SIMPLE IS BEST
KEEPING IT SIMPLE AND CASUAL EXEC CHEFS ACROSS AUSTRALIA REVEAL TO CRAIG HAWTIN-BUTCHER WHY CASUAL SIMPLICITY IS THE ORDER OF THE DAY.
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or exec chefs like Deniz Coskun of the Mantle Hospitality Group, premium and fine dining are dirty words. They’re also precisely what pub-goers are avoiding right now. “I was in fine dining,” says Coskun, once of Brett’s Wharf and Tank restaurants, “but I switched to this group because I could see people want good food, but they want to sit down and relax with friends or family. They don’t want the waiter coming over and saying ‘this fish was caught yesterday at 9:10am’.” The result, says Regan Porteous of Parlour Group, is the number one foodservice trend right now: “Keeping things simple”. Coskun and Porteous’ comments are reflective of what pubs across Australia are telling us. Tablecloths, foams and silver service are out, relaxed dining options and affordable menus are in. This casualisation of the dining
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experience harks back to the more traditional purpose of an Aussie pub – a great place for those of all ages and genders to convene, eat, drink and talk, without the costly experience more familiar in the higher echelons of Australian fine dining. “You have to be premium in the sense of what you offer, but I don’t think you should be gouging at people for it,” says Coskun.
as a chef, everything went a bit crazy – everyone was trying too hard with ‘molecular this’ and ‘molecular that’. People really seem to be winding it back. All the old-school dishes seem to be coming back into fashion. People are stripping back all the chemicals, the powders, and just really getting back into simple, wellexecuted food. I’m seeing it everywhere – not just on the plate but in settings and venues.”
QUALITY CASUAL
HANDS-FREE SHARERS
“People are expecting higher quality food from pubs these days,” says Lincoln Baker, GM at The Australian Heritage Hotel. “The old schnitty and chips isn’t cutting it like it used to. Pubs have been forced to have restaurant quality grub available.” But it’s not just pricing that’s having to change. Telina Menzies, Executive Chef at Australian Venue Co says, “I know even myself
Perhaps the most tangible result of this shift to casual dining is how customers are ordering and consuming their meals – shared platters, often enjoyed without cutlery. “There’s a fair few trends of Italian [cuisine] making a comeback,” says Solotel’s Group Executive Chef Sebastian Lutaud. “Alberto’s Lounge, but I think what that trend is doing, if you look at Italian cooking it’s produce-driven,
