The Garden at West Ashfield Leagues

Nicki Alchin
2nd Dec 2016

In a suburb renowned for its authentic Chinese fare, it is exciting to be able to report that Ashfield has just welcomed a sorely needed eatery offering high quality non-Asian cuisine. It’s not often you get the chance to see a venue create such a dramatic new direction in its food and beverage services, but this is what I witnessed on my visit to the launch of Wests Ashfield Leagues Club’s brand new farm to fork venture, The Garden. As you would expect, such a massive revamp does not come by chance and there is a good story begging to be heard. Executive Chef Oliver Heath, is only too happy and eager to share the beginnings with diners.

So the story goes, the vision of The Garden, a dining destination that is on the way to taking the farm to fork commitment to the nth degree, began with the CEO of Wests Ashfield, Simon Cook purposefully seeking out for this venture, Executive Chef Oliver Heath who had recently moved to Sydney with his Australian wife.

Why would he do that you may well ask? Oliver has some fairly mighty credentials in the farm to fork food and cooking philosophy. Not so long ago, just before he came to Australia with his Aussie wife, he was cheffing at Blue Hill at Stone Barns (on the Rockefeller Estate in Pocantico), New York – a restaurant that is pioneering and championing the farm to fork movement under the helm of Dan Barber and gaining accolades along the way. In 2016 Blue Hill at Stone Barns came in at 48 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Award. Now you see why Simon sought Oliver out. It makes perfect sense.

With the lure of a golden opportunity to paint his own philosophy, commitment and vision of sustainable restauranting onto the huge blank canvas of the upstairs dining room at the Club (seating around 200-400), how could Oliver refuse to come work for Simon? And so begins the journey for Wests Ashfield League Club to turn every preconceived thought about club food on its head, as well as standing tall with the big boy Sydney CBD restaurants.

As you may suspect though, it is just not the restaurant and cooking that Oliver is concerned with. Produce reigns supreme in his mind. I often heard him say over the afternoon that “flavour and nutrition” were kings, forget the looks. With that comes the hard work of building relationships with farmers to source the best seasonal, fresh ingredients and avoiding cold storage all together. This is where Jason Ryan from Hillview Fine Foods in Batlow comes into the story. He is a farmer who with his parents on a neighbouring farm grows local seasonal fruits and vegetables, including wonderfully juicy apples and sweet cherries, and brings it down to the big smoke to the organic farmers’ markets such as Orange Grove and Marrickville. On his way to market he would often drop in to other farmers along the way to pick up their produce and so this is how he has grown and prospered. Luckily the two met, and now Oliver is tapping into Jason’s connections with the farmers for all his fruit, vegetables and meats. The passion of these two guys in selecting produce that can be traced back to its roots, is the thing that seeps through into every detail of the menu.

Oliver uses every aspect of the vegetables and the beast (right into the nose to tail philosophy) to ensure there is no waste. In house there is pickling going on, preserving and drying of herbs and soon to come is a flour mill to provide the talented pastry chef, Matthew Abbott-Williams, with fresh stone-ground flour, for his sweet treats and in house breads and pizza bases. By doing this, the flour will not only provide diners with so much more flavour and nutrients than the processed stuff but is also more easily digested. Another point that Oliver mentioned a few times is that he is a “big believer in the thinking that good food should not be out people’s price range”. And so this brings us back to what The Garden is all about. Providing the average punter who frequents their local club, a chance to taste food that is bursting with flavour and nutrients, is presented in an exceptional way and doesn’t cost the earth.

It was one of the best meals I have had in a long time. Fresh, seasonal; loads of variety and innovation in presentation. The taste was unbelievable. I have never seen salads and sides with more vibrancy. To start the day’s lunch, we sipped on refreshing mojitos while munching on the super red cherries that had greeted us as we entered the large dining space that is open fully to natural light (perfect for wedding receptions, family and work Christmas parties, and of course couples and solo diners). The menu for the day was an ambitious one to eat our way through. So many courses, so much deliciousness that it was hard not to eat the full portion and take a gamble we could continue on with such enthusiastic appetites. The small plates began with fried Sydney Pacific oysters done panko style – light and crispy served with tartar sauce. This was followed up with oven roasted bone marrow (Linga Longa Farm) oozing garlic flavours matched with onion, parsley and lemon juice relish on Sonoma sourdough toast (I was scraping every bit out from the bone it was so good). Blue corn bread made with super blue cheese from Tilba Real Dairy came along next as did some spicy treats in the form of pork roll ups (ancho chilli braised pork in mini flour pitta) and gorgeous bbq Mundroola Farm lamb ribs served with a tzatziki dip. Everyone seemed to go for the oysters (even if not an oyster fan). The pork and lamb also received some high praise from the group.

The mains were served alternatively, a stunning looking Tasmanian ocean trout served with seasonal vegetables, and then for the carnivores like me, Toolangatta Farm pork was served up on The Farmer’s Plate as porchetta (oh, the crackling was to die for and the meat so tender and flavoursome) and some tasty leg ham with a lovely lettuce with a lovely dressing of pureed avocado and tarragon spread over it. Never had lettuce so good in my life. We had three salads to choose from – The Garden Salad (pickled, raw and roasted seasonal vegetables, quinoa, Highland organic feta cheese, toasted walnuts and summer berry vinaigrette), Foraged Salad (beets, pickled onions, Tilba Real Dairy haloumi, pearl barley, mung bean, seasonal vegetables and hand-picked leaves), and of course Luigi’s Carrots and Parsley (Hillview seasonal sautéed vegetables with toasted nuts). Such a gorgeous assortment of healthy, nutritious, well-sourced vegetables served in an imaginative way to entice all palates to eat the essential vitamins and minerals we need.

Lastly came dessert. This is where the skills of pastry chef Matthew Abbott-Williams come to the fore, but also the fruit from Hillview Fine Foods in the very fine apple and nectarine pie with vanilla bean ice cream - a sublime tasting pastry case filled with an apple, nectarine and spicy mixture that just melts in your mouth. For the chocolate lovers, there was the option of a rich decadent chocolate tart with Wombat Heights Orchard cherry compote and cherry ice cream. This was reminiscent of the cherry ripe flavours but only with more intensity and freshness. Coffee and petit fours of chocolate coconut balls filled with salted caramel ended this very wonderful enticing lunch. The quality of produce and cooking techniques shined through with every dish. Of course, because Oliver’s objective is to always source fresh seasonal produce to maximise nutrition and discard the need for ingredients that come from far away or have been put in cold storage, you will see a menu that is constantly changing to adapt to the produce that is available. This is fantastic news for diners as they will get to taste a variety of different dishes that taste great but has integrity in terms of local fresh produce as well as looking after their health – a three pronged win-win situation. It is great to see Wests Ashfield Leagues Club leading the way of providing club members with this happy combination. I am confident The Garden will delight you in every way.