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foodservice ■ accommodation ■ beverage ■ management
No.664 August 2010
DESSERT DOLLARS
Are your customers
going that final course?
Birds of a feather
Chefs' menu ideas for
poultry and game birds
We're having a baby
Your parental leave obligations
Sweet sensation
Why is Philippa Sibley our
most unlikely pastry chef?

EDITOR
Rosemary Ryan
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Christine Salins
Ken Burgin
Tony Berry
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EVERYWHERE you turn the
MasterChef phenomenon is
delivering all sorts of effects
that have implications for the
foodservice industry.
The hospitality employment
group that places apprentices
with employees, the
Hospitality Training Network
has said MasterChef had led
to a significant increase in inquiries
from young people
wanting to become chefs —
HTN’s chief executive
Michael Bennett said demand
was now outstripping the
number of apprenticeships
available.
6 News
RSPCA ethical food program
attracts support.
Don’t cook when your
crook, says Government.
Horse meat on menu gets
strong reaction.
8 Mystery diner
Brisbane’s award-winning
Bretts Wharf restaurant
gets a visit from our
roaming diner.
10 Workplace
What do the new paternity
leave rules mean to
you?
Editor’s Note
The massive surge in interest
by younger people who
want to enter the industry is
great news for the hospitality
industry in the long term.
The Federal Government is
also making a big deal about
getting Australia’s youth into
apprenticeships. One of the
first things Prime Minister Julia
Gillard did after calling the
election was to announce it
would support new work experience
places for schools
participating in the National
Trade Cadetships. It’s announced
50,000 additional
work experience places will be
contents
Print Post Approved PP349181/00109
It's showtime
See inside for our
BUMPER preview of next
month's Fine Food Australia
foodservice ■ accommodation ■ beverage ■ management
12 Secret ingredients
Q&A with top Indian
chef Kumar Mahadevan.
16 Hospitality chef
Dessert queen Philippa
Sibley in profile.
19 Wine
How to create the perfect
dessert and wine match.
34 Burgin
What can the Australian
hospitalit industry learn
from a trip across the
ditch?
No.664 August 2010
DESSERT DOLLARS
Are your customers
going that final course?
Birds of a feather
Chefs' menu ideas for
poultry and game birds
We're having a baby
Your parental leave obligations
Sweet sensation
Why is Philippa Sibley our
most unlikely pastry chef?
ON THE COVER:
provided under the program.
It had already announced other
funding initiatives for skills
training in the Federal Budget
as well.
But, unfortunately, this is a
long term fix and is not much
help for a hospitality industry
that is facing a critical skills
shortage challenge right now.
It’s a challenge that has intensified
since the industry
was king hit by the Government’s
move to drop chefs and
cooks from the official Skills
Occupation List. That decision
has seen the number of
visas granted for those wanting
to become cooks, chefs or
pastry chefs in Australia decrease
by 53 per cent since
2008.
And even more disheartening
is the fact that this came
at a time when the latest forecasts
are predicting strong
Features
21 Sweet endings
It’s eye rolling time. We
check out some of the latest
dessert ideas to tempt
diners to go that extra
mouthful.
27 Birds of a feather
From duck to pigeon —
some of our top chefs
share some of their
favourite poultry and
game bird recipes from
their menus.
On the cover of this month’s
issue is the acclaimed Melbourne
chef who’s been labelled the
Australian queen of desserts, a
title she’s received because of
her delicious way with the course
she calls “totally unnecessary”
but capable of making diners’
eyes roll back in their heads.
In our profile of Philippa Sibley,
though, you’ll discover why she is
probably one of the most unlikely
of chefs to have risen to the
pinnacle of acclaim as a pastry
growth for the hospitality industry
in the coming year.
IBISWorld recently predicted
an increase of 3.8 per cent in
2010-2011 for the cafe and
restaurant industry and an increase
of 22 per cent over the
next five years. How is the industry
to meet the demands
for staff in such strong times?
Restaurant and Catering
Australia has consistently
warned about the shortages—
it puts the number of chefs the
industry could employ right
now at about 3,000.
It’s great to be encouraging
more young people into trades
but there also needs to be a
strategy to urgently meet the
current skills crisis.
Rosemary Ryan
chef.
In our story starting on page 14
Sibley admits to being not much
of a sweet tooth and also to
actually being allergic to one of
the key ingredients she needs to
create her much-loved sweet
treats. But she also talks about
why she loves dessert — the
reaction that a sublime dish can
elicit from a diner under her
spell. “I love the demonstrative
reactions of the customers,”
Sibley says.
4 hospitality | august 2010 hospitalitymagazine.com.au

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keep your wine tasting the way you
intended – right to the last glass.

news
Bad records
café in court
THE FAIR Work Ombudsman has
launched a prosecution against the
connections of a former Perth café,
the Jacaranda Deli and Café in
High Wycombe, alleging they
failed to keep proper employment
records for three workers who
were allegedly underpaid.
Facing court is Orwill Pty Ltd,
which leased the café and sponsored
the Chinese men to come to
Australia on 457 visas to work as
cooks. Also facing court is Orwill
director and part-owner Irwan
Lewis Farkas, of Tennant Creek;
Total Trades Personnel Australia
Pty Ltd, which operated the café;
and Total Trades Personnel Australia
director Siaw Kin Yeow who
managed the cafe.
The Fair Work Ombudsman
started investigating the café after
receiving a complaint from a migrant
advocate that the Chinese
workers were being underpaid and
required to work excessive hours
that were not being recorded.
It’s alleged that basic records
such as time-and-wages sheets and
records relating to the status of
their employment were not maintained
and payslips were not issued
to the employees.
For tools to help keep proper
records head to fairwork.gov.au
hospitalitymagazine.com.au
MOST READ STORIES
1Masterchef would be
challenge for chefs, says
Mehigan
2New food allergy auditing
system for foodservice
3Park Hyatt renovation to set
new luxury benchmark
4Toby’s Estate infiltrates
Melbourne CBD
5Hospitality operators most
cautious across industry
groups
Source:
hospitalitymagazine.com,au
19-23 July, 2010
Ethical food
Foodservice backs RSPCA initiative
Restaurants, cafes and othe foodservice businesses around Australia have joined
the RSPCA’s program to encourage the use of humane food.
RESTAURANTS and other foodservice
businesses have responded
strongly to the RSPCA’s program to
raise awareness about animal welfare
issues and get restaurants serving
humane food.
More than 87 foodservice businesses
around Australia have signed
up to the RSPCA’s Choose Wisely
campaign that allows foodservice
businesses to become accredited by
the RSPCA as a business that uses
food products from animals that
have been farmed in a humane way.
RSPCA marketing manager, humane
food, Hope Bertram, said consumers’
buying habits are changing
and animal welfare is becoming a
strong consideration not only at the
supermarket but also when dining
out. “For many years, consumers
have preferred not to know where
their food has come from — but
we’re starting to see a dramatic shift
in consumer eating/buying habits
with people asking more questions
about how, where and when their
food was produced,” she said.
“This has a direct impact on the
hospitality sector, primarily how the
industry will respond to changing
consumer behaviours/demands and
AROUND Australia the competition
has been tense as some of our
most talented junior chefs battled
to win a spot in the finals of this
year’s Nestlé Golden Chef’s Hat
Award.
Already five teams of apprentice
chefs from around the country have
been selected to put their culinary
skills to the test.
The latest team to make it
through were Daniel Cooper, chef
at Restaurant Botanica, and Garreth
Robbs, chef at Bistro Molini,
who beat ten other teams at the
New South Wales cook-off held at
the TAFE NSW Northern Sydney
Institute. The challenge was to turn
a mystery box of ingredients into a
Humane food on the menu for Australian restaurants and cafes.
when dining out.”
Bertram said the RSPCA’s research
found 65 per cent of people surveyed
were concerned about battery cages
for chickens and 64 per cent said
they would prefer to buy barn or free
range eggs. Seventy per cent are concerned
with pigs kept in sow stalls.
“The RSPCA is receiving more
queries from consumers who are interested
to know where their food
three-course meal to impress the
judges.
The other state teams who have
already made it through include
ACT's Keaton McDonnell (Flint
Dining Room) and Nicholas
Parkinson (Parlour Wine Room),
Victoria's Matthew Carnell and
Bessie Grant (Mercers Restaurant),
the Northern Territory's Aaron
Elmy and Benjamin Morriss (Skycity
Casino), and South Australia's
Daniel Murphy and Joel Stephens
(1918 Bistro & Grill).
The Golden Chef’s Hat national
final takes place in Melbourne in
September.
For more information head to
austculinary.com.au
has come from and what they should
look for to be sure they’re buying humanely
farmed produce than ever
before,” Bertram said. “They’re
seeking credible and trusted advice
to help cut through the growing confusion
in the marketplace. More and
more in the hospitality sector are
hearing this. This is clear by the
amount of higher welfare alternatives
found on menus.”
Talented apprentices eye Golden Chef prize
Gareth Robbs (left) and Daniel Cooper are
NSW’s Golden Chefs Hat finalists.
6 hospitality | august 2010 hospitalitymagazine.com.au

Food safety
Don’t cook if crook
WITH the chills of winter still
upon us the NSW Government
has warned of the risk of viral
gastro contamination and urged
chefs and cooks to refrain from
working when ill.
Primary Industries Minister
Steve Whan said the warning applies
particularly to food industry
professionals who come into
contact with the preparation and
service of food for large numbers
of people. “If you’re crook don’t
cook is a good basic rule to apply
in the workplace,” he said.
“Under the Food Standards
Code it is illegal for food handlers
to handle food when they
have gastric illness. It is also illegal
for food businesses to knowingly
have staff working if they
have gastric illness.”
A NSW Food Authority
spokesman confirmed it was investigating
incidences where
foodservice staff were asked to
work when they were sick, putting
many people at risk, and
Superstar chefs unite in Sydney food fest
THE BRIGADE of internationally-acclaimed chefs
heading to Australia for the Sydney International
Food Festival in October has been confirmed with
headliners including such culinary rockstars as
Wiley Dufresne from wd-50, and Marcus Wareing of
The Berkeley.
As well as presenting at the World Chef
Showcase series of seminars, some of the chefs will
be joining local chefs in a series of hot ticket
dinners. One of the hottest is sure to be the teaming
of Dufresne and acclaimed Sydney chefs Brent
Savage to present a series of eight course dinners
at Savage’s Bentley Restaurant and Bar. At a cost of
$350 a head, the dinners will also include desserts
from Dufresne’s pastry chef Alex Stupak, the former
Alinea pastry chef and Iron Chef America. Wareing
too will be joining forces with a talented local, Peter
Doyle of three hatter Est. They’ll be cooking together
to present two dinners.
Other international chefs taking part include
Istanbul’s Musa Dagdeverin (see our Q&A on p12)
and Mehmet Gurs, London’s Yotam Ottolenghi,Hong
Kong’s Margaret Xu Yuan, and France’s Alexandre
Gauthier. They’ll be joined by local stars including
Tetsuya Wakuda, Sean Connolly, Brent Savage, Ben
Shewry, Peter Doyle, Peter Gilmore and Greg
Malouf. See more at siff.com.au
urged staff or the public to report
such incidences.
Mr Whan said outbreaks of viral
gastroenteritis generally increase
in winter. “Viral illnesses
are a common cause of gastrointestinal
illness and can often be
confused with food poisoning,”
Mr Whan said. “Viral gastroenteritis
is highly infectious.”
Symptoms of viral gastroenteritis
can include vomiting and
diarrhoea as well as headache
and muscle aches. Symptoms
may take one to three days to develop
and can last for one to two
days or longer.
As a precaution it is recommended
that people who have
gastro do not prepare food for
48 hours after their symptoms
finish. “It is important for
people in the food preparation
and food service industry to
understand and observe that
precaution,” he said. More information
is available at
foodauthority.nsw.gov.au
Culinary tech head chef Wylie Dufresne.
Horse meat
on menu
THE MOVE by a Melbourne chef
to put horse meat on his menu has
received a mix reception from diners
and the public. However, so extreme
have been some of the negative
reactions from some sectors
that award-winning chef Nicholas
Poelaert, the owner of the one hat
restaurant Embrasse, declined to
comment publicly after he held a
special dinner offering diners the
chance to taste horse meat.
Perth butcher Vince Garreffa
was last month granted permission
by the West Australian Government
to become the first butcher in
Australia to be allowed to sell
horse meat over the counter. Garreffa
later reportedly received
death threats over the move.
Poelaert was quick to order
some of the meat and offered a special
three course tasting menu for
one night at Embrasse. However,
when Hospitality contacted him after
the dinner he declined to comment.
“There are a lot of unhappy
people out there,” he said “No
comment.”
in brief
Winner of $4,600 cooking
equipment announced
A range of Emme Italian cooking
equipment is heading to the Grand
Golf Club in Southport courtesy of
Scots Ice and Hospitality magazine.
The club’s demi chef Catherine
Walters won our competition to win
the equipment worth $4,600 by
correctly naming the range of brands
distributed by Scots Ice in Australia
and telling us why she wanted to win.
“All of our current appliances are from
the stone age, we would love to move
into the 21st century with Scots Ice.
My head chef is sick of chasing woolie
mammoths with a club out the back
just to serve up dinner for the night,”
she wrote in her winning entry. Don’t
forget to get your entries in for the
next installment in the competition.
See the ad on page 22 for details.
And there’s more…
Nadine Cove is the winner of the
competition we ran in conjunction
with hospitality supplier Crown
Commercial. Cove, from River Deli
Cafe in Nowra, NSW, has won $500
worth of beautiful stylish new cutlery
from the Stanley Rogers range.
Healthy times ahead
The Australian restaurant industry will
grow by 3.8 per cent in 2010-2011 and
22 per cent over the next five years,
according to predictions from
IBISWorld. That compares to 1.7 per
cent growth in 2009-2010 and
14.5 per cent over the past five years.
The company forecast Australians will
spend $10.2bn eating out in eateries
over the next 12 months.
Steroids and hormones in
chickens a myth
More than three quarters of
Australians mistakenly believe chicken
produced locally in Australia contains
added hormones and steroids,
according to new research from
poultry producer Steggles. This is
despite the fact that the Australian
poultry industry ceased these
practices nearly half a century ago.
The study showed 76 per cent of
people believed that hormones and/or
steroids were used in chicken
production here.
hospitalitymagazine.com.au hospitality | august 2010
news
7

mysterydiner
mysterydiner
Bretts Wharf Restaurant
Where: 449 Kingsford Smith Drive, Hamilton, Queensland
What: Chef Alastair McLeod’s seafood restaurant with views.
Category: Fine dining
QUEENSLANDERS tell you it is always like this;
no wonder they look so happy. It has been a
beautiful, sunny winter’s day in Brisbane and
what better way to finish up than with a lovely
dinner by the Brisbane River watching the lights
dance on the water.
Bretts Wharf has to be one of the finest seafood
restaurants I’ve had the pleasure to dine in and
this isn’t my first visit. Last time, at lunch, I
watched one of the staff feed fish heads to the
assembled pelicans waiting patiently outside. The
restaurant thrives on providing the freshest fish
possible and supports small, sustainable fishermen.
They also provide a decent steak and other
options, but we are here for the fish.
It is a great restaurant for business with big,
well-spaced tables, discreet staff and enough
scope on the menu and wine list for you to be
judicious or celebratory at the flick of a page.
On this occasion, however, it’s a social call that
allows a friend and I to catch up and share some
great food. We’re ushered to a window table,
handed the leather bound menu and order a bottle
of Brokenwood Semillon ($52).
We bypass the ‘bucket’ of king prawns and opt
for a more delicate offering of grilled squid and
scallops ($21) served with seaweed, tender bamboo
shoots cut into thin rectangles and a touch
of pickled chilli. Delicately stacked in a broad
brimmed bowl the scallops are tender and plump
and the squid perfectly cooked. Pickled chilli adds
gentle warmth and crucial depth.
A selection of small plates ($24) is a great
starter and offers an interesting and light entrée.
Four fat olives, rich in flavour and stuffed with
goat’s cheese prior to being fried in a parmesan
crumb, were sitting on a little bowl of garlic aioli.
‘Poke’ is an Hawaiian spicy raw fish salad and
this tuna version was served on top of a tostada.
Another tostada was topped with smoked
salmon brandade, but not in the traditional style;
this one with both poached and smoked salmon
was held together in an emulsion of lemon juice,
oil and cream. Lighter than recent potato-based
versions I’ve tasted, it’s a well balanced dish of
fine flavours and complimentary texture. Last
was the Hanoi-styled seafood spring rolls. Served
with a sweet and spicy dipping sauce and fresh
Vietnamese mint, these lovely, thumb-sized rolls
were chock full of sea fare and encased in translucent
pastry before being fried crisp.
My friend gazed longingly at one dish in the
mains, and with good reason; it was fantastic.
Morton Bag Bugs, tiger prawns and calamari
($52) are a little on the pricey side, but I’ve never
had the pleasure of eating such moist, sweet,
succulent bugs. In truth, I’ve often been a bit disappointed
by the general quality of bugs in the
market, but these were spectacular. No wonder
she only gave me a taste…matched with a few decent
sized local prawns and some terrific calamari;
the three huge, half bugs are complemented
simply with tomato, crisp potato and a caper
and chive beurre blanc.
I was taken by the special on offer; locally
caught Mahi Mahi ($32) was a great piece of fish.
It rested on a mix of peas, bacon, chives and a
smattering of capers in a light cream sauce with
a small salad of leaves for decoration. A crunchy
disc of potato accompanied this dish, but we also
felt obliged to add a bowl of fat, beer battered
chips. It made for a sensational version of fish
and chips with the Mahi, a pearl white slab of
meat with firm texture and the chips piping hot.
It’s a combination steeped in time, and should we
be in England the peas would have been mushy;
here they’re tender and full of life. The bacon
adds a crucial smoked flavour and it all comes
together to be a beautiful dish.
Desserts appeal, but we cannot make it that far.
There is crème caramel, panna cotta and some
wonderful sounding white chocolate cheesecake
and we are sorely tempted. There is even a selec-
The details
Chef: Alastair
McLeod
Opening hours:
Every day of the year
for lunch and dinner.
Prices:
Entrees — $13-$26
Main — $29-$59
Dessert — $6-$17
Wine — $ to $$$$
Verdict:
Bretts Wharf is a
Brisbane restaurant
industry mainstay,
and with good
reason. It sets itself a
clear purpose and
states it on the menu
and web page for all
to see — they are all
about fresh,
sustainable fish and
educating the diner
towards that choice.
Admirable in theory
and excellent in
practice. The meals
here provided us
with the best
seafood I have eaten
in many years. It was
flawless in quality,
cooked with perfect
technique and
presented with flair.
What more can you
really ask for in a
waterside seafood
restaurant?
Web:
brettswharf.com.au
tion of four sweet tastes for those who can’t commit
to a whole dessert. Alas, we are replete. I shall
remember to only have one of the brilliant, handmade,
sourdough rolls next time and leave room
for something sweet. And there will be a next
time.
8 hospitality | august 2010 hospitalitymagazine.com.au

workplace
Paid parental leave
Do you know about your obligations to employees under the new
Parental Leave Scheme? Benjamin Be has the details.
THE AUSTRALIAN Government
has recently legislated a
Parental Leave Scheme that pays
mothers and adoptive parents
who have been working and
have a baby or adopt a child under
16 on or after 1 January,
2011. This new government
funded scheme is complimentary
to the existing 12 months unpaid
parental leave provided for
under the National Employment
Standards. This is a rundown of
what you need to know.
Does it affect my employees?
Long term employees, having
completed 12 or more months
of employment with the same
employer, qualify for the scheme
provided they pass the Work
Test, Income Test and Residency
Test. This is determined by
the Family Assistance Office
upon an employee’s application,
applying whether they are casual,
part-time, or full-time.
Given the nature of the hospitality
industry, most employees
would meet the minimum requirements.
The Work Test requires
an employee to work
continuously for at least 330
hours in 10-months over a 13month
period with no gap of
more than 8 weeks. The Income
Test requires an employee to
earn less than $150,000 per annum.
The Residency Test also
requires an employee to live in
Australia and meet the residency
requirements.
What do employees receive?
This leave entitlement is spread
over an 18-week period paid at
the National Minimum Wage
(currently at $569.90 a week).
This is subject to PAYG tax and
will increase in correlation with
the National Minimum Wage
determination each year.
What about the Baby Bonus?
Parents who opt for the Paid
Parental Leave will forgo the
Baby Bonus (currently $5,185
over 26 weeks) and Family Tax
Benefit Part B.
As an employer what am I supposed
to do?
While the scheme is effective
from the 1 January, 2011, the
employer’s role is being phased
in over six months. While some
employers may choose to provide
Parental Leave from 1 January,
the employer’s role will officially
begin on the 1 July, 2011
with employees who qualify for
eight or more weeks of paid
parental leave.
Regardless of when an employer
chooses to start, the Family
Assistance Office provides
employers with Paid Parental
Leave funding.
What if I already have a Paid
Parental Leave Scheme?
Employers with their own paid
parental leave policy should
note that such a policy co-exists
with the new government
scheme. Employers may want to
modify their policy to respond
to the new government scheme
depending on what they want to
offer to their employees.
Planning for the future
Given the estimation that 85 per
cent of employees will benefit
from this scheme, it reflects the
profound effect it will have on
the industry. Employers have an
opportunity to take advantage
of this change to institute best
practice in their policies and
procedures.
Restaurant and Catering Australia
helps members to update
existing and create new Paid
Parental Leave policies. Moreover,
it provides further information
as to how parental leave
affects businesses in our industry
in order to avoid underpayments.
This will ensure that employers
comply with the myriad
of workplace rules under the
National Employment Standards.
Benjamin Be is a workplace relations
advisor with Restaurant
and Catering Australia. For
more information contact
R&CA on 1300 722 878.
10 hospitality | august 2010 hospitalitymagazine.com.au

newsextra
Give us a very brief history of
your career?
I started my career at India’s
Institute of Hotel Management when
I was 17. From here, I went on to
complete my apprenticeship at the
Taj Intercontinental Hotel in
Bombay, before moving to Australia
in 1985 to work where I became
head chef at Mayur restaurant. In
1990 I opened Abhi’s in North
Strathfield, and then came Aki’s in
Woolloomooloo. This year I was on
MasterChef — one of my career
highlights.
What do you like to eat when
you’re not working?
I like to eat fresh, healthy food, and
a lot of fish and seafood.
Your favourite restaurant?
Fratelli Paradiso. It serves up simple
food with clean Italian flavours.
Your pick of the menu there?
The fish and seafood broth. Perfect
with a red wine.
Favourite dish on your menu?
For winter, I really like the Prawn
and Okra Curry I cooked on
MasterChef. But one of my
favourites is the Palak Patta Chaat –
spinach leaf in crispy lentil batter, on
a bed of potatoes and chickpeas,
topped with yoghurt, date and
tamarind and chilli and mint sauces.
This is one of my signature dishes.
Favourite ingredient?
I love using fennel and green
cardamom, and fresh coriander.
What do you think will be the
next big foodservice trend?
People are really beginning to
demand a healthy, fresh approach to
food, and I think restaurants will
respond to that. It’s becoming
increasingly popular to use more
natural ingredients and local
secretingredients
Kumar Mahadevan
Chef and owner of Sydney restaurants, Abhi’s and Aki’s
This much-praised Indian chef also has a passion for Italian food and
would dine on Italian truffles for his last supper. His profile went
skywards this year after he appeared on MasterChef.
produce. Which is a great thing.
Your tip for restaurateurs and
chefs for surviving the
economic crunch.
Understand their own strengths,
and also the market they’re in. I
think it’s important to innovate, but
within the boundaries of where your
strengths and knowledge lies. There
are so many amazing restaurants
and chefs out there you need to be
at the top of your game to survive.
You’ve been handed $2m. How
would you spend it?
I’d regularly fly out different Indian
chefs to put on dinner festivals at
my restaurants, celebrating different
Palak Patta Chat
Ingredients
150g besan
50g (1/3 cup) rice flour
2 tspn chilli powder
Peanut or canola oil, for
deep-frying
1 bunch spinach, leaves,
picked, washed and patted
dry
300g sebago potato, boiled
until tender, peeled, then
diced
30g cooked chickpeas
Chopped coriander leaves,
to serve
Mint and coriander
chutney:
cup mint leaves
1 bunch coriander, washed
and coarsely chopped
4 fresh long green chillies,
chopped
1 tspn lemon juice
1 tblsp finely chopped
ginger
Date and tamarind
regions of Indian cuisine and
bringing a slice of India to Sydney. I
would also look to increase my wine
list, with a full time sommelier
specialising in Indian wine.
What’s the key to retaining staff
and keeping them motivated?
It’s very important to instil in staff a
sense of pride and worth for what
they are doing. I take great pride in
the food I cook, and it is essential
that the staff too have this feeling
with the job they do.
Your dream hospitality gig?
I’d love to travel around the world
with some of the great Italian chefs.
Closer to home, I would like to cook
chutney:
30g pitted dates, chopped
1 tblsp tamarind
concentrate
15g grated palm sugar
2 tsp ground cumin
Chilli and tomato chutney:
4 fresh long red chillies,
chopped
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 tspn sweet paprika
Yoghurt dressing
250g Greek-style yoghurt
1 tblsp caster sugar
1 tblsp ground cumin
Combine flours, chilli
powder and 2 teaspoons
salt in a bowl. Make a well
in the centre, then
gradually add 350ml water
and whisk until smooth.
Cover and stand until
required.
For mint and coriander
chutney, process all
ingredients with 1
teaspoon salt and
teaspoon freshly ground
black pepper in a food
processor until smooth.
Transfer to a small bowl,
cover and stand until
required.
For date and tamarind
chutney, combine all
ingredients in a small
saucepan and cook over
low heat for 10 minutes or
until soft. Strain mixture
through a fine sieve, cool,
then cover and stand until
required.
For chilli and tomato
chutney, combine all
ingredients in a small
saucepan and simmer for
10-15 minutes over low
heat or until soft. Strain
mixture through a fine
sieve, cool, then cover and
stand until required.
Fo yoghurt dressing,
combine all ingredients,
season to taste with sea
salt, then cover and
with Italian Chef Danny Russo — my
passion is Italian food.
Vent your spleen. What annoys
you about this business?
People’s lack of knowledge and
ignorance towards different
cuisines. I think it’s important to
know not just about the cuisine you
cook, but the huge diversity of
cuisines from around the world. You
never know it could enrich your own
cooking.
What’s on the menu for your
last supper?
A full white truffle degustation, with
white truffles from Northern Italy,
cooked by my friend Danny Russo.
refrigerate until required.
Heat oil in a deep-fryer or
large saucepan to 180C.
Dip spinach leaves, one at
a time, into batter, shaking
off excess, then deep-fry, in
batches, until crisp and
golden. Drain on
absorbent paper.
To serve, divide fried
spinach leaves among
plates, scatter with
chopped potato and
chickpeas, spoon over
yoghurt dressing. Top with
1 teaspoon of the
chutneys. Sprinkle with
coriander leaves and serve.
12 hospitality | august 2010 hospitalitymagazine.com.au

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Sweet success
When you think about
the type of person
that might aspire to
be a pastry chef, a few
things come to mind. You'd have to be patient,
creative and have steady hands. You'd
have to work well under pressure and be a
serious multi-tasker. But above all else, a pastry
chef should absolutely love sweet treats
—right?
Philippa Sibley, one of Australia's best and
most highly respected pastry chefs definitely
breaks this mould. She never eats desserts
and is never tempted by her own delicious
creations.
“I don't have a sweet tooth at all,” she
says. “In fact, sometimes when I'm working
with chocolate it might as well be concrete,
really. And I'm highly, highly topically
allergic to flour, so I'm constantly covered
in eczema. So it's some kind of purgatory I
think. I must have done something terrible
in the past, like invent boy bands or something
like that.”
It makes sense then, that Sibley's entry
into the pastry world was born more out of
necessity than desire. While working as a
chef in London she met her now ex-husband,
Donovan Cooke. The two moved to
France where they decided that their next
move would be to open their own restaurant
in Australia. According to Sibley, Cooke was
so good at his job as a saucier and cooking
meats that the responsibility of learning pastries
was left in her hands.
They remained in France for a while
longer, where Sibley worked as chef de partie
and refined her pastry skills at the three
Michelin-starred La Cote St Jacques. After
returning to Australia and working briefly
as sous chef and pastry chef at Melbourne's
Mietta's Restaurant, Sibley and Cooke, in
1997, opened est est est, which went on to
earn three hats in The Age Good Food
Guide and be named Best New Restaurant
the following year.
The pair opened two more successful
restaurants, Luxe and Ondine, before the
marriage ended. Today, Cooke is preparing
for the opening of Crown's new The Atlantic
restaurant, and Sibley has recently taken on
the role of executive chef at Il Fornaio in St
Kilda.
“It's really exciting for me to be doing it
on my own,” she says. “It took quite a long
time for me to shake the ‘Philippa and
Donovan’ thing and I worked for Circa the
Prince Restaurant for three and a half years
with Andrew McConnell, so I was Andrew
McConnell's pastry chef and then I worked
at Guillame for two years so I was Guillame
Brahimi’s pastry chef. So now I'm standing
on my own two very, very sore feet.”
Il Fornaio — Italian for 'the oven' — is
open seven days a week for breakfast and
lunch and since mid-June has also been serving
desserts and snacks of an evening.
Even though Sibley doesn't enjoy eating
her desserts, she does love the creativity and
experimentation that goes hand in hand
with being a pastry chef. “It's very crafty,”
she says. “It's very technical. You can be a
lot more whimsical with it.
“It's a lot more fun. You can spend a lot
more time on things. It's not like tossing
something in a pan and chucking it on a
plate. I think craft is the right word.”
Sibley also loves how indulgent the whole
dessert scene is, but she definitely doesn't
take herself, or her work, too seriously.
“Desserts are fun,” she says. “They're frivolous.
They make people happy.”
“They're totally unnecessary — nobody
ever died of starvation from not having pudding,
but it's like an accessory. A beautiful
accessory to a night. I love watching people's
faces when they really enjoy something.
There's silence, then there's the turning the
spoon upside down and then the eye roll, the
throw back of the head. I love the demonstrative
reactions of the customers.”
Despite how complicated some of her
recipes seem, Sibley describes her style of
dessert as ‘old school’. She says the industry's
recent interest in molecular gastronomy
did concern her for a while, and she
thought her traditional, homely desserts
might soon be outdated, but she then realised
that it's best to stick to your strengths
and that certain flavours and dishes will always
be big sellers.
“I believe in marriages,” she says. “I love
‘I love the
classical
marriages.
People will
always love
smoked
salmon
with dill
and creme
fraiche. I
don't think
that's ever
going to
change.’
hospitalitychef
With no real sweet tooth and an allergy to flour, Philippa Sibley is an unlikely candidate for the accolades
she’s received as one of our leading pastry chefs, writes Danielle Bowling.
LEFT: Queen of desserts:
Philippa Sibley
Philippa’s tips
FAVOURITE FOOD-RELATED BOOK?
It’s like asking who is your favourite
child! But I’ve decided on the following:
James Beard’s Delights and Prejudices
and Mastering the art of French
Cooking, by Julia Child. It has the
biggest influence on my work and
inspired me to be a chef. It started me
out with the basics and I still use it
today.
FAVOURITE RESTAURANT?
Universal in Sydney, Attica in
Melbourne and Maze at Crown
Metropole, Melbourne.
FAVOURITE PLACE TO SHOP FOR
FOOD AND INGREDIENTS?
Prahran market. It’s a one stop shop
with the best seaosnal produce, great
butchers and the Essential Ingredient.
FAVOURITE MEAL EXPERIENCE?
Masa in New York. My hands were
trembling while eating their sushi. It’s
beautiful to watch and beautiful to eat.
the classical marriages. I believe in basil and
tomatoes. People will always love smoked
salmon with dill and creme fraiche. I don't
think that's ever going to change.”
“Marco Pierre White is famously quoted
as saying, ‘You can't reinvent the wheel, you
can only put new tyres on it’, and I think
that's a really classic statement.”
Sibley is one of many chefs who prefer to
work with the seasons and use ingredients
that are as fresh and as local as possible. She
loves working in Melbourne and finds the
fact that you can only get blood oranges in
August, cherries in November and quinces
in winter “romantic”.
She has been enjoying the spotlight even
more this year, especially in the wake of her
Masterchef appearance where she impressed
viewers and other chefs with her ‘Snickers’
dessert — a caramel parfait glace with salt-
hospitalitymagazine.com.au hospitality | august 2010
15

hospitalitychef
Sweet treats to delight from Philippa Sibley.
ed peanut caramel and milk chocolate
mousse. Describing it as a “do not try this at
home” dessert, Sibley says that there has
been such high demand for it that it will never
be taken off the menu.
While the Snickers has become her signature
dish, more than anything Sibley loves
working with fruits, sorbets and ice creams.
Fresh fruit, cooked perfectly with freshly
churned ice cream is her dream dessert.
“Whether it be peach with lemon verbena
ice cream and golden raspberries, or pear
with chocolate fondant and vanilla bean ice
cream, freshly done,” she says.”It's so
clichéd but really just fresh fruit cooked
properly is wonderful.”
Now, more than ever, Sibley says she’s
noticing that up-and-coming chefs are aspiring
to specialise in pastry, something which
was almost unheard of five or ten years ago.
She's also noticed that desserts are not only
more sought after now, but are also of a
‘Then
there's the
throw back
of the head
and the eye
roll. I love
the demonstrative
reactions
of the
customers.’
higher standard. “We used to just get ice
cream with hot chocolate sauce or half a
peach from a tin with commercial ice cream
and raspberry jam, but now it's all deconstructed
and the raspberries will be dehydrated
or frozen and everything is really
thought out and ‘fancified’ and it's a lot
more fun,” she says.
Sibley’s also noticing a lot more chefs
growing their own produce and/or using
only organic ingredients. Not only are ingredients
fresher in today's kitchens, but they
are also being kept in their natural state,
used raw or cooked for less time.
People are also becoming more health
conscious and preferring less sugar in their
desserts,” says Sibley. but she doesn’t see this
as cause for concern for pastry chefs.
“It's just another reason for pastry chefs
to continue to experiment and work with
more modern equipment and appliances,”
she says. “I'm a huge advocate of the Paco-
16 hospitality | august 2010 hospitalitymagazine.com.au

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hospitalitychef
Philippa Sibley’s clafoutis of pear
Makes six individual or one large clafoutis.
Clafoutis batter
70g hazelnut meal (made by grinding roasted, peeled nuts)
10g plain flour
100g caster sugar
2 large eggs
3 yolks
250ml cream (thickened)
Mix all dry ingredients. Whisk together eggs and cream. Combine both
mixtures and leave to rest for several hours or over night in the fridge.
To poach pears
3 large ripe pears (William, Bartlet or Packham are best)
500g caster sugar
1000ml water
Vanilla bean or cinnamon stick (optional)
Bring water, sugar and spices to the boil and reduce heat. Peel, halve and
core pears using a melon baller.
Place pears into the syrup cut side facing up. Place a circle of baking
paper on the surface then lower a plate onto the pears to hold them under
the syrup. Poach gently for about 15 minutes or until tender. Allow to cool
in the syrup.
Pre heat oven to 180C.
Butter and sugar one large or six small porcelain moulds (I use oval
baking moulds 15cm long by 10cm wide). Slice the pears into four pieces
and lay on the bottom of the moulds. Pour over the clafoutis batter (about
125mls worth). Sprinkle with icing sugar and some crushed hazelnuts and
cook for 15mins (smalls). or 22 minutes (large), or until springy but still a
little wobbly in the centre.
Allow to cool slightly then serve with pouring cream or ice cream.
jet machine, which basically grinds
your ice cream to order.
“People generally use a lot of sugar
as a stabiliser in ice cream so that it's
spoonable from the freezer but now
that you can churn things to order, a
lot of sugar has been dropped out of
things.”
Sibley says in the future she would
love to open a dessert bar in Melbourne's
city, and believes in a few
year's time desserts will be something
that people specifically go out for,
rather than just something to top-off
an entree and a main. Il Fornaio is a
happy medium for Sibley, serving
breakfast, lunch and sweet treats
(which includes three different kinds
of doughnuts made fresh every day) all
matched with specialty coffee from St
Ali Coffee Roasters.
After a very long and very successful
career, Sibley is still in the kitchen
poaching eggs at 5.30am in the morning
and mastering blackberry delice
that are the size of 50 cent pieces—but
she doesn't hope to be doing this for
too much longer. She is keen to take on
a more managerial role, hiring more
staff to follow in her very impressive
footsteps. “I really, really hope very
soon to be swanning around looking
glamorous and drinking champagne,”
she says.
18 hospitality | august 2010 hospitalitymagazine.com.au

Lip-licking sweet matches
The perfect wine and dessert pairing can be a challenge, particularly chocolate, but getting it right will
deliver sweet rewards, writes Christine Salins.
“NINETY-THREE per cent of people who
come through the door are sceptical that
wine and chocolate mix,” says Grant
Coates, of South Australia’s Hahndorf Hill
Winery. The winery’s ‘ChocoVino’ experience
has been able to cut through that
scepticism and show just why some rules
are meant to be broken. Coates co-ordinates
the ChocoVino experience tht was
launched last November in the belief that
single-origin gourmet chocolate can reflect
terroir just as fine wine does.
The results are remarkable. One example
is the Italian range Toscano
Black — the chocolate with
63 per cent cocoa is
paired with Sauvignon
Blanc, the 66
per cent Rosé and
the 70 per cent with
Shiraz. Each complements
the other
beautifully. In another
example, the citrus
buttery characters of
Hahndorf Hill’s 2009
Chardonnay highlight
similar
notes in a lemon and ginger Dagoba
chocolate.
Finding a wine to complement a dish
with more complex elements takes some
skill but the general rule is that the sugar
level in a dessert should be lower than the
sugar level in the wine so that it doesn’t
overwhelm and flatten out the wine. It’s for
this reason that fruit-based desserts tend to
be easier to match with wine than richer
desserts.
Champagne and sparkling wine generally
doesn’t have enough sugar to stand up
to dessert, but once again the rule book
might need re-writing as there has been a
significant shift in the market to sweeter
bubbles. Moscato’s popularity too is on
the rise. With flavours such as citrus, lychee
and rose petal, it also works well with
dessert, especially fruit desserts.
Late harvest, botrytised and even fortified
wines pair well with dessert, not only
because of their sweetness but also because
of their unctuous texture. The NSW Riverina
region has developed a reputation for
botrytised Semillon, driven by the success
of De Bortoli’s Noble One, which set the
benchmark for Australian dessert wines in
the early ‘80s. One of the best to come
out of the Riverina is Westend’s
3 Bridges Golden
Mist, in an elegant
tall slender bottle.
But there are
plenty of wonderful
botrytised wines
from other regions as
well: Cape Jaffa La
Lune Botrytis Semillon
comes from a committed
biodynamic
producer on
South
Australia’sLimestone
Coast,
while
Margan
Family
‘Exactly
how high
in residual
sugar I’ll
take it I’m
not sure. I
want to
leave it
variable so
that we can
balance it
as the
season
dictates.’
Sweet ending: Who says
chocolate and wine
don’t mix?
imbibe
Winegrowers produces a Botrytis Semillon
from old Hunter vines.
Victoria’s Trentham Estate makes Noble
Taminga with a tangy sweetness, ripe apricot
and marmalade flavours, while Yalumba’s
Noble Pick Viognier has lovely apricot
notes, a perfect match for stone fruits.
Brown Brothers has had great success with
its Patricia Noble Riesling, which has delicious
butterscotch and honey characters.
Brown Brothers Orange Muscat & Flora
is a late harvest wine that complements
a wide range of desserts from lychee and
mango dishes to crepes suzette. At Kalari
Vineyards in Cowra, Valto and Pamela
Heikkinen produce a Late-Picked Verdelho
as well as Fortelho, made from very ripe
Verdelho fortified with brandy spirit.
The finest sweet wines have a delicate
balance between sweetness and acidity that
creates the perfect accompaniment for
dessert. A number of Tasmanian producers,
including Frogmore Creek and Bream
Creek, are producing Riesling with varying
levels of residual sugar.
Bream Creek owner Fred Peacock is a
great fan of German producer Dr Loosen’s
residual sugar Riesling, and in 2008 he decided
to make both a dry and a sweeter
style. Bream Creek 2008 VGR has 20g of
residual sugar; the VGR stands for Variable
Grams Residual. “Exactly how high
(in residual sugar I’ll take it) I’m not sure,”
he said. “I want to leave it variable so that
we can balance it as the season dictates.”
One particularly interesting dessert wine
is Hamiltons Bluff Dolce Nero. It’s made
from Sangiovese ripened to an incredible
22 baume. The ferment was stopped at 10
per cent alcohol, leaving a monster 240g
of residual sugar. This resulted in a luscious,
silky wine with intense fruit flavours
and a very dark colour, much like port. Julia
Andrews, co-owner of Hamiltons Bluff,
recommends it with dark chocolate and
cardamom mousse.
Rich desserts like this could also be
matched with fortified wine, such as Stanton
& Killeen’s Classic Rutherglen Muscat,
Buller’s Old Vine Tokay or Pfeiffer
Topaque from Rutherglen.
Another option is to match a chocolate
dessert with beer, such as Porter or a Belgian
cherry beer. Malt Shovel Brewery’s
James Squire Porter has roasted coffee and
chocolate flavours, making it a great complement
for a chocolate brownie or dark
chocolate mousse.
hospitalitymagazine.com.au hospitality | august 2010
19

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Just Desserts
The dessert menu across Australia is beginning to get a whole lot more interesting as
chefs raise the bar on the sweetest course. Rosemary Ryan looked at some of the latest
trends and ideas making dessert very hot right now.
In Melbourne every Thursday night diners
are packing out a restaurant in
Fitzroy where the only thing on the
menu is dessert, three courses of it for $40.
In the kitchen is Pierre Roelofs, one of
the new breed of Australian pastry chefs
that are taking the dessert course to a new
level at a time when 'sweets' are getting a
whole lot more respect than ever before.
Roelofs, who's worked in internationally
acclaimed restaurants like The Vineyard
and Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck
and last year won the prize for the world's
best dessert at the exclusive Espai Sucre
award, says he's been amazed at the strong
reception the dessert dinners at Café
Rosamund have been getting. The once a
week dinners have been operating for almost
five months now after Roelofs struck
a deal with the owner of the popular neighbourhood
day time café to trial the idea
of the dessert evenings. He's now serving
around 50 customers a night.
The menu is concise and the only choice
is whether you're going to have one, two
or three courses (or maybe a dessert
'tube'). What you're served is an array of
Roelofs' whimsical adventures in flavours
and textures that are delighting patrons.
While the menu is new every week, once
a month Roelofs puts together a 'top of the
pops' menu from the month. They've included
a 'Lamington', which looked like
the traditional Aussie cake sitting on a
doily topped plate, but when diners cut
into it they discovered it had been hollowed
out and filled with coconut gel, a
rich chocolate parfait and exploding
‘It allows
me to
control
how the
dish is
eaten so
the
textures
and
flavours
come
together as
I planned.’
desserts
Tomislav’s Apple Crumble..
chocolate 'pop rocks', plus a dessert simply
called Red that featured freeze dried
strawberries that had been rehydrated with
mulled wine, candied beetroot, rosehip tea
gel, dehydrated cranberries and strawberry
'paper'. All of the desserts are plated in
Roelofs’ signature style. "I'm trying to
present desserts in a slightly different
way,” says Roelofs.
“I'm trying to make the dishes really
multi layered, texturely, flavour-wise and
temperature wise. And I'm going really
flowing and organic with my presentation
and that allows me to have a bit of control
over how the dish is eaten, so all the
flavours and textures come together for the
diner as I planned.”
The move by Roelofs is a reflection of a
wider trend in the industry with increasing
hospitalitymagazine.com.au hospitality | august 2010
21

desserts
numbers of restaurants making more effort
with the creativity of their desserts, either
with dedicated pastry chefs or increasing
numbers of clever chefs who are
placing as much importance on the last
course as the first.
And the proof is in the pudding for
restaurants which are putting extra effort
into creating and selling desserts that have
extra appeal for diners.
Sydney chef Tomislav Martinovic says
that at least 75 per cent of his diners are
including dessert at his restaurant, Tomislav.
Martinovic says he spends as much
time on creating his desserts as on the rest
of the menu. “I love dessert, it's in my
blood,” says Martinovic. “My mother has
baked every weekend for at least 26 years
so I'm fortunate that I've grown up with
that. We try just as hard with our desserts
as we do with any other dish and, more importantly,
the staff really believe in the
food and in me so they are just as passionate
about the dishes, you need to get the
diners' passionate. I work very hard to get
that whole sequence of events — you start
with an entrée and you end with a cracking
dessert.”
His dessert list follows the model of the
rest of his menu — it's succinct with a
choice of just four desserts. And, like
Roelofs' menu, they carry short titles, dishes
like Lemon Cheesecake, Celery, Cream
Cheese, and Mandarin Sorbet; Dark
Chocolate and Coconut Bar, Coconut Milk
Ice, and Chocolate Sorbet; and Caramel
Pudding, Yoghurt Sorbet, Caramelised Walnuts.
Martinovic enjoys making the desserts
fun with a surprising element to them,
’Lemon, Rum, Clove’ from
Pierre Roelofs.
something diners will certainly remember.
His Apple Crumble for example has a few
extra ingredients diners wouldn't expect
from the classic old-fashioned dessert. “I
was worried something as simple as an apple
crumble might not be perceived as an ex-
22 hospitality | august 2010 hospitalitymagazine.com.au

desserts
citing dessert," Martinovic says. “I had the
crumble to a pretty good position but I
thought it was missing something. And then
I had the idea of adding the popping candy
to the crumble. It’ great to see a 60-yearold
couple giggling."
As well as the passion of his staff in selling
the desserts to diners, Martinovic believes
the high buy-in rate also comes
down to two other things -- making sure
the dessert list is included on the menu
that's first handed to diners, and deliberately
making desserts lighter and less
sweet. “We probably use 40 per cent less
sugar than most, and there are quite a lot
of savoury components or aspects to
them,” says Martinovic.
“I try to just make them a lot cleaner
and stay true to the components and keep
it to say three or four component on the
plate. I think diners are moving away from
overly rich and sweet desserts and love the
fact that is it light. I think that's working
in our favour, absolutely. The first spoonful
is really good and it gets better as you
go along.”
The use of more savoury components
adds to the appeal, he says. “For the
caramel pudding I'm using caramelised
walnuts and adding a salt but also taking
the caramel a little further so that instead
of being really sweet caramel we are taking
it much closer to those bitter tones and
then there's a little sea salt on top of that.”
The push towards more savoury
flavours and ingredients in desserts is very
Monkey Magic’s Black
Sesame Creme Caramel
(above); Pierre Roelofs’
dessert called Red.
much a trend, says pastry chef Jane Strode
who operates Sydney's successful Bistrode
restaurant along with her husband, chef Jeremy
Strode. “Using salt in desserts and
more savoury ingredients is a huge trend
and I quite like it,” says Strode.
Strode, whose Honey Tart with Peanut
Butter Ice Cream has become the signature
dessert at the restaurant famed for its homage
to traditional English dishes, says people
are not wanting things that are overly
sweet. “One thing we've always done is to
use savoury pastry for all of our tarts,”
Strode says. “The fillings are very sweet
and just having that little bit of savoury,
salty pastry with anything, a chocolate tart
or a frangipani tart, it just really brings out
that flavour. We never use a sweet pastry.
There's no point.”
Strode says dessert is hugely popular
with Bistrode diners with at least 60 per
cent of customers ordering them. She believes
her passion for dessert and being out
on the floor talking about them is a key
factor contributing to that high percentage
rate for the restaurant.
Getting the balance right for the dessert
menu is crucial, says Sydney chef Dietmar
Sawyere who's had the challenge of creating
two very different dessert menus, one
for his three hat fine diner Berowra Waters
and the other for his hot new suburban
Sydney French bistro Ad Lib. His Berowra
Waters desserts can range from a warm
chocolate tart with sheep’s milk yogurt
cream and crushed candied almonds , to
braised pineapple with coconut coconut
mousse and pineapple soup, while at Ad
Lib the bistro favourites include a pistachio
and Grand Marnier brulee and dark
chocolate mousse.
Sawyere says it's very rare for diners at
Berowra Waters not to choose a dessert
course to include in their degustation
menu, while Ad Lib's diners lean towards
almost always having a dessert.
24 hospitality | august 2010 hospitalitymagazine.com.au

Apple crumble, spiced caramel
sauce, clotted cream ice cream
From Tomislav Martinovic
Tomislav Restaurant
Clotted cream ice cream:
1 litre whole milk
1 litre single cream
150g castor sugar
300g egg yolks
15g milk powder
6 vanilla pods
Combine milk, sugar cream and milk powder
and bring to the boil. Let infuse for 30 minutes.
Add to the yolks and pass through a chinois or
fine sieve. Let mixture mature for 24 hours.
Crumble mix:
250g butter
125g sugar
250g almond meal
125g plain flour
Rub together in a bowl until mixed and crumbly.
Macadamia sponge
150g macadamia nuts
100g sugar
500g cream
100g plain flour
20g sugar
60g egg whites
Bring the cream to boil and let cool. Add nuts
and sugar in thermo mix. Combine nuts and
cream. Whisk the egg white and sugar and fold
through nut mixture.
Spiced caramel sauce
1 litre white wine
250g sugar
8 Granny Smith apples
500g sugar
1 vanilla bean
20g cinnamon
30g cloves
With the 500g of sugar make a fairly dark
caramel and add all other ingredients, including
the apples that have been chopped roughly.
Bring it to the boil and set aside to infuse for a
further 30 minutes. Strain off all ingredients and
poach chopped apples (on low — medium heat)
until just soft.
Sawyere says dessert offers a great opportunity
for restaurants, with desserts generally offering
healthier margins compared to other courses. He
says the trick to selling more desserts is having a
well thought out and balanced dessert menu, and
making sure diners are aware of the dessert options
from the outset of their meal. “I think definitely
you will sell more desserts if they are on the original
menu,” says Sawyere.
Blending Japanese and Western flavours in
desserts is proving a success for chef Hidetoshi
desserts
To finish the dish:
Portion the macadamia sponge and heat in the
oven at 180C for one minute. Pacotise the ice
cream for four minutes. Heat the apples in a
saucepan over medium heat until sauce reduces
to a caramel (takes approximately 3-4 mins).
Add equal quantities of popping candy (bought
from a corner store) in a bowl with the crumble
mix (one tablespoon each). Place the sponge on
a plate, put apples and sauce on top, then
crumble mix and ice cream on the side.
Black sesame crème caramel with
red wine poached pear
From Hidetoshi Tsuboi
Monkey Magic restaurant
Serves four
Caramel
125g caster sugar
75ml water
Crème caramel
400ml cream
Vanilla bean
3 egg yolks
125g caster sugar
1/2 tbspn black sesame paste
Mix caster sugar and water to make caramel
then put into moulds. Heat cream with vanilla
bean to simmer. Whisk yolks and sugar until
creamed, and then add black sesame paste. Add
cream then whisk. Strain. Pour mixture into
moulds. Preheat oven at 180C. Place moulds in
tray, then add boiling water till half way up the
mould. Cook in oven for 30-35mins.
Red wine poached pear:
1 pear
1 Nashi pear
300ml red wine
100ml water
100g caster sugar
1 piece cinnamon stick
1 piece bay leaf
1 tspn black peppercorn
Reduce liquid to 2/3. Add pears. Cook until
tender.
Tsuboi at Sydney's Monkey Magic. Most popular
is his Black Sesame Creme Caramel but they
also include dishes like White Sesame Infused
Tiramisu; Guava Sorbet with Plum Wine Granita
and Green Apple chips. “Normally Japanese
restaurants don't care about desserts and they are
usually quite boring traditional desserts but diners
like to finish with an indulgence,” Tsuboi says.
“I'm surprised how popular they are. I'd say half
the customers are having dessert and I think we
will sell more."
SUPREME
hospitalitymagazine.com.au hospitality | august 2010
25

f Our ine
eathered friends
From pigeon and spatchcock, to duck and chicken, there’s a whole lot of tasty menu opportunities in
poultry and game birds. We asked some of our top chefs for some of their favourite recipes using our feathered
poultry & game birds
friends. They include The Royal Mail Hotel’s Dan Hunter, Tomislav Restaurant’s Tomislav Martinovic, Olio restaurant’s
Damien Naughton, Helm Bar’s Frederic Booms, and The Three Weeds Hotel’s Leigh McDivitt.
Tomislav duck breast
From Tomislav Martinovic
Chef/owner Tomislav restaurant
“I’m a great fan of duck but duck can be tricky. The
way we prepare the duck breasts for this dish means
that every duck breast that goes out in the restaurant,
no matter how busy we are, will be perfectly cooked
every single time. Because it’s brined it almost goes towards
duck ham —it’s just pink, melt in the mouth.”
Tomislav Martinovic
Ingredients
Baby beetroot garnish
2-3 beetroot stalks; 1 litre water
200ml white wine vinegar
80g raw sugar; 30g of salt
2tblsp white peppercorn
Trim and clean the beetroot and then bring all the ingredients
to boil. Add the beetroot and simmer until
cooked, then cool immediately.
Olive oil sponge garnish
9 whole free range eggs
30g sugar; 120g self raising flour
1tblspn salt; 120g cream
10g olive oil; 2 nitrogen gas cartridges
Whip all eggs and then combine sugar once eggs have
tripled in volume, Add salt and flour. Pour the cream
and olive oil. Add to siphon canister and charge with
two nitrogen gas cartridges
Duck breast
180g to 200g duck breast
1 litre water; 50g salt
1 cinnamon stick; 10g coriander seeds
5g black pepper; 3 whole garlic cloves
5g Sichuan pepper
Bring all ingredients (except duck breast) to the boil,
then set mixture aside to cool down. Add duck breast
to the mixture and leave in the fridge for ten hours.
Wash the duck breast in cold running water for an hour.
Vacuum pack and poach duck breast in 62C water bath
for 15 minutes. Take it out from the bag and pan fry
for eight minutes until crispy.
Hazelnut dressing
3tblsp hazelnut oil, 1tblsp olive oil
1/2 cup Chardonnay vinegar
Mix all ingredients and serve over the duck breast.
hospitalitymagazine.com.au hospitality | august 2010
27

Celebrating 30 Years of
Foodservice
The FIA are proud to announce that the
Foodservice Industry Awards of Excellence
10 will be held on Friday 22 October 2010
at Melbourne & Olympic Park Function Centre.
This night will include a celebration of 30
years of the Foodservice Industry Association
Victoria / Tasmania and the many people and
companies involved in the industry. If you
have any information relating to foodservice
companies, their logos and the personalities,
please contact the FIA office with details.
Award criteria can now be found online.
Foodservice Forum
At another packed event in Melbourne, Bill
Evans, Chief Economist with Westpac, gave
an insightful presentation on Financial Trends
and the impact on today’s economy. As
dynamic changes affect the world economy,
he assured the audience of the stability that
we have here in Australia. However, there
would be many instances where companies
need to keep control of their expenditure to
ensure they maximise the opportunities and
minimize the risks associated with imports
and exports of food products.
Sissel Rosengren from BIS Foodservice,
BIS Shrapnel provided a thorough update
on Foodservice Data in Australia. Many
companies are not in a position to obtain
foodservice data, whilst some companies
can not easily access this through their
supply chain. Reports and updates such
as this are important for understanding
the big picture within specific channels and
segments of the foodservice industry.
The next FS Forum will be held at Fine Food
on Tuesday 14 September at 7.30 am
Networking
Café N Chat is a very successful networking
event, proving to be very popular for members
and guests to meet on a regular basis around
Melbourne. Ideas are shared and business is
done over a cuppa. Everyone is welcome.
Bringing Foodservice
Together
For further information:
Carol on 03 9527 8635 or 0414 367 888
E: foodservice@ihug.com.au
www.foodserviceindustry.asn.au
poultry & game birds
Duck, orange and cognac
sausages with du puy lentils
From Damien Naughton
Head chef Olio restaurant
“I wanted to do something for our winter menu
using duck but in a bit of a different way – it’s not
often you see duck sausages. It’s important to
make sure you put it through the coarse holes of
the mincer so you get enough texture and when
you cut into them they are really meaty. And make
sure the mix is very cold when you are piping it
otherwise its very difficult.” Damien Naughton.
Ingredients
For the duck sausages
600g lean duck meat (breast)
200g pork belly
1/2 orange zest
30g salt
100g brown onion brunoise
10g garlic, finely chopped
10g sage leaves, finely chopped
100ml brandy/cognac
Black pepper seasoning
For the lentils
200g Du Puy lentils
Onion brunoise
50g carrot brunoise
50g pancetta brunoise
1 garlic clove
50mls red wine
Veal stock
Thyme sprig
Potato puree
500g peeled desire potato
1 clove garlic
50g butter
150ml milk
Salt and white pepper
For the orange jus
50g sugar caramelised
100ml veal jus
100ml of red wine
For the sausage: Cube all the meat, marinate with
the orange zest and brandy overnight. Sweat off
the onion and garlic, keep separate.
Mince through coarsely, putting half back through
again while mincing. Then add the onion, sage, nitrate
dissolved in cold water, salt and pepper. Add
200ml cold water and emulsify very well. Let cool
overnight, pipe into skins, tie. Cook 80C for approx
one hour, ice down, cryovac.
When ready to serve grill on a medium grill top.
For the potato puree: Boil potatoes and garlic in
a pot until tender. Drain well. Bring milk and butter
to a simmer the milk and butter. Moulli or
mash together the potatoes, garlic, milk and butter
and season to taste with salt and white pepper.
Keep in a warm place
For the lentils: Sauté all the vegetables and
pancetta, add red wine and reduce by half. Add
washed lentils and cover with veal stock, thyme
and cook till tender. Season when ready with salt.
For the orange jus: To hot caramel add red wine
and veal jus and reduce to taste.
For the cabbage: Sauté cabbage with pancetta and
add butter and season to taste.
To serve, plate up with some sauted cabbage, the
lentils, and potato puree. Add sausages and finish
with orange jus and onion rings.
28 hospitality | august 2010 hospitalitymagazine.com.au

Luv-a-Duck k Grain Fed Whole Duck.
Australia’s Meatiest Duck.
Luv-a-Duck meaty and tender
Duck Breasts, Legs, Liver and Mince.
Celebrating 40 years
Luv-a-Duck Pure Rendered Duck Fat
and Duck Stock (recently released).
For more information on our extensive product range or to find your closest
distributor/stockist, contact us on 1300 64 9000 or visit luvaduck.com
Peking Duck from the
Heat and Serve Range
Australia’s
Favourite Duck
Chefs Australia-wide prefer Luv-a-Duck’s wide range
of easy duck products.
Disegno LUV10065

poultry & game birds
From Dan Hunter
Executive chef, Royal Mail Hotel
“This dish is bit of a retaliation against the notion
that game has to be heavy. We did this dish with
beetroot, white chocolate and rose which are pretty
classic game elements. The pigeon is roasted
quite rare — it’s definitely cooked but it’s rare. The
flavour of the blood is really important in game
and in this dish when it’s cooked correctly the
flavour of the blood and the way it plays off the
beetroot and the rose is really amazing.”
Dan Hunter
Serves four.
Ingredients
2 size 5 pigeons
For the rose and strawberry purée
7g semi dried strawberries
3.5g fresh rose petals
6.25g fresh strawberries
9g cab sav vinegar
40ml arbequina olive oil
Salt
For the beetroot
4 small Chioggia beets
2 small bulls blood beets
2 small golden beets
For the white chocolate clay
37.5g white chocolate
17.5g caolin
11.25g lactose
For the rose petals
12 rose petals
37.5g pasteurised egg white
20g castor sugar
1.5g gold leaf gelatine
Lime salt
5g mineral salt
Zest of one lime
Herbs
12 anise leaves
12 baby beet leaves
1 Clean pigeons, removing the head, neck and gizzards.
Trim off the wing tips and remove the wish
bone. Dislocate the thigh and remove the legs
through the skin taking care not to damage any
part of the breast. Using scissors cut away the back
of the bird, removing the ribs and trimming any
excess fat that may be around the bottom of the
breast. Wipe blood from the breast. Reserve legs.
2 Place pigeon ‘crowns’ into individual vacuum
bags and seal on 30 seconds. Weigh birds to determine
cooking time. Between 180-200g the birds
will take 28 minutes, 200-230g birds will need 29.
Reserve cleaned pigeons in fridge until needed.
Pigeon, beetroot, white
chocolate, rose
3 Combine strawberries and rose petals in Thermomix.
Process to paste. Add vinegar and then oil
in fine stream so it emulsifies. Pass purée through
fine chinois reserving excess oil that separates. Reserve
purée and oil in separate containers.
4 Clean the beets. Place into a pot with seasoned
water and bring to a gentle simmer. When cooked
rub the skins off whilst maintaining the natural
shape of the beetroot. Slice the beets into halves
or quarters, depending on the desired size.
5 Compress the beets on maximum pressure with
a little of the rose oil following a ratio of half oil
to weight i.e 100g beets/50g oil. Marinate for a
minimum of 12 hours. Remove from the vacuum
and portion into foil containers, season with salt,
and dress with a little more oil. Reserve covered
with film until needed.
6 Melt chocolate over a bain marie. Combine
caolin and lactose and rub the melted chocolate
into the dry mixture. Leave the ‘clay’ to cool in a
fridge and solidify. When hard, break the clay into
different sizes, sifting away the fine powder.Reserve
in a sealed container, refrigerated until needed.
7 Combine salt with the micro planed lime zest.
Rub salt and zest together so zest is evenly distributed
through the salt. Make the salt as close to
service as possible to retain lime aroma.
8 For the rose petals start with hydrating the gelatine,
squeeze out excess water and dissolve it in a
microwave. Warm the egg white, dissolving the
sugar with it and combine the mixture with the
gelatine. Using a fine brush coat the rose petals
with the egg mixture and place them into a dehydrator
on the lowest setting to slowly dry out and
crisp. When crisp transfer the petals to a vacuum
seal bag taking care not to damage them. The best
method is to place the petals into a container first
and then vacuum seal the container.
9. Place the pigeons into a 65C water bath for the
required cooking time (depending on weight).
Once cooked transfer immediately to a blast chiller
and stop the cooking process. When cool remove
pigeons from the bag, dry off any blood and allow
the skin to dry out.
10 To reheat, place the birds into a 100C oven for
one minute and then under a salamander skin side
up for one minute. Blow torch the skin to a nice
roasted colour and then place the pigeons again under
a salamander back side up for 1.5 minutes.
Place the beets to warm in an oven.
11 To serve, spread some rose purée across the centre
of a flat rectangular plate and cover it with the
white chocolate clay. On the far left of the purée
place the beetroots, dress them with more of the
rose/strawberry oil and place leaves on top. Carve
both breasts from the birds taking care not to damage
the fillet and then carve each breast lengthways
into two. Rub lime salt onto the breasts, place two
halves (one whole breast) on each plate and press
two rose petals onto the pigeon.
30 hospitality | august 2010 hospitalitymagazine.com.au

poultry & game birds
From Frederic Booms
Chef, Helm Bar & Bistro
“This was a dish to do something a
bit different with duck, and to also
make it a summer dish. Most important
to remember is not to over cook
the duck in the liquid.” Frederic
Booms.
32 hospitality | august 2010 hospitalitymagazine.com.au
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 duck legs
Asian duck salad
For the master stock
300ml soy sauce
400ml mirin
300ml water
60g fresh ginger, sliced
8 garlic cloves, crushed
6 star anise
1 bunch coriander with roots,
roughly chopped
4 birds eye chillis
2 cinnamon sticks
100g caster sugar
Put all the ingredients for the master
stock in a roasting dish and submerge
the four duck legs in the
stock. Cover with foil and place in
a preheated oven at 110C. Roast for
3-4 hours, or until duck is tender.
Once the duck is cooked let it sit in
the remaining stock and cool. Once
cooled, remove the duck meat from
the bone and shred and keep aside.
For the salad
Roasted pecan nuts
1 nashi pear, cut julienne style
100g snow pea tendrils
Large handful of coriander leaves
2 banana chillis, thinly sliced
4 stalks spring onions, sliced
Juice from two limes
1 tbspn mirin
1 tbspn light virgin olive oil
Toss all the ingredients in a bowl,
add the duck meat, mix and serve individually
or on a large sharing
plate.

Galantine of truffle stuffed spatchcock
From Leigh McDivitt
Head chef, The Three Weeds Hotel
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 No.5 Thirlmere spatchcocks
1 whole chicken breast, diced
100g caul fat, cut into 4 pieces
500ml cream
250g pearl barley
8 eschalots
1 punnet red chard
50g broad beans
3 bunches kale
4 parsnip
10g tarragon, finely chopped
5g truffle paste
100ml white wine
1000ml chicken stock
For the mousse
Place your blender in the freezer for five minutes
to chill. When ready, place chicken breast in and
blend to fine paste. Then pass through a drum
sieve. Take two metal bowls, one larger than the
other and place ice and water in the larger bowl.
Place the smaller bowl on top. Put your blended
chicken breast in the bowl and slowly fold through
cream. Add tarragon, truffle paste, salt and white
pepper. Put into a piping bag and refrigerate.eady.
For the spatchcocks
De-bone spatchcocks. Remove excess fat and entire
skin. Put skin aside as it will be used later. Place
whole spatchcocks back onto their skin and have
them displayed with one breast to the left, the thigh
in the centre, and the other breast on the right.
Take your chicken, tarragon and truffle mousse
and pipe onto the thigh from top to bottom. When
done, start to carefully roll from left to right until
a cylinder. Place caul fat down and put spatchcock
on top and again roll, this time a little more firmly.
Finally, take a large piece of clingfilm and place
your spatchcock on top, roll tightly into a firm
cylinder and tie each end with a knot. Heat a large
pan of water to 70C and poach spatchcock galantines
for no more than 15 minutes. Remove from
heat and place into bowl of iced water. Allow to
chill, then refrigerate.
Pearl barley
In a large stock pot place diced eschalots and sauté.
Add the pearl barley, white wine and chicken stock.
Cook and reduce as if you’re making risotto.
Final preparation
Take your spatchcocks and seal them in oven proof
pan. Place in an oven pre-heated to 280C for 15
minutes. Do not allow to over cook. Serve with the
pearl barley, parsnip purée, parsnip chips, and garnish
with broad beans and chard.
poultry & game birds
hospitalitymagazine.com.au hospitality | august 2010
33

management
Tips from across the ditch
Warm and friendly service is just one of the features of the New
Zealand hospitality industry we could learn from, writes Ken Burgin.
SOMETHING big is about to happen to New
Zealand—the Rugby World Cup in 2011. Sixty
thousand people are expected to visit a country
of four million and watch 20 teams play 48 games.
Stretching from Invercargill at the bottom of the
South Island to Whangarei at the top of the North
Island, the whole country will be involved, and
stretched to capacity.
To prepare the nation’s hospitality businesses,
the Hospitality Standards Institute organised a
road show of business presentations through
Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Rotorua and
Auckland. They featured topics from hospitality
business management and marketing, to design
and cost control. It was my pleasure to present
ten sessions during this road show, and hear firsthand
about the challenges facing New Zealand
restaurants, cafes and hotels.
A fellow presenter was New Zealand restaurateur
Craig McFarlane, the power behind eight hospitality
businesses from coffee roasters and restaurants,
to cafes and a pub. A strong believer in
systems and financial control, McFarlane showed
how he has grown his businesses through partnerships
and training key people to thoroughly understand
how a business makes money. The businesses
are big on personality and service, and they
proudly focus on maximising profits and retaining
staff.
Meeting McFarlane for the first time, you could
assume he’s just another hard-working operator
struggling with one business. But he’s made the
breakthrough that most owners never do — leveraging
his skills so expansion doesn’t mean more
and more work hours and extra stress. Most owners
dream of opening another business, but they
never find the way to use the talent of others to
help them expand.
Keys to McFarlane’s success includes his 3 P’s —
People, Processes and Partnerships. Do your people
understand what the business stands for and
support its values? Are the processes relevant or
redundant? Are they effective? People and process-
es make sense, but partnerships are often understood
in quite a narrow way. McFarlane sees partnerships
as including not just shareholders, but
also staff, suppliers, brands and professional associations—everyone
who can help to make the business
a success.
Many of his businesses have staff who have been
bought in as partners to the operation, thoroughly
trained in good management and now highly
motivated to maximise the bottom line. They’re
not just partners, but leaders: people who can communicate,
who want to learn, who are decisive and
can motivate others. They also need to be confident,
consistent and self-aware.
Central to the McFarlane model are accurate
figures, available at the beginning of every week,
so staff and management know exactly how the
business is performing. Food and labour cost percentages,
customer spending, best and weakest
selling items, actual figures compared to budgets.
It takes time to organise, but once the systems are
established the performance improvements should
be immediate. How well are your systems set up
to give essential KPI’s whenever you need them?
Are there problems that are unique to New
Zealand? Not too many. The same shortage of
skilled staff, rising costs for energy and food, and
a small population a long way from the rest of the
world. And in a shock discovery: Gen Y Kiwis are
just like our own, until smart operators like Craig
McFarlane find ways to motivate and engage
them. Even with an exchange rate working in my
favour by 20 per cent, food and drink in New
Zealand is expensive. The rule is the same in every
country: higher prices mean lower demand. The
short cut for reducing food costs is to raise prices,
but that won’t increase volume — it needs a multi-pronged
strategy and constant vigilance.
The best things I saw included wonderful sweet
treats in cafes and restaurants — from puddings
and lamingtons to date scones and ‘road kill’ (a
mixed fruit slice that’s definitely okay for vegetarians);
warm, friendly and genuine service, without
the ‘world-weariness’ that affects so many businesses
here in Australia; delicious pinot noir and
sauvignon blanc (‘would you like a savvy?’); a robust
coffee culture; and a proud use of local ingredients.
There was lots of succulent lamb from
the snowy-white sheep dotted all over the landscape,
and with the same high prices as Australia,
appealing menu descriptions are needed to overcome
resistance. New Zealand is less than three
hours to fly over. It’s worth the trip to check out
some ideas.
Ken Burgin is a leading hospitality industry consultant.
For more information visit profitablehospitality.com
or call 1800 001 353.
34 hospitality | august 2010 hospitalitymagazine.com.au

management
doctorhospitality
I usually hang up on job applicants who ask to be
paid in cash, but I know we are missing out on
some good applicants. Am I being stupid?
You’re doing the right thing and it’s frustrating to see
others who don’t. Many people think there’s a benefit to
not being paid officially but point out to them that they
won’t be able to obtain a credit card without a record of
earning, and will find it difficult to get a reference for
renting a flat. These people are also more transitory —
they don’t want to make commitments.. And if they’re
injured, they’ll definitely want to be ‘on the books’ for
compensation. Be smart and stay safe.
What’s the formula for pricing a wedding?
It’s not as easy as just multiplying costs by three, four or
five. The more you can sell the ‘specialness’ of your
facilities, the more you can charge for more than just
food, drink and staff costs. Some caterers work on a 20
per cent food cost, others allow the costs to be higher.
Check competitor pricing and aim for clientele that is not
chasing the cheapest deals. Add in a charge for room hire,
and have a range of attractive options such as theming,
decorations, chair covers and cocktails — some of these
can be given for free to close a deal. Make sure your
website, phone answering, menus and service are all of
the highest quality and people will understand why your
prices are a little more.
I’m the new operations manager of a tired old pub,
with lots of ‘deals’ for regulars and mates. How do
I convince the boss this needs to change?
Once you and the boss agree on a vision of the business’s
future, it will be much easier to work on steps towards
achieving it. Gather your facts and identify the areas of
weakness, eg bistro sales, spirit sales etc. Use the 80/20
principle to look at the 80 per cent of customers who only
give you 20 per cent of your sales, and vice-versa. Hard
decisions have to be made about losing some of the lowvalue
customers. Keep talking about the future vision —
when you have agreement on that the tough decisions
are easier for the boss to agree with.
Everyone’s talking about Foursquare and ‘location
marketing’. What is it and should I worry - I’m only
just on top of Facebook.
Most new mobile phones can track where you are, so it’s
now possible to make offers to people based on their
location. Foursquare.com is one of the first of these
location services, and is popular with people who like to
play games with their phones. By adding the Foursquare
‘app’ to a phone, they can check in at a business and
become the ‘Mayor’ if they visit more than others.
Businesses can create offers that will come up as alerts
when a person checks in. Perhaps a free coffee on every
third visit? It’s time for every business owner to start
using the latest smartphones and get comfortable with
how customers are using them. Keep Foursquare on your
radar.
Got a question? Send it to the doctor via Hospitality's
editor at rosemary.ryan@reedbusiness.com.au
Wining ways to boost dining
Don’t scare off potential dining regulars with over inflated wine
prices, says our columnist.
HOW does that line from that old song go?
Aah, that’s it; everything old is new again.
Seems it’s something we should all be
singing about the Brits. Apparently, after all
these years, they have discovered BYO. And
they’ve done so at a time when the joys of
such dining are steadily disappearing from
the restaurant scene here.
Mind you, they’ve done it — or at least are
trying to do it — with a completely new
twist, one that aims at getting the restaurants
on side rather than antagonising them as
seems to have been the case in Australia.
There is even money involved, which seems
an odd feature of what we have come to view
as a cost-cutting measure and a riposte to
high mark-ups.
Two enterprising entrepreneurs (or opportunists,
even) have enlisted a number of upper-crust
and fine-dining restaurants into the
BYO Wine Club. Diner members of the club
are paying an annual fee of £75 (about $127
at current fluctuating exchange rates) for the
pleasure of taking their own booze rather
than ordering off the restaurants’ own (often
quite expensive) lists.
This means the cheapest bottle of supermarket
plonk can be unscrewed and poured
by a sommelier at some of the swankiest and
most exclusive nosh-pits in the land. And
they promise to do so without critical comment
or a haughty sniff of derision.
The positive aspect for the restaurants
who have signed up to this Clayton’s style of
BYO is that they remain in control of when
such liberties can be taken with their normal
order of things.
Some decree it’s a lunchtime only concession.
Some say Monday to Thursdays only.
Another limits it to just one night a week —
the normally dead Monday.
The expectation is not so much that club
members will be shaming the tables of finedining
eateries with cleanskins and wine that
could double as vinegar, but that they will
bring special wines for special occasions.
They can have that bottle of 1960 Grange
hoarded from birth uncorked and decanted
at a 50th dinner party with food to match.
The scheme applies to bottles of wine only
— no beer, spirits, ‘alcopops’ or chateau
cardboard. And members are told to discard
all paper bags and similar packaging before
entering the restaurant; there’s nothing tacky
about this style of BYO.
It is certainly not something that provides
huge financial advantages to members, especially
as the annual fee is soon to rise to £100
(around $170). You would need to be a fairly
regular diner and something of a cheapskate
in your choice of wines to show much
of a profit.
The real advantage here is for restaurants
at the upper end of the market who tend to
scare off punters not with the price of their
food, but with high mark-ups on their wine
lists and the universal lack of any bottles at
the cheaper end of the scale.
Diners who know full well they can get a
good quality bottle of quaffing red for less
than $20 at their local bottle shop or supermarket
baulk at paying three times the price
when ordering something to accompany
their meal.
One bottle of not-all-that-exciting wine
can double the cost of an evening out at
many of our chef-hatted restaurants. And
still they wonder why so often they are confronted
with empty tables in these straightened
times.
Too many places seem to see the wine list
as their profit-maker and escalate their prices
accordingly. The reality, however, is that it is
more than likely the deterrent that keeps customers
away or steers them in the direction
of their cheaper rivals, BYOs and even a
takeaway at home.
Restaurant wine sales have already taken
a dive as a result of a welcome increase in the
stringency of our drink-drive laws. There
seems little sense in further reducing this
source of income by maintaining such mammoth
mark-ups.
A better approach might be to raise meal
prices to a more justifiable level and cut back
on the wine charges. After all, it is in the
preparation, cooking and presentation of the
food that the real skills lie—not in the ordering
and buying in of cases of plonk. Reward
the artistry, not the administration. Thanks
to the television blockbuster MasterChef
there is now a much greater and wider appreciation
and understanding of what it
takes to put classy food on the table.
And put the customer first — not a distant
second. Think of their needs and perhaps
even welcome them with a smile and some
service when they front up with their own
bottle of wine. Anyone for an Aussie BYO
wine club?
hospitalitymagazine.com.au hospitality | august 2010
35

whatsnew
shelfspace
1
2 3
1 Better way to manage oil. The
oil management system Oilstream
is designed to improve all aspects
of your oil management — giving
you greater reliability and safer
handling of cooking oils at less
cost, with less stress and hassle,
and minimal risk of injury. The
system offers many ‘cost’
improvements — cutting the costs
otherwise imposed on your staff
(safety), your business
(replacement of oil, labour,
packaging, and administration) and
the environment (waste,
unnecessary/inefficient freight). See
oilstream.com.au
2 Asian made simple and cost
effective. The Asian Home
Gourmet range of Asian spice
pastes from Cerebos Food Service
are helping chefs create quality
Asian style dishes. The range of
eight spice pastes is made in Asia
from fresh locally-sourced herbs
and spices which are washed, diced
and crushed according to
traditional Asian recipes, then stirfried
to release their aromatic oils
4 5
6
and flavours, and vacuum-sealed in
convenient resealable tubs. They
contain no added MSG,
preservatives, artificial colours or
flavours and no added flavour
enhancers. The eight flavours
available include Indian Butter
Chicken, Red Thai Curry, Green Thai
Curry, Indian Korma Curry, Indian
Tandoori Tikka, Indian Vindaloo
Curry, Singaporean Laksa, and
Indonesian Satay Marinade. Call
1300 365 865.
3 Bulmers Pear cider arrives.
From this month Australians will be
able to enjoy the refreshing taste of
English summertime when
premium cider, Bulmers Pear,
launches here. With cider the fastest
growing alcohol segment in
Australia, Bulmers Cider has been
popular with drinkers already and
the company expects that Bulmers
Pear will also appeal as a refreshing
alternative for drinkers seeking
something a little different. Made
from fine pressed pear fruit,
Bulmers Pear has the distinctive
quality of Bulmers Cider but with a
clean, noticeable pear character,
well-balanced fruit and acidity and
a crisp, dry finish. See
fosters.com.au or call 132 337.
4 House-made bakery solution.
New from Allied Mills, the Bake
One range is designed to take the
fuss out of offering home-style,
baked goods on your menu at a
time when foodservice operators
are under pressure to supply
premium goods for discerning
customers while also delivering
healthy margins for their business.
The Bake One range of richly
flavoured premixes includes
signature sweets like chocolate
mousse, cupcakes, muffins,
pancakes, scones and bran muffins.
See alliedmills.com.au
5 Control those pests. As spring
and the ‘fly season’ approaches,
Insect-o-matic has released two
new flying insect control products
to keep pests at bay. The products,
Edge and Allure, have been
designed to be the most effective
glueboard and electric units on the
market, and help reduce food safety
risks in any food facility, from a
small kitchen to a large food
manufacturing plant. See
insectomatic.com.au
6 Stylish presentation for food.
Made from pigmented porcelain,
Revol’s Basalt collection provides
an interesting way to present
dishes to diners and is tapping into
the trend that’s seeing a move away
from traditional white
porcelainware settings towards
using pieces suited to individual
dishes. The range, inspired by
natural slate, consists of trays and
plates ideal for presenting cocktails,
appetisers, main dishes, desserts
and cheeses for meals at table and
buffets. Revol’s “slate” is designed
to last and doesn’t chip, crumble or
scratch. Each piece in the Basalt
collection showcases the work of
careful craftsmanship ensuring a
high impact resistance and superior
thermal resistance, ensuring even
extreme temperature changes will
not induce cracks. For more see
tomkin.com.au
36 hospitality | august 2010 hospitalitymagazine.com.au

7
8
7 Cooley Irish whiskey arrives.
New to Australia are the brands of
Ireland’s Cooley Distillery ready to
tantalise the taste buds of drinkers
demanding distinctive flavours and
quality. Cooley has won more than
115 international medals and was
recently named 2010 Distillery of
the Year at the 16 th Annual Malt
Advocate Whiskey Awards.
Established in 1987 near Dublin,
it’s the only independent Irish
whiskey distillery set up in the last
100 years. The Cooley collection
includes Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey,
Tyrconnell Single Malt Irish
Whiskey, and Connemara Peated
Single Malt Irish Whiskey. See
cooleywhiskey.com
8 Easy way to present premium
desserts. Ice cream maker
Serendipity has introduced two new
products into their ‘ten second’
dessert range — Ice
Cream Stacks and White Christmas
Trees. Ice Cream Stacks are hand
made towers of ice cream on a soft
biscuit base and are intended to be
a starting point for chefs to add their
9
whatsnew
own finishing touches. They’re
available in vanilla and chocolate. To
create the White Christmas Tree our
Belgian White Chocolate ice cream is
studded with dried cranberries,
roasted pistachios and a rich buttery
coconut crumble, then frozen in our
distinctive spire shape. Both
products are packaged in specially
designed disposable and recyclable
moulds that protect the product
during storage, transport and
handling. The mould is designed for
ease of use and quick plating. For
more about the range see
serendipityicecream.com.au
9 Casella Reserve range
relaunch. Casella Wines has
relaunched four new Reserve
wines in its Yellow Tail range. The
Yellow Tail Reserve range is
available in four varietals, Pinot
Grigio, Chardonnay, Merlot and
Shiraz. The wine used in the range
is sourced from the best cool
climate regions in Australia such
as the Mornington Peninsula, the
Adelaide Hills, Wrattonbully and
Orange. See yellowtailwines.com
hospitalitymagazine.com.au hospitality | august 2010
37

what’s on
hospitalitydiary
AUGUST
17th Australian HACCP Conference,
Melbourne: Premier food safety forum for food
industry professionals. See haccptown.com.au
SEPTEMBER
13-16 Fine Food Australia, Melbourne: Our
biggest trade event features more than 1,000
exhibitors. See finefoodaustralia.com.au
21-22 The Sydney BarShow; This major trade
event for the bar industry will feature exhibitors
Tastes like real whipped
cream because it is real
whipped cream
Perfect for serving with
fresh fruit, cakes and
desserts, and hot and
cold drinks
Ultra Pasteurised
for longer life
For more information, visit
www.bullafoodservice.com.au
P
R
O DUCTS
plus expert speakers. See barshow.com.au
OCTOBER
2-3 Irresistible Gluten Free Show,
Melbourne; One of a series to showcase gluten
free products. See glutenfreefoodshow.com.au
Give your food
the factor!
Stunning, creative food presentation using g knotted
bamboo picks and pine boats!
Eco-friendly
Contemporary
Create ‘the look’
Innovative
Adds personality
Phone: 07 3394 2043
50 Morley St Coorparoo QLD
WOW
www.topshelfconcepts.com.au
sales@topshelfconcepts.com.au
38 hospitality | august 2010 hospitalitymagazine.com.au

David is a Food & Beverage
Manager for one of Australia’s
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