March Into Merivale Launch Party

It’s easy to forget that Sydney's nightlife king, Justin Hemmes is more than just a bar supremo, when in fact he has a total of nine top Sydney restaurants in his Merivale wardrobe including a Three Hatted winner in est. (run by the godfather of modern Australian cuisine Peter Doyle).

The Chefs

(photos courtesy of Merivale)

The inaugural March Into Merivale hopes to sear its culinary mark into Sydney's subconscious with a month long celebration of food and wine across all Merivale restaurants. There is no excuse now not to discover all nine venues with special $33 lunches and dinners throughout March as well as other special events.

The Restaurants

(photos courtesy of Merivale)

L top-bottom: est., Lotus, Mad Cow, Teppanyaki, Ash St. Cellar

R top-bottom: Bistro CBD, Sushi Choo, sushi e, Uccello, The Establishment (photo by citrusandcandy)

The marketing certainly got everybody's attention with a risqué nude photo shoot, involving nine brave chefs, Mr Hemmes and a strategically placed fish. Forget Jamie Oliver - Merivale has lined up the real naked chefs for your pleasure. Now I’m not quite sure what to make of seeing my culinary icon Peter Doyle au naturale but I suppose I can't object about Chef Ura's happy suit.

Photos courtesy of Merivale

Merivale Launch Party

The Establishment with its iconic sprawling marble bar and fabulous light fixtures is normally an after-work haven for city suits and a weekend hub for the urban dating-pool but for this night only it has been transformed into a gastronomic fair.

It wasn’t so much a march but a stampede into Merivale as the offer of free food was too good to pass up. I suspect that the popularity of the launch party was severely underestimated as we were all jostling for space and there was too little food to feed a hungry after-6 crowd.

It all boiled down to survival of the pushiest as sharp elbows, big bags and broad shoulders were the weapons of choice and each canapé table turned into a culinary game of SNAP and Hungry Hungry Hippo. I bet the head chefs didn’t anticipate getting virtually clawed at as food disappeared faster than they could plate it.

My Tuesday night amusement was watching hungry people hang off the edge of the table with baited breath as they eyeballed the chefs, ready to pounce on the platter. Some had their game faces on, lest anybody should steal a salmon appetiser from beneath them! It was frazzled like the end-of-year stocktake sales but minus the scratching and the fluorescent lighting.


Poor Peter Doyle couldn’t even plate up without greedy patrons coming to the side and behind the counter and rudely snatching canapés from under his nose. I admired him for keeping his frustrations in check (and for his fantastic cuisine) and after much urging on by Billy, who must've spotted my starstruck eyes, I finally met him in person and scored a photo together (which will remain in my private album!). But all was not lost, he was happy to pose a second time all by his fabulous lonesome.

Uccello

Level 4, Ivy, 320 George Street, Sydney 2000

Bookings: (02) 9240 3000

Head Chef: Massimo Bianchi

The latest restaurant to open at the new and happening Ivy complex, it sits alongside the exclusive members-only 25 metre pool and serves up Southern Italian cuisine by renowned chef Massimo Bianchi.

Tonight his table was a clear favourite for pork lovers as the prosciutto and the Porchetta didn’t fail to satisfy. And as always the crackling drew many a animalistic groan. I have a feeling that gorgeous looking pig is about to become quite famous in our food blogging circle!

Prosciutto Grissini

Porchetta

Mad Cow

Level 1, Ivy, 320 George Street, Sydney 2000

Bookings: (02) 9240 3000

Head Chef: Christopher Whitehead

A New York style grill with a Peter Doyle-designed menu and run by Head chef Christopher Whitehead. Fantastic wine list here and surprisingly it caters for vegetarians as well.

Unfortunately being at the entrance of The Establishment I wasn’t physically prepared to fight for canapés in full view of George Street so I missed out on the grilled wagyu sirloin and the prawn cocktail salad. However there was still the charcuterie of game terrine, rabbit rillettes and chicken liver pate on toasted brioche.

Est.

Level 1, 252 George Street, Sydney 2000

Bookings: (02) 9240 3000

Head Chef: Peter Doyle

A consistent Three-Hatted winner four years running and Restaurant of the Year in 2006, it is no wonder why est. remains a favourite in Sydney. And why not with Peter Doyle at the helm? But I don’t think I need to gush any further about him.

Preparation at est. and Peter Doyle

This was certainly the table I wanted to fight for (with good grace and good manners of course) especially when there are so many divine morsels to be had.

St Agur blue cheese, peach and champagne jelly

Ravioli of prawn, shellfish and lemongrass vinaigrette

Sashimi of aoraki salmon, cucumber, pink grapefruit, shiso, ponzu and white sesame oil

Lotus

22 Challis Avenue, Potts Point 2011

Bookings: (02) 9326 9000

Head Chef: Dan Hong

This is a gorgeous bistro and bar with a fusion of Asian and Meditteranean cuisines led by Head chef Dan Hong.

L: preparing the Chorizo Sandwiches with aioli and jalapeno chimchurri

R: Chef Dan Hong

The lovely lady behind the Lotus table saw me standing patiently amongst the jostling patrons and guessed I was a food blogger (is a big camera a dead giveaway?). She immediately ushered me behind the counter and quickly introduced me to Chef Dan Hong, who was more than happy to have me snap some photos while he prepared and even handed me a canapé or two before he plated them up. Such thoughtfulness.

Prawn Rolls with aioli and jalapeno chimchurri

This was a mysterious canapé that I'm sure was from Lotus but I could not for the life of me remember what it was. It has not been blogged about and I could not find any details from Merivale. Can anybody enlighten me? Mr S. said it was fabulous.

Bistro CBD

Level 1, 52 King Street, Sydney 2000

Bookings: (02) 8297 7010

Head Chef: Simun Dragicevich

Bistro CBD was recently awarded one hat in the 2009 Good Food Guide awards. Though I've yet to try this restaurant, I've always loved the classic interior of this place.

Fig and St. Agur cheese

Salmon Gravalax on rye bread with dill mayonnaise

Teppanyaki

Level 2, Ivy, 330 George Street, Sydney 2000

Bookings: (02) 9240 3000

Head Chef: Akira Urata

My sympathies to the bewildered Chef Akira Urata who had his table crash tackled every time he finished plating up his food. There was also clanging of the serving spoons, tipping of the food and general argy-bargy as the table literally got shoved an inch or two by desperate patrons who acted as if they haven’t eaten in weeks.


Mr S. and I were lucky enough to have each canapé handed to us in a separate bowl to enjoy in our comfy corner while Chef Urata forced the crowd to wait two seconds for a couple of bloggers and I to get our photos. I was lucky to have met Chef Urata who was both humble and charismatic. Not only that, his food was just plain delicious.

Ocean Trout Sashimi topped with caramel syrup and garnished with chives and red basil.

The uncivilised girl in me wanted to run off to the bathroom stalls with the tray of ocean trout and the bottle of caramel syrup. It was a divine combination and encapsulated all the joy of eating.

Crab Betel Leaves topped with crisp fried angel hair

Wagyu Penny Burgers

Bestill my heart for my penchant for miniature things was rewarded in a delicious way. Each glossy top of the adorable burger buns brought stars to my eyes and I had to contain myself from squealing like a Zac Effron fan over the mini patties. But the taste, oh the taste! Gloriously melt-in-your-mouth with a smoky charcoal flavour, I can only boldly claim this to be the best burger e-v-e-r.


Unfortunately my little body couldn’t fight against the strength of the crowd and I missed out on sampling Sushi E (where the aesthetically pleasing Chef Ura was demonstrating his sushi skills) and Sushi Choo with Shimpei Hatanaka at the helm. Just my luck that my beloved Merivale Japanese trio had to be at the back of The Establishment where the surge of the crowd lied (and of course, where it was sporting the most fabulous ceiling embellishments).


There is nothing quite like a food event to draw the food bloggers out from their burrows and into a social get together. As always it's a laugh and a guaranteed good time amongst like-minded people. Similarly there's nothing like free food to turn sane-minded average people into hungry, ravenous civilians. However despite the crowd, March Into Merivale started off with an impressive bang as the food kept everybody in good spirits. I’m sure the "March" will continue annually though now that I've seen their happy suits, I can't imagine what more of our naked chefs there is left to show.

Other bloggers at the event (in no particular order):

grabyourfork
atablefortwo (fantastic photos)
eatshowandtell
onebitemore
spicyicecream
thedelectabledelight
herecomesthefood
foragingotaku
simonfoodfavourites