D aud Kendall has a simple philosophy when it comes to food: “What matters is that it tastes great,” says the Lucky Bao chef and co-founder, “and that it has an immediate impact”. Together, Daud and Emmi Kendall have created a concept that has achieved that goal, first at the Miami Marketta and now at their 90 Markeri Street restaurant. The restaurant, which opened 23 December 2016, creates an impact with carefully prepared food, and a timeless interior design. The menu showcases Daud’s 30 years’ experience at hatted restaurants in Sydney, at Park Hyatt hotels in the Middle East, and also at Byron Beach Café and Social Eating House, Broadbeach, where he was head chef. The tender morsels of beef, pork belly, lamb rib, and fried chicken found in the bao is emblematic of the rest of the menu. The simplicity of the dishes belies the mix of technique and time required to get the desired impact. The pork belly is salted and roasted whole overnight, then the salt is washed off so the pork can spend a second night in a duck fat confit, before being pressed and cut. The lamb is cooked in a mix of Chinese stock, soy sauce, rice wine, ginger and cinnamon, again for four hours overnight and is then glazed with a Sichuan black vinegar sauce. The lamb rib can be tasted in a bao or plated and on the bone with slaw and chilli mayonnaise – a true highlight of the Lucky Bao menu. Each of the items on the Lucky Bao menu shows that same type of care and attention as the pork belly and lamb. The tempura battered Parmesan broccoli will redefine your relationship with the green bushy vegetable. The beef tataki with kohlrabi, spring onion, kimchi, Korean soy sauce and gochujang mayonnaise melts in the mouth. Daud’s expertise is obvious in the quality of the food, but he retains an unpretentious approach at Lucky Bao, which he describes as “tasty casualness”. “It is not prissy. Just come in, enjoy good music and tap beer or some nice wine and have a good experience with the food.” The experience is just as described. Emmi, who is the restaurant manager and creative director, has created a welcoming and casual space at Lucky Bao. “I wanted to create something that would grow with us – a blank canvas. Keeping it simple was my focus with the concrete bench top and Scandinavian lighting,” she explains. Bartenders create cocktails over the natural limestone bench, and the food and saké is served in distinctive Made of Australia ceramics. The venue works both at lunch and dinner, when the diners spill out onto the exterior decking, and the drinks and music flow. An Asian brunch experience is also in the plans. And the bar is growing. “At the moment, we have started off quite basic really, and but we have extended into boutique gin and whiskey labels,” says Emmi. “We recently put on a degustation with Cork and Co, who supply us with Applewood products including wines, gins, whiskeys, and seasonal things that are quite difficult to get your hands on.” Given the theme of the restaurant, yuzushu and saké is also a focus. “Our drinks menu is morphing and changing all the time,” says Emmi. “We are trending towards natural wines - organic minimal intervention styles.” Husband and wife team Daud and Emmi Kendall have made their own. luck with Lucky Bao WORDS James Perkins PHOTOGRAPHY Grace Mackay and Jacob Ritchie Get Lucky P L A T E WHO’S COOKING 19 M B G C 18