At the risk of telling you my exact age it has been decades since I was last checked in by a bouncer outside an establishment. Although I should add that I only went to establishments that had bouncers when I was a teenager and therefore it was more exciting to get in when you were let’s say technically under the age limit. Ahem… so where was I?

Oh yes in Double Bay,  a place otherwise known as Double Pay where the latest criminal installment involved the theft of expensive flowers from a restaurant by a Louis Vuitton bag carrying, BMW driving Darling Point resident. I was whispered the name “Mrs Sippy” by dining companion Beau mistaking it for a place called “Mississippi” which got me all excited because I thought that it served food from America’s south. Not so said Beau but it had good food nevertheless and was one of his favouritest, newest places. And a bouncer whom I had mistaken for another guest (albeit a burly one-I am so out of touch with the clubbing scene) has just lead us the few metres to the restaurant area where we are shown to a table. There are no bookings at Mrs Sippy but we figure eating early-ish helps in this regard. And from the crowd gathered around it’s already a local haunt for Eastern Suburbites.

The decor is exposed brickwork, vintage looking Chesterfield banquettes on one side and nothing else really to note in terms of decor apart from a curious ceiling made up of slender slats of wood with one end looking like it has been dipped in red paint -and ghoul that I am I think of dripping blood (although non ghoul Mr NQN does too).

Crispy skin pork belly, spiced apple, mustard fruits $18

The menu has smaller bites all around the $20 mark such as salads and sandwiches (the tuna nicoise apprently flies out the door during lunch) and the mains never hit over $29 which is refreshingly at odds with Double Bay’s other name of Double Pay. The crispy skin pork belly is perfectly cooked-the lid a satisfyingly crunchy shell atop a soft, melted gooey base. The spiced apple is a puree and the sweetened jam like mustard fruit the ideal accompaniments to the pork.

Assorted sashimi, seaweed salad $21

The sashimi comprises of four slices of salmon and four slices of kingfish. It comes with a fantastic finely diced ginger which gives it a lovely heat and warmth with a touch of cider vinegar. I actually prefer it to the pickled ginger that you get with sushi and sashimi as there is a real warmth to this. And Mr NQN also likes the wasabi given too.

Crumbed veal cutlet, Jerusalem artichoke and green beans $29

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Mondays are my day in. The weekends are always hectic and whilst I still work on Monday I rarely venture out of the house as that requires a kerfuffle that I just can’t muster. But when the email arrived in my inbox to ask if I would be interested in more than a dining experience at the two month old restaurant Concrete Blonde and that involved me visiting the farms from which they buy the produce, picking produce and then taking it back to the restaurant well that was something worth breaking my “no outings on Monday” policy.

First things first though. Why the name Concrete Blonde? Well, according to the owner Peter Polovin the restaurant was originally a gymnasium that was built in floor to ceiling concrete. They have kept the concrete floors but changed to insulated ceilings to keep the noise down. So that’s the concrete explained but why the blonde? Well there is a blonde facing the bathroom and it’s a catchy name as people remember the band although the restaurant has nothing to do with the band.

I arrive at Concrete Blonde’s Kings Cross location slightly breathless and seven minutes late for our little road trip to visit two farms that supply them with their produce. The first farm is Grima’s farm who supply Hong Kong born chef Patrick Dang with vegetables, in particular the baby vegetables that he loves to use and the second farm is the Darling Mills farm that supply him with herbs and lettuces. Dang is softly spoken and accompanied by chef de partie Mark and apprentice Angie.

In the car on the way to the farm Patrick talks about his influences and how he trained under Pierre Gagnaire and travelled extensively before settling back in Australia where he earned his Finance degree at UTS. His theory is that food should stir the brain and soul and that’s where originality comes into play. To him the best way to cook is to tell a story whether it be a memory of when he visited Italy and saw a beautiful pasta made by an Italian grandmother or the time that you ate at a three star Michelin restaurant. He adds that “I want to understand what makes a good artichoke…I have a commitment to myself to understand where it (produce) is coming from.” And of the chefs in Australia that he admires he cites The Royal Mail’s Dan Hunter, Attica’s Ben Shewry and Vue de Monde’s Shannon Bennett. And it seems a part of him is still longing for Hong Kong’s dining scene.

Chef Patrick Dang and Sam Grima

We arrive at the Grima’s farm in Horsley Park. Patrick is on a mission: artichokes, and the field is full of them in several varieties. The Grima’s farm is a third generation farm run by two brothers Sam and Danny Grima. The brothers are also at Flemington markets every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. There is a total of about 34 acres of land on three different locations and the first farm where the packing and storage shed is located has plenty of cavalo nero and artichokes. Sam tells us how he farms in rotation and how they change the crops so that the subsequent crops aren’t from the same family. For example a cauliflower wouldn’t be grown after a broccoli and they would instead plant from a different family.

Cavalo Nero

Sam and Angie hand over a radish flower to taste. “Can you use these?” Sam asks and Patrick nods while chewing on it. He then shows us the baby fennel or finger fennel which isn’t just regular fennel that they harvest early. This won’t grow as large as a regular fennel and the flavour is more subtle. They grow a range of vegetables here including corn, baby, golden and target beetroot, zucchini, capsicum, eggplant as well as purple and white varieties of heirloom carrot and they’re investigating growing red carrots. Patrick is also after prickly pear to use. He tells us that at the onset of each season he likes to visit the farms to see what they have that he can use and what new items he can make use of.

French breakfast radishes

Stinging nettle

Sam is excited to show us all of the things he is growing including stinging nettles which actually do sting Angie on the arm and result in little bumps that resemble bites. We make our way to the next farm just opposite this farm where more produce is grown. There are experimental varieties here as well as the more unusual vegetables that you tend to see only on restaurant plates like black and watermelon radishes, white baby turnips, golden beetroots which are very hard to grow and are susceptible to humidity and a sudden change of weather.

Black radish

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Island time is a concept that applies to islands where things just happen when they happen. Case in point when we are high up above Hamilton Island the plane circling above. There is a layer of clouds below and the pilot is telling us that we’ll be circling but “we have plenty of fuel”. You see Hamilton Island airport is a sight only runway which means that planes can only land if they can see the runway clearly. You see it all conspires to create the Island time phenomenon.

It seems the other journos in the group are having trouble landing today and the Brisbane flight does the circling dance above Hamilton Island airport. It’s in the final days of the Hamilton Island Race Week and as a keen sailor Mr NQN was rather jealous that I was going to be here. There are celebrities galore and the island is packed with all accommodation fully booked and during this time there is a 10 night minimum stay.

Clocking the time we notice that we’re running late so we get into the golf buggy and high tail (well as fast as a golf buggy can go) to the jetty back near the main airport where we have literally missed our boat within minutes. You know that feeling when you can see the backs of the heads of passengers as they are pulling out? Not to worry, we could still make it to Daydream Island. But we would just have to get there in a roundabout fashion.

Late in the afternoon we finally arrive at our destination for the evening, Daydream Island. We are greeted with  a shell necklace placed around our necks and make our way to our rooms.

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