The tail end of my time in Australia saw me settled in Byron Bay. Life began to stutter into gear, after the havoc (or in my case, peace) of lock-down, and the neighbourhood buzzed with anticipation of some restored liberation. Later in my spell there, constraints returned twice more to further infringe upon society and businesses, but for a time Byron was thriving.
Initially I found myself working at the trendy vegan hang-out, No Bones, where a smart, luxurious decor complemented a vibrant, original cocktail menu, incorporating native, local botanicals. The team were a perky, young crowd and camaraderie was high. The food was at times fresh and flavoursome, but all too often had a heavy reliance on deep-fried fake meat. Hardly in-line with the clean, fresh and healthy ethos the restaurant presented, but perhaps a line cast out to meat-centric customers, who would look upon a plate of vegetables as substandard. Still, it was enough to ruffle the feathers of many of the chefs who would have rather been cooking real food, rather than these greasy, mass-produced offerings, straight from a Korean factory. Still the intention was there for a unique, plant-based, multi-cultural menu, even if they fell short of executing it at the time.
Back-of-house was run by a traditionally trained French chef and in a tiny sweat-box of a kitchen, we would work through 250 covers/night over the Christmas/New Year holiday period, with me typically taking up the pans or grill sections. One take-home memory of the menu was the blue cheese pictured below. Made locally by Dilectio, it has the flavour and texture that is so rare to find in vegan cheeses. Paired with an apricot jam, this was a show-stopping desert that everyone who tried it raved about.
