John Lethlean
Food & Dining
Brilliant: Sichuan-spiced finger eggplant Source: Supplied < Prev Next > •• ON one level, its just a bit of custard.
They drop it in the fryer, serve it with sauce. Golden, gnarly treats. McNuggets: Andrew McConnell’s, not Ronald McDonald’s. At another they are something else entirely. Simply the most delicious, must-have sweetie thing you will eat all year. Fragrant, eggy blobs of soft vanilla and candied ginger inside crisp fried shells of rice and corn flour with a peppery/sweet ginger syrup. If this combination of smells, textures and flavours doesn’t turn you on, go for a checkup. You may be dead.
The custard isn’t just the latest quirky McConnell “thing”. (There’s always a “thing” at a McConnell restaurant, like the foie gras jaffle at Cumulus Up.) The fried bliss bombs are the essence of his new place. Normal made super. Supernormal.
Another example: rice cake. Remember sweet and sour sauce, the worryingly red ooze you got over green capsicum at your old-school Chinese? At Supernormal they have their own, and it’s drizzled over chewy, delicious little fried rice dough balls scattered with whole and ground white sesame. The sauce is… Wow. Sweet, sour, chilli hot, and red. Perfect for a snack with beer.
Supernormal is a bare-bones Asian diner that is a little Korean, a little Japanese, a little regional Chinese and a lot inventive, bound with quality produce. On the ground floor of a corporate citadel, it is anything but. It’s informal and designed, in whites and concrete, zinc and canvas, to feel accessible. Right down to a Korean vending machine with Hello Kitty snacks at $2 a throw. Cool, without trying hard.
But if you eat hard and like a drink you will still spend, and you’ll need to tip, because staff (including an ebullient sommelier) are brilliant. Food prices are great, but drinks are the new profit centres in an increasing number of restaurants and it’s no different here. That wine you like at $29? Expect to buy it for $80.
So go hungry, not gasping, and enjoy staff who love working for the man and, therefore, you. Let them bring you a few bits and pieces gratis, like pickled baby sesame cucumbers and soy-roasted pumpkin seeds. Let them deliver an octopus and white kimchi pancake, all crisp-shelled on the outside, faintly spicy and moist/crunchy within. It’s a finger job.
Let them talk you into slices of gently-picked bonito, just seared on one side, each dolloped with a kind of pickled wasabi leaf “salsa verde”. Or the sweet-as-a-peach, slippery and raw deep sea “ama ebi” prawns with togarashi (Nippon red pepper mix), celery, batons of cabbage heart and shredded shiso leaf.
And please, please, order the black-braised, Sichuan-spiced finger eggplant in red oil with spring onion, fresh coriander and a snow-white crumble of house-made tofu. Brilliant and penetrating.
Naturally, there’s a whole section devoted to bao and dumplings; the pig’s head croquette in steamed bun is fine, but not much more; the spicy beef, pan-fried “bun” – chewy, crisp-skinned, revealing a hedonistic dark interior – is far more beguiling.
And there’s much more to think about, including a Korean pork shoulder to share. For me, it’s a whole soy/ginger roasted John Dory on the bone. Such a superb, gelatinous fish, with a light ginger/white soy sauce, shredded spring onion and fresh coriander. Simple. Reverent. Team it with rice and a bowl of halved brussels sprouts roasted with sliced lap cheong.
We’ve done the custard. You might also want to do the almond microwave sponge with silken vanilla ice cream, chopped mandarin and plum wine granita. It’s got contrasting textures and real harmony.
Naturally, McConnell is here, cooking, overseeing, managing. His touch is rare. Not everything’s perfect, but there’s enough here to make me excited. Super-excited, actually. Situation normal.
