Day and Night

3:09am Monday 9 August 2010 Sydney (gmt+10)

It looks more like spring than winter. There's not a cloud in sight and even though it was still a bit chilly there were already a few people strolling about. A weather this good usually means that it's gonna be a long and busy day in the restaurant.

And while we were getting ourselves ready in the kitchen, Jessica our food runner is getting herself all psyched up. During service time on a busy day she probably covers more distance than a marathon runner while carrying three or more plates and going up and down the staircase. And while ferrying the food from the kitchen to the tables she has to keep an eye out and stay clear of those hungry, pesky seagulls.

We were selling a lot of salads and plenty of Bruschetta. And we were also serving up a lot of Duck Patê. It is very popular regardless of the season. We plate it up with 4 toasted slices of Ciabatta and apple chutney. I think its simplicity is what makes it so appealing to customers. And with all the stuff that comes out of the kitchen there's a never ending list of condiments that guests can ask for, and Jessica and Jacqui scramble to get them all ready before the food comes out.

After a couple of trial runs and some serious number crunching I've decided to put the Seafood Platter on the weekend specials list. Obviously it's a bit more pricey and takes a bit longer to put together than most of the dishes on the menu, but having it on your table and sharing it with your family and friends is an event in itself. And it's imposing appearance on the restaurant's open-air dinning area can be a real draw card with people who are passing by, especially with tourists.

Most of the time the orders never stop! But there are days when during dinner there's hardly anyone in the restaurant. And when it's not that busy I sneak out of the kitchen and visit Rob who's now looking after the other kitchen that I set up a few weeks ago in our sister venue.

The flow of guests in the other venue is quite different to what goes on the kitchen where I'm mostly at. Where I am is right in front of the water and near the Opera House, so there's a lot of tourists. So we could have guests in the restaurant all day. But the other kitchen is within the Central Busines District, so 99% of guests come in from 12pm to 2pm for lunch, then from 6:30pm onwards for dinner. And because of their time constraints I don't think Rob's customers would be interested in a Seafood Platter.

Rob's been trying different specials. And they all seem to go very well. The latest stuff that he's trying are the gourmet pizzas made with crunchy handmade pizza bases. I tried it and it tasted really good! I liked it so much that I ended up eating the whole thing! Yum!