Andrew Finlayson
What’s Panaroma all about, Sean?
The great thing about Sean’s, I suppose, is that it’s loved for all its flaws as well. It’s sort of unpretentious in a lot of ways. It’s relaxed and it feels very like Bondi, and also Sydney. That’s not just because of what we’ve created; it’s also what the customers bring – how they frequent it, how they imbibe in the room – and that’s a great feeling. To feel that togetherness has made something that’s really special.
And you now also do dinners at your Bilpin farm up in the Blue Mountains, right?
We do events up there. It’s not like a regular thing, but we’ve got a wood-fired oven that one of the local guys built for us, and at the latest dinner we had one long table along the dam, which was really beautiful. It was gorgeous weather and it’s just nice to be outdoors.
What’s cooking?
We’re lambing at the farm; we’ll probably do them with mashed spring peas, pea sprouts and roast potato with a home-style gravy and lots of mint from the garden. We’ve got another litter of the Wessex Saddlebacks, too, so we’re going to have some nice suckling pigs and there’s lots of Hugh Wennerbom’s chooks, which we love. We’ve been roasting them with tarragon butter and serving them with creamed corn and sautéed zucchini. It’d be great to get hold of some yabbies or marron, too, if we can, and just split them and roast them with a bit of garlic and chilli.
Sean’s Panaroma, 270 Campbell Pde, Bondi Beach, NSW, (02) 9365 4924.
