Delicious Sydney: Maggie Beer’s fears over new dining trend
Apps and electronic ordering are making wait staff jobs close to redundant as customers now capable of ordering and paying without even laying eyes on a server, let along communicating with them. Restaurant doyenne Maggie Beer is not impressed.
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New restaurant technology is rapidly killing the Sydney dining experience.
Apps and electronic ordering are making wait staff jobs close to redundant as customers now capable of ordering and paying without even laying eyes on a server, let along communicating with them.
For instance, OrderUp has been implemented at Bella Vista Hotel, a mobile phone system that allows customers to view a menu, order and pay from their phone.
Using the same technology as paywave, OrderUp users don’t even have to download an app.
Bella Vista marketing manager Candice O’Brien said the software was simply there to enhance the customer experience.
“Anytime we come across new technology we try to bring it on to enhance customer service,” she said.
“We’re a pretty relaxed pub: people can walk in, grab a spot, a drink, go to the bistro, grab menu, decide what they want to order.
“Depending on how busy we are, it will be table service but on a jam-packed evening it would be buzzer service (for customers to pick up their food).
“We see this eliminating a lot of that.”
The company behind OrderUp is owned and run by John Saadie, who started his career in food delivery.
He now has more than 1000 venues using his software for pick-up and delivery and is also contracted by hotels for a similar room service system.
He said although customers do not receive the service from wait staff, the prices are the same.
“As far as menu pricing is concerned it’s generally in line with their normal pricing,” he said.
“But if people are at a bistro it’s great because people aren’t having to get up, line up to order, line up for their drinks and then get up and get it.
“So in some venues people are getting more service for the same amount of money.”
But for restaurant doyenne Maggie Beer, the prospect of ordering a restaurant meal through a phone would ruin her dining experience.
“What a shame,” she said.
“I might be old school but for me, it’s about the personal connection.
“It’s the way a really good waiting staff can engage you in the setting, the scene and the point of difference.
“For me it takes out personal connection and if you’ve just got a machine … no, not for me.”
Ms O’Brien said wait staff at Bella Vista would not be reduced and the app would simply free them up to be even more attentive to customers.
Parmi wars: Rage over Sydney’s great dividing dish
One of the country’s most divisive dishes — the chicken parmigiana — has been honoured with a new culinary category at the 2019 Australian Hotels Association NSW Awards.
There are already 15 NSW finalists eager to prove they do not serve paltry poultry, and while it’s a total “chicken coup” for the crumbed and sauced schnitty dish, not everyone is happy.
Con Damouras, owner of Leichhardt institution Bar Italia, said the traditional Aussie pub “parmi” was a blight on the Italian food culture.
What was originally a thin piece of veal, pan-fried with eggplant, Napolitano sauce and mozzarella — all cooked in a covered pan — has now become a totally different beast.
Perhaps the only person more passionate about preserving the original parmigiana is his chef of 15 years, Roberto, often dubbed The Godfather.
“My chef Roberto, he’s in his 70s, he’s from Sicily. He wants to take a frying pan to every customer who wants a ‘parmi’,” he said.
“I say to them ‘Excuse me, it is not a parmi, it is a parmigiana’.
“It’s a bit of a joke — I go into the kitchen and say ‘Roberto we’ve got another parmi’ and he goes off — ‘Give me the frying pan I’ll crack them over the head’.”
Of course The Godfather is only venting verbally — no parmi lovers have been belted (yet).
However, founder of the Aussie-style parmigiana appreciation society, Parmy Army, Adrian Visintin, might be the first if he set foot in Bar Italia.
His Facebook group has 3000 members who regularly share their pub and club parmi experiences.
To say he is a fan of the counter meal classic chicken schnitzel smothered in ham, cheese and Napolitano sauce is an understatement … and he knows what he likes.
“The perfect parmi … the first thing is the chicken, it’s gotta be moist — don’t overcook it,” he said.
“Breadcrumbs should be crunchy but not like a piece of toast.
“The ham has to cover the whole parmi and two slices is nice so you can taste it.
“The most important thing is the cheese and sauce ratios — some companies put a s**tload of cheese on but then you can’t taste the sauce.”
And — unsurprisingly given the name of his foodie fan group — he also prefers foregoing the original dish’s extended Italian moniker for the shortened ‘parmy’ or ‘parmi’ ordered across bars throughout the country.
“It sounds more Aussie.”
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He also embraced innovation with the dish — Mexican themed, meatlovers, Hawaiian or Indian.
“Some come with avocado, if you want to be healthy,” he said.
Delicious Sydney dared not ask Mr Damouras or The Godfather their thoughts on these variations.
But if it’s any consolation, Mr Visintin, whose father is actually Italian, does feel bad for disrespecting Italian food culture.
“But it’s completely different — it’s done an Australian way,” he said.
“We butcher heaps of things — look at pizza.
“My dad is from Italy, I’ve just come back from a three-month holiday in Europe.
“I did try a lot of Italian food but there’s nothing like a parmi, I get emotional thinking about it.”
The winners of the AHA NSW Awards will be announced on November 19 at a swanky ceremony at The Star, with about 1000 ticketed guests expected to attend.
AHA NSW AWARDS PARMI FINALISTS
AVO GOOD WEEKEND
Kiss your house deposit goodbye, avocado fanatics — there is a new weekend of wellness coming soon that revolves entirely around the green superfood.
Avotherapy takes place at Paramount Surry Hills for one weekend only and is an all-encompassing weekend of worshipping the fruit.
There is an endless supply of food and drink using the healthy ingredient (including avocado smoothies, of course), fruity fitness sessions with yoga and cardio (or “avocardio” if you like), avocado facials so you can literally roll around in the smooshy delicacy, there’s even a session of how you can use all parts of the fruit — including making clothing dye out of the seed and, finally, a class on how to grow your very own avocado tree.
The emerald event is part of a natural avo-evolution across the country with statistics revealing Australia’s avocado obsession.
Last year the average Australian consumed about 3.5kg of avocado, based on our national consumption of 77,000 tonnes — or $577 million in total production value.
Just think, that last figure’s enough to buy at least 100 mansions in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
CROWN AND OUT AGAIN
Oh dear, did Delicious Sydney speak too soon about the revival of Crown St?
Days after it was noted that a handful of empty spots on the Surry Hills eat street had been leased, another went under.
After a decade of business, O Organic Produce served its last coffee September 29 and popped a sign up in the window.
The cosy organic haunt was located next door to the wildly successful Four Ate Five cafe, which frequently has a line out the door on weekends.
In other news, the for lease sign has been taken down on the other side of Four Ate Five, which was previously home to Flo Cafe.
Property agents Metro Commercial declined to comment, however the sign’s absence could either mean the site has been leased or the owner has changed realtors.
A CHEF-TAKING EXPERIENCE
The menu at Sonder Paddington has people talking, but not for its unique dishes — instead its for the wild description of its main man in the kitchen.
The Five Ways cafe was under the control of a new chef, who Delicious Sydney understood resigned last week after making big changes to the menu, including a written bio of himself.
There are claims that he has smoking and drinking problems and “discreetly” checks out wait staff.
And this is not just the rumour mill, it is printed on every menu in the joint above an array of images of dishes bearing colourful monikers ranging from the “Benny Colada” to the “Arianna Shang Wiggle Effect.
The bio reads: “Chef: an insane mad n creative creature who’s always on the edge, have no social life what so ever (sic), more likely have alcohol, smoking problems n anger management issues, have extremely dangerous. High sense of sarcasm, checks out new wait staff discreetly, hates front of house for no reason, makes an awesome husband and dad and heaps more just got no more space to type …”
Two ex-regulars told Delicious Sydney that the cafe had undergone an overhaul lately, making all its dishes appealing for Instagram purposes and that’s about it.
They saw the menu and didn’t even bother ordering — they left. Perhaps a spring clean would bode well for this menu.
A staff member told Delicious Sydney that the chef resigned just last week and as a result, the menu would be changed.
BITE SIZED HOSPO GOSS
Hot Right Now
Sydney will be a drinker’s paradise next year when hundreds of the world’s best bartenders descend on the city for the World Class bartendering finals … worldly hospo workers skilled with a shaker? Bottom’s up.
On The Boil
Surry Hills favourite Baccamatto Osteria has closed its doors … but the good news is they have relocated to Newmarket Randwick where they will open their doors in December.
Spill The Beans
A famous English chef is vetting his interviews VERY strictly and any risk of a question about his many controversies gets a big fat no. Avoiding problems is not the best way to deal with them.