Sometimes, you just need to keep making polenta chips. Golden, salty and served with rich gorgonzola sauce, polenta chips became a beloved signature dish at Clare van Vuuren’s Newtown restaurant Bloodwood, but after 13 years they disappeared from the menu. “I was sick of making them - I wanted to reinvigorate the kitchen,” chef Van Vuuren told the sold-out crowd at Sydney’s second Good Food Hospitality Symposium on Monday.
“But every week, customers would sit down and ask where the polenta chips were.” The experience taught Van Vuuren a valuable lesson: “You need to keep an open mind as a leader, listen to what people say and don’t be stubborn,” she said. “Don’t have a chef ego when you come into the kitchen - it will definitely help your business in the long run.
” The chips have since been reinstated, the community is happy and that’s one major reason for Bloodwood’s enduring 15 years of success. The Good Food Hospitality Symposium presented by Lightspeed is a new, ongoing initiative developed in response to the daunting number of cafe, bar and restaurant closures this year. With the help of industry leaders, it aims to find solutions to industry problems.
Van Vuuren joined fellow panellists Jeremy Courmadias (CEO, Fink Group), Petrina Baker (director, Baker and Frost), Alexander Kelly (co-owner, Baba’s Place), Bridget Raffal (owner and sommelier Where’s Nick) and Pete Learmonth (product manager, Lightspeed) on a panel discussion hosted by hea.