It’s our birthday this week!!!!

 On Sunday February 28th, Rockpool will officially come of age.

 Turning 21 has made Trish and I reflect on what the future holds for our flagship restaurant. 

When we turned 20 last year, we were immensely proud of how far we had come, and to still be standing strong over two decades later feels like quite the achievement. Rockpool certainly seems to be standing the test of time. 

Moving forward, the future direction of the restaurant will be largely in the hands of our executive chef, Phil Wood. We have had the pleasure of working with Phil for the past 12 months and with his experience in our kitchens as well as The French Laundry and Tetsuya’s, he is without a shadow of a doubt one of the best young chefs this country has to offer. 

Since joining us in March last year, Phil has taken over the reins of the kitchen and thrived on the responsibility. He was recently promoted from Head Chef to Executive Chef and constantly amazes us with his skill and creativity. We have complete confidence in Phil’s ability and while I will continue to be very involved in the menu and as a mentor to him and the team, Phil now has complete creative control of the food side of things. 

Phil Wood (1st left) in the kitchen after a recent function in NZ

We continue to offer a choice of two menus at Rockpool – the four course a la carte menu and the eight course Grand Tasting menu – and we have recently launched our exclusive ‘Chef’s Table’.  Situated in front of the kitchen, it offers private groups a bird’s eye view of all the action and our guests are loving it! 

To celebrate our 21st Birthday, Rockpool will be offering all customers who dine at the restaurant during the week following our birthday, Tuesday March 2nd to Saturday March 6th, a glass of Champagne on us! 

Happy birthday from us,

Neil, Trish and the crew at Rockpool

It’s great to have friends in high places and when it comes to America and restaurants they don’t come any higher or bigger than Thomas Keller.

Thomas is not only the owner of two amazing Michelin Three Star restaurants in The French Laundry and Per Se , but he also has Bouchon Bistro in now three locations and the Bouchon bakeries that produce what I believe is the best bread in America. So when I was asked to do a luncheon in LA for Qantas and Tourism NSW and a cocktail party the day before in New Beach, I knew we needed to get some help, at least with ordering fresh supplies. I emailed Thomas and straight away he told me to relax and that Rory Herrmann, executive chef at Bouchon Beverly Hills would help us and organise everything. What a fantastic help they were. They ordered all the food, helped with all the prep and delivered freshly baked bread to the function as we put the finishing touches on.

They were truly amazing and because of that Phil and I were able to do wonderful Rockpool food at the luncheon. We prepped on the Tuesday, Rory sent us off straight after a great lunch of mussels, chips and the famous roast chicken, Phil drove us to New Beach to do the cocktail party (somehow he didn’t fall asleep and kill us, being horrendously jet lagged) and then the next morning we were up and in the kitchen again.

From there to the Consul General’s home for the lunch and I can honestly say, without the huge generosity of Thomas, Rory and his crew it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as good and certainly not as much fun!

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.

Part of our job with Qantas sees us look at lots of different manufactured products.  Some good, some not so good and every now and again a real star!

We generally get the team at Rockpool and Kate’s fine palate together to assess these things.  Just recently we had a look at a range of readymade curry sauces by Eurng Luang out of Thailand – they exceeded expectations by some way. It was amazing to see a shelf stable curry sauce display all the character of a fresh made sauce.  We tasted 7 varieties including; Green curry, Red Curry , Panaeng Curry , Chu-Chee Curry , Massaman Curry , Yellow Curry Thai Style , Honey Chilli Sauce.

I made the comment that there are many Thai restaurants in Sydney not serving such delicious curries. I’m sure we will be using them in some way this year. Hopefully we will find some more products as good as this one.

Here at Rockpool 5pm is an extremely popular time of day for that is when staff dinner is served!

Feeding  about 40 starving staff members is no mean feat and our Chefs take it in turn to whip up something delicious and filling to keep the Crew satiated until the last customer waves goodbye at the end of a busy service.

This recipe for Fragrant lamb tagine with potatoes and olives, served with pine nut and currant couscous and mint yoghurt is a real crowd pleaser. 
Many thanks to Will Cowan-Lunn for the recipe too.

Fragrant Lamb Tagine with Potatoes and Olives
Serves 40

3kg lamb shoulder, cut into 3cm chunks
8 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons finely ground black pepper
2 ½ teaspoons powdered ginger
2 pinches pulverised saffron
1 ½ teaspoons turmeric
8 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large onions, minced
2.5kg Desiree potatoes
4 preserved lemons, rinsed
400g Gaetas olives
350ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 bunch coriander, chopped
sea salt, to taste

Trim excess fat from lamb.  In a large casserole dish toss the lamb chunks with the garlic, salt, spices, oil, herbs and onion.  Cover with 1 litre water and bring to the boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer over moderate heat for 2 hours, turning the meat often in the sauce.
Peel and quarter potatoes, when meat is almost perfectly tender add potatoes and continue cooking until both meat and potatoes are done.
Quarter preserved lemons and discard pulp.  Rinse and stone the olives.  Add both to the casserole for the last 10 minutes of cooking.  Stir in lemon juice and adjust seasoning as necessary using sea salt.

Pine Nut and Currant Couscous
Olive oil
500g couscous
300g pine nuts, toasted
300g currants
1 bunch mint, chopped
1 bunch coriander, chopped
6 eschalots, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
150g preserved lemon, minced
500ml chicken stock

Place couscous in a large boil.  Boil chicken stock and pour over couscous to just cover.  Tightly wrap bowl with cling film and let stand for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, sweat eschalot and garlic in olive oil until soft.  Add pine nuts, stir for 2 minutes to toast, add currants.  Remove pan from heat and add mint, coriander and preserved lemon.
Run a fork through the couscous to separate the grains.  Add pine nut mixture to couscous and season to taste.

Mint Yoghurt
1kg natural yoghurt
1 bunch mint, chopped
juice of 1 lemon
pinch of ground cumin
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Combine all ingredients and season to taste.

Putting some new salads on at Rockpool Bar and Grill Melbourne in readiness for Summer.  They all look and taste amazing!

In order of appearance:

• House chopped salad, dressed table side.
• Buratta with tomatoes and tomato jelly.
• Seared Tuna with red braised vegetable salad and tapenade.
• Beetroot, Zucchini, smoked tomato and pickled onion salad with Faro.
• King Prawn, nectarine and hazelnut salad.
• Fried Goats cheese and wood fire grilled vegetable salad with 
  the staff all taking it in just before service at briefing.
• Paul putting the last salad together (and Phil at Rockpool in the back ground on the screen).

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

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

An absolutely fabulous new dish (Crisp pork belly, pumpkin and cavalo nero dumpling with mussel and mangosteen curry) has made its debut on the Rockpool menu and the series of photographs below show 8 stages of building the dish on the plate.

And the finished dish:

Crisp pork belly, pumpkin and cavalo nero dumpling with mussel and mangosteen curry