By Sophia Phan
WHY I LOVE THIS PLACE
WHO
Jodie Fox, co-founder of online retailer Shoes of Prey
WHERE
Yellow, Potts Point
Yellow's soft lighting makes for a perfect dinner-date venue.Credit: Christopher Pearce
WHY
"I love dining at Yellow for brunch – the food is both inventive and incredibly well executed. Textures have always been really important to me in food and they absolutely nail it.
"I love that this restaurant is first and foremost a place I love for having great food and then, secondly, for having a great vegetarian and vegan offering.
Jodie Fox enjoys cooking with in-season produce from a farmers' market.Credit: Phu Tang
"I always order a side of grilled licorice bread. I know licorice is a polarising flavour but this dish is everything: it's crisp on the outside and so soft and perfect in the middle. It's served with house-made butter and sea salt.
"After that, it really depends on what I feel like on the day. In the past they have had great cocktails like a marmalade martini, if my memory serves me well. And the coffee is good, too.
"The atmosphere at Yellow is very relaxed, with a chic bar. The service takes a much more relaxed approach, which is totally fine if you're looking for a chilled out brunch. I love the European dining scene that Yellow has. Coming from a European background, I'm drawn to their chic, warm vibe. It's so welcoming."
AT HOME
Dishes such as parsnip parpadelle, egg yolk and pine mushrooms feature on Yellow's vegetable-dominant menu.Credit: Christopher Pearce
"I love cooking! My perfect Saturday is to wake up without an alarm clock and go to a farmers' market. I love buying beautiful, local, colourful, in-season produce to cook.
"I cook almost every night. I find it such a nice way to decompress from the day. I generally like to cook meals that are made from first principles – nothing processed and light on carbohydrates. One of my favourite dishes to make at the moment is a pan-fried rosemary and garlic lamb with steamed greens. It's simple to make, healthy and delicious."
The brightly-coloured terrace at Yellow is hard to miss and evokes thoughts of a sunny seaside European town.Credit: Christopher Pearce
AT WORK
"Shoes of Prey has just come off the back of a wonderful 2016, with the launch of our Inspirer Collections. This year will be a big year for us. Our newly launched boots range will be developing further and we have a lot of new launches to share."
YELLOW
57 Macleay Street, Potts Point
9332 2344, yellowsydney.com.au
★★★½✰
Review by Sophia Phan
Perhaps it's a new year, new me sort of thing, but I welcome the idea of a vegetable-dominant menu. No meat? No problem. (Note: I really enjoy meat.)
I've heard a lot about Yellow but have never been. It's a little hard to get to in that you need to use at least two modes of public transport – if you don't live in the east – or get an Uber because it's almost impossible to find a parking spot nearby.
But once there, it's hard to miss.
The bright yellow terrace reminds me of a sunny seaside European town. It's inviting and the atmosphere is intoxicating (hello, breakfast martinis!). To my surprise the verandah is packed with customers. It's only 10am.
It's a little dimmer inside, more elegant, more intimate (and almost just as busy). The soft lighting makes for a perfect dinner-date venue. It's almost fair to say that the place operates like a fine dining restaurant.
The service is attentive and friendly and we were offered coffee almost immediately. There's no coffee menu, however, which I found a bit odd given the different variations offered these days. I ordered "a classic": the iced long black. It was refreshingly delicious and was served in what seemed like a bottomless glass.
The weekend brunch menu is heavy on the vegetables and bread, as expected, with a jamon dish for those who can't let go of protein just yet.
It all came out quickly and at once, more or less. The baked eggs with cauliflower and parmesan was a surprise. It was creamy and slightly acidic, not at all like the tomato-centric variations I was used to. As with all creamy things, it got overwhelming after a few bites, even with the slight char on the accompanying bread.
The brioche bun with scrambled egg, jamon and harissa on the other hand maybe had a little too much bread, and not enough seasoning.
The highlights had to be the croissant with house-made butter and jam and the grilled licorice bread with house-made butter. To summarise: anything with the house-made butter. It was light, it was creamy and it was slightly salty; just delightful. It needs to be bottled.
The croissant itself was flaky and the combination of the salty creamy butter and the tart and not-at-all-too-sweet jam was to die for.
If I had to pick a favourite dish it would have to be the licorice jam – 100 per cent. I'm not a huge fan of licorice, but this was amazing.
The bread was crunchy, chewy and sticky at the same time, with a definite licorice taste. It was strong but not intimidating, and paired perfectly with the butter (but let's be honest, anything would). It was like a cookie, it was toffee-like, it would get stuck in your teeth.
If I hadn't also ordered the baked eggs, I would have ordered another. That would be my tip. Don't worry about the bigger portions. Get a few bits of pastry and a variety of drinks – the pear and yuzu juice has a nice zing, if you're after something non-alcoholic. Otherwise, go on and spoil yourself with a Bloody Mary.
Never thought I'd say this, but you can make friends with salad.