One sunny morning I met up with Sydney’s very own talented chef Adam Wolfers of Ètelek at Carriageworks farmers market. He had brought with him his Japanese hibachi and excellent tubs of home made spice mix. We briefly scanned through all the produce available on the day and he bought a few gorgeous interesting vegetables (such as white carrots) from his favourite suppliers that he had established a good relationships with from his time at Yellow restaurant.

For the photoshoot – Adam decided to cook the food he loves to eat out and at home.
Full of spices, whole vegetables and with charcoal. The dishes were basically small dishes for people to share, which is how he used to eat as kids. His grandmother used to cook 5 or 6 different dishes and would have them all in the middle of the table for everyone to share. This is such a great way of trying so many different foods and flavours. Bread is such an important part of Jewish culture. Bread is one of his favourite hobbies and big interest as a chef. Adam cooked one of his favourite flat breads, which is a yemenite bread called Malawach. It is a sourdough based bread layered with softened butter.

We set up his hibachi at a rooftop garden of a friend’s apartment building. The garden itself was amazing as it had fresh herbs and citrus. The first dish was zucchini which he spiced with coriander seed, dried mushroom, and white pepper wrapped in foil with thyme from the garden and placed into the coals until it was just cooked. It was served with a sunflower seed paste, mint and a sauce made from the juice of the zucchini, emulsified with anchovy juice and lemon from the garden. The second dish was charred beetroots, smoked native plums, red chilli, and a smoked plum vinegar sauce.
The third dish was slow cooked white carrots on the bbq served with labneh, fermented cabbage from his pantry and native pepperberry. All 3 dishes served with some of the sourdough Malawach, to soak up all the sauce.