SNACKS BY THE SEA
Chefs Jordan Toft and Andrew Wandless create petite plates that are packed with flavour at Una Más in Coogee.
Before Una Más opened a year ago, Jordan Toft would visualise what was to become of the small, sectioned-off space sitting on the middle floor of Sydney’s Coogee Pavilion. “I always saw this space as that place where you walk off the beach with your linen shirt on and the top button undone; you’ve got the tote bag with your things in it, your slide-on shoes, and you kind of just slide on into Una Más,” says Toft, the restaurant’s executive chef. “I could imagine the table with a bit of food on it, and that bottle sitting there with a little bit of perspiration dripping from it; those whispers of smoke coming from the kitchen and the grilling on the Josper. That’s how I saw it. That’s how I felt it.”
Now, that vision has come to life. The buzzy eastern suburbs tapas-style bar is an ode to the Mediterranean, and the casual elegance that goes with it. Dishes are small, simple and reminiscent of tomato-topped pintxos in San Sebastián, seafood-driven meze in Greece, and vibrant Catalan-style snacks found on the backstreets of Barcelona.
“The menu is derived from a lot of different seaside locations, and was inspired by the tone of the food rather than any specific dishes,” says Toft.
Head chef Andrew Wandless, who moved from Bert’s in Newport when Una Más opened, worked with Toft to create a beautifully fresh, seasonal menu, unbound by region. He describes the food as clean and produce-focused, while keeping in line with the underlying Mediterranean theme.
“There’s a couple of dishes that have four elements, but it’s generally three, so all the ingredients really sing on their own,” he says. “They’re all quite light and bright, with little to no dairy.”
For this issue, the chefs share six of their favourite plates from the menu. Fuelled by olive oil and modestly prepared, each dish showcases unfussy, coastal creativity in snack-sized form. Una Más means one more in Spanish and, at Merivale’s halcyon hotspot, it’s both the question and the answer.
130a Beach St, Coogee, NSW, merivale.com/venues/una-mas/