Australian Gourmet Traveller - (01)January 2019-December 2018 (1)

16 GOURMET TRAVELLER

PHOTOGRAPHY NIKKI T

O (JONATHAN BARTHELMESS).

News

When did you start cooking professionally?

I was working at a restaurant called Julio’s

when I was in school. I was making pizza al

taglio: 22 of those slab pizzas a day. I had

burns all up my arms from the pizza oven.

How is Greca, your new modern Greek

taverna in Brisbane,dierent to The

Apollo in Sydney?Even though we’re doing

taramasalata, Greek salad and slow-roasted

lamb, we’re doing them diferently. The

taramasalata is a lighter, gluten-free version

that I’ve been working on; we’re doing

diferent breads with the dips; we’re going

to have a baker in-house. And if anyone

knows of any Greek grandmothers who

can roll dolmades, we’re looking for

someone. I’ve got an ad calling out all

yia-yias in the Greek newspaper.

Your parents live near Greca. Do you

expect them to visit often?I hope they

have a regular table for Sunday lunch.

Will they have to pay?No way. They can’t

pay. They can just leave a tip.

You also run The Apollo in Tokyo. What are

the ingredients like there?I’ve had some

of the best tomatoes I’ve ever had in Japan.

There’s eggplant that tastes like an apple.

How does your approach there dier to the

way you do things in Australia?In Japan,

beef outsells the lamb. There’s also a lot less

dairy on the menu, because it’s harder to

get. We went to the Greek and Australian

embassies to get help finding suppliers.

Back home, what are you enjoying working

with at the moment?I’m looking forward

to using good tomatoes again. The Greek

salad is so much better in summer.Greca,

Howard Smith Wharves, 3/5 Boundary St,

Brisbane, QLD, greca.com.au

Jonathan

Barthelmess

GRECA, BRISBANE

Cult NYC pizzeria Roberta’s

hits Sydney’s Firedoor on

9 December. Chefs Lennox

Hastie and Carlo Mirarchi

will collaborate on toppings

featuring native ingredients.

There’ll be a special custom

beer, duck salami, Roberta’s

merch and a loud playlist

(of course).firedoor.com.au

Cool it

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especially when it comes to

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ON THE PASS

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