By Leigh O’Connor.
According to his Nan, Steven Hartert has always been poking his nose in the kitchen from an early age checking out the action and looking for snacks.
From the tiny village of Limsdorf with just 350 people about an hour from Berlin, this German Executive Chef now finds himself in charge of the kitchen at Dixson & Sons on Castlereagh Street in East Sydney, where rich history meets a journey of the senses in a modern brasserie setting and delivering a menu with an Asian twist on classic French cuisine.
Nestled in the original Porter House building which started life as a tobacco factory and is now a revived legacy in the heart of the CBD, Dixson & Son’s exudes charm with well-worn brick, polished timber and arched windows letting in an abundance of natural light.
Steven trained in the Black Forest region of Germany near the Swiss-French border, learning to cook classic German food such as sauerkraut and pork roast, setting a great foundation towards techniques and produce like whole animal butchery and seasonal availability.
"Food was always a big topic in my home from produce grown in the garden to which butcher has the best sausages, or what can we turn into preservatives and jam,” he recalls. "From mushroom picking in Autumn or Dad going on fishing trips, all these little things left an impression and got me into the kitchen ultimately.”
Arriving in Australia on a working holiday after stints in Vienna, Austria, Steven knew from the moment he arrived that he wanted to stay.
"After working in a few places in the city, I made my way to the Blue Mountains at Wolgan Valley Spa and Resort – it was a truly amazing experience, not just the landscape but more the people I was working with, some of whom are still best mates now.”
Various cheffing gigs in Canberra, Southeast Asia and Sydney resulted in a relationship with Accor Hotels where he is now Executive Chef of Porter House Hotel, overseeing the restaurant.
Steven dishes up a divine dessert recipe for strawberry pistachio tart to tempt AGFG home cooks:
"This is an adaptation from a classic Bakewell tart recipe, topped with mascarpone mousse and strawberries. It was in fact one of the first recipes I screwed up after arriving in Australia as my English wasn’t as good back then,” he confesses.
"I didn’t understand the jam is in the middle, so I put it on the top like an Austrian Linzer cake I knew back then. It sure guaranteed a good laugh when I presented the glazed tart at the table.”
While this may be the decadent dessert he serves at the end of a dinner party, when Steven can’t be bothered cooking at home, it is bread and cheese that hits the mark!
