Archive for the 'Features & Profiles' Category

Mushrooms are best consumed as soon as possible after picking, and the Mushroom Depot’s mushrooms have often been picked as little as 16 hours before selling. Hood describes his typical day like this: "I am usually on the road by 5am, pick up the mushrooms from Granville, deliver to restaurants by 6:30am, then I’m off to the markets to be set up by 7:30am." Hood loves the immediate feedback he receives from his customers. He says, "People are always telling me how full of flavour our mushrooms are. I think they’re the best in Australia."

As an ex-chef, Hood recommends that when choosing mushrooms you should look for firm, dry flesh with uniform colour, and avoid any with bruises, or with a slimy appearance (except for wild Slippery Jack, which are supposed to be slippery!). His personal favourite is the Shitake in a stir-fry, with the Portabello (a mature Swiss Brown) running a close second for its rich, firm flesh. Chestnuts and King Browns are perfect in risotto and pasta, and he stocks the delicate Enoki and White Oyster for truly glamourous dinner parties. And, if the weather is right, in early spring he sometimes has a short run of Wild Pine mushrooms and Slippery Jacks.

Hood is also quick to allay any fears his customers may have about fungi. He somewhat reassuringly says, "All mushrooms sold for consumption are perfectly safe, unless you have an allergy to them!"

Tip: to maximise the lifespan of your mushrooms, always store them in the fridge in a paper bag.

Luke McKenzie, Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross

I bartend because: It’s good fun and good money!

Signature cocktail: It’s a sophisticated cocktail made with gin, cucumber, elderflower, ginger, lime, lemongrass and apple liqueur. Since it’s my personal creation, I named it ‘The McKenzie’.

Drink of choice: It’s a bit of a cliché, but I do love a good mojito. But for something different I go for a Tall American. It always hits the spot.

After hours: As I work in high-end bars, I tend to go the opposite way when going out myself. I love bars by the beach and drinking beer with friends in the late afternoon or evening. Bunga Bar in Bondi is one of my favourites.

Healing the hangover: A fresh, organic juice always does the trick. But even better is munching on an avocado ¬- just peel and eat! I went traveling in South America a couple of years back and they were everywhere. After a big night out we’d eat a couple the next day and I found it worked wonders.

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Justin Medcraft, Ryan’s Bar, CBD

My barman CV: I’ve been bartending for about three years now, mainly at Ryan’s Bar but I also did a stint over at Bar 333. I love making cocktails. I love the creativity of mixing flavours. It’s a great release from studying International Business at uni.

Signature cocktail: My new favourite is an apple martini I make with Zybrowka Vodka. It has a slightly cinnamon taste that complements the muddled apple I mix in.

Drink of choice: Tom Collins. It’s just like a gin & tonic, but with a kick!

After hours: I’m a relaxed, outdoor pub kind of guy. I prefer somewhere you can talk with your friends, rather than a raging nightclub. The Dolphin in Surry Hills is great.

Hangover hell: I once tried a shot of tomato juice kicked up with some Tabasco sauce. Never again! Now I stick to water, Gatorade, a couple of Nurofen and a swim at the beach.

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Davey Birtwell, North Bondi Italian Food, North Bondi

I bartend because: I’m like the host of a great party!

Signature cocktail: The ‘Pamplemousselini’, with grapefruit, Campari, blood orange and a little tequila. It’s named after the grapefruit (in French it’s pamplemousse) in it and Mussolini, for the hit of tequila.

Drink of choice: It’s a toss up. I love a Nigroni before dinner; it’s the archetypal aperitivo. Otherwise, it’s a double daiquiri – the double dose of alcohol means I don’t have to go back to the bar quite as often.

After hours: I don’t normally go to cocktail bars. I like a relaxed atmosphere with no pretense. However, I can go pretty hard from time to time. I’m not as bad as others, but when I’m out, I’m certainly out!

Hangover heaven: It’s from Nantucket, a place near Boston and New York in the U.S., and is called a ‘Ceasar’. It’s a take on the Bloody Mary but with clam juice. I didn’t expect to like it, but it’s amazingly refreshing. We’d drink them all day long in Nantucket, just like the locals would!

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German Ortega, Quay Bar

Resume to date: I’m from Celeya in Guanajuato, Mexico. I always made drinks for friends back home, but it wasn’t till I got here about a year ago that I started bartending.

I bartend because: I’m passionate about cocktails. Making drinks is an art form, and I make an effort with every drink, whether it’s a vodka soda or an elaborate cocktail.

Signature cocktail: It’s called the ‘Mojito Maria’. It’s a fresh, sexy drink with just a hint of sweetness from the special liqueur I add – Liquor 43. It’s from the Dominican Republic, that’s where the inspiration for Maria came from. Plus, all the ladies love it and I love making it for them.

Drink of choice: In Mexico, I would drink rum and our ‘especialidad’ tequila. Here I like to drink Tanqueray with tonic and fresh lime. I love to party, so it’s a great drink ’cause it’s fresh and not too sweet.

After hours: For me it’s all about the party! I have a couple of Mexican mates and we like to start at the beach, then go to a restaurant for really good food and then it’s out to party. I like Hugo’s on Sunday and The Eastern on Wednesday nights.

Hangover heaven: In Mexico, we love beer. We even drink it to cure our hangovers! We drink it mixed with ‘clamato’, a mixture of clam juice and tomato juice. It is fantastic. You can also add oysters, fresh lime and lots of Tabasco. We add ginger capsules too – it’s pure energy and an aphrodisiac!

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Tony Prescott, The Argyle, The Rocks

I bartend because: I love the camaraderie. When I moved to Sydney from Brisbane, I only knew a small group of people. But bartending is an awesome way to make new friends.

Signature cocktail: It’s called the ‘Summertime’. I think it’s something a bit different… It’s made from Havana Club aged rum, Campari, egg white, passion fruit puree and fresh grapefruit juice. It’s a mix of sweet and sour and is nice and frothy – it’s the perfect fresh, summer drink.

Drink of choice: Tanqueray Ten with a little soda and lots of lime. It’s one of the best gins in the world and it’s actually got a lot of character, unlike other white spirits. I drink quite a lot of it, amongst other things!

After hours: Being 26, I’m more a bar and pub guy than a club guy. I like to hang out somewhere laid back with mates, watch a gig, or sit on a friend’s balcony overlooking the ocean. I’ve recently got into an awesome place called Bondi Social, it’s great ’cause it’s not too crowded.

Hangover heaven: A bacon-and-egg roll, a nudie and a surf does it every time. However, in desperation, I did once try a drink of Berocca, Red Bull, eggs and tomato juice mixed together with a couple of multivitamins. It was every wives’ tale recipe thrown together! It didn’t go down too well, I think there were a little too many stimulants in there for that time of the morning!

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Kim McDiarmid, Lenin Bar/Bubble Champagne Cocktail Lounge, Circular Quay

I bartend because: It’s a job where I can be professional while laughing, having fun and meeting new people from all over the world. Most of all, it’s the satisfaction I get watching patrons enjoy the cocktails I’ve created.

Signature cocktail: Bombay Sapphire Gin and Pomme Verte Apple liquor shaken with cloudy apple juice, basil, mint and muddled cucumber, served long. It’s a simple mix of fresh flavours – the cucumber goes well with gin, while the basil, mint and apple makes it taste really fresh. Perfect for a first drink of the afternoon!

Drink of choice: There is nothing like a mojito on a summer’s day! The hotter the day, the better is tastes!

"I knew there was food and I wanted to get it to people’s tummies," says the brain and heart behind this not-for-profit organisation, Ronni Kahn. Having worked in the hospitality industry for over 20 years, Kahn witnessed first-hand the excessive waste of food common in the industry. "I used to drive it [leftovers] down to Matthew Talbot myself after a function," recalls Kahn, explaining how she came up with the idea.

While modeled on the successful America Harvest, an organisation that has been operating in the US for over 20 years, Oz Harvest experienced its own set of hardships during the early stages. "It took time getting to the right people … I’m still waiting for call backs!" laughs Kahn, who’s learnt a great deal of patience from the experience and whose positive attitude seems well suited to the tough world of not-for-profit enterprise. Thankfully, Macquarie Bank Foundation came on board as their core, funding partner, which opened many doors for Oz Harvest. Today, it’s funded by a variety of private foundations and philanthropists – a necessity for the organisation, which relies on full-time paid drivers to ensure perishable food is delivered before its ‘use by date’.

Speaking of dates, as of mid-October 2007, Oz Harvest had rescued over 1,895,000 meals. That’s over 400 tons of food saved from landfill. Other, not-so-obvious, benefits to Oz Harvest’s operations include providing better-quality food for the needy and thus better overall nutrition. It also enables recipient charities to redirect funds originally budgeted for food to other programs such as education, training and rehabilitation.

November is a big month for Oz Harvest. It’s launching its first outpost in Canberra, with plans to set up similar organisations in each major city of Australia. It’s also the beginning of what the team excitedly refers to as ‘harvest season’ – November to January. This is when work parties and festive celebrations come into full force and when Oz Harvest strives to "share the bounty" with those less privileged.

It’s not hard to do something good in this world. Thank goodness Oz Harvest takes that little bit of time to do so.

Smith began his career as a corporate lawyer in South Africa, before relocating with the same firm to New York. After a fair stretch of time in the Big Apple, Smith "leapt the gap" to become an in-house legal counsel. "I held a very senior position with perhaps what was the largest travel company in the world," recounts Smith. It is hard to imagine this softly spoken man, who talks so passionately of bagels, as an executive, let alone one in a suit. That this same man, drinking a chocolate milkshake in the heart of Bondi Junction, occasionally getting up out of his chair to pick up a stray piece of paper, in a former life was the vice president of a large North American multinational company.

How Smith came to find himself in Australia is a relatively simple story (from his post in North America, he was transferred to the South Pacific, specifically, Australia). How he came to the bagel business is a different matter all together.

Once he’d "had enough" of the corporate world, he needed (and Smith prefaces this need with the disclaimer, "not to be flippant") to once again, find his soul.

"I wanted to do something different," says Smith of his faux retirement, "I looked for something that was unique, and something that I’d enjoy. We wanted to do bagels, the whole concept of bagels, because it was different." Many of Smith’s friends thought that he was "mad", but this was no deterrent. He was told on several occasions by those close to him to "let it go" to "relax" and to "take it easy" – all of which he ignored.

"I wanted to give it a go, the best go I could," explains Smith. "It’s the old story of it doesn’t really matter what you do, it’s how you do it." Smith readily admits that it was unimportant what he did, as long as he "did it well." As for his chosen field, he assures that there are "few things more exciting than the food industry."

"It’s a craft, not a commodity," says Smith, as he describes the bagel-making process and how he spent a good six months (and a lot of dough) to get the recipe up to scratch. Of his chosen food, Smith is far from flippant: "It’s not something you can look the recipe up for on the Internet, and make it happen. There are too many variants. It was, indeed, something of a challenge getting it right."

"Dough is a really interesting thing," says Smith before explaining all of the variants with which he is now so familiar, and which he researched meticulously before launching his product onto the market.

All of Smith’s bagels are made here, on the Bondi premises, in what he claims as the largest retail oven in the Southern Hemisphere, from scratch. Smith himself then delivers to the other two stores, one at Macquarie Shopping Centre, the other at Rouse Hill, before returning where he is needed for that day. "It’s a long day, because geographically we go from the East to the West. Literally."

His days are mapped out with military precision; a trait (one of many) he claims is leftover from his corporate routine. Instead of the lazy morning sleep in followed by a cup of tea enjoyed by most retirees, Smith’s mornings are a 4.30am rise, with a 5.30am start. His day winds up around 7pm.