You know it is weird. You get retrenched from the company you have worked for 5 years and you feel shit, let down, worthless, and no good. But then once you have licked your wounds and started to look around for employment you start to feel better about yourself again. Your ‘value’ is a value. So that is me now. I am interviewing and I am enjoying that.
I am staying away from Telco on purpose and looking for something I will enjoy doing. I am not panicking, yet, so taking some time also to be with me and my family. This leads to this little blog series of #workisover-rated. I am loving having some time back with wifey and family 7 days a week. As in loving it. Salted & Hung & Chef Drew, lunch with Wifey #workisover-rated is our lunch date on Tuesday this week.
Whilst there Chef Drew mentioned a couple of very interesting things. 1; he might start to do cooking classes (count me in), and 2; he might do a quasi Kilo Under Pressure (count me in again!!!). I love this guy, and again so happy to be doing Salted & Hung & Chef Drew, lunch with Wifey #workisover-rated.
Here we go for #bestlunchever. 2 adults and no kids, so we even got to sit at the bar and watch the great man and his crew in action preparing, cooking and plating our grub. We were indeed in heaven. A top-quality lunch date.
Before we get to the photos though I am going to steal some words from Chef Drew’s new ‘grown-up’ menu. He said himself that the room and the food were not paired well before hence the revamp. Job well-done mate. A+. In the menu; “Philosophy; A minimal wastage approach conceptualised with the concept of minimal wastage in mind.
The core of our menu revolves around the creative use of forgotten parts, from the skin to bones, protein to innards. Couple with elements of smoking, curing, pickling and grilling, showcasing the beauty and functionality of the forgotten whilst building a sustainable kitchen.” That rocks!!!
Wifey and the kids are loving having Daddy ‘back’ for a while. It’s like one date night after another as we explore restaurants together once we have dropped Jude to school. It’s bloody brilliant. My gorgeous dining partner for today sat at the adult area for once.A complete refurb for Chef Drew @ Salted & Hung. Closed for a massive 2 weeks, but she is looking damned fine for it. Clean crisp colouring, more intimate lighting, a brand new menu and some amazing new toys to boot. Read on. Be proud Drew, she looks stunning.When I said some amazing new toys, I really meant some amazing new toys. Check this bugger out. OMG. On show as you walk in, this is a beauty.I could not help but dwell on the way in to stop and stare at this stunning piece of equipment and contents. Holy shit that is some food porn or what?A selfie for me and the legend, Chef Drew, to piss off a mutual mate. Read on Vachon, it only gets better mate ha ha!!!A little sneaky addition in from Chef Drew. Aged wagyu with shaved truffles from Victoria, Australia, a red wine jus and cauliflower puree. And KAPOW!!! Wow. Beef taste on steroids. Slightly metallic at the back of your tongue, but flavour explosions. Intense this was. Bloody brilliant this was. Beef butter with my favourite stuff shaved on top. Chef – this is winner winner… My goodness.This one was equally insane and just an incredible dish. It was fatty as buggery but soft as butter. The only dish Chef will serve with rice too ha ha. He’s slow-cooked this, cured this, brined this. It is pork meat off the charts. This is Chef Drew’s Jowl with puffed rice, mushroom (pickled) and broth. My favourite style of flavour and texture explosions all over the place and just how pretty does she look too when plated. Amaze-balls.One of the best bits of kitchen tools I have ever seen. This is a charcoal oven that has a hot plate on top of it – absolute genius. ChillaxBBQ wants one!!! This is our gear being roasted in there, finished on top and charred with the blow torch you can see on the chopping board. All right in front of our eyes. Double heavenly!!!I was talking to Chef Drew about Chef Raphael in the Philippines and his homemade Brioche with BBQ Butter. The one with whisked rendered pork fat in the butter. He said; “I like the sound of Chef Raphael..” And then smeared a wee scoop of this white goodness on a plate for a try. Fark me, it’s smoked bacon fat butter. And believe me, it was absolutely mind-blowing. Stellar!!!On his new menu, I had espied a new octopus dish and of course, my gorgeous wifey gets straight into that zone. This is roasted and grilled and served with about 5 different sauces. It’s intense, it’s smokey, it’s just a stunning dish. Squid ink, Dduja spicy salami sauce, kelp oil, and charcoal mayonnaise. Bloody beautiful and incredible taste. Wifey happy – happy life.Happy lunches with my wifey. And it’s only day #3 ha ha.He’s only gone and broken the law. As soon as I saw this on the menu it was a must-have. Blood sausage Arancini. Holy cow good. Blood with rice inside, breaded and deep-fried and served with garlic mayonnaise that is almost Vegemite in its taste. This is really out there food. Just amazing.Stop the bus for the next delightful and gorgeous little ‘snack’. He wanted to do Canoli like his Mum used to make (I think I got that right). So these superb little crunches have some acidic fruit jam dripped in, in goes piped veal liver ‘foie gras’, a dab in crushed pistachio and then (get this) some dried pig heart that Chef then shaves over the top. Remember my favourite stuff of texture and flavour explosion. Look no further. This is it. Holy cow (well baby cow). Bring me another Peroni please as this is beer food on steroids. Chef this dish absolutely rocks. It’s crazy good.The Master in action. He is a legend. It was so great to sit here and watch and chat with Drew. Seriously good lunch. You can try the menu item too to just let him take over and give you his own tasting menu of what is hot to trot at that time. Now there’s a thought wifey. I feel another lunch date coming on.Yeah, I did. How could I not? I saw Wagyu on the menu. A slight stirring in my pants and a decision was made. Check this slab out. She is the best of the best. Roasted and charred to medium rare and seasoned simply with sea salt. #bestwagyusteakever The kids even got to have this later as we gave them a doggie bag the lucky buggers.And that was served with this. WTF is that I can hear you ask. This is a charcoal mash. It is absolutely insane. Shit loads of cream and butter, plus charcoal dust for smokiness and squid ink for colour. It’s bonkers and it is bonkers good. OMG.I really cannot describe how good this was. Thick chunks of meat, but literally melt-in-the-mouth texture. It’s up there with the very best ever consumed by this fat hairy face.Salt & Vinegar crispy Kale. Holy Moly! This is with Chef’s lamb char siew with bacon and a cauliflower sauce. Jesus. Yet another absolute killer dish and another that the kids had the benefit of as by now wifey and I were getting to the brim.I had to have dessert, I just had to. Chef asked how long we had as he had to top up his liquid nitrogen. He surely needed it as you can see.This is sourdough ice cream. It is literally sourdough that you would use for making the bread. So yes it is yeasty. It is from a starter kit. Remember my sourdough bread making with Marky Mark? Yeah, that stuff. With preserved strawberries and a tart jus and some crunchy bits beneath. This was seriously good. Akin to Horlicks. A savoury dessert with an acid tartness. Yes, I have a hard-on. Genius. The liquid nitrogen is there to freeze the sourdough mix to an ice-cream state. It’s just genius and it is delicious.And then as we are about to leave we get a departing food gift of Salted & Hung Anzac Biscuits. Goodness me. What an end to an absolutely special lunch with wifey.You may look at this random photo and what’s it got to do with lunch with wifey today? Well if you look at the bottom left there is a bag, and in that bag is the very best Tapao a 5 and 1-year-old is going to receive this day. The lucky lucky buggers. Yes, that incredible Wagyu and the Lamb Char Siew and Bacon. Such lucky children.
So folks there it was. One of the very best lunches ever for Fat Beard and gorgeous Wifey. Thanks to Chef Drew and his crew. You guys rock. Be proud of the new place and menu as it is serious up there with the very very best. There should be a star coming your way fella from that famous travel guide.
Genius food. Salted & Hung & Chef Drew, lunch with Wifey #workisover-rated was such a special date. One we’ll be having again soon, of that I am certain. Don’t forget me, Chef, if you do a cooking class and/or the ‘under pressure’ gig. 1000% count me in for both. If you have not been here you must. I wholeheartedly guarantee you will – ENJOY!!!
