When it comes to steak, I tend to go into caveman mode. Keep it simple with a sprinkle of sea salt and I'm sold. However, this style of preparation I had at one-month-old Thirteen Duxton Hill which involves, anchovy, broccoli and whole toasted hazelnuts, was strikingly delicious.
I enjoyed the counterpoise the "green-ness" of the vegetable (sparked with lemon juice) played to the richness of the flank steak and smooth, savoury sauce. Loved the textural excitement and aroma the hazelnuts brought to the dish as well - that rounded things off beautifully in my opinion.
Thirteen Duxton Hill is about a month old and the lovely couple behind it are Chef JP and Sally who were the co-owners and founders of Lume in Melbourne. They are super down-to-earth, friendly and easy to chat with. As his title suggests, Chef JP does the cooking (and hopefully, baking in the future) with the help of his sous chef Roland while his partner, Sally, who's a sommelier, doubles up as the general manager. The casually elegant restaurant is situated at the top of Duxton Road, occupying the last unit along the row of shophouses.
Their menus are handwritten not just for the sake of being charming (which it is) but because what they serve that day is dependent on what Chef finds at the market in the morning. How exciting is that. Definitely the kind of place I'll want to return again and again.