Restaurant News

Adam Wolfers returns to Canberra, with an eye to the future

Eightysix will host the Sydney chef’s travelling restaurant, Ètelek, for three nights this month – but is a permanent move on the cards?

By Emma Breheny
Marc Dempsey and Adam Wolfers
Adam Wolfers, the chef behind the Ètelek concept that has toured Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra to acclaim in the past year, is hitting the road again, this time with a three-night takeover of Braddon restaurant Eightysix.
While Wolfers' Jewish heritage informed several of his Ètelek menus, including those offered at Bar Brosé and Lee Ho Fook, this time the brief is a little broader. Seafood and vegetable dishes make up the carte, with a few Wolfers' signatures, such as the parsnip schnitzel and cultured curd with sour persimmon, reappearing in slightly revised form. New dishes include Moreton Bay bugs with superior sauce, and flatbread made with rye sourdough, the latter being one of Wolfers' recent bread experiments. Desserts are a romp through the plant kingdom, with a wild fennel brulée and pear sorbet with yuzu sherbet among the sweet things on offer.
Marc Dempsey, Wolfers' long-time collaborator, will be overseeing drinks. Ready yourself for textural whites, such as Ravensworth's The Grainery, and savoury reds, perhaps from the Loire Valley.
And while there are no definites yet, Wolfers and Dempsey are keen on the idea of setting up shop in Canberra permanently.
"I think Canberra has a really great restaurant and bar scene at the moment," Wolfers says. "It would be amazing to be part of it."
Ètelek, 19-21 April, 6pm-late, Eightysix, Mode 3 Building, cnr Elouera & Lonsdale sts, Braddon, ACT. Bookings (02) 6161 8686 or via eightysix.com.au.