Why is it every time I see the implements of torture for crab, the first thing I think of is that chilling movie Dead Ringers? Still it doesn’t stop me from ordering crab, just gives me momentary pause for thought. Liss and I are sitting at a waterfront table at Kingsleys Steak and Crab House, the very last restaurant on the wharf which sits halfway down. We’re handed a large, paper menu which resembles a New York steakhouse menu. On the left are the creatures of the sea and on the right are the four legged creatures complete with black and white sketches of a pig, fish and a lamb.

Bread

Alaskan King Crab Legs 200g $19.90

There was no doubt in both of our minds that we were going to try the Alaskan King Crab Legs. Everyone by now has heard of or watched “The Deadliest Catch” where for the short three week harvest season fishermen risk their lives fishing the Bering Sea in order to catch these Alaskan King Crabs. The bodies themselves are fairly empty and all of the meat is concentrated in the long thick legs. This was the first time we were both trying it. The legs are precracked and are easy to crack open due to the strategic cracking. It is served with a mayonnaise and the meat is sweet and moist and we both instantly regret not ordering the bigger size. If I were to describe the texture of the meat it is firm and I would guess that seafood extender is trying to emulate the texture.

WA lobster and Qld King Prawns Salt and Pepper $44.90

The Western Australian lobster tail comes coated in a crunchy salt and pepper batter with three large Queensland king prawns. The king prawns still have their shells on and are best eaten shell and all or peeling them would make you lose all of the flavour on the batter. It’s not a typical light salt and pepper batter, it is much crunchier and a bit drier. The lobster tail is a tad tough and meaty and we prefer the prawns. They’re served with a nice garlic aioli.

Burrata Mozzarella $21.90

This salad had three of my favourite ingredients: heirloom tomatoes, 25 year aged balsamic vinegar and burrata. If you’ve never heard of burrata, it’s a cheese well worth acquainting yourself with. It has a mozzarella type outer and inside it is filled with cream. Their burrata is from Queensland but if you are curious, Paesanella do an excellent one too. The burrata here sits like a shiny, plump bag of treasure at the bottom of a glass, glistening with olive oil and the syrupy aged balsamic. The maitre’d places it on top of the salad and pours the balsamic and oil around it to dress the salad. The fresh flavours of the tomatoes, the tiny basil leaves and the creamy burrata are heaven together.

We turn around and see a couple of girls who have parked their boyfriends at the pub and are enjoying a Singapore Chilli mud crab (1-1.2kg $64.90). Not only are they wearing something to protect them but they are full length plastic aprons! “I don’t ever want this to end” one says and Liss and I ask if they have any crab left. Alas they have just sold their last one! Never mind, we say but our maitre’d asks if we would like more of the Alaskan crab legs. We look at each other, widen our eyes and nod eagerly.

Wagyu Rib Eye 400g $56.90

Click here to read the full story

Nic and I take a seat at a table at Peter Doyle @ The Quay. The weather in Sydney the week before last has been playing silly buggers and we’re not sure whether to sit outside, where really one is prone to sitting when they are dining right on the harbour waterfront but fear of impending and highly probable rain means that we sit right on the cusp of both the inside and outside dining areas. With one foot in each section figuratively speaking. I take a look around and see that the room is spacious and replete with views and when we remark on the view they tell us that it was designed so that every seat would have a water view. The menu is extensive with two pages of mostly seafood but also steak, duck and other offerings.

At the table next to us the chef Peter Doyle sits chatting to Lyndey Milan about an upcoming harbourside development and he stops by our table for a quick chat. He, along with six other chefs including Movida’s Frank Camorra are part of a Hostplus “Cook For Your Career” competition where six full chef’s apprenticeships at top restaurants in each state will be given away. It is open to anyone of any working age from any background and no hospitality experience is necessary with the finale to be staged at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in March this year.

“Apprentices have a very tough four years. We’ve struggled keeping people in the industry young people in particular because its long and tough for them and the pay is not so good so it is a tough life. It is hard to work in an industry where they’re working and everyone is having a good time it’s not sociable hours. ..on the positive side if you’re successful at it you could get a job anywhere in the world. It’s a great job, a great life with great satisfaction every single job and every day you finish your job. And there’s big money involved. I know it’s bad money at the beginning but after that good chefs earn big, big money. After about 5-6 year and you’ll really see some turnaround. You can accelerate very quickly, there’s no barriers. If you’re good enough.”

I ask him what qualities make a good apprentice and chef and he answers definitively “Caaaaalm. Calm people. At the end of the day you’re only cooking the meal there’s another chance to cook another two meals that day. You have another 364 days that year where you’ve got to make other meals. It’s not a life and death situation. You’ve got to do the best you can do but you’ve got to keep it in perspective. You’re serving them a meal, you want to do the best meal you can but you’ve got to enjoy what you’re doing and keep under pressure the whole time to do this”.

He leaves to go to a meeting and Nic and I attend to the task at hand. What to eat on this (sometime) sunny Sydney summer’s day. After a little bit of prompting we decide share some entrees and go for the whole kingdom-the seafood platter for two.

Bread and olive oil

Chef Richard Kiefer shows us the olive oil from South Australia which he is clearly enthusiastic about. It’s an organic olive oil called Nolans Road and has just the right balance of flavours, green enough to have that flavour but smooth on the throat and with a finish (and it is apparently a favourite olive oil of Nigella Lawson’s). There are two types of sourdough bread, a wholemeal and a white and they’re both fresh and spongey soft inside and crusty on the outside.

Jumbo Prawns (3) – king prawns stuffed with our own recipe including fruit, bacon, herbs, spinach
& macadamia nuts – golden fried in beer batter $21.10

This is a dish that Alan the general manager tells us customers come back again and again for. Interestingly, for a restaurant at this location, most of the patronage comes from locals and not overseas visitors. Also despite the fact that cruise ships dock right next to the overseas passenger terminal, many cruise ship passengers don’t often have the time or inclination to eat off the ship as the meals are included so local customers are what keep this restaurant busy (whereas I would have assumed tourists made up most of the patrons).

Although it does sound like a mix that doesn’t work and perhaps has too many disparate ingredients it does work well together and the fruit gives it a sweetness while the bacon, herbs, spinach and macadamia gives it robustness and depth of flavour. The prawn is butterflied and spread out and stuffed with this filling and then breaded and deep fried. It is served with a relish similar to a Branston pickle which is sweet.

Oysters natural – served with lemon $21.10 plus Supreme – topped with avocado, prawns, béchamel sauce & tasty cheese – ½ dozen $24.20

You knew I was going to order the oysters right? It seems almost strange to not to order seafood at a Doyle’s restaurant. Although we ordered the supreme as they were said to be popular I wasn’t really as taken with them as I was with the natural oysters as I always feel that cooked oysters really tend to mask the oyster taste. Also I do prefer my natural oysters slightly more chilled too as the humid and hot rainy weather made these a little warmer than I would like.

Cold Seafood Platter for 2 – whole lobster, prawns, oysters and smoked salmon $136.00

Click here to read the full story

There is the “normal” way that one usually visits a restaurant. That is, to make a dinner booking for say 7:30pm or 8pm, arrive and sit down and have a meal. I think it’s safe to say that normal is not a word I hear to describe myself and when Cafe Sydney asked me if Christie and I would like to have a Behind The Scenes view of the Cafe Sydney where we’d get to explore every nook and cranny of the restaurant and the kitchen we instantly said yes.

It had been years and years since I last visited there. I used to go there for corporate lunches and would always order the tandoori salmon (this was way B.B. aka Before Blog ) . One time I dined in the private dining room for a friend’s birthday and had some of the most enormous prawns I’ve ever laid eyes on.

The view

More view

Christie and I front up at Cafe Sydney at 4:45pm. We’re doing an evening shift starting with the staff meal. Around us some staff are busy setting up while others eat their staff meals. Jan the Operations Director whose idea this was, greets us and gives us a tour of the premises. We have free reign to go anywhere at any time. The restaurant all looks very familiar and I am instantly transported to my advertising days and I wonder whether the tandoori salmon dish still features on the menu (it does but in a different version!).

“How many people do we have tonight?” Jan asks.

“240″ answers the front of house staff as we learn out of a possible 300 diners.

Christie and I are amazed. It’s a Tuesday night and restaurants usually are much quieter at the beginning of the week but they are operating at 80% capacity on this cold, Wintry Tuesday night. As it is a chilly evening the outdoor terrace area is reduced so that diners don’t feel the chill too much. There are outdoor heaters as well as  but nothing can distract us from the view. Ah that view. The Harbour Bridge on the left and East Circular Quay on the right with the Opera House peeking out from behind it.

The bar

Staff eating their staff meals

Staff meal: Penne bolognese

Staff meal: rocket and cucumber salad

Back to the staff meal. I’ve always been interested in staff meals ever since I got my copy of the Buon Ricordo cookbook where there is a section on the staff meals. Tonight it’s a penne pasta bake with a meat sauce and cheese as well as a vegetarian option which is baked polenta. There is a large rocket salad with pear as well. Each night has a different type of meal but the same staff meal is served for lunch and dinner that day. Monday nights are curry night as the Tandoori chef Ram cooks.

Ram the tandoori chef

Kitchen preparation sheet

Jan is handed a kitchen preparation sheet. On it are the number of diners (pax), special requests (like birthdays) and there is also a number for “amuses”. Each evening Cafe Sydney holds a table for 2 and a table for 4 (a “2 top” and a “4 top” in restaurant speak) for each of the 5 star hotel concierges in the area. These are held until around 7:30pm and each table is also given an amuse bouche with “compliments of the hotel” . There is no percentage of the meal or fee for this for either party and twice a year they host the concierges for dinner. Their clientele is mostly corporate and repeat customers and they can get up to 50 walk ins an evening and they usually try and accommodate them as best as possible. Seating is done on a first come first served basis and your seat depends on the date that you booked.  Seating arrangements are done at 3pm each day.

Staff meeting

Click here to read the full story