Fresh start
Discerning FOODIES are heading to a small NORTHERN RIVERS town for on-point, sustainable dining from the PLAYBOOK of chef du jour BEN DEVLIN, writes Lara Picone.
REPUTATIONS ARE STICKY THINGS. They don’t slide around too much. Once you have one, it tends to follow you. If it’s a bad one, it slinks into the shadows hoping to go unnoticed. But if it’s a good one, it might strut out in front of you, proclaiming your arrival before you even get there.
That’s just what happened to chef Ben Devlin and his noticeably adhesive good reputation. Even before Devlin opened the doors to his first restaurant in the definitively under-the-radar northern New South Wales town of Pottsville, people were punching ‘Pottsville’ into Google maps and organising their schedules to accommodate a trip.
Such reputations aren’t a divine gift, like a beautiful singing voice or never-frizzy hair. They’re built from hard work and good choices. And Devlin’s is made from solid culinary bricks, including two years as chef-de-partie at the famed Noma in Copenhagen, a stint at Brisbane’s Esquire, and perhaps where he truly slapped on the mortar, as executive chef of Paper Daisy at Cabarita’s Halcyon House.
Raised in Byron Bay and having spent his recent years up the road at Cabarita, Devlin has given Pipit a profoundly local and sustainable focus. He sources his ingredients from nearby farms, creatively minimising waste, and serves only ocean-friendly fish. You’ll rarely find a hoofed animal here; instead, you’ll revel in vegetables and white meat as the heroes of the (sometimes daily) changing menu. Almost everything feels the lick of wood-fired coals, yet this seemingly elemental approach delivers ingeniously balanced and refined flavours.
You might begin with slips of kohlrabi carpaccio prettied up with pistachios and green garlic. Or sweet glazed carrot with pepitas and the pop of zingy pomelo. Then move on to an incredibly fresh fish, perhaps a snapper, sporting telltale grill marks and char from the open fire, and served elegantly with the sweet brilliance of just-picked peas and other iridescent greens. Satiny ribbons of parsnip with chicken wings and shiitake deliver a reverential pause to conversation.
Not everything is pitch perfect, though.
A charry cornbread comes with a somewhat-wet homemade ’nduja, and the chrysanthemum ice-cream accompanying the almond and honey frangipane is a little too grassy (although it is adorably served to mimic avocado with a sunny-side-up egg). But these are miniscule missteps in an otherwise faultless experience, which is enhanced by the theatre of the open (and noticeably quiet) kitchen and the deliberately sparse Scandi-cool dining room.
Pipit is the local, coastal and cool restaurant you want it to be. But it’s not labouring over any of those descriptors. It feels good, it’s fun, and it’s delicious, further fastening Ben Devlin’s reputation. So, yes, book that Pottsville Airbnb.