Dan Hong is off to the races – again.
The Merivale chef returns to The
Birdcage for Melbourne Cup Carnival,
and he’s bringing a French-Asian menu
to Mumm Champagne’s marquee. “I’m
excited,” he says. In 2015, he produced
as many as 1000 cheeseburger spring
rolls a day for the Lexus pavilion; this
year, his new menu includes duck
rillettes banh mi, truffled stracciatella
tartlets and Sichuan mac and cheese.
And he’s making the most of the
available bubbles. “Three of the canapés
will be paired with three different Mumm
Champagnes,” he says. His lobster choux
puff should be toasted with sparkling
Brut, the scallop sashimi goes with Blanc
de Blancs, and the coconut mousse with
meringue is a sweet match for Mumm rosé.
It’s just one way to enjoy The Birdcage this
year, which has also been revamped with
additions such as the Bird Bath Bar. “It’s
huge,” he says. “A whole other world.”
It’s certainly a world away from
Lotus, the tiny restaurant in Sydney’sPotts Point that Hong will reopen this
month as a pop-up. Lotus is where Hong
made his name a decade ago, thanks in
part to his cheeseburger, and he’s keen
to return to a small kitchen.
Unlike Mr Wong, where he serves
up to 1000 guests a day with 50 chefs,
Lotus will have a team of four who will
cook for around 70 diners a night. “So
many people have so many memories of
the place,” the chef says. “Someone told
me Lotus saved their marriage!” Expect
three signatures to return to the menu: the
burger, hot fudge sundae and tuna sashimi
(which he served at his first Melbourne
Cup). There may also be a steady stream
of Netflix viewers dining at Lotus. Since
his show The Chefs’ Line launched on
the service in July, he’s gained followers
from Canada to the Middle East.
With new fans and a new restaurant,
Hong has plenty of reasons to break out
the bubbles at The Birdcage. Melbourne
Cup Carnival, 2-9 November, Flemington
Racecourse, flemington.com.auCould raw pasta tubes
be the eco-friendly
answer to plastic straws?
We’ve seen bars opt for
metal and paper options,
but the advent of The
Amazing Pasta Straw,
Stroodles and the
bucatini-like Ecostraw
means there’s now a
sturdy alternative to sip
from. And once you’re
done with your drink,
you can throw the
pasta into the compost
(or a boiling pot).On a winning streak
Wild-crafted white peony is a tea that
deserves its moment. “I like this not just for
the taste but the incredible effort it takes to
produce it,” says Tea Craft’s Arthur Tong.
Finding the right age tea trees requires
intense knowledge of the Fuding forest in
eastern China. Then there’s a small window
of time to pick the leaves: it has to be done
when the first buds of spring appear. The
yield is small and processed minimally, by
drying the tea in the sun, so it tastes “like
sticking the forest straight in your mouth,”
says Tong. It means the wild brew is “much
sweeter than garden-grown white peony –
think lychees and nashis.” Wild Crafted OG+
White Peony, $30 for 50g. teacraft.com.auGOURMET TRAVELLER 27News
PHOTOGRAPHY LUKE HANSON (ARKABA), NIKKI TO (DAN HONG) & ROB SHAW (TEA).