Produce and preparation
Ingredients & Technique
The four-course menu in Fitzroy starts with what arrives at the kitchen door. Here is what the kitchen works with, grouped as it thinks about it, and what happens to each group before it reaches the table.
vegetables
Vegetables arrive in whole cases and are cut on site; the dish card records this preparation step, which is why the same carrot can appear roasted one week and shaved the next.
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Roots and tubers
Carrots are roasted whole in the wood oven until the edges catch, then finished with honey and salt; the Preparation field notes this step. Beetroot is roasted and sent out with goat's curd and walnut, with the Texture field noting the centre stays cooked through without going soft.
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Pumpkin and squash
Roasted pumpkin soup with brown butter opens the First Course list. The pumpkin is roasted before it is worked down, so the sweetness in the bowl comes from the oven rather than the seasoning.
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Leeks and alliums
Confit leek is cooked slowly until it gives way under a fork, then plated with hazelnut and aged cheese; the Plating concept field records this. It is a warm dish, deliberately quiet next to the grilled plates that follow it.
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Cauliflower and brassicas
Roasted cauliflower is served with tahini and pomegranate, the seeds added at the pass so they stay crisp; the Preparation field notes that step. Broccolini goes over the grill and is finished with lemon rather than butter, keeping the side list from repeating the same richness.
proteins
The proteins are the largest single purchase the kitchen makes each week, and each one is handled in a way that suits its cut.
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Kangaroo, cut by hand
Kangaroo tartare is chopped to order and served with cured egg yolk. Hand cutting keeps the texture open, which matters more here than in a minced preparation, and the cure on the yolk brings the salt.
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Lamb shoulder, slow-roasted
The shoulder is cooked long enough to come away with a spoon, then finished with anchovy and rosemary. It is the plate most tables share from, and the kitchen sends it with the same sides whichever course it lands in.
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Dry-aged sirloin
Sirloin is aged before it is grilled and served with bone marrow butter, which melts over the slices as the plate reaches the table. It is rested before carving and cut thick, so the centre stays as ordered.
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Pork chop, on the bone
The chop is grilled on the bone with apple and mustard alongside. Cooking it on the bone slows the heat through the middle, and the mustard is sharp enough to cut the fat rather than sit beside it.
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Duck leg, confit
Duck leg is cooked in its own fat until the skin tightens, then served with plum and star anise. The fruit is cooked down to a spoonable consistency so it carries the anise without turning into a syrup.
seafood
Where offered, seafood is bought in small amounts and served within a day or two of arriving, so the list shifts more often than the rest of the menu.
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Pacific oysters
Oysters are opened to order and served with a cucumber oil rather than a vinegar dressing. The oil keeps the oyster cold and clean, and the shell goes out on ice.
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Kingfish, cured
Kingfish is cured briefly, sliced thin, and plated with radish and buttermilk. The cure is short enough that the flesh still reads as raw fish rather than as something preserved.
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Prawns on the grill
Prawns are grilled in the shell and finished with garlic butter, which is spooned over at the pass. They are served hot and eaten with the hands, and the bowl for the shells comes with them.
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Snapper, pan-seared
Snapper is cooked skin-side down until the skin crisps, then turned once and taken off the heat. It is served with fennel and citrus butter, a plate built on contrast between the crisp skin and the soft vegetables underneath.
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Salt cod
Salt cod is soaked back over a day or more, then flaked into croquettes served with aioli. The soaking time is why this is one of the few items the kitchen plans further ahead than the rest of the week.
grains
Grain work sits across the whole menu, from the bread at the start to the toasted oats in the last course.
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Cavatelli, rolled by hand
The cavatelli is rolled by hand each day, which gives it a rougher surface than a machine extrusion holds. That surface is what grips the mushroom and thyme it is finished with.
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Sourdough, sliced thin
Chicken liver parfait is served with sourdough, sliced thin and toasted so it holds the weight of the parfait without breaking. House bread with cultured butter is also on the sides list, for tables that want bread before anything else arrives.
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Oats, toasted
Toasted oat is scattered over the burnt honey ice cream for crunch, and oat biscuits come with the cheese selection. Both are made to be dry and short, so they work against the fat rather than absorbing it.
sauces
Sauces are made in small batches through the afternoon, because most of them are finished at the pass rather than in advance.
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Cultured butter
Cultured butter is served with the house bread and, smoked, with the charred flatbread. It is churned to a firmer set than a standard butter so it holds its shape on a warm plate.
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Anchovy and rosemary with lamb
Anchovy is worked into the lamb shoulder towards the end of cooking, where it dissolves and leaves salt rather than fish. Rosemary goes in at the same point, so the two flavours arrive together rather than in sequence.
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Citrus butter
The citrus butter for the snapper is built off the heat so the juice does not split it. It is spooned over the fish at the pass, and there is enough on the plate to reach the fennel underneath.
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Tahini and pomegranate
Tahini is loosened to a pourable consistency and spooned under the roasted cauliflower, with pomegranate scattered over the top. The seeds go on last so they keep their snap.
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Buttermilk, two ways
Buttermilk dresses the leaf salad and also sits under the cured kingfish, in a thinner form. Using it both ways keeps a single dairy note running through the lighter courses without repeating a dish.
grill techniques
Where applicable, the fire does the work that a pan cannot: fast colour outside, a slower climb through the middle.
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Over the coals
Prawns and broccolini are cooked directly over coals, turned once and taken off while still firm. The coals are ready when the grey ash has formed, which sets the heat before anything is laid on.
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In the wood oven
Carrots roast whole in the wood oven and the flatbread is charred against the same heat. Both pick up a smokiness that a conventional oven will not give, which is why they are grouped here rather than with the pan work.
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Rest, then slice
The dry-aged sirloin is rested before it is carved, and carved thick so the centre holds its temperature on the way to the table. Slicing early is what makes a grilled plate arrive grey.
pastry
Pastry work on this menu is short and savoury as often as it is sweet, and most of it is made in the mornings before service.
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Flatbread, charred
Charred flatbread with smoked butter opens the To Begin list. It is served hot, torn rather than cut, and the butter is soft enough to spread without tearing the bread.
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Salt cod croquettes
The croquettes are bound with a thick base, chilled until firm, then crumbed and fried to order with aioli. They are the one item on the menu that cannot be held once it is cooked.
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Biscuits for the cheese
Oat biscuits are baked dry and short and served alongside the cheese selection. They are made to be plain, so the cheese is the only thing being tasted.
desserts
The last course is where temperature does the most work: something cold against something warm, something set against something with texture.
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Dark chocolate tart
The tart is served with crème fraîche, cold against the chocolate, and is the richest plate on the menu. It is one of the signature dishes, and the portion is sized for the end of four courses rather than the start.
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Burnt honey ice cream
Honey is taken past the point of simple sweetness before it goes into the ice cream, and toasted oat is scattered over the top. The oat is added at the pass so it stays crisp rather than softening into the cream.
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Buttermilk panna cotta
The panna cotta is set firm enough to turn out of its mould and served with rhubarb cooked down to a tartness. It is the lightest option on the dessert list and the one most often ordered after the lamb.
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Roast pear with ginger
Pears are roasted until the flesh turns translucent at the edges, then served with ginger and vanilla. The ginger is used fresh rather than dried, which is why the heat sits at the back of the plate rather than at the front.