Yuletide at Atelier – Glebe, Sydney
It is always good to be greeted by a big happy smile, especially when it is at a pleasant restaurant like Atelier. Along the busy and packed street of Glebe Point Rd, sits this little building that does not particularily strike out as a restaurant apart from the sign out the front. But once you enter, the distinct buzz of a restaurant can be palpated in the air along with its cozy atmosphere and warm lighting.
A group of foodbloggers and other food media were invited here for a Yuletide feast hosted by a collaboration between Whiteworks Public Relations, Australian Pork and Piggs Peake Wines to promote more porking and proper awareness of the current outbreak – H1N1 strain of influenza A aka swine flu.
The Christmassy theme has me longing very hard for a white Christmas… a winter wonderland… one can dream can’t they 
The lovely Mel (Fooderati) kindly invited myself and fellow foodies Pikelet and Pie, Citrus and Candy, Not Quite Nigella, Simon Food Favourites, Eat Show &Tell, One Bite More, Chocolatesuze, A Table for Two and Grab Your Fork to this pigging out on delicious pork. I missed out on NQN and SFF as they were sitting on another table 
but will definitely get them next time !
(btw yes, that is butter on Suze’s tiny bit of bread… a pure-heart-clogging-valve-shutting-butter moutain!)
After an introduction by Stewart White of Whiteworks about the pork and its festiveness (hence the Xmas theme) and about Chef Darren Templeman being the ‘Kris Kringle of Crackle’ we were all getting very hungry and craving some of his legendary crackling.
Here Comes the Food
Bread with cultured butter, olive oil and/or sea salt
We all hungrily dug into the bread (after the photos of course ) and mixed and matched with the accompanying condiments to what we saw fit. Some people just liked it with a slight sprinkle of sea salt, or a dollop of the olive oil as I prefer while others liked to spread on the smooth and creamy cultured butter, and one *cough*Suze*cough* liked to indulge heavily on the delicious butter.
Lovely Mel checking up on us and making sure we are being good (ie photoing everything) ^^!
Piggs Peake provided some matching wines for the entree plate (L to R): 2008 Piggs Peake Amanda Love Viognier, 2008 Piggs Peake Peartree Riesling and 2009 Piggs Peake Sows Ear Semillon
Entree Plate (clockwise from L): Honey-Glazed Pork Hock with Roasted Apples, Grilled Pickled Loin of Pork with Celeriac Remoulade and Pulled Neck Salad with Crystal Bay Prawns
Beautifully sweet with the honey glaze and the slight tartness of the apples contrasted perfectly with this tender piece of pork hock.
The grilled pickled loin was not as tender but still had a good moisture infusion, while the remoulade was refreshing with a nice crispness.
My favourite of the entrees was the pulled neck salad with the crystal bay prawn. I personally would have preferred if there was a slice (or slab) of pork neck instead of the prawn but the combination of prawn and pork was surprisingly pleasant. The soft prawn was beaten by the even softer and sweet pork neck which oozes a its’ beautiful flavour in the mouth as it seems to melt.
Dinner and a show ^^!
A ritual carving of the pork rack demanded a rush of foodbloggers, with cameras in hand, immediately to prime positions in front of the carver. I think we scared and/or surpised the rest of the guests there… so sorry about that haha.
Boned Shoulder of Pork Roasted with a Winter Herb Crust on Creamed Parsnip & Buttered Kale and Pot-Roasted Murray Valley Moisture-Infused Pork Rack with broad beans, Pomme Cocotte & Pine Mushrooms
Another perspective of the Crackling
The crackling was a tiny strip on the shoulder cut of pork and was not as crispy/crackly as we had hoped for but the piece of meat on which it was housed on was the juiciest and tenderest slices of pork. The natural sweetness of the pork was further pronounced with the creamy parsnip puree, which was absolutely delightful. The buttered kale had a distinct Asian feel to it from the garlicky flavours that it carried. The moisture-infused rack definitely lived up to its name of being moisture-infused by oozing flavour with each juicy bite. The accompanying broad beans, pomme cocotte and pine mushrooms supported the main act of the pork rack and made it a very enjoyable meal.
Poached Winter Fruits with Christmas Pudding Ice Cream
The Christmas Pudding ice cream was a winner, with the wonderful warming aromatics and spices really puts you into the Xmas spirit. The roll of chocolate flaked and melted in the mouth while the poached winter fruits were hit-and-miss. Some fruits benefited beautifully from this poaching process like the pear but some others were not so lucky and were left bland, mainly the rhubarb. The ice cream really topped off the dinner nicely though.
Chef Darren showing off some of his toys hee hee
A porky dinner with great company and a fake Xmas… can’t get much better than this ^^! BUT it did! We each got a party bag of 1.2kg moisture-infused pork rack, a Women’s Weekly Recipe book, recipe of the dinner and a hand santizer just in case Mel also set us a challenge with the pork racks so look out for the accompanying crackling posts!
Many thanks to Mel, Whiteworks, Australian Pork, Piggs Peake Wines and Atelier for the invite and hospitality
Atelier
22 Glebe Point Rd
Glebe, 2037
Ph: (02) 9566 2112
Chef: Darren Templeman
FFichiban
June 4th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
ohhh that butter was so tasty! and so was the pork =P
June 4th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
great pics of your food bloggers. looking forward to seeing how you cook the pork rack.
Simon
June 4th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
lol. love the foodblogger action shots!
June 5th, 2009 at 12:06 am
Lol loved the food blogger mugshots! Look at us…guilty as charged!
June 5th, 2009 at 8:35 am
awwwwww those dishes look heavenly!
and foodblogger shots so classic! LOL
June 5th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Haha you didn’t catch me!
Great recap of a great night 
June 5th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
zoar! everything looks soo gorgeously presented!
scrolling down the page I felt like I was watching masterchef except online and with photos =D
June 6th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Cool party bags – and love your photo of the dessert!
June 6th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
I like my Suze’s pose shot LOL…. that so Suze… LOL
June 6th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Chocolatesuze – uh huhhh buuuttahhhhhhhh!
next timmmee!
SFF – Hee hee thx! Too bad you ninjaed your way out
Helen – Hee hee Billys is the best imo
Karen – The foodbloggers become the.. food?
Yas – hee hee thx bro
Lorraine – Thx
Grace – Masterchef ehhhh.. hmmmm gives me an idea
Anita – Thhxx ^^! Yup party bags are so funnn
Billy – You are a natural man!
June 7th, 2009 at 9:01 am
Mmm looks delicious! And I love that first photo!