Gourmet Traveller July 2020

Slow and steady has never really been my vibe. I’m more of a fast and furious kind of gal, particularly when it comes to work. Blame it on 15 years in daily news; I’m always racing to a deadline. Moving to a monthly magazine should have slowed the pace a little but instead, the excitement and electricity of life in a new city only intensified the frenzy. So when life ground to a halt in March, it was tough. One thing that helped was turning to the kitchen (now conveniently located three steps from my dining table-turned-desk). Like most people, my weekday cooking is typically restricted to anything that can be whipped up in less than 30 minutes and requires minimal washing up. Suddenly I had the time and flexibility to…

Mollymook, NSW Georgie Meredith, writer The beauty of the south coast, even after the fires, never ceases to amaze. The bush is filled with flourishing regrowth, and met by the wild Tasman sea. @georgiemeredith Canyonleigh, NSW Karlie Verkerk, deputy editor Tea Tree Hollow, a quaint farmstay two hours south of Sydney, was home for the weekend. As the sun set, kangaroos bounded across the field in the distance. @karlie_verkerk Bouddi Bouddi National Park, NSW Jordan Kretchmer, writer As soon as national parks reopened, I headed to this sprawling seaside reserve on the Central Coast. Its sculptural rocks and moody bays always impress. @jordisnacks…

MICHAEL HARDEN writer Top drops, p112 As Gourmet Traveller’s Victorian and Tasmanian editor for more than a decade, Harden sure knows how to eat and drink well in the southern states. For this issue he travelled to one of his favourite places in Victoria, the High Country in the state’s north-east. “Not only is this a gobsmackingly beautiful region, it’s also home to some of the most interesting and innovative winemaking and delicious eating in Australia,” he says. DUNCAN WELGEMOED chef A chef’s guide, p116 Welgemoed is the executive chef and owner of effervescent “African-ish” restaurant Africola. The self-confessed troublemaker was born in South Africa but has called Adelaide home for the last decade. As a proud South Australian he’s an advocate for eating well in what he thinks, “Is the best city…

DUMPLINGS, SMALL TOWN The team behind the recently shuttered fine-dining establishment St Isidore have reinvented themselves with the sleek and intimate Small Town in Milton. These juicy prawn, scallop and chicken-skin dumplings with white soy and chilli were a highlight from the restaurant’s generous set-menu. GEORGIE MEREDITH, WRITER & EDITORIAL COORDINATOR DINNER AT HOME, TOTTI’S What’s more exciting than a package delivered to your door, filled with a carefully curated (and generous) dinner for two from Totti’s? The at-home feast included Totti’s signature wood-fired bread, and it all took just 10 minutes to get it from box to plate. Who really needs to leave their house, anyway? HANNAH BLACKMORE, CREATIVE DIRECTOR HU TIEU MY THO This clear pork-based noodle soup is from my mother’s hometown My Tho, in south Vietnam. It’s usually topped with prawns…

SYDNEY As restaurants slowly but surely return to a (new) normality, we’re tipping our hats to smaller venues that opened just weeks or months before Covid-19 hit. For those filing back into the CBD, Ho Jiak’s Town Hall outpost will cure lunchtime woes with char kuey teow and laksa. Newtown’s Lonely Mouth is back open, offering vegan ramen, while nearby, Cafe Paci has recommenced its normal trading hours. Meanwhile, Yan is continuing with its Covid-pivot pop-up at Woolloomooloo’s John Montagu café on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, firing up lamb ribs and smoked chicken katsu for those who haven’t made it out to its original Asian smokehouse in Wolli Creek. Bigger restaurants are also switching things up – North Bondi Fish is now doing fish and chips, tacos and sashimi to…

When chef and restaurateur Shane Delia looked into delivery platform options for Maha he didn’t like what he found. The quality and financial cuts that established vendors were taking was disconcerting. But rather than giving up, he decided to create his own delivery platform: Providoor. “This is an industry-led, long-term solution to a problem we’ve had for a while now, that has really just been brought to light by Covid-19,” says Delia. The newly established system focuses on delivering premium restaurant experiences to your door. Melbourne partners already include Supernormal, Sunda, Maha, Flower Drum and Tipo 00, with Sydney restaurants set to jump on board in mid-July. Rather than risk the quality of the food diminishing by being delivered hot, all Providoor meals are cooked by chefs, then safely cold-freighted. The finishing…