76 GOURMET TRAVELLER
The average Australian restaurant-goer was out for the night
and just happened to be out at a restaurant. It wasn’t necessarily
about the food, the wine or even the atmosphere. It was
all about going out with company to enjoy the night.The restaurants we looked up to were Primo’s, Pruniers and
D’Arcy’s.That all changed once you had dined at Tony’s Bon
Gout. Tony and Gay Bilson helped to usher in the new era
of nouvelle cuisine that proved to be revolutionary – velvety
chicken liver parfait and brioche, whole boned whiting stuffed
with scallop mousse, a lightly dressed salad of only green leaves,
fresh brie direct from France, Carr’s Table Water biscuits and
soufflés. Overnight, the new cuisine became about trying to
acquire the best produce and incorporating new techniques.Today, the big diference is that customers are so well educated
in many aspects of food, wine and dining out.
Everyone travels, even to the point of planning
trips around which restaurants and wineries
they wish to visit. The food press and critics
have also played a large role in educating the
public by featuring the new wave of chefs and
restaurants. They have also helped to create
an atmosphere of excitement in the industry.The people I learnt the most from during my
early careerwere Raymond Kersh at The Argyle
Tavern, and Peter Bemrose at the Macquarie
Inn and Sacha’s. They taught me the basic
techniques of cooking, but also taught me
important aspects of how a kitchen functions,
such as working quickly with focus, following
systems and staff relations. There are many
aspects to the operation of a successful kitchen
and they all have to balance. After that, it was
about reading as many books as possible to learn
the techniques that the new cooking required.Looking back, the most important lessons were
learntduring our camper van trip around France in 1978
and 1979. Beverley and I immersed ourselves in the markets,
vineyards and restaurants of the nouvelle cuisine era. We visited
many of the best restaurants such as l’Oustau de Baumanière
and Pic, and those of Michel Guérard, Paul Bocuse, Alain
Chapel, Georges Blanc, Louis Outhier (L’Oasis) and Roger
Vergé (Moulin de Mougins). We also worked in a few for
short periods. I realised that great cuisine was essentially
simple cooking; harmonious flavours enhancing quality
produce, cooked with attention to detail and flair.Our first serious restaurant,Reflections in Palm Beach, followed
Turrets in the Castlereagh Boutique Hotel dining room. It was the
new era of destination dining. Beverley designed the restaurant
with a casual elegance featuring soft white walls, black Venetian
blinds, white cloths and black salt-and-pepper mills, in what had
been a badly neglected fibro cottage. Seafood terrines, mousses,PREVIOUS PAGES
Peter Doyle in the
Cicada kitchen,
in the 1990s. From
top: in the kitchen
at Reflections in
1984; Doyle at Est
in the 2000s; with
his wife Beverley
at Cicada, 1996.