SYDNEY CHOW TOWN MENU ANNOUNCED

The Chow Town menu is here and its music to your mouth. Check out the city by city menu below.

SYDNEY CHOW TOWN MENU

Chow Town Sydney Line Up

Drum roll… Big Day Out’s ‘Culinary Outlaws’, Ben Milgate and Elvis Abrahanowicz of Porteno / Bodega have secured a line up of some of the hottest, spiciest and tastiest names in Australian food to become a part of the inaugural Chow Town at Big Day Out!

Sydney is the city that Big Day Out’s ‘Culinary Outlaws’ Ben and Elvis call home and where they themselves will be chopping up at Big Day Out 2013 Sydney is also the city where Ben and Elvis were awarded the Time Out ‘Peoples Choice Award 2012′ and the Sydney Morning Herald ‘Chefs of the Year 2013′ so it makes delicious sense that Sydney is the first stop on the Big Day Out Chow Town epic culinary tour.

Big Day Out 2013 will tick all the entertainment boxes, including great gourmet festival food. To join the stellar music line-up in Sydney, Chow Town will be kicking off with a bevy of Sydney’s hottest chefs.

Louis Tikaram will be delivering a festivalised version of Longrain‘s mouth-watering blend of Thai and Chinese influences. Eating at Longrain is a journey into Asian-style dining where dishes are designed to be shared, banquet style. The generously sized main meals work to combine the contrasting flavours of hot, sour, salty and sweet – a luscious balance of textures, flavours and aromas. Louis is Longrain‘s head chef and protegè to executive chef Martin Boetz. Martin in 1999 joined forces with sommelier and restaurateur, Sam Christie to open what is now a Sydney institution. Sam is the man responsible for Longrain’s multi award winning wine list which he carefully constructs to compliment and perfectly balance Martin’s delicious food.

Getting your ducks in a row is no issue for chefs Mark LaBrooy, Shannon Debreceny and Darren Robertson who have combined their talents to create what is now an institution amongst the local residents of Bronte, the newly hatted Three Blue Ducks. Creating calm and cool in this smart-casual restaurant where multi-course dishes draw on vast experience, with menu highlights such as black pudding and fried duck egg – calamari and smoked corn – parsnips, artichokes and almond – rare duck breast with rhubarb and liquorice. Three Blue Ducks have left the white linen tablecloths behind them and these former Tetsuya chefs who were brought together by the love of surf and are riding the new wave of honest, innovative and local Sydney dining.

Joining Mark La Brooy and crew at Chow Town is Gregory Llewellyn. Gregory, an American national and his Australian wife, Naomi, are the culinary might and brains trust behind Hartsyard – a ‘seed and feed’ restaurant featuring produce-led, comfort food nestled within the Newtown neighbourhood. The Hartsyard menu, which is split into ‘seed’ (lighter options) and ‘feed’ (more substantial dishes), is meant for sharing. According to Llewellyn, the menu is his take on modern-day comfort food, and his Oyster Po’ Boy, Cold-smoked Fried Chicken with buttermilk biscuit and low country sausage gravy and the heavenly Poutine with hand cut beef chilli, cheddar, ranch and hot pepper vinegar would tend to substantiate his claims. Hartsyard was named one of the hottest 50 restaurants in the country by The Australian.

Jonathan Barthelmess is bringing a festival version of his Greek share plates to the Chow Town party from The Apollo. Simplicity, freshness and an absence of pretension are the essential ingredients of The Apollo promise. The focus of The Apollo’s cuisine is on the share plate aspect of Greek food, with the menu including dishes cooked over wood-fire and served with an accompaniment of Greek yoghurt, or the ‘full Greek’ with mullet roe taramasalata and slow cooked lamb. The collaboration with old family friend and business partner, Longrain’s Sam Christie, has been in the pipeline for years. With a proven record in making other good restaurants work, Christie, himself an Australian Greek, is one of the reasons the iconic Longrain has remained at the forefront of both the Sydney and Melbourne dining scenes.

Not a Spice Girls fan but want to spice up your life? Well, the culinary playground that is Rojo Rocket, located on the Central North Coast in Avoca is bringing the taste of true Mexico to Chow Town. Rojo Rocket brings a tantalising menu of tapas, tacos y ensaladas and mains that are interchangeable. Founded on a dream to bring a slice of real Mexico to Australia and authentic in every facet, from the truly amazing décor to the head chef, Alejandro Urbina from Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

With so many cool sets lined up, we had to find equally as awesome chefs, so we hope you don’t find it too hard to choose between heading over to Chow Town to get ahead of the lines for mouth watering delights or getting a front row spot in the mosh pit. It’ll be a tough one! 

From a national perspective, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and the Gold Coast will also see a mix of gourmet treats from both national and local named chefs. As Big Day Out punters check out bands stage to stage, they will then be able to set up their own degustation diversion of hand held festival food, stall to stall!

Curated by Ben Milgate and Elvis Abrahanowicz of Porteno, Culinary Outlaws, Chow Town is set to become the epicenter of epicurean cool at Big Day Out 2013!

Milgate says, “This is a dream gig for many chefs as restaurants can be very social anyway and this will be like a great big version of that, but you’ll be out in the sunshine, drinking a couple of brewskis and listening to some good tunes. It’ll be awesome.”

Ben Milgate & Elvis Abrahanowicz from Porteno / Bodega

Ben and Elvis met cheffing at Four In Hand in in 2004/5. The delayed opening of the restaurant they had intended to work at gave them the opportunity to explore the option of opening their own restaurant.

In August 2006 Ben and Elvis along with Elvis’ brother in law Joe, opened Bodega Restaurant. The first modern tapas restaurant in Sydney, the trio became well known quite quickly and went from strength to strength receiving a string of awards from the Herald and Gourmet Traveller.

Drawing from their herriatage and love for Argentina, in 2010 the trio opened the restaurant they had always wanted, Porteño, an Argentean BBQ Restaurant with cocktail bar on the first level Gardel’s Bar. In their opening year, Porteno won Best New Restaurant from The Sydney Morning Herald, Gourmet Traveller and Time Out magazine along with 2 chef’s hats. Ben and Elvis were recenlty awarded the 2013 Sydney Morning Herald’s Chef of the Year.

Ben and Elvis look forward to new opportunities for the coming year including the launch of their first book due out later in 2013.

Louis Tikaram from Longrain

Louis Tikaram grew up spending time in both Fiji and Australia but his love for food began in Fiji. An enjoyable childhood pastime was to spend time alongside his Fijian/Chinese grandmother visiting local markets, foraging, fishing and learning the flavours of the South Pacific. His knowledge continued to grow in Australia being brought up in the small country town of Mullumbimby along the far north coast of NSW on 100 acres of farmland. His family grew their own vegetables, picked fruit from their orchard and drank fresh cow’s milk. Louis’ culinary philosophy and passion reflects his Fijian/Chinese heritage and upbringing. He has a strong emphasis of using only the best seasonal, fresh, sustainable and GM free produce.

After finishing high school, Louis moved to Sydney to begin his career to work for Martin Boetz and completed his apprenticeship at Longrain restaurant. He then joined the opening team at Bentley restaurant with Brent Savage. After spending two years at Bentley he received the opportunity to work at Tetsuya’s where he developed his fine dining skills with Tetsuya Wakuda before moving abroad to work in New York, Canada and Spain.

His travels took him through North America, Mexico, Europe and Scandinavia, though his true passion was reignited once he reached Asia. The flavors and culture of Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and China inspired Louis to document, recreate and share what he learnt while traveling through these amazing countries.

Upon his return to Sydney in 2011, Louis accepted the head chef position at Longrain Restaurant to continue learning under his mentor, Martin Boetz.

Mark LaBrooy, Shannon Debreceny and Darren Robertson from Three Blue Ducks

Getting your ducks in a row is no issue for chefs Mark LaBrooy, Shannon Debreceny and Darren Robertson who have combined their talents to create what is now an institution amongst the local residents of Bronte, the newly hatted Three Blue Ducks. Creating calm and cool in this smart-casual restaurant where multi-course dishes draw on vast experience, with menu highlights such as black pudding and fried duck egg – calamari and smoked corn – parsnips, artichokes and almond – rare duck breast with rhubarb and liquorice. Three Blue Ducks have left the white linen tablecloths behind them and these former Tetsuya chefs who were brought together by the love of surf and are riding the new wave of honest, innovative and local Sydney dining.

Gregory Llewellyn from Hartsyard

Gregory started cooking when he was 15 and used to skateboard to the only restaurant in town – a little Italian joint in upstate New York. Gregory counts Daniel Boulud, Alain Ducasse and Andrew Carmellini as his mentors.

He’s had his work showcased in Art Culinaire, received a review of ‘excellent’ from the New York Times and opened 14 restaurants along the east coast of America.

His last US gig was running the kitchens of boutique hotel Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica California before taking a sabbatical to plan the restaurant.

Jonathan Barthelmess from The Apollo

Jonathan Barthelmess has, at the age of 33, established himself as one of Australia’s most exciting chefs. The Apollo, his new restaurant in Sydney’s Potts Point, brings his career to its anticipated next level.

This is the man who led Manly Pavilion to win Best New Restaurant in the 2011 Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide Awards as well as a hard-to-come-by Chef’s Hat.

Greatly influenced by his mentors Stefano Manfredi and Janni Kyritsis, both masters of Mediterranean cooking in Australia, Barthelmess has developed his own unique blend of tradition and innovation.

At Coast, under Stefano Manfredi, Jonathan was able to draw on his Greek heritage and showcase his passion for a wider Mediterranean menu. In 2007 this helped Coast collect a coveted Good Food Guide Chef’s Hat.

A year later, Time Out gave Coast and its head chef a five-star review. Then, 2009 brought a glowing review from the Italian edition of Gourmet Traveller magazine with Jonathan nominated for best new talent of the year.

Despite his relative youth, Jonathan has been working in restaurants for 18 years. His experience isn’t confined to kitchens or to his regional heritage. He’s spent time front-of-house and cooking Asian food. He was sous- chef at MuShu in Bondi Beach.

With The Apollo, Barthelmess happily but with humility enters another league. He will get back in touch with his roots and cook Greek food. He will also follow his personal creed of always trying to make the next meal he serves better than the last.

Alejandro Urbina from Rojo Rocket

Alejandro Urbina a Mexican working outside of Mexico, his international career has taken off at first with the opening of Rojo Rocket a contemporary Mexican (no tex-mex) Restaurant that clearly understood tradition very well in order to move forward. Alejandro is currently involved designing & creating new recipes for Motel Mexicola the sister restaurant in Seminyak, Bali. Back in Mexico his work is exposed within famous destinations like Playa del Carmen Deseo and Basico Hotel, Veracruz Azucar, Cabo Alto and Maison Couturier and Mexico City habita y condesa (with Grupo Habita ).

His kitchen creations distinguish richness, diversity and complexity of Mexican food. Alejandro firmly believes that Rojo Rocket has inspired many other young chefs by examining ingredients and techniques in new ways now presenting fresh, contemporary versions of Mexican cuisine, something that makes Rojo Rocket very proud.

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