Jul 28, 2015
Working at a restaurant run by the Mafia – that was no big deal
for Gregory Llewellyn. In fact, whether it’s blitzing through 300
covers a service in New York, enduring sanity-testing celebrity
demands for hotel riders or watching smoke clouds billow into parts
of a restaurant where they definitely don’t belong – Gregory has
proven himself to be an unflappable chef.
He started in hospitality as a 15-year-old, incredibly psyched just
to be a dishwasher because it was a front-row seat to the
full-blaze drama of the kitchen. Now, he runs Hartsyard with his
wife, Naomi Hart. The hatted Newtown restaurant is known for its
non-stop popularity and this Sydney institution is so famous for
its fried chicken that it has become the focus of their new
cookbook, Fried Chicken & Friends: The Hartsyard Family Cookbook.
Accordingly, there are more than 10 pages dedicated to making this
recipe alone in the new publication. The book also tells the story
of how the restaurant came to life, including all the disasters
that haunted them when trying to open the venue (such as the
restaurant's chairs not turning up, having to go to crazy lengths
to source much-needed ingredients, or witnessing the disastrous
smoker accident).
In this podcast, Gregory also chats about everything from his knack
for “shockingly over-ordering” food, that time he endured the
Franny Llewellyn Apple Diet and the crazy things he did to make
sure Hartsyard would be built on time. He also covers the opening
of The Gretz, which was as intense as Hartsyard’s birth. It’s also
worth listening to this chat just to hear Gregory crack the line,
"Couple cases of Crownie”, in his attempt at a broad-as-hell
Australian accent.
Interviewing Gregory was great fun (and in fact, I laughed out loud
multiple times while editing this – it’s a very entertaining chat).
Listen in also to hear his list of favourite places to eat and
drink in Sydney (such as Bodega, Osteria di Russo & Russo, Moon
Park) and keep an eye out for the Fried Chicken & Friends cookbook,
out in August through Murdoch Books.