The Cricketers Arms’ former head chef has returned to his old French bistro kitchen for the first time in decades.
A serendipitous encounter between head chefs, past and present, has led to the revival of a critically acclaimed menu from 1988 at the Cricketers Arms Hotel in Surry Hills.
The pub had “more than a whiff of notoriety” back then, wrote former Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide editor Leo Schofield in his 1989 review. But upstairs, beyond the “headbangers”, young chef Martial Cosyn had triumphantly taken over the kitchen with pan-fried chicken livers, green prawn terrines and deep-fried flathead with dill and mayonnaise.
His menus, handwritten in neat cursive, embraced traditional techniques while pushing back against the notion of French food as fine dining: “I wanted to avoid all of that – I wanted to make it approachable,” Cosyn says.
The pub stint didn’t last. Within a year of Schofield’s review, Cosyn departed for Mittagong where he opened the successful Blue Cockerel Bistro.
But 36 years later, on a rare visit to the city, Cosyn pushed past the Cricketers Arms’ “closed” sign and ascended its creaky wooden stairs once more – only to discover a new chef had moved in, with precisely the same goal.
“It was the meeting of two minds, doing the same thing in that kitchen, 30-plus years apart,” says Wesley Cooper-Jones, current head chef of the pub’s restaurant now known as Chez Crix.
“Everything I’m trying to do, my entire approach to cooking, and the type of cuisine … it was all incredibly similar, and it was surreal.”
Cosyn was a classically trained French chef who had worked under greats such as nouvelle cuisine co-founder Michel Guérard and Australian restaurant revolutionary Anders Ousback.
Inspired by the full circle moment with Cooper-Jones, Cosyn went back into the archives to unearth his original menus.
“There were so many things that stood out to me straight away,” says Cooper-Jones. “Dishes I’d made when I was growing up, with lots of veal and stuff like braised ox tongue, and rice pilaf.”
Now those dishes are making a comeback. For the next six weeks, Chez Crix will serve an a la carte menu riffing on the “terrific terrines, scrumptious salads, poached poisson and delicious desserts” once so praised by Schofield.
The menu will change weekly, and launch with dishes including prawn terrine on gazpacho couli; Reschs-battered flathead with dill and lime; and lemon tart with double cream and almond. Bookings can be made online or through contacting the restaurant.
But there was one thing Schofield got wrong in his reviews: When visiting the Blue Cockerel Bistro in 1993, he advised Cosyn to “stick to food”, rather than pursue his second passion.
“Cosyn fancies himself as an artist and his works hang on the wall and are for sale,” Schofield wrote. “Without wishing to seem discouraging, I think he should stick to food. In this field, he’s a real artist.”
Cosyn has retired from cooking, after a long career he largely credits to Schofield’s attention. Now, he hosts three or four exhibitions of his oil paintings each year. While he won’t be behind the pans every service at Chez Crix, the limited edition menu will coincide with a six-week exhibition of Cosyn’s works.
“There is a lot of similarity between painting and cooking because at the end of the day, it’s all about trying to put a smile on someone’s face,” he says.
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Bianca Hrovat – Bianca is Good Food’s Sydney eating out and restaurant editor.
