NewsBite

Advertisement

Three Michelin-starred restaurant Maaemo is popping up at Berowra Waters Inn for two days only

The famed Norwegian restaurant will pull out all the stops for a $400-a-head Nordic menu at the iconic Hawkesbury venue in July, complete with locally hunted wild deer.

Scott Bolles
Scott Bolles

The executive chef at Norway’s famed Maaemo restaurant will transplant its Nordic menu to the iconic Berowra Waters Inn next month.

The move not only adds to the tally of Michelin three-star talent headed Sydney’s way in July, but leaves the inn’s owner-chef Brian Geraghty with an unusual shopping list.

Maaemo’s langoustine grilled over embers, sauce of blackcurrant wood and leaves.
Maaemo’s langoustine grilled over embers, sauce of blackcurrant wood and leaves.Supplied

“We had an issue finding butter in Australia with the same fat content as Norway to use in the brown butter ice-cream, hazelnut crumble and coffee molasses, but we think we’ve found one that’s close,” Geraghty says.

He has also engaged a local hunter to track down wild deer heart to use in Maaemo’s congee with smoked reindeer heart and black vinegar.

Advertisement

And there’ll be some ingredient substitution, with marron stepping in for langoustine, for example.

The brief Maaemo takeover at Berowra Waters Inn, on July 15 and 16 for $400 a head, isn’t the only act in Sydney next month. Chef Simon Rogan and his team from three-star restaurant L’Enclume in Britain will begin a five-week residency at Bathers’ Pavilion on July 19.

Maaemo executive chef Jay Boyle.
Maaemo executive chef Jay Boyle.Supplied

It follows the Sydney pop-up earlier this year of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ 2019 award-winner, Mirazur, and the Restaurant Gordon Ramsay swing-by at Aria in May.

What has made Sydney such a hot destination all of a sudden? Visiting chefs say the city has a discerning public open to trying new cuisines and culinary techniques.

Advertisement
Berowra Waters Inn overlooks the Hawkesbury.
Berowra Waters Inn overlooks the Hawkesbury.Sebastian Mrugalski

Geraghty believes it’s Australia’s produce and culinary pitch that are enticing the world’s best chefs – once put off by the distance – to say yes to cooking here.

“There’s something about our environment, the closeness to nature,” the chef says. “It also has a lot to do with where we are pitching ourselves culinary-wise.”

Berowra Waters Inn’s Brian Geraghty.
Berowra Waters Inn’s Brian Geraghty.Supplied

“The basis of our cuisine is multicultural, a bit from here and bit from there, so we’re seen as open to new things. You even have top chefs like Clare Smyth who are coming here and setting up permanent restaurants.”

Advertisement

Geraghty’s link with Maaemo executive chef Australian Jay Boyle goes way back. They worked together at Bilson’s, before Boyle joined Maaemo in 2011.

The inn’s owner points to a Maaemo oyster dish with a mussel emulsion as a good example of the Scandinavian restaurant’s style: “The best way to describe it is absolute salinity, clean flavour.”

Continue this series

Sydney hit list July 2023: Hot, new and just-reviewed places to check out, right now
Up next
Corn and blue cheese croquettes at Bar Soul in Surry Hills.

Love at first bite: Go to Bar Soul for the cheese croquettes and stay for the skewers and wine

After one bite of the croquette at Bar Soul, I knew it was going to be my kind of Korean restaurant.

Salami pizza slice.

This pizza-by-the-slice by a top Totti’s chef might just be Sydney CBD’s best takeaway lunch right now

This Roman-style slice of Italian life is a big cut above your average Sydney pizza.

Previous
The tram at the Rowe Street shopfront in Eastwood.

Dine inside a Hong Kong tram at Kowloon Cafe’s new retro diner in Eastwood

Crispy butter pineapple buns and French toast with condensed milk, honey and maple syrup are among the HK favourites on the menu at this fun neon-lit spot.

See all stories
Scott BollesScott Bolles writes the weekly Short Black column in Good Food.

From our partners

Advertisement
Advertisement

Original URL: https://www.watoday.com.au/goodfood/sydney-eating-out/three-michelin-starred-restaurant-maaemo-is-popping-up-at-berowra-waters-inn-for-two-days-only-20230622-p5din1.html