires a little assembly and minimal cooking. After lockdown, we continued with the boxes so that those not comfortable with dining out or who couldn’t, are still getting their favourite feasts outside the restaurants.”
All three venues are offering DIY meal boxes, and while the menus change fortnightly, expect offerings such as Mejico’s Pulled Pork Taco or Negro Mole Chicken, Kid Kyoto’s Sake Chicken with yuzu glaze or Teriyaki Sirloin Steak, and INDU’s Sri Lankan offerings of Goan Pork Belly Curry or Signature Lamb Raan.
Each box serves two people for $80, and you can add one dishes from the three sister venues as well as some of their fabulous cocktails, such as Kid Kyoto’s Yama Yama, a mixture of sake, lemon juice, yuzu juice and cucumber syrup.
— sam-prince-hospitality-group.myshopify.com/
IIKO MAZESOBA
Since opening up shop in the relatively new foodie precinct, Darling Square, IIKO Mazesoba’s owner, Michelle Widjaja has turned the ramen noodle scene upside down.
Unlike other ramen bowls that are filled to the brim with broth, meat and veggies, Mazesoba’s fixings are the other way around with the thick, chewy noodles sitting on top of a concentrated sauce at the bottom.
There’s no soup; instead, you just add a couple swirls of chilli oil and vinegar then give it a good mixing. The family pack serves six and includes the house-made noodles, pork belly chashu, sauces and toppings which Michelle has partnered with Chinatown’s iconic Asian grocer, Seasons Fruit Market, for online ordering and delivery.
And while you’re on their site, be sure to check out of the other IDY meal kits to be had such as Peking duck pancake sets and roast pork belly bao, each supplied by other renowned Haymarket restaurants.
— 86 Hay St, Darling Square, Haymarket; mazesoba.com.au; seasonsfruitmarket.com.au
ZUSHI
Serving up sushi rolls may not seem like a low-fuss feed, but when all the fixings come with the proper tools and an instructional video, you can wow your guests with your culinary process.
Known for their premium quality ingredients, Zushi has put together a DIY kit for two ($45) that includes Nori (seaweed) sheets, cooked sushi rice, fresh salmon, cooked tuna, steamed prawns, avocado, cucumber, flying fish roe and condiments as well as two rolling matts a recipe booklet and link to Zushi’s YouTube tutorial.
— 10/33 Barangaroo Ave, Barangaroo; 2A/285A Crown St, Surry Hills; zushi.com.au
MERIVALE @ HOME
From the renowned Ivy complex off George St to the coastal chic design of The Newport, everything Merivale is done in grand style and that carried through to their dining offerings during the initial COVID lockdown.
Rather than putting forth a few popular dishes for takeaway and delivery, they created a separate brand, Merivale @ Home with meal kits created by the chefs of their many venues including Fred’s, Mr Wong, The Paddington and Bert’s.
The restaurants will change but you’ll constantly get a menu that is on par with in-house dining such as that from Mr Wong which includes a dumpling selection, pork neck charsiu, steamed barramundi with black bean, steamed iceberg lettuce with soy dressing and shallot oil, special fried rice and Hazelnut tiramisu.
Online you’ll also get written instructions, a video tutorial and options to add on drinks.
If you’re really wanting to impress and avoid the kitchen yourself, they also have a “home entertaining” option where a Merivale chef and waiter will come to you house, prepare and serve dinner. Nice.
SYDNEY SEAFOOD SCHOOL
If you are willing to work from scratch, a novel option is Sydney Seafood School’s recipe kit and virtual cooking class. These aren’t just random recipes either, rather there is a regular rotation of dishes from some of Australia’s top chefs such as Alessandro Pavoni, owner of hatted-restaurant Ormeggio at The Spit.
Order online and a box with fresh seafood from Sydney Fish Market, vegetables, herbs, and premium pantry items along with recipe and link to online tutorial will be assembled and ready for you to collect from 11 different locations or delivered to your home – location dependent. (Serves two.)
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