Our Chinese New Year feature recipe from Spice Temple - Rockpool’s January 2010 Newsletter

Last week, Phil Wood, Executive Chef of Rockpool and I were in LA to do a lunch for Qantas and NSW Tourism. We were lucky enough to be helped by Rory Hermann and his amazing team at Bouchon Bistro, but more about that in a later blog. This is all about the beautiful food we ate at Thomas Keller’s brand new Bouchon Bistro in Beverly Hills, where Rory is Executive Chef. 

This is a stunning, classic looking restaurant that has a wonderful feel about it when sitting there and enjoying a meal. The detail and well crafted finishes make this a special place. Add to that the buzz of lots of people enjoying the ambience, food, wine and service and this really is a great experience. 

The restaurant menu features classic after classic, that Thomas and Rorys’ team have cooked with such passion and craft that it transcends your expectations of a bistro or brassiere. It is opulent and sophisticated, and as usual, everything you would expect from a Thomas Keller restaurant. The guys here are doing approachable food amazingly well. This is the type of food that you could eat every day and keep coming back for more. 

We started with a wonderfully fresh grand platter of seafood, moved on to a generous plate of charcuterie, a blend of house made and best hams in the world, a lush salmon rillette, a light and delicious white bean puree, some gorgeous foie gras, the texture that only Thomas seems to get with pistachio cream, followed by roast figs, sunchokes and blood orange, then a crisp skin snapper cooked to perfection, and to finish, a pave of lam leg with roasted vegetables and panisse. Well we thought we were finished, then Scott the pastry chef spoiled us further with a number of incredibly textured and flavoured sweet treats. Among them, crème caramel, pot a crèmes, chocolate slice, lemon tart, doughnuts and chocolate bouchons. A truly wonderful and indulgent meal – completely looked after by great friends. 

The next day, we returned for a quick lunch before setting off for a function I needed to speak at in Newport…a bowl of mussels with saffron and chips and one of the specialties, Roast chicken. As expected, it was yummy and once again displayed the quality at work in the kitchen.

Come and join our team!

Are you passionate about what you do? Are you looking for that perfect job that will offer you a great working environment and the opportunity to learn and grow in your career?

• - CBD location
• - One of Sydney’s highest profile fine dining restaurants
• - Opportunity for growth, development and on–the-job training

Rockpool, Neil Perry’s flagship fine dining restaurant, is seeking experienced floor staff and staff with superior wine knowledge to join their exceptional team. We have numerous positions available including Senior Floor Waiters, Wine Waiters, Cashiers and Bar Staff, so if you are looking for the perfect opportunity to provide fantastic service within an amazing environment … apply NOW!

 The General Manager is seeking experienced staff who have:

• - A minimum of three years experience within busy restaurants of a similar calibre    
• - Enthusiasm and the ability to utilise their initiative & passion for fantastic service
• - A proven understanding of, and willingness to learn more about, food, wine and service
• - Proven experience working as part of a strong and tight knit team.

If you feel that you would be right for one of these positions please apply today. We are looking for Staff who have passion for what they do and who want to be part of a successful team.  Full-time positions available, all applicants must be available Tuesday to Saturday. Only experienced staff will be considered for these roles.  

Please email your application to Penny – penny@rockpool.com or fax us your cover letter and resume to 02 9252 2421.

Only successful applicants will be contacted.

Hirafu and Hanazono are two of the best places to ski on earth. They are on the Island of Hokkaido. The winds blow off Siberia over the sea and dump crisp dry snow on the island almost nightly. The view from the plane landing on snow-covered Sapporo was spectacular. I had never seen blue ocean giving way to white snow and a city underneath before.  

We were so lucky to find Suiboku to stay in – a marvellous modern and comfortable block of luxury apartments in Hirafu. They were so comfortable that we never wanted to leave; lucky the snow was so good it lured us out daily. The town is well serviced by bars and restaurants and the food is fantastic but more about that in a restaurant blog I will post later.

More on the snow though… it is so dry you can’t even make snowballs and we were skiing in fresh powder on groomed runs and off piste tree runs most days. The kids loved the ski school and sledding every afternoon.

The onsen culture is well and truly entrenched in the area and in Suiboku, we were lucky enough to enjoy a beautiful private onsen in our apartment; the whole family could relax in it each evening as we looked out over spectacular Mt Yotie, the volcano. Of course, there are lots of onsens in the village and around the local towns as well. We had such a great time the whole family is heading back next January.

Balance & Harmony wins “Best Asian Cuisine’ cookbook category at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2009.

This win qualifies the very beautiful Balance & Harmony cookbook by Neil Perry for the next round of competition, Gourmand – best in the world.  Our fingers are crossed!

Photograph taken from Balance & Harmony

If you’d like to own a copy visit our online store at the Rockpool website.

Some years ago Andoni Luis of Mugaritz fame told me it was a chef’s responsiblity to record his travels and influences with photos and words. Since that time I have always photographed everything of interest that I have done or eaten.

It is an amazing way to look back at interesting meals and times from not only travelling but also at home in my own restaurants in Sydney. I was just going through some old shots and noticed these wonderful dishes from the French Laundry. I have been lucky enough to eat at this great restaurant several times, but these photographs are from my last two visits.

Thomas is not only a great man but he runs one of the world’s very best restaurants, well several actually, but let’s focus on “The French Laundry”, with its blue door, wonderful kitchen garden over the road and most importantly, great kitchen staff and some of the very best service you will get anywhere in the world. You start out with a myriad of appetizers, the famous Salmon tartare in pretty cones, the amazing please- can- I- have- one –every- day ‘oysters and pearls’ (love caviar), truffle custards, the list goes on, then into lovely salads, foie gras, lobster cooked sous vide, chicken, quail and beef and quite often a pigeon dish.

Desserts and cheese courses don’t disappoint either. This is wonderful produce driven food cooked with marvellous technique and delivered with such generous and hospitable service that a trip to the Napa is a must. All the shots of these wonderful dishes were taken over a couple of meals, so don’t expect it all when you dine there, however you will be blown away by the number and quality of the dishes, plus a whole vegetarian menu is on offer. On one visit Sam, my wife, was pregnant so she chose it and we spent the whole meal fighting over her dishes as they were so delicious.

What makes Rockpool one of Australia’s greatest dining destinations?
We are passionate about hospitality and pride ourselves on an exceptional work ethic and a generosity of spirit. We are industry leaders in food and wine programs and won’t rest on our laurels. We work with only the very best producers and suppliers and strive for perfection.

Why would you like to work here?
Because we train like no-one else. Every week we hold training sessions to enable our staff to be the best they can possibly be. Wine training, coffee training, food classes, guest speakers, you name it…we train you in it!

If you would like to be part of a team that takes immense pride in their work, please email Penny at penny@rockpool.com

We are currently looking for…..

Dedicated Floor Staff
Are you passionate about what you do? Are you looking for that perfect job that will offer you a great working environment and the opportunity to learn and grow in your career?

• CBD location
• One of Sydney’s highest profile fine dining restaurants
• Opportunity for growth, development and on –the-job training

Rockpool, Neil Perry’s flagship fine dining restaurant, is seeking experienced Floor Staff to join their exceptional team. We have numerous positions available including Senior Floor Waiters, Cashier/Hostesses and Bar & Cocktail Staff, so if you are looking for that perfect opportunity to provide fantastic service within an amazing environment … apply NOW!

 The General Manager is seeking experienced staff who have:

• A minimum of three years experience within busy restaurants of a similar calibre    
• Enthusiastic candidates who utilise their initiative & passion for fantastic service
• Proven understanding and willingness to learn more about food, wine and service
• Proven experience working as part of a strong and tight knit team.

If you feel that you would be right for one of these positions please apply today. We are looking for Staff who have passion for what they do and who want to be part of a successful team.  Full-time and casual positions available. All applicants must be available Tuesday to Saturday. Only experienced staff will be considered for these roles.  

Please email your application to Penny – penny@rockpool.com

Zucchini and parmesan tart with summer vegetables and green goddess dressing is currently featured on Rockpool’s 4 Course Menu. 

Below are the 12 stages of plating this beautiful dish:

And the finished dish:  Zucchini and parmesan tart with summer vegetables and green goddess dressing

Saturday… finished work a little earlier than usual and headed to Chairman Mao for supper. This is an awesome little Hunan restaurant in Kensington. The place does authentic food, hot and spicy and really honest. Hunan cuisine is really amazing home cooking and this food really rises to the top of Hunan style available in Sydney. It is crazily good value.

On Saturday night, we enjoyed the pickled radish, and the “half meat half fat pork with preserved vegetables” – this is literally its name, translated from Chinese. Every province has its own  version of this dish. This one was perfectly balanced, and I also love the Hakka one I recently had in Hong Kong. Now of course I am totally addicted to this one at Chairman Mao, so…dilemma; Chairman’s Mao famous pork belly or this? How will I decide? I’ll just have to take 8 people and have both!!! So then onto the cumin lamb and stir fried green chillies with preserved egg; the chillies so hot and addictive I couldn’t stop eating them and I love the preserved egg with it. In Sichuan and Hunan cuisine I simply love cumin lamb. This dish was full of sliced garlic stem and just delicious. Then, some Hunan style noodles with boiled beef – great texture on the noodles, really al dente and I love the chilli oil and chewy braised beef sauce. To finish, Sam adored the bean curd and coriander soup. This is a cooling soup that helps put out the fire of the chilli. A great way to finish a meal with a cold beer or cup of tea.

Must get all the cooks from the Rockpool group and head out there for Sunday dinner.

Chairman Mao: 189 Anzac Parade, Kensington.  Tel: 02 9697 9189

As featured on Rockpool’s 4 Course menu, today we are showcasing Moroccan style lamb: slow cooked castricum loin, tomato and mustard seed braised shoulder with nut stuffed date and “chermoula verde”

And the finished dish:

Moroccan style lamb: slow cooked castricum loin, tomato and mustard seed braised shoulder with nut stuffed date and chermoula verde