november 2011 news

We have some pretty big changes ahead, from staff to menu’s there maybe even some cosmetic changes ahead over the coming months.....

Given the renovations going on next door & from what whispers I’ve heard will continue until close to the end of November to some degree, with the noise impact & lack of view, we’ve experienced quite a downturn in business. This has meant that we’ve had to throw out valuable stock & produce as we had assumed that even through the renovation period if the weather was good that the impact to us would be little. Given this predicament we are going to change the menu to simplify it & mean that we can focus even more on produce that is seasonal & fresh. It will mean that the menu may change weekly & there maybe items that may even change every few days.

We’ve taken delivery of the first of our taralga spring beef & in the coming weeks, we’ll run “cut of the day” & will try & work in a dry aged steak, we've even had a bacteria light installed in our coolroom! We will receive deliveries of beef every few weeks & use this amazing grass fed beef for most things from the meatballs in our new spanish baked breakfast to organising our own sausages.

With the silly season fast approaching, Barossa fine foods have sent us their Christmas list. They will take orders up to the first week of December so if you would like an amazing ham, they are free range & naturally smoked, we can order one for you. They will be round the 9kg mark, bone in for $14/kg. Likewise pudding, if you would like a Christmas pudding, I make steamed puddings every year, come & have a chat with me about how many people it needs to feed & we can sort something out.

Our last dinner for the year will be on Friday 18th November. Friday’s will probably become a feature of dinner in the future & for consistency’s sake, in the new year, we will try & hold our produce dinners on the last friday of every month. The one that is coming up on the 18th will probably be slightly larger & if the weather is good we will try & set-up outside! The dinner at Pierre’s (pepe saya,the butter & yoghurt man) warehouse that we have talked about has been postponed till early in the new year when everyone has more time on their hands. If you are interested in our last dinner leave your details with one of the staff & we will contact you when we know all the details.

Staff wise, Tanvir has left to go home & Cam will be off in the next couple of weeks to get married. He will be away until Christmas & we wish him all the best! To help fill the Barista void, Karl will be back here & there & between Lucas, Karl & myself we will hopefully manage the run into Christmas. After Christmas Cam will be back & any other shortfalls in the barista department will be filled by the boys from whitehorse in Sutherland. Most of the boys from up there have volunteered their services as whitehorse will be closed as usual from Christmas for almost a month I understand.

This will be a great help as this is normally our busiest period & would assume that I will be flat out baking throughout that time. I have close to perfected my version of a wholemeal & will now move onto a straight rye or spelt when I have some time. We have also had in some sour cherries that we got on spec & I have made a sour cherry loaf a few times which is pretty insane. I would hazard a guess & say that if you would like sourdough for Christmas that you probably should order it as we normally consume a huge amount of bread throughout that time.

look forward to seeing you all soon,

Nick

March News

Back to the Future weekend......... Apologies to some that I told would be the weekend of the 12th March, but we have put it in for a definate, over the weekend of the 26th & 27th March. We will run a specific menu just for this weekend bringing back some of the old items, some of the current dishes & some new ones for you all to try! Any requests for the weekend menu we will take into consideration.

Thankfully we haven’t had too many changes to produce prices to warrant menu changes at the moment, the exception is to the quality of produce we have been getting has been varied. Rocket & baby spinach esp. has been inconsistent. But we are doing our best to bring you great food as always. We’ve changed our meat supplier to a wholesaler in Kirrawee. They approached us about a month ago & we started using them towards the end of February. They open from 4am which means that Darren or myself can drop in on the way to work & pick out the carcasses that we want, & get them delivered later that morning. We are buying our lamb from them, & started buying saddles of pork from them, which we can take the bellies off for our pork belly dish, & then using the rest of the saddle for specials! Darren has ripped some awesome boneless roast loin with crackling, one served with roast puree corn, vanilla peaches & asparagus & then with a grape, esshallot & tarragon salad with fennel seed dressing!

The sourdough testing is continuing, & using organic flour, we’re producing our own sourdough fruit loaf, & on various days, olive, white sourdough, soy & linseed & I’ve even been experimenting with a fig walnut & rasin. I’ve also started on the hot cross bun war path! Making both fruit buns & a choc chip, currant version they have been a hit thus far, only making an appearance on the weekends though! We’ve been using the starter to make sourdough pancakes some weekends & sourdough english muffins on other weekends! Both are awesome, & we now have some organic maple syrup on the way too! We’ve also been producing a yeast assisted sourdough which we are using to make all of our rolls. We’ve been using this yeast assited sourdough to make fresh bread for catering & sandwiches, including my kids, it keeps the costs down for us, hence we can pass on the savings! If you have a party, work lunchon or other why not come have a chat with us? I’m sure we can arrange some beautiful food for your next event! If you would like to try some of my sourdough please ask, as I have been baking most days, in saying this I have been selling most of the bread I bake also, so get in quick! You can always order a loaf!?

Don’t forget that our liquor license permits a drink without a meal, so if you feel like a glass of wine or a beer in the arvo, you can come & sit & relax without having to order a meal, & you can always grab a cheese platter or a little snack if you feel like it! We always have some little tidbits we order that normally don’t see the light of day, & we can organise something unique for you to indulge.

Regards, Nick

P.S. Cam is back from his trek with AYAC, & Ellen is going to paarticipate in shave for a cure & i’m
sure she’d appreciate any support given!