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The best hot cross buns, new restaurant openings across the country, Noma’s next move, and an artisan chocolatier.
RESTAURANT NEWS
THE LATEST FROM CHEFS AND RESTAURANTS AROUND AUSTRALIA
SYDNEY
A new Argentinian-Australian restaurant is lighting up Balmain with its fire-cooking focus. In the footprints of the former Efendy site, the kitchen at Casa Esquina is powered by an open-flame parrilla where tira de Asado (slow-cooked shortribs), black Angus T-bones, 60-day aged rib-eye, Gundagai lamb tomahawks, mahi mahi and other delights are grilled. Outdoors you’ll find a barbecue spit that you’ll smell well before you see it, serving up Argentine street food for Balmain locals to take away in the week. Then on Sundays, slow cooks of whole beasts including lamb and suckling pig are the carnivorous centrepiece.
Alfresco dining is also a drawcard, with a courtyard punctuated by 80-year-old camphor laurel trees and cacti, while interiors are inspired by the tones of The Patagonian Andes and a touch of the Australian outback with earthy shades of rust, sage and white. Casa Esquina is the third venue from the team behind Paddington’s Tequila Mockingbird and the CBD laneway-dwelling Esteban.
Sydney’s omakase adoration continues with the newly opened an eight-seat Korean omakase in Circular Quay’s Sydney Place precinct. The restaurant’s name comes from the Korean “mat-kim” meaning entrust, and “cha-rim” meaning chef’s table; inviting guests to hand their expectations to executive chef Jacob Lee’s vision. Lee’s menu pulls inspiration from his roots in South Korea’s Jeolla region, as well as his grandmother’s teachings. The open kitchen
