5 DISHES YOU CAN ONLY EAT IN AUSTRALIA
If you come to Australia expecting to eat bangers and mash, you’re in for a surprise. While meat pies are available at pubs across the country, contemporary Australian fine-dining restaurants pride themselves on the use of fresh produce, innovative cookin
Snow Egg
Where to find it: Quay Restaurant, Sydney After appearing on MasterChef Australia, chef Peter Gilmore’s Snow Egg became one of the most famous desserts in the country, notorious for its difficulty to recreate. Crack open the maltose tuilles shell to reveal soft meringue and a yolk of custard ice cream. Set in a bed of granita, with fruit flavours that change with the season, it’s a fantastical creation that looks too pretty to eat. Details: quay.com.au
Whipped Emu Egg with Sugar Bag
Where to find it: Attica, Ripponlea Attica’s standout dish is as visually appealing as it is delicious — it was the cover model of Gourmet Traveller’s Taste of Australia issue. Served on a bed of native grasses, the creamy centre of the egg is filled with a mixture of Indigenous ingredients, including whipped emu egg, sugarbag honey from native bees, pickled quandongs (a bush peach), and Daintree dark chocolate and wattleseed ice cream. Details: attica.com.au
Barbecued Wallaby Not Barbecued
Where to find it: Brae, Birregurra Tourist traps might serve up kangaroo as a well-done steak or burger, but Brae takes a decidedly different approach when it comes to cooking kangaroo’s cousin, wallaby. Diners are supposed to work out the cryptic dish name as they bite in, but we’ll cut to the chase — the wallaby is served without ever touching the grill. Instead, the finely diced raw meat is stuffed spring roll-style into a barbecued radicchio leaf, with a charred beetroot sauce for dipping. Details: braerestaurant.com
Wild Cape York Barramundi
Where to find it: Bennelong, Sydney With fresh seafood and Indigenous ingredients, this is the dish Gilmore calls “representative” of Australian food. “You couldn’t get a more pristine product,” he says of the barramundi, which is caught wild in northern Queensland. It’s served with Australian coastal greens, including karkalla and native parsley and with a view — Bennelong is located inside Sydney’s Opera House. Details: bennelong.com.au
Panna Cotta Lamington
Where to find it: Flour & Stone, Woolloomooloo Lamingtons are so embedded in Australiana that they have their own entry in the National Museum’s “Guide to Defining Moments in Australian History.” The sponge cakes, which are coated in chocolate and coconut, can be found nearly everywhere, but bakery Flour & Stone takes them to the next level. Soaked in panna cotta with a berry compote centre, the moist treat redefines an Australian tea time classic. Details: flourandstone.com.au