Coping with coronavirus: Top eateries delivering fine dining to your door
Usually, it takes months to score a table at the country's top restaurants. Now, the coronavirus outbreak has changed everything. Photo: Getty
Restaurants and eateries are being forced to drastically change the way they do business – and it’s having a surprising effect.
The upper-echelons of Australia’s dining scene have moved into the delivery space, offering customers the chance to skip reservation lists that are usually months long and have top-tier tucker delivered straight to their door.
There’s not even a dress code – you can eat a hatted meal in your PJs if you so desire.
Sydney’s Sixpenny restaurant has pivoted to takeaway meals for Thursday and Friday nights, throwing open the option to jazz up what could be a relatively tame Friday date night at home.
Down in Melbourne, the esteemed Attica is now delivering three-course meals for two – with the option of a paired wine chosen by the in-house sommelier.
“Have fun with the food and make it an experience! Set your table nicely and eat it on the ‘good plates’, or eat it straight from the packaging under the stars. Have Attica At Home,” the restaurant’s website reads.
It’s not just meals – bars are also joining the movement, offering the dangerous temptation of delivery cocktails.
Not closing doors, opening new ones
There’s some who are seeing the drastic shift as an opportunity – Tom Jacobson is one of them.
Not only did he convert his Melbourne eatery Smoke & Pickles into a takeaway-only service, he launched a whole new platform to support out-of-work hospitality crew, and deliver some of the city’s best chefs straight to diners’ living rooms.
Fairfeed Community Project works out of Jacobson’s site, and brings in a rotation of chefs to create one-off meals that are made available to diners for a smidgen of their usual cost.
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He’s kept his staff and brought in others who have lost work to help deliver the meals to the masses. There’s a $10.50 delivery fee (or you can pick it up) and $10 goes directly to the delivery driver.
Working with local suppliers and producers, it’s a way of building community, Jacobson told The New Daily.
Fairfeed opened last weekend, and this week they’ve had their first sell-out days.
“You don’t know what’s going to happen at the start of any venture, but I think we’ve got some serious momentum now,” Jacobson says while helping to prep one of the meals for Wednesday night’s menu (char siu pork with Asian greens).
“Last week helped supplement eight peoples’ wages, and this week so far we’ve helped five. It’s really cool and we’re doing some extremely good food.
The menu at Fairfeed changes every couple of days. depending on which chefs are in the kitchen and what produce is available. Photo: Fairfeed
“There’s a lot of guys out there who are hurting, not just financially.
“It’s hard to keep motivation out there as a chef – we like to be busy, we like pressure.”
Jacobson says he’s excited to see what happens next for the project – he’s already got on board chefs from places like Pretty Little and Jungle Boy, and doesn’t want the collaboration to stop.
“It’s a good opportunity to give people access to food and chefs that are extraordinarily talented that they’ve never had access to before, so easily,” he said.
“There’s so much care and love going into these meals – I’m excited.”
