Mark Best

Star chef Mark Best’s second Sydney restaurant, Pei Modern is on schedule to open its doors on Wednesday, October 15 at Four Seasons Hotel Sydney.

With the kitchen headed up by Matt Germanchis, who has worked alongside Best at Pei Modern in Melbourne since it opened in 2012, the Sydney kitchen will maintain its focus on local seasonal produce, great wines and warm, professional service.

“If it’s not delicious, we won’t serve it,” Best said. “We want every dish that goes across the pass to tell a consistent story about beautiful local produce and Pei Modern – the same relationships that are intrinsic to the Pei brand; the farmer, gentle cooking and the customer will be nurtured in Sydney.”

Pei Modern has an investment in seemingly simple, bold flavours. These include:
Wood fired tiger prawns with slow cooked pineapple and sorrel; whole flounder and sea urchin butter; Kurobuta pork cutlet with fermented blueberries; and Duck eggs with sauternes custard and crostoli.

Favourites from Pei Modern Melbourne such as the casarecce with chicken dumplings and Reggiano, and lamb shoulder cooked in chamomile will be heading north to Sydney and will be key features on the menu.

Best, a star speaker at the HM-hosted Design Inn Symposium this week (Oct 8), said taking centre stage in the kitchen would be the wood-fired oven.

“Matt and I have been engaged in the kitchen for the past eight weeks, working with the oven and trying out new techniques and some gorgeous produce,” he said.

“Wood baked surf clams with smoked butter and broad beans and whole Holmbrae chicken crisp skinned in eight minutes has our juices flowing,” Best said.

At the bar you will see a liquid extension of Pei’s approach to food, with produce that is in season converted in-house into syrups, juices, shrubs and infusions. Rillettes, tartare and oysters are complemented by drinks such as the Camille, an elegant twist on a Negroni, with the bar’s aim to provide a bespoke cocktail experience.

Joining Germanchis and Best will be restaurant manager Tara Sullivan and sommelier Annette Lacey who has designed the wine list, focussing on wines that speak to their time and place.

Lacey was recently awarded the 2014 Vin de Champagne award and was previously the sommelier at Marque, Best’s first Sydney venue that was established in 1999.

James Wilkinson

Editor-In-Chief, Hotel Management