the larder - woolloomooloo

The creation of the pop-up venue reflects Information Age society's fleeting infatuations. Viral, but finite, consumption of this minute's trends typifies us. We revel in recommending to our last-season friends the latest food or fashion hot spot. It's even more satisfying if your friends are too late...

Luckily for you all, Sydney's latest “place to eat (be seen)” is still in existence and busting out food like it’s going out of fashion. The Larder, down at Cowper Wharf, is the baby of Otto Ristorante next door. The setting is comfortable and casual in comparison, but the chefs are clearly years beyond their teething stage. 

Let your collective cheer sound from the rooftops: The Larder is BYO (yay!) - $5 corkage pp. But if you accidentally left your favourite bottle on the bench at home, there is still a selection of brewskies that’s got your back. Being a winter pop-up, the menu is geared towards consumables to compensate for the weather.

Shortly after ordering, a giant pot of steamed spring bay mussels ($18) arrives, the shelled treats clustered in a crimson pool of chilli, garlic and tomato broth. Whole, softened cherry tomatoes are also  bobbing around in the pot. Mouthful after mouthful of mussels, tomatoes and crusty bread warms my insides, but the single piece of bread provided  proves insufficient to mop up all the delicious broth, so order supplementary pieces ($4).

Marinated BBQ lamb ribs ($24), are overlayed with a sweet tomato-ey sauce. The texture and taste of the meat are the champions, deftly evading the common pitfall of becoming all about the sauce. The lamb peels off the bone at the touch of a knife, a disappointment for those geared up to wrestle with the bones. The ribs are teamed with a bowl of creamy, crisp coleslaw. Served on a rustic, wooden board (speaking of fashionable…) the dish is outstanding. 

Marinated BBQ lamb ribs with coleslaw ($24)

The Larder's mission statement is to create dishes based on what's in "the larder", or rather, what's in season. Chestnuts, the new most popular kid on the block, appropriately feature in a dish of confit duck leg ($25). The duck itself gets ticks for all the basic confit-criteria: Crackly skin and juice-laden meat, cooked perfectly. The leg rests on an assembly of cavolo nero, jeruselum artichokes and sliced chestnuts. The jus is sweet and buttery. Tonight we’re sharing, and I'm all too quick to pounce when my dining partners are politely hesitant with the last mouthful.

Confit duck leg with cavolo nero chesnuts & jerusalem artichokes ($25)

For dessert chocolate pizza ($12) is served in a pizza box whose novelty value is similar to the biscuit box serving of donuts at Duke. Here, the pizza has a pastry base, dark chocolate topping, with white chocolate drippings in place of cheese and hazelnuts scattered across the top. If you're going to make pizza consumption even more indulgent, this is the way to do it. Pear and rhubarb crumble ($12) has a biscuit-like topping, sweet fruity inside and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. A classic which always does the trick.

Chocolate pizza ($12)

I'm always sceptical of those who harp on about life being short. (Even if life was long, shouldn’t we be aiming to use our time suitably anyway?) However if this mantra has encouraged the team at Otto to take a risk with The Larder, maybe it's something worth paying attention to. Or at least, no time should be wasted in getting down to Cowper Wharf. You have till the end of September at which point The Larder will shut its doors, after which time it will sadly fade into the abyss to join so many other fellow pop-ups after their 5 minutes of fame.