Shane Delia
MAHA AND BIGGIE SMALLS, MELBOURNE
What’s a Middle Eastern ingredient you’d like to see used more in Australia, Shane?
Aleppo pepper. It’s like a capsicum that has been dried and ground; it’s subtle but has a great depth of flavour. It’s from the border of Turkey and Syria and is a spice that I fell in love with a long time ago. You can add it to fish, meat, vegetables, chocolate. I have to stop myself from using it on everything.
What’s your most memorable food experience from the Middle East?
In Oman, I sat in the desert with a Bedouin family eating camel that was cooked in its own fat – it was sickly fatty, but beautifully tender. It was cooked on rocks which had been heated up in the sand. So stunning, humble and simple.
How has the Middle East influenced the Australian palate?
Food preservation has always been a huge part of Middle Eastern cooking, from preserved lemons and fruit, to slow-cooked meats and fermentation. It’s exciting to see Australian chefs embracing these techniques that have been used since Biblical times.
You’re a big fan of toum. What’s the appeal for you?
Garlic is the base of Middle Eastern fare: it should be sticky inside, it should be so pungent. Pound it up with olive oil, salt, a touch of lemon juice and just keep pounding it until it resembles cream. That, as a base, is unbelievable.
As a friend of the Mercedes-Benz brand, you’ve cooked at Grand Prix events, including the Ladies Day Luncheon. Any memorable stories?
Putting a vegan meal together for Lewis Hamilton mid-lunch was a surprise. The racing legend put a call out on social media asking where in town he could get some great vegan food. We put together a few dishes using elements from the Ladies Day Lunch and sent them over, including an aged Persian rice dish.
Maha, 21 Bond St, Melbourne, Vic, (03) 9629 5900, maharestaurant.com.au; Biggie Smalls, 86 Smith St, Collingwood, Vic, (03) 9417 3531, biggiesmalls.com.au.
SYDNEY It was originally slated to arrive in early 2018 but A1
Canteen is finally opening in Chippendale. A spin-off of
Automata across the laneway, it will be casual, but chefs Clayton Wells and Scott Eddington are determined that here casual won’t mean complacent. Inspired menu items include roasted celeriac with mushroom caramel and pumpkin crème brûlée, while the salt beef bagels are a throwback to
Wells’ Auto.lab pop-up at Silvereye. You won’t want to miss Eddington’s fried eggplant sandwich with provolone and romesco. Speaking of Silvereye, the defunct restaurant’s site upstairs at the Old Clare
Hotel will play host to a Biota
Chippendale pop-up, from 11 June to 7 July. James Viles’ inner-city version of his Southern Highlands restaurant will feature a kangaroo jaffle and salt-and-pepper mud crab, matched with pairings and experiments by Biota sommelier Ben Shephard (such as a beer made from weeds, brewed for this residency). Expect cameos from chefs who recently travelled with Viles (Longsong’s David Moyle, perhaps, or Firedoor’s Lennox Hastie).
MELBOURNE After doing time at top-flight international restaurants (Noma, Alinea, Manresa among them), chef Jacob Evans has opened his own venture, Caddie. Settling in Richmond in the former Meatmother site, he’s serving beetroot with marigold vinegar, salted plum and almonds as well as kingfish with burnt butter and capers.
BRISBANE After launching three sites in NSW, the Three
Blue Ducks team flies north to launch its first Queensland spin-off at the W Brisbane hotel. The menu replicates the brand’s successful template: think produce-flaunting dishes that minimise food waste, like porchetta with roast apples, mustard, spent lettuce and lentils and burnt-orange bread and butter pudding with espresso mascarpone. The wines on tap also keep the food miles down and the Ducks will collaborate with Green Beacon Brewing to produce a craft beer as a tribute to the new location.
LONDON Keeping things sustainable is also the driving ng force of Rovi, the new restaurant for Yotam Ottolenghi enghi and chef Sami Tamimi. Used coffee grinds will turn up in hasselback kaffir lime beetroot, leftover wine will become chilli-top and tomato-skin vinegar and the shellfish will be caught by hand, so there’s no waste or bycatch. DUBAI After launching Dinner
by Heston in London in 2011, and then a Melbourne outpost in 2015, Heston Blumenthal will unveil his first Middle Eastern offshoot at the Royal Atlantis Resort in 2019.