When Chef Luke Mangan invites a girl to lunch at Glass Brasserie Sydney – what’s a girl to say? I bet you know the answer! When the invitation is to have lunch cooked by him and another celebrity chef any chance of saying no becomes even harder. When the ‘other’ chef is Rick Stein *blush* there was definitely no choice in the matter. This was a WOW and WOW bowl ‘em over lunch of two courses from each chef and stunning matched Brokenwood wines. How lucky am I?
The glass : Luke Mangan welcomes Rick Stein to Australia Luncheon started with a creamy Sydney spiced broth over prawns. You know I love this dish. You might have seen this fabulous dish before – as I savoured this as part of the Luke Mangan Japanese Fundraising dinner. The theatre of the broth poured at the table is always a great way to start a celebration and again the dish and the theatre impressed. The delicate spices warmed and delighted and welcomed us. The prawns engaged and led our appetite for more. What a marvellous Pacific rim starter to showcase Sydney.
Up next was a course by Rick Stein who told us that he ‘updated’ the classic tomato & herbes de Provence dressing by reconstructing with olive oil. He shrugged the way he does, in that charming way that seems a little bashful. You would have seen him do it on TV. Up close and personal – I’ve gotta tell you – it was every MORE charming (if that’s possible). Then he said, well it was ‘new’ back when he first did it. Nonetheless when does good food ever go out of style, and these beautiful scallops were perfectly cooked by head chef Joe Pavlovich and the Glass team. The little lentils were so delicate the dish almost didn’t seem rustic. What it did however was to transport me to somewhere in the south of France.
Back to Sydney and to what is uniquely our talented Luke Mangan - with a duo of beef that was rich and flavoursome and unctuos. This was new to me. How could I have waited so long for this bovine beauty. And, the accompanying vegetables offset texture colour and flavour. Giddyup I say! Can I have that again tomorrow?
What read as caramel baked custard for the second and last Rick Stein dish again transported us but this time to Barcelona with - as he described it - a classic Crema Catalana. I love this dish wide and shallow and with all the more thin toffee to shatter. Lick smacking good especially with another superb wine match.
I’m sorry to say that I missed a bit of what Brokenwood winemaker Iain Riggs said because although all the wines were enjoyed there was a star, a very nice drop, the 2009 Brokenwood Verona Vineyard Shiraz. I beseech you – seek it out if you haven’t tried it.
Rebecca Varidel was a delighted guest of Luke Mangan – many thanks Chef.
Glass Brasserie
Level 2 Hilton Hotel 488 George Street,
Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
+61 2 9265 6068
Could not grab feed.
