Rene Rezdepi: the “world’s best chef”

The man to my left getting snapped talking to people looks tired, very tried but deep in concentration when he speaks. He’s smaller than I imagined and some around me are whispering how different he looks with his beard. He is wearing a jacket, a linen shirt untucked and exposing dark chest hair, jeans and sneakers. Rene Redzepi is the chef at the best restaurant in the world Noma, in Copenhagen.

I count at least four newsreaders and there is the Masterchef alumni Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris there for good measure too. I see many of the editors of food magazines and newspapers-there are at least three tables of media there. Yet this is not just an industry event because 140 diners have paid $395 for the privilege of dining with and listening to the world’s best chef speak. They’re Qantas frequent flyers-Rockpool’s Neil Perry is a Qantas ambassador and this is the inaugural event for the launch of “epiQure” the new Qantas food and wine online community. Apart from being able to buy wine with free delivery and earn 3 points per dollar spent they also get access to events like this. Marco Pierre White was also rumoured to be coming although we are told that he wasn’t able to come.

Neil Perry and Rene Redzepi

Matt Preston is standing on the illuminated stage and a large spotlight casts on him and he introduces everyone to the proceedings of the night. The menu tonight is mostly made up of dishes served here at Rockpool Bar & Grill.

Baby beetroot salad roasted, helly, raw with barrel aged feta dressing served with 2010 Penfolds Autumn Riesling and 2005 Penfolds Bin Aged Released Riesling

There is a flurry of efficient waitstaff and before we know it, we have our first course. This was such a pretty dish with beetroot done three ways with a creamy rich aged feta dressing. Simple but effective and the sweet beetroot contrasted well with the occasional burst of richness from the cheese.

Blue fin tuna tartare, Moroccan eggplant, cumin mayonnaise and harissa served with 2010 Penfolds Bin 311 Chardonnay and 2007 Penfolds Reserve Bin A Chardonnay

This dish was s surprise in that we usually see tuna tartare with Asian herbs and spices. This was most definitely Moroccan themed and worked beautifully the creamy textured tuna cubes were sublimely soft and sat on a bed of Moroccan spiced softer than soft eggplant. There was a small dollop of cumin mayonnaise and harissa to also bring home the Moroccan theme. This was a dish that stirred a lot of controversy for one guest who was angry about using blue fin tuna given that the restaurant is one that is conscious of sustainability issues. Neil gets up and explains that he uses sustainably farmed Southern Blue Fin tuna.

Rich and noble prawn congee, star anise scented peanuts, Chinese fried bread and chilli oil served with 2010 Penfolds Bin 23 Pinot Noir and 2008 Penfolds Cellar Release Tempranillo

Still standing on the stage, with a tea towel tucked in the back of his apron, Neil explains that the congee that we are about to eat is a “rich and noble congee”. Traditionally congee is made with leftover rice to stretch it out but this one isn’t and it would be closer to what the aristocracy would eat. The prawns are served whole and tail-less and are beautifully succulent and sit on a shallow layer of twice cooked rice porridge. The is crunch and chew value from the crunchy star anise scented peanuts and little cubes of Chinese fried bread and a drizzle of chilli oil comes to the fore right at the end deep in the throat and mouth.

Rene Redzepi and Matt Preston

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I’m a very dramatic person. I have to admit that I do love attention on the odd (ok every day) occasion and that I feel like the world is a stage. And that’s kind of how they serve the food here at Smith’s on Bayswater where the food is on stage, or at least a cut of it is. A butcher, a wine merchant and a restaurant Smith’s is owned by Kingsley Smith (of the Kingsley’s steakhouses) who has now branched out on his own.

I’m slightly too young to remember it in its former incarnation as Bayswater Brassiere so I’m not sure how the inside  differs although I will say that it’s the greeniest, leafiest steakhouse I’ve come across with a wall of herbs, a tree with a thick twisted trunk growing through the ground, potted upside down herbs and foliage every which way you look. What is in keeping with a New York style grill, apart from the huge menus is the service which is friendly and deferential.

Obviously being a steakhouse the focus is meat but there are a range of prices with mains starting as a low (for Sydney) price of $24. I’m almost tempted to try the Mandagery Creek venison sausage roll (oh how I love sausage rolls!) with spiced cherry ketchup for $16 or the Wagyu Reuben sandwich for $16 with Russian dressing or the cherry gazpacho but when we ask for a recommendation from the waiter he points straight to the Butcher’s Block. The star item is the grass fed sirloin from O ‘Connor, Gippsland in Victoria and is sold by the weight for $6.50 per 50 grams (minimum 150g).

Le slab of beef: the star of the show

“Well please follow me to meet the chef” our friendly waiter Carlo tells us. Stevan and I leave the table and front up at the marble station where the chef is waiting for us with a huge slab of sirloin. Kingsley explains that unlike grain fed beef which has white fat on it, the better grass fed beef has yellow fat on it to reflect the grass. I ask for a 150 gram steak but the first cut is of a 250 gram steak. They offer to reslice it but I don’t want it to go to waste (not that they would have thrown it out) and I take the 250 gram steak instead.

Grass Fed Sirloin 250g $32.50

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I recall the first time I walked into Neil Perry’s Rockpool Bar & Grill about 6  months ago. You see my Inner Burmese (no road sense) had struck again and I promptly got lost and I meant to walk into Spice Temple. I felt like a child walking into an adult’s domain. Everything was incredibly tall and silver and sleek, like New York’s Chrysler Building. The pillars were sky high and reached to the higher than high roof. I in turn felt like little I was little more than 80cms tall and a child in high heels. Waiters in white jackets bustled about, men in suits lunched and I almost expected Don Draper to walk past me. I vowed to come back. One day. Maybe when I was grown up.

Fast forward to a few months later and I was lucky enough to be taken here by Winston and Sandra. Just a couple of weeks ago, it was newly minted by the SMH’s Good Food Guide as the Best New Restaurant. On the table are four books plus the large paper menus that are printed out each day. There’s the Red Wine menu, the White Wine menu and then there’s also a booklet that explains the differences between the types of meat.

Lastly there’s the cocktail menu with a page of “Rockpool Bar & Grill House Rules” which may be terrifying at first for a split second before you realise they’re meant in an amusing way. Things such as “Gentlemen, do not approach ladies, and if you’re lucky enough to have one approach you, endear her as you would your Mother”; “Don’t look fiercely at people, or talk loudly or  harshly, but cultivate a smiling countenance and a quiet, but firm tone of speech” and of course ” No hooting, no hollering”. And to add to the retro Mad Men vibe, service is old school deferential and unfailingly polite.

The House Rules

There is much indecision when faced with a menu like this. There are cold plates, hot plates, salads and then there’s the grill section. And who’s kidding whom? The grill section is where you want to plant yourself firmly. It is however an expensive patch of Real Estate with steaks heading up towards $110. This is why this particular restaurant is off limits on most corporate lunch lists. Neil Perry advises people to share steaks to try and taste the differences between them. The cynic among us would think this was to help repay the way for the reported $35 million fitout for both the Bar & Grill and Spice Temple. Yes in Perry’s world there’s no such thing as a GFC and I chuckle at the last House Rule “Remember, nothing is on the house, except for the roof” .

Bread and butter

The bread is a lovely crunchy sourdough baguette slice and the butter is sublimely creamy like a lovely French butter.

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