By Leigh O’Connor.
Nostalgic food trends played a major flavour in restaurant menus all around the country in 2022.
Old familiar favourites and simple classics made a retro return – while acid-washed jeans and the neon colours of the 90s became fashionable again, dishes like prawn cocktails, coq au vin and bombe Alaska also piqued our appetites.
It is the starter that conquered the 20th Century and for many years, the only way to kick start your dinner party with a swing – the humble prawn cocktail.
While many credit the creation of this dish to British television Chef Fanny Craddock, in fact the prawn cocktail owes its origins to a 19th Century Californian miner, who after a day of prospecting, took his gold nuggets into a bar and ordered a whisky and plate of oysters.
He tipped the oysters into his empty glass, added vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, tabasco, ketchup and horseradish, then sucked them down. The next day the bar was advertising ‘oyster cocktails’ and within weeks, every café and bar on the West Coast was selling glasses of seafood cocktails.
Those visiting the NT head to 13-hatted The Darwin Club on The Esplanade for a unique seafood dining experience, including must-try dishes such as the classic Australian King prawn cocktail. Sustainably sourced from the Spencer Gulf, the starter is served with baby gem lettuce, lemon, avocado purée and housemade Marie Rose sauce.
According to legend, duck à l’orange was a common dish of the Medici court which has gone on to become a French specialty, along with other hearty poultry mains such as coq au vin. Both dishes remained classics throughout the 20th Century and even today Google gets more than 22 million search hits for recipes, showing the flavours still work well with modern appetites.
Embrace the elegance of leisurely dining in an iconic space along with great cocktails at 13-hatted Beckett’s on Glebe Point Road in Glebe. This fine diner is the brainchild of renowned theatre director Wendy Beckett and Chef Jeff Schroeter, making a statement on the Sydney culinary scene from an historic location in the former Darling Mills site.
A regularly changing seasonal menu features choices such as duck à l’orange – Grimaud duck breast served pink with sautéed English spinach, shiitake mushrooms, toasted pistachio, lime gin and orange cumquat glaze.
Also known as baked Alaska, the earliest version of bombe Alaska appeared at the White House in 1802 when President Thomas Jefferson was one of the first to serve ice cream at a state banquet.
The name was coined at a New York restaurant in 1876 to honour the acquisition by the United States of Alaska from the Russian Empire – while the bombe version slightly differs with a splash of hot, high-proof dark rum added and the dessert flambéed before serving.
End your meal at 12-hatted Bistro Moncur on Queen Street in Woollahra with a bombe Alaska that is nothing short of a flavour explosion, with mango, kalamansi, coconut dacquoise and macadamia crumb.
Served both as a savoury or sweet dish, the soufflé earnt its name from the French word ‘souffler’, which means ‘to blow’ - a great description of the dish as it really puffs up during the cooking process.
From cheese to chocolate, there is a soufflé to suit all tastes…the most common mistake in making one at home is it can deflate once you pull it out of the oven, but generally it should stand for at least 10 minutes before collapsing.
A statement of modern Australian design and sophisticated dining culture, discerning Melbourne diners head to 13-hatted Society on Collins Street in the heart of the CBD where a main dining room, brasserie, lounge bar and sweeping open terraces await.
Pair a glass from the extensive wine cellar to go with your meal before indulging yourself with the Grande Society soufflé – raspberry, vanilla crème, Manjari chocolate sorbet, with chocolate grated on top at the table.
