The World Omnivore Tour came to Sydney over the weekend, giving us a taste of the world of cuisine through a series of parties, masterclasses, dinners and events. The event, which originates in France, tours the world with Internationally revered young chefs, with the intent to entice, inspire and titillate your tastebuds. I was lucky enough to attend the two day Masterclass event – which took place at the Australian Maritime Museum on Friday and Saturday – seeing 14 chefs take us through their unique takes on local and international cuisine.
We started on Friday morning with Sydney chef Hamish Ingham of Bar H delivering a dish featuring Buckwheat, Squid, Mushrooms, a few greens and topped off nicely with a Poached Egg. A delicious start to proceedings – and one of the dishes that most aspiring chefs would be able to put together at home.
From Pierre Sang in Oberkampf, Paris came the eponymous chef who cooked up two dishes, the first seeing fresh Australian oysters with flying fish roe and a bitter pomegranate-like fruit that balanced out the flavours nicely. I wrote the name down as “omigan” but can’t seem to find the existence of it anywhere. Unfortunately this was the only downside to some of the dishes shown off in the masterclass. In using ingredients that are hard to find – some of which are made “in house” as a result – some even hard to name, this wasn’t always about “trying this at home”. More than anything this was about seeing great chefs in action, trying new things and imparting some knowledge and wisdom on us wherever they could.
The following dish put forward by Sang, however, may have been the highlight of the entire two day event – a stunning Bearnaise, made at the event, topped off with the loin of a yellow fin tuna, tempura chorizo with a raw turnip and carrot salad. An incredible mix of flavours that Sang recommended we embraced in one bite – a Surf meets Turf of sorts – and indeed, it was worthy of the recommendation. And it was emblematic of the chef’s desire to mix the cuisines of his French and Asian backgrounds.
Returning locally, we saw Mike Eggert and Jemma Whiteman from Pinbone dish up one of the acclaimed restaurant’s most talked about dishes – the poached leather jacket fillet. Poached in clarified butter, seasoned with white sesame oil, lemon and white pepper, and accompanied with snowpeas and cooked eshallots, the dish – which we unfortunately didn’t have the pleasure of tasting for ourselves – was a beauty to behold.
They are also well known at Pinbone for their homemade mustard – indeed, “made in house” was a theme that ran through many of the chefs mantras over the event. As were atypical ingredients coming together to form a dish. In this case, we saw the mustard accompanied by duck hearts and cooked cumquats. They promised us it was delicious. I guess I’ll have to head to Pinbone to try for myself!
Moving to Belgium next, we met Julian Burlat from Dôme in Antwerp. He showed us how to make his version of the perfect blood sausage, as well as beef tartare, presented with his inspired “raspberry ketchup” and cucumbers – with a few fresh raspberries thrown in for good measure. We kept on the same theme with Jordan Toft from Coogee Pavillion back in Sydney, where he brought out a massive beef heart, which he also served tartare.
He impressed upon the beauty of this underutilized meat, calling this pure muscle, lean cut “beautiful to grill” – or, as it was in this case, served raw. It was a chance to taste something new, and it was a treat – though indeed far from something you could see yourself preparing at home. The fact we would need his homemade bourbon barrel aged fish sauce for the dish wouldn’t help matters either. Fried up garlic chives, finger lime and smoked garlic helped pull the stunningly unique dish together.
Toft went on to show up how they make their signature Porchetta, with tips on the best way to tie up the pig, and recommending using smoked salt amongst the recipe. One dish we could definitely try at home followed from New Zealand based chef Julien Bobichon, who presented Asparagus – which is in season right now – cooked in butter (of course), with roasted hazlenuts and Australian Goats Cheese, drizzled with an espresso sauce and a few flower petals for colour. But it was his John Dory poached in coconut water that proved one of the event’s more innovative ideas we could take home with us.
The first day concluded with a masterclass from Badoit on the use of sparkling water amongst a meal – presenting the French mineral water alongside both red and white wines, arguing that not only does such water serve as a way to cleanse the pallet, but it can also be used to bring out the flavours of both food and wine. They also had us compare the drink between tall and short glasses, proving that the type of glass you use can change how “fizzy” and flavourful the sparkling drink can be. It was a fascinating proposition and one that will certainly change the way I perceive the drink in the future.
Day two kept things a bit more local, taking us from 4fourteen and Papi Chulo to Nomad, Four in Hand and Fish Face in Sydney. The sole international guest for the day was Gita Seaton from Nouvaeu Palais in Montreal, who dished up some Hush Puppies – essentially corn fritters, a dish popular in the American south – with a stunning hot sauce.
But the highlight of the day for me was Paul Farag from Four in Hand, who took us step-by-step through the preparation of a flat fish – in this case the Yellow Belly Flounder. I found myself feverishly taking notes as he detailed how to get your fillets out of the fish, and how to make the best use of the parts you don’t use (which in this case is over half of the creature!): from Bottarga out of the Roe to fish stock from the fins and bones. The fish was served with pickled and opened mushrooms, cooked swiss brown mushrooms, butter, lemon and a fresh apple and sorrel emulsion. But my favourite part of all? The macadamia nut grated over the top.
The event ended with Nathan Sasi from Nomad, a restaurant in Surry Hills from which they draw upon Mediterranean flavours and sees their house made charcuterie selections as one of their biggest sellers. Nathan – with some help from two others out of his kitchen – showed us the preparation process for one of the highlights of their selections – the Mortadella.
All in all, the two day event was a look at some of the most brilliant voices in “young cuisine” today – both at home and abroad. Though we didn’t get to taste everything, nor would we be able to go home and cook much of this ourselves, what I think I got out of this event more than anything was that there is no right or wrong way to experiment with cooking. Who would have thought that raw fish and tempura chorizo would support each other so beautifully and richly in their flavours – thanks of course to a perfect bearnaise sauce? It doesn’t just make you want to cook more at home, taking a few tips from the event along with you, but it also makes you want to eat out more, never trying the same thing at a restaurant twice.
So little time. So much food.
Omnivore Sydney was part of Good Food Month which continues throughout October. For a full list of Good Food Month events head to www.goodfoodmonth.com. For more information about Omnivore head to www.omnivore.com
Some images supplied and used with permission. All others taken by Larry Heath
