So, yesterday, my sister and I payed a visit to the temporary restaurant “Greenhouse by Joost”, a restaurant in Perth that focuses on sustainability, and minimizing waste. They’re currently doing a world tour, the first stop of which, was Sydney.
The place first caught our attention when watching Iron Chef Australia a few months back, where it’s head chef Matt Stone challenged my favourite Australian celebrity cook Niel Perry, and lost only by a small margin. Stone served his dishes similar to how he would at “Greenhouse”, using entirely recyclable materials such as bottles and wooden planks.
“Greenhouse” was constructed in The Rocks, just at the north end of Circular Quay’s International Passenger Terminal (which also houses “Quay”, a world class restaurant ranked as “one of the best 100 in the world”)
The ‘building’ is constructed from natural and reusable materials, and along the entire outside of the ‘building’, are what I believe to be potted wild strawberry plants. There is also a rooftop garden that is a bar, and used to grow herbs and plants that are used in the dishes served at the restaurant. Food too, is also only made only from “locally sustainable sources”.
Bring the photography n00b I am, A fair number of these photos have been taken by my sister and her Canon Powershot S95, and have been credited appropriately.
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The entire interior has been covered in sentences and random facts relating to sustainability. Tables are made from old promotional banners, chairs from some form of aluminium pipes and food is served on plywood.
They have a small but interesting menu. Your waiter greets you with a smile, and happily goes through the menu. Food is meant to be eaten tapas style, sharing dishes as they are made.
Personally, I found the menu quite pricey, but you can be the judge of that.
To start off, we tried some Sydney Rock Oysters at $3.50 each served on a bed of rock salt. It had been a while since I last had an oyster. Unfortunately, one I ate had bits of cracked shell in it. =(
Being, non-alcohol drinkers (for now) we stuck with tame glasses of fresh orange juice and home-made lemonade, served in reused jars. =)
Cutlery made from wood. Pretty interesting if you ask me. The only problem I had was that I broke one of the forks while eating. XD
The “Sliced Deli Meats and Tomato Flatbread”. At $25, they had to be pretty generous with their meats. =) Plenty of prosciutto and salami (I’m assuming Danish), served with some freshly baked flatbread that was still warm and some of the best bread I’ve ever had!
Our last dish that we had that day was their chef’s special of the day. I had forgotten what it was called, but I believe it was a roast lamb served on a spicy bean kind of sauce with a side of Greek Yoghurt.
We may be a little biased about the lamb because we seldom eat lamb at home, but to both of us, this was so worth the $38 the dish cost. Lamb had a really good flavour, it was tender and juicy, just the right amount of fat, and that spicy bean sauce was amazing!
At night, the dining area is lit up with using their beeswax candles, which gives the entire generates a very nice and and calm feeling. The rooftop bar gives a beautiful slightly elevated view of the stunning Sydney Harbour.
Overall, “Greenhouse by Joost” is a refreshing natural twist on the restaurant dining experience. The concept of “growing food on the building” is not just for hippies and tree huggers, and “Greenhouse” is proof that you can have a beautiful fine-dining experience through an entirely environmentally sustainable means. The food is of excellent quality, and generally, I found the service to be very good, the staff gave the place a very ‘cheerful’ feel to it.
My only regret is that we didn’t order any vegetables… (which we didn’t realise until our last dish arrived) It meant that for me, that I suffered a bit of a salt overload without any good vegetables to neutralise it. (Juice and water only do so much…) But other than that, if you ever get the chance to visit/dine at Greenhouse, I highly recommend the experience.
“Greenhouse by Joost” leaves Sydney on the 28th of March, and then continues it’s world tour in Milan, Italy, followed by Berlin, Budapest and London.
To find out more about “Greenhouse” and it’s original restaurant in Perth, visit “http://greenhousebyjoost.com“
*like*
Looks cool! 😀