Christmas in May? If you know me, you know that I’m a believer in Christmas at any time (why limit yourself to once a year?) and the chance to dine at Restaurant Atelier in Glebe and eat Pork is pretty much like a trifecta when you combine it with Christmas. Restaurant Atelier is located in a brick cottage on busy Glebe Point Road and is run by the gorgeously personable couple Bernadette at the front of house and Darren Templeman as the chef who is protege of Bruno Loubet. Darren is the perfect choice to host the evening – as a Yorkshire boy certainly knows his way around a pig. Thanks to the amazing Mel from Fooderati and Stewart from Whiteworks, a gaggle of us bloggers are dining alongside other food industry notables.

Bernadette

We start off with Pork Neck Rillette, Cornichon, Green Beans served in a Witlof leaf. The rillette is deliciously soft and melt in the mouth, subtly perfumed and flavoured with cognac and wine and perfectly paired with witlof. Wines are provided by the Piggs Peake winery – no coincidence that with a name like that they caught the attention of the Australian Pork people but as Mitch from Australian Pork explains, they found that they loved the wine beyond merely the name which was a serendipitous occurrence.

The pink elephant in the room is of course the Swine Flu which tonight’s news report says is at a critical stage in Australia where we were warned that it was about to spreading very fast here with the number of reported patients at over 60. Of course what was clearly told to us from the very beginning (and to much relief) is that eating pork does not give you Swine Flu. In fact the current Swine Flu or H1N1 is passed from human to human rather than pig to human. *Phew* Bacon, ham and pork, come to mama!

Clockwise from left: Grilled pickled loin of pork with celeriac remoulade, Honey glazed pork hock with roasted apples and Pulled Pork Neck salad with Crystal Bay Prawns

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I know that technically we aren’t in a recession but from all reports and behaviours, the restaurant scene is indeed experiencing one. A friend works at one of the top restaurants in Sydney and she told me that patronage is down a whopping 70% at her restaurant. Add to this the specials coming thick and fast, from March into Merivale, Glass, Marque, Bentley, Foveaux and Quay offering their own version of the Parisian style set lunch. And we are more the happier for it.

Today I’m lunching with Mr Gatsby who, being a keen food lover, has alerted me to what has to be Sydney’s best lunch deal. For $30 on a Friday, you can get a 3 course meal at the one hatted Assiette restaurant. Yes. Three courses. And they’re goodies too. I was looking forward to this having tried Assiette’s loin and crumbed belly of lamb with basil mayonnaise and a tomato olive jus at the Taste of Sydney event.

The kitchen-yes that’s the entire space!

I’m struck at how small the kitchen is. It’s a room that seats 50 and the kitchen seems tiny for the amount of people that they would need to cook for. Mr Gatsby assures me that it indeed proceeds at a flaming pace on a booked up Saturday night.

We’re shown 3 menus, the a la carte, the degustation and the Prix Fixe menu for $30. The Prix Fixe menu has some fine sounding dishes there so we order that happy in the knowledge that no children or bodily organs will need to be sold to pay for this. The menu appears to be Modern Australian ingredients with  French techniques.

The crunchy sourdough bread is warm and in the traditional sourdough pointed shape.

Sweet corn and basil veloute

We’re served our entrees. Mine is a creamily delicious corn veloute with tiny basil croutons floating on top and finished with a basil oil. It’s delicious and I spoon this slowly and appreciatively.

Thai style crispy pork with chili lime dressing

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The Burlington, Matthew Kemp and Lela Radojkovic’s One Hatted North side restaurant is one that we are grateful for. Growing up in the East I took if for granted that there were lots of good restaurants around but when I moved North I found it was a little harder to find these gems. Prices are more reasonable here than the already reasonable-for-the-standard-of-food at Restaurant Balzac and this Saturday night my husband are scheduled for a romantic dinner, just the two of us, and of course the omnipresent camera.

Looks rather spooky upstairs no?

From the outside, it doesn’t look like anything much, quite plain with unadorned windows but the interior is warm, reminiscent of Balzac with a little less fancy in the front room, with a middle room and large back room for a large private table with a huge chandelier atop. My husband swears that it used to be one of those Haunted or Host a Murder party venues and indeed, looking at the top floor from the outside it looks a bit spooky. We’re given our menus but I already know what I want having scoured the website already on several separate occasions (yes I am obsessed). I order two entree sizes meals while my husband orders an entree and a main. We’ve asked about the Eton Mess, his famed dessert but it’s not on the menu tonight. Like Balzac, the service is friendly and informal except for our main waitress who lacks the warmth of the rest of the staff and is instead cooly polite.

The bread arrives, 2 slices of a rye sourdough loaf with butter, at a little too soft a temperature. The bread is very good however with a good crust on the outside.

Terrine of smoked ham hock and pork cheek, ear beignets and remoulade $12 (small size)

We’re not waiting long before our entrees arrive, mine is the Terrine of smoked ham hock and pork cheek, ear beignets and remoulade. I’ve ordered the entree size which is 1 slice of the terrine. On the website there are 4 slices pictured so I expected 2 slices with 4 slices being the main size. It’s wonderfully good, reportedly taking two days to make, the brawn consisting of soft meat melding together with the carrots, celery and herbs and bound together and suspended in gelatine.

The thin crunchy toast slivers are indeed very crunchy and the little pig’s ear beignets are crispily good. And remoulade is one of my favourite accompaniments and it goes oh so perfectly with the rest of this dish.

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