Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2025 i Gourmet Traveller

SUBSCRIBE NOW magshop.com.au/gmt Details p62 As we welcome 2025, I hope this issue finds you lazing in the dappled shade of a dancing palm, or an equally serene summer setting. Some might wonder why we are celebrating all things Mediterranean at the peak of our Australian summer but rest assured it is entirely deliberate. First and foremost, what better flavours to pair with the heat of the sun and long, golden evenings? In this issue, we draw on Spanish, French, Greek and Turkish flavours as we journey the length of the Mediterranean coast through food. If that’s not enough to have you dreaming of your next European sojourn, Lee Tulloch’s tales from the French Riviera and Kathryn Madden’s adventures on Kéa Island will have you blocking out your calendar…

On my second visit to Song Bird, two months after it opened, the mood is on an upward trajectory. Service has clicked into confident and charismatic gear and there’s a newfound tempo to proceedings, spurred by the hum of family gatherings and Double Bay high-flyers exchanging air kisses. Spencer Gulf king prawn wontons virtually quiver with freshness. A saltbush and spring onion pancake has the vital crisp-chewy proportions down pat, as does the sesame prawn toast built on Baker Bleu sourdough. Even a sceptic would struggle not to bask in the sweetness of the tres leches, cloaked in meringue and rimmed by a moat of jasmine custard. It feels, in short, like the grand Cantonese banquet hall Neil Perry probably envisioned while developing the concept more than two years ago.…

EVERY NOW AND THEN, A TWIST ON A CLASSIC cocktail comes along that might just outshine the original. And so it is with Oska Whitehart’s take on the Adonis – a lesser-known aperitivo built on Sherry and sweet vermouth from the late 19th century, named after the longest running Broadway musical of the time. At Bar Bellamy, the Euro-centric bistro Whitehart co-owns in Melbourne’s Carlton, he inverts the standard Sherry-forward recipe, turning the pre-dinner drink into a richer summertime digestivo. “Flipping the proportions makes it a bit more intense,” he says, “as does the use of Punt e Mes – a vermouth that leans more towards an amaro – and nutty, oxidative oloroso Sherry.” A few drops of bitters and herbaceous Amaro Lucano draw out even more depth, but Whitehart’s…

Christian Ryan isn’t one for subtlety. Refinement and balance? Certainly. But with the volume dialled up, always. “I want punchy flavours,” says the Restaurant Maria head chef and co-owner, and Gordon Ramsay Group alum. “Not too salty, too sour or too sweet, but going hard.” It’s this dedication to intensity that steered him to the salt-licked Mediterranean for the follow-up to Asian fine diner Aløft. “I tell my junior chefs, when you get to the point where you think you have enough lemon, salt or vinegar, take it one notch further, the other elements will balance it out. It’s a philosophy that matches Mediterranean flavours perfectly.” At Maria (which means “of the sea” in Latin and also happens to be Ryan’s mother’s middle name), Tasmanian ingredients infiltrate the Mediterranean Basin.…

MARATHOPITA IS A CRETAN PIE THAT MAKES THE MOST OF SEASONAL greens. While its more famous cousin, the spanakopita, is familiar enough to be on menus in cafés and bakeries around the country, the marathopita celebrates both wild leafy greens and Grecian olive oil. “For me, pies – or pites – are a hero of Greek cuisine and belong on every Greek menu. They are traditional, earthy and simple, and are really all about celebrating the vegetables and greens of the season,” says Jonathan Barthelmess. After leaning into hearty Greek fare at his long-standing restaurants The Apollo in Sydney and Greca in Brisbane, Barthelmess’ new venue Olympus will lean into seasonality. “I’ve invested a lot of time travelling through Greece, experiencing how the locals make their pies, from Athens to…

OF ALL THE POSH EXPRESSIONS IN THE GLOBAL lexicon, my favourite plummy abuse of language is turning a season into a verb, as with “summering” or “wintering”. If you live an aristocratic life of ease and languor, you need all the verbs you can get, I suppose. This way you can tell people you’re “summering” in the South of France and “wintering” in Mustique and it sounds like you’re actually doing something. The rest of us have plenty of grinding verbs going on in our everyday existence, but please don’t let this stop you nicking “to summer” and “to winter” from the poshos. (Tip: don’t say that you plan to “autumn” or “spring” anywhere; that’s just weird.) I recommend adopting this terminology, because it’s fun to frame a season as…

The Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc glistens with glamour. The legendary hotel, which started as a retreat for writers and artists, was opened in 1870 on a breathtaking corner of the Cap D’Antibes, where rocky cliffs tumble into the Mediterranean. Since then, it has hosted a who’s-who of celebrity holidaymakers, from Marlene Dietrich and Coco Chanel to Audrey Hepburn and Madonna. Recent sightings include Johnny Depp and Cate Blanchett (not together). It has become the benchmark of French Riviera chic, with its beautiful gardens, secluded private clifftop cabanas, multi-bedroom villas and grand suites with French country touches. I visited the hotel one memorable May years ago, when I was attending the film festival in nearby Cannes. A British film producer friend was staying there, and he invited me for a day…

WITH FLOURY FINGERS, I’M FINDING MY RHYTHM here as I meditatively knead and stretch. In the village of Ano Meria on the island of Folegandros, I’m learning to make tiropitakia (mini cheese pies) and matsata (Folegandrean pasta) with a shop owner known as the “grandmother of Folegandros”. With her granddaughter acting as translator, “Yiayia” Irene operates cooking classes in her café-crossgrocery store that looks like it hasn’t changed a day since the 1960s, with lace cloth covering tables and black and white photographs lining the walls. It’s culturally immersive experiences like this that the island’s first luxury boutique resort is championing. On soaring south-eastern cliffs, set among 30 hectares of nature reserve, Gundari is a five-star resort that opened on Folegandros in May. After arriving via a winding dirt road,…

SYDNEY From the team behind Shell House and The Dolphin, The Grill has landed in Martin Place and it’s already defying expectations. “We don’t want to be known as just another steakhouse,” says culinary director Joel Bickford. From first bite, Bickford is raging against type with a swish selection of snacks. “We have had a lot of fun putting together the top of the menu, which I think will be the real hero,” he says. To this end, there are chilled clams with lovage and grilled young garlic; raw beef served with oyster cream, shiso and black rice; and Port Lincoln abalone served à la Kilpatrick with bacon and seasoned with Worcestershire sauce and ketchup. “My absolute favourite dish is the veal sweetbreads with yabbies from our starters section. We…

Mount Zero Native pepperberry leaves carry the aroma of Australian bushland, with notes of paperbark, cinnamon and herbs, which adds the ideal seasoning to these mixed olives. Coated in a punchy extra virgin olive oil that’s infused with rosemary, each green and dark purple olive is robust and tasty. $5.50 for 80gm, mountzeroolives.com.au Made by Max When he’s not creating recipes and styling photo shoots for GT, food editor Maxwell Adey is busy mixing marinades for these premium olives. A blend of South Australian kalamata and Victorian green olives are punctuated with briney cornichons, making this tasty combo the perfect one-stopshop for apéro hour. $18 for 495gm, madebymax.com.au Simon Johnson These olives are a prime cocktail garnish thanks to their strong, salt-forward flavour profile and firm texture. Gordal olives,…

FIRST CLASS After making the World’s 50 Best Bars list in 2024, Maybe Sammy is giving summer Spritzes a luxury upgrade. Their Airport Chauffeur Spritz is bright, bubbly and holiday-ready, with a mix of tequila, Cocchi Americano and grape cordial topped with Champagne and soda. It’s their pick for entertaining a crowd this summer. maybesammy.com STAGE RIGHT It’s a performance at the Sydney Opera House, bottled. Archie Rose’s latest collab has launched two new whiskies as an ode to the iconic venue. The Classical whisky balances peach characters with hazelnut butter, while roasted nuts and dry spice are finishing notes in the Contemporary blend. $129 each, archierose.com.au SPOTLIGHT ON Jacq Turner, head sommelier at The Wine Bar at The International in Sydney, shares her go-to weekend sips and Australian wine…

WHO SAYS WINE HAS TO BE SERIOUS? A FRESH WAVE of pre-bottled spritzes from winemakers across the country shows us that quality and fun can effortlessly coexist. These bottles combine carefully selected grapes with high-quality fruits and botanicals, bringing the precision of winemaking to a light-hearted, ready-to-drink form. They’re not only refreshing but made with care and craft. With each bottle, these winemakers prove you can have all the flavour without any fuss, or a corkscrew. The appeal of a pre-bottled spritz lies in its effortless convenience – perfect for spontaneous summer moments. Think popping open a chilled bottled Bellini on a sun-soaked boat, sharing a round of limoncello spritzes with friends at a beachside picnic, or enjoying a crisp, refreshing watermelon fizz as the sun sets over a backyard…

Hamshuka and flatbread SERVES 4 // PREP 15 MINS // COOK 30 MINS 40 gm (¼ cup) pine nuts 60 ml (¼ cup) extra-virgin olive oil 1 brown onion, finely chopped 3 garlic cloves, crushed 400 gm minced lamb 2 tsp each cumin seeds and sesame seeds 1 tsp each ground coriander, ground cinnamon and smoked paprika 55 gm (¼ cup) tomato paste 1 tbsp harissa 125 ml (½ cup) beef stock ¼ cup coarsely chopped parsley Finely grated zest of ½ lemon Toasted flatbreads and yellow fefferoni, to serve HUMMUS 2 400gm can chickpeas, drained, plus ¼ cup soaking liquid ¼ cup each hulled tahini and lemon juice 1½ tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 2 garlic cloves, crushed ½ tsp ground cumin 1 For hummus, combine all ingredients and…

1 Beau side table in Walnut, $749, Fleur Studios. 2 Wave dining chair in Black, $960, Rachel Donath. 3 Peppy Taps 4-in-1 filtered tap in Brushed Nickel, $2999, Harvey Norman. 4 GrandOak Chevron timber in Mink Grey, POA, Carpet Court. 5 Silk cabinetry in Surf, POA, Laminex. 6 Miele 936mm 5 Zone induction cooktop, $11,699, Harvey Norman. 7 Alder cushion in Oat, $180, Baya. 8 Palmer flange cushion in Cantaloupe, $260, Jardan. 9 Limber cabinet handle in Amber Brass, $232, Spiggy. 10 Bonnet shade, $495, Tigmi Trading. PHOTOGRAPHY ANSON SMART. INTERIOR STYLING TAMSIN JOHNSON. MERCHANDISING ALEXANDRA HARRIS.…

You’re known for hosting both extravagant parties and produce-focused dinners – what’s your top entertaining tip? I spent my previous career [as a brand creative] going to terrible cocktail parties, standing in a room making small talk. Flamingo was built to host great parties. I care deeply about hospitality and that journey for people. So the house and garden is a series of very small rooms that you weave through. Like Alice going down the rabbit hole. My advice is to move people through spaces: from the kitchen to the dining room, to the garden. If you’re having guests over, what’s your must-serve dish? It always happens at the end of the night, not the beginning. I love having parties at the Estate. The kitchen is small, but it is…

1 What is the IATA code for Tokyo’s Haneda Airport? 2 Which cooking technique can also mean to mock or tease someone humorously? 3 Next year, Gourmet Traveller will celebrate a special birthday. How old will we be? 4 Hōjicha is a type of what? 5 What are the two opposing teams that compete in Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars? 6 Which word can be referred to as both evidence and a step in baking? 7 Which of the following is not an ingredient in Café de Paris butter? Curry powder, anchovies, cornichons or tarragon? 8 Which fashion item is also an archipelago consisting of 181 islands? 9 What New York hotel does Kevin visit in Home Alone 2? 10 What was the name of Neil Perry’s first award-winning restaurant, which…

Karima Hazim is a natural storyteller and cook who has an intuitive, artistic touch with food. Karima and her mother Sivine Tabbouch were longtime regulars at my restaurants, I loved their enthusiasm, always ordering almost every dish on the menu, and I am thrilled they have now shared their deep love of family, food and their sacred homeland of Lebanon in their recently published book Sofra. VINE LEAVES IN HANDS, ROLLING, FOLDING and sealing, Karima Hazim wants to invite you into her matriarchy. The author and cooking school instructor runs Sunday Kitchen with her mother Sivine Tabbouch in Sydney, feeding the soul via the communion of cooking. “It’s the magic of sitting down with family to make something; doing something repetitively for four hours. You're coming off a big day…

The short, sharp wine list, dividing its time equally between the old and new worlds, makes for an easy, happy partnership with the robust flavours on the menu. IT BODES WELL FOR ANY meal when the opening dish is so good you close your eyes to better concentrate on its flavour. The dish, from the menu at the recently relaunched Anchovy, is a wedge of crisp, cold sapo melon compressed with ginger and sprinkled with tangy plum salt that’s both pretty and punchy. It’s a triumph of palate-cleansing, appetite-whetting simplicity. And it gets better from there. Thi Le and Jia-Yen Lee’s brilliant modern Vietnamese diner has been knocking diners’ socks off since opening in 2015. The restaurant has closed and reinvented itself since then and there are more plans for…

How do innovation and tradition blend on your watch? When you think about it, I have been on the planet for just a few decades, compared to almost 240 years of history of the House. My goal is to always respect and keep the consistency of our style. Due to climate change, we're seeing more extreme weather, so more ripeness of the grapes. This is where B Corp came into the picture for Piper-Heidsieck. In 2022, we became the first B Corp certified Champagne house, a powerful way to accelerate our transformation. The best Champagne you’ve ever experienced? From Piper-Heidsieck it would be Rare Champagne, particularly the 2002 vintage. I fell in love with it long before I ever joined the company. In 2009, I also tried some remarkable Champagne…

THE HUNTER VALLEY HAS NO SHORTAGE OF VISITOR ATTRACTIONS, from stately stopovers to paddock-to-plate eateries and a vibrant year-round events calendar. Leaving is the hardest part of any trip here. Two hours can get you from Sydney’s CBD to Australia’s oldest wine-growing region, where a host of talented winemakers use the warm and humid conditions to their full advantage. This subtropical climate benefits from the Pacific Ocean and flanking gradients part of the Great Dividing Range, creating a wind funnel effect pulling cooler sea air and cloud cover inland. Without this, vineyard management would be challenging. If semillon is king here, then chardonnay is queen. The former holds iconic status, yielding enigmatic, internationally revered wines. Verdelho shows well in the prevailing heat, as does shiraz, sometimes contributing to a unique…

HOLIDAY READING IS FULL OF NOBLE INTENTIONS. WE PACK our bags, look at the stack of books we have deliberately purchased for the time away, and hope for the best. With a brick in carry-on luggage and more in checked luggage, we’re lucky if we make it through half a book by the time we get home. It’s not our unwillingness to read. The real problem is that while we’re on holiday, we are busy. We are organising the family, going on hikes, eating in restaurants, visiting museums and catching up with friends. Reading is always put on the backburner. So, when are we supposed to chew through the stories we have brought along with us? The only logical time is while in transit, when everyone is focused on entertaining…

3 eggplant (about 400 gm each) Olive oil, for brushing ¼ cup (60ml) extra-virgin olive oil 2 tbsp aged balsamic vinegar 1 garlic clove, crushed ¼ cup (loosely packed) parsley For basic charred eggplant, preheat a barbecue or lightly greased char-grill pan to high. Cut eggplant into 5mm-thick slices on a slight diagonal. Brush eggplant generously with olive oil and season to taste. Cook eggplant, in batches, until charred and golden (4 minutes each side). For a basic dressing, whisk together extra-virgin olive oil, vinegar and garlic; drizzle over eggplant. Use as a base for flavour variations (right) or serve on a platter topped with parsley. HOISIN EGGPLANT WITH SESAME AND CHILLI Make basic chargrilled eggplant, brushing eggplant slices with 1 cup (280g) hoisin sauce, then spray with cooking spray…

SHANNON MARTINEZ, THE CHEF MAKING VEGAN food for everyone at Melbourne’s Smith & Daughters Social Club, Smith & Deli and Lona Misa loves Italian food. So much so that Vegan Italian Food is the name of her new cookbook. “I love the seasonal philosophy of its cooking,” she says. “I love taking an absolute glut of produce at its peak and eating it raw, cooking it down to a pulp, preserving and jarring it.” Martinez is a proud first-generation Spanish-Australian but shares an affinity with the Italians she grew up around in the suburbs of Melbourne in the 1980s. Here, we draw on the Smith & Daughters chef’s entertaining recipes to craft a party menu that will satisfy everyone; vegans, carnivores and Italian nonnas included. “My goal for this book…

1 Ballade Beni M’Rirt rug, $15,900, Tigmi Trading. 2 Louis Poulsen PH 2/1 stem light fitting, $5390, Cult Design. 3 Authete vase in Warm, $100, McMullin. 4 Simon James Fragment dining table, POA, District. 5 Dune concrete side table in Bluebottle, $950, Blend Concrete Design. 6 Miyako handmade mosaic tile in Maple, $30 per sheet, ABI Interiors. 7 Bowie square cushion in Linen and Natural Fringe, $285, Jardan. 8 Carlo Moretti Ovale Tagli Murano vase, $2245, Abask. 9 Arnaud dining chair, $940, Rachel Donath. PHOTOGRAPHY ANSON SMART. INTERIOR STYLING TAMSIN JOHNSON. MERCHANDISING ALEXANDRA HARRIS.…

Channelling retro cool, the Poolside California Pagoda umbrella exudes effortless charm and simplicity. The forest-green and white stripes are reminiscent of the classic poolside parasols at Lake Como’s Passalacqua Hotel, with their fringed canopies like languid, drooping fronds. With a book or gelato in hand, you can almost hear the waves lapping against a distant Mediterranean shore as it provides respite from the hot summer sun. Suitable for residential use but hardy enough for commercial, the sturdy Sunbrella fabric has built-in rain protection, and each umbrella comes with a protective cover so it weathers the elements beautifully, season after season. WORDS NICOLA CONVILLE. PHOTOGRAPHY WILL HORNER. STYLING SAM YATES.…