Staff retained to serve lobsters in lockdown
wealthy residents of Sydney’s Potts Point, Vaucluse, and Rose Bay are getting plenty of protein amid their Covid-19 lockdown, putting $555 lobster and mud crab boxes from the high-end Catalina restaurant on high rotation.
The boxes – with prawns (peeled), shucked oysters, sourdough and garden salad – are in big demand with some eastern suburbs homes ordering at least one box a week to help get them through the pandemic.
Other Sydneysiders from further afield such as the lower north shore or Maroubra are getting around lockdown rules sending an uber to pick up a $150 roast chicken with bread, stuffing and spring vegetables from Catalina restaurant near Rose Bay Wharf, which has also set up a kiosk selling cocktails costing $135 for 750ml.
“We are going gangbusters and doing everything we can think of for people to enjoy and it does not involve cooking,” Catalina owner, Judy McMahon, said.
“People are so bored at home they like the idea of buying a food pack such as the romance pack or the father’s day pack.”
She defended the high price tags for the boxes saying it takes a good half-hour to get all the flesh out of a mudcrab and the purchasers also get a bespoke Catalina loaf of bread in the $555 box. They can also fork out an extra $300 for a 50g tin of black Siberian caviar with a mother of pearl spoon. Or another $100 for a bunch of flowers.
“The $555 is huge; some people would baulk at it, (but) it is premium seafood,” Ms McTHE
Mahon said. “It is expensive but it would easily feed four people for sure.”
Where other restaurants have been forced to close their doors during Covid, Catalina has managed to retain around 50 of its 75 staff, albeit not all of them full-time.
“All our waiters are doing home delivery, that way they get to see their customers,” she said.
Ms McMahon said part of Catalina’s food pack success is due to the fact there is no cooking required, whereas other outlets sell packs that do require some form of meal preparation.
She is about to launch picnic packs at a lower price point. They will include antipasto, olives, haloumi, marinated vegetables, salad and enough lemon meringue pie for two. A full lemon tart costs $150 while a pavlova with passionfruit curd and berries is $140.
On the cocktail front, Catalina’s signature margaritas – the Tommy Margarita and the Mama Mia Margarita which has chillies – are walking out the door. “We are going through the tequila like there is no tomorrow,” she said.