When Broadsheet first spoke to the crew behind new neighbourhood bar, Good Gilbert, they pitched it as the kind of spot that’s like hanging out at your mate’s place – only with better wine. A couple months on, they’re upgrading that description. “It’s like your mate’s place with better wine – and now with better food, too,” says Wilson Shawyer, with a smirk.
While the bar’s snacky menu – featuring anchovies on toast with anchovy-chilli butter, capers and salsa verde; house-made dips such as miso-caramel eggplant; and charcuterie plates (including slices of pastrami from Shawyer’s Truck’n’Roll project) – was nothing to scoff at, the food has just levelled-up with the appointment of chef Jack Tonkin.
“The guys were doing a really good job with what they were doing, but they’re people for the front,” Tonkin tells Broadsheet. “That’s where they want to be. And I want to be back here,” says the 25-year-old chef, eyeing his new surroundings.
When the bar opened in December, Shawyer and co-owner Jason Barber – who between them have clocked plenty of time in the kitchen – planned on cooking everything themselves. But they quickly realised they needed help to cope with demand.
“We were blown away with how well received we were initially and it’s progressively gotten better and better, and one thing we never forecasted was food taking up 35-per-cent of our revenue,” says Shawyer. “Jason and I found it quite difficult trying to balance that … we were so drawn to being out [the front] … Jason would be rolling croquettes but then he’d come out here with flour [on his hands].
“It’s now beyond our reach,” he continues. “We’re pretty savvy in the kitchen … But nothing beats having a fully qualified chef who’s got food constantly on his mind and is always looking at best ways to use produce … and his ambition and enthusiasm matches where our bigger picture is.”
Tonkin, previously sous chef at Hentley Farm (and at Peel Street Restaurant and Orana before that) admits the first week was a steep learning curve.
“I had this internal dialogue, like, ‘Oh, I’m not here with a set of tweezers or 13 other people around me … It’s been a shock to the system, especially coming from somewhere that had all the equipment in the world … but it’s a nice thing. It might be the smallest place I’ve worked, but it’s the one that’s exciting me the most … I’m happy to be somewhere that’s all about having fun.
He describes his new menu as “accessible and understandable, but a little bit refined”. We're talking crudité with house-made ricotta or bagna cauda (anchovy dipping sauce); Hervey Bay scallops baked in garlic butter and white sauce; and sticks of toast topped with slices of grilled salami and pickled zucchini or anchovies with fermented chilli and ricotta.
“The boys said since they opened the best-selling thing on the menu has been the anchovy toast and they were like, ‘We cannot take the toast off the menu’. And I don’t want to,” says Tonkin. “Who doesn’t like fried bread with anchovy?”
Rounding out the menu is a medley of heirloom tomatoes with oozy burrata; a comforting pasta puttanesca; and a moreish dessert of bruléed peaches with sour cream. Tonkin tells us a table of two last week were so enamoured by the latter they ordered a second helping (this writer can confirm you’ll want one all to yourself).
“My food philosophy is very much: cook what’s in season, cook what’s local and what’s done the least food miles,” says Tonkin. “Also, because of our space and limited storage, anything we use needs to be repurposed. So [I’m] focusing on a circular menu.” That means leftover bread might become ice cream, or crumbs for the puttanesca’s pangratatto. And the scraps from the peaches might morph into fruit paste for the cheese board.
It’s clear the team doesn't plan on resting on its laurels. Shawyer and Barber confirm the Sunday collaborations with Prospect’s Frankly Bagels and other guest-chefs will continue; they’ve just added new feature art to the walls; and they’re in the midst of repurposing a narrow alleyway out back for additional seating. Watch this space.
