Fabian Christoph thought he would give Tasmania a year, when he came here with his Tasmanian fiancée Narelle Monks after they finished a stint together in London and at St Ives in Cornwall. That was nearly four years ago, and now the couple have their feet firmly under the Tasmanian table as partners in Restaurant 373, at that number in Main Road, North Hobart.
The couple met when they were both working in Melbourne, and in St Ives Fabian discovered he liked small towns. In Hobart, he worked at Rockerfeller’s and Narelle at the Cornelian Bay Boathouse, where Jay Patey was also working. The three, all under 30, decided to set up their own restaurant.
Narelle is also a chef, but now mainly concerns herself with the front of house, except for coming up with most of the dessert ideas.
Restaurants often make VIPs or friends of the management feel welcome by giving a little gift. The Restaurant 373 partners like to make “everyone feel a bit special†and give flavoured popcorn, olives and crostini while guests study the menu, and then, depending on what else you order, there may be a demitasse of soup, blue-eye brandade and a dessert gift.
October sees the last of a winter program of Monday cooking classes at the restaurant, at which Fabian demonstrates the dishes for a dinner party and those in the class go home with the recipes, the know-how and the lingering taste of the food.
The following recipes are from such a class. Fabian suggests preparing ahead the lemon oil and basil oil, soup, the crème brulees to the point before the tops are toasted, the risotto rice to where it is left on the tray and roll the arancini. On the day, prepare ahead of time the mash, score the salmon, and prepare the mushrooms for the risotto if you have a big group. Serve the arancini with drinks before the soup. All recipes are for 10.
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