“When I was seven years old, I used to shove peas up my nose and my dad would have to get the pliers out,” he says with a laugh.
His enthusiasm for veggies didn’t always require parental intervention or a ransacking of the family toolbox, though.
It helped that Llewellyn grew up on a massive property at the base of the Hudson Valley, in a town called Johnson, an hour and 40 minutes from New York City.
“Vegetables have been a major part of my life,” he says. “On Saturday mornings, we’d have to weed the garden and tend the garden. We’d have Corn Day, Tomato Day,” he says. “My parents had seven kids, and so my parents grew heaps … to help sustain the household. Mum would have an asparagus patch, grapevines, a pear tree, apple trees, potatoes, corn, beans, it was endless. So much food. She would can all sorts of stuff – I guess it rubbed off.”
One of the new dishes on the Hartsyard menu: charred broccolini, lime, crackly seaweed and avocado puree. (Alex Mayes) Source: Hartsyard
The venue actually received a piece of hate mail in response.
It might be surprising to hear how pro-veg Llewellyn is given that , which launched in mid-2012, has built up a huge fanbase for its fried chicken. In fact, the Hartsyard cookbook – written with his wife and restaurant co-owner, Naomi Hart – is called , and the Sydney establishment has a reputation for serving one of And the chef suspects that he has sold “a lot” of this dish over the years (“it’d be bordering on the hundreds of thousands”), so yes, the fried chicken has a pretty loyal following. When Hartsyard announced, in late 2017, that it was , the venue actually received a piece of hate mail in response (sent at a dubious hour, though, perhaps unsurprisingly).
This isn’t the end of Hartsyard's fried chook, though (people “might be able to go to a place and get their fried chicken fix” in April or May, says Llewellyn, hinting at a spin-off venue based on Hartsyard classics). And down the street, at sister bar , you can order The Fried Chicken Sambo: a steamed milk bun also conveying iceberg lettuce, Hartsyard hot sauce, pickles, Kraft singles and a little ranch, too.
But at the new , which was rebooted last month, fried chicken is past tense – and vegetables are some of the main stars. (Seafood also gets headliner attention, too.)
“It’s just a progression of being in the same space for so long and doing the same thing,” says Llewellyn.
It’s an opportunity that’s allowed Llewellyn and his head chef, () to get truly creative. Even with waste.
Fried chicken is out and cauliflower – and other vegetables – are in at Hartsyard. (Alex Mayes) Source: Alex Mayes
“With vegetables, there’s more clutter, because there’s trimmings and offcuts and things you can do with that. So we have tomato water that we use in vinaigrettes, we have tomatoes that we ferment, we have broccoli stems that we char,” Llewellyn says.
To really maximise everything, the chef even has a “whole fermenting rack”: currently, it’s showcasing red cabbage for sauerkraut, for instance, and Chinese broccoli, “which we did 96 bunches of today”. The pickled kohlrabi that begins here eventually turns up in an amazing dish that is “modelled after a Reuben sandwich without the actual meat”.
On the plate are cheddar puffs that are basically the cheese version of pork crackling – super crunchy and dressed with sour cream, mustard and grated horseradish. A “dirty cheese” that’s whizzed with a vegetarian mix of pastrami spices becomes a savoury dust that blankets that dish. This ultra-addictive powder is like the best version of all the Cheetos that get crushed up at the bottom of the chip packet.
Then there are the chickpea crackers that are served with yoghurt, sliced black garlic and mint oil. chef tried it recently and compared the crackers to a “deluxe CC”.
And then there’s the incredibly labour-intensive broccolini dish with seaweed. Each piece of broccolini is hand-pared (“I think I peeled 175 pieces today,” says Llewellyn) and the peelings are roasted in the oven, as are the leaves (“we keep them over the coals, so all the smoke licks the leaves”); the seaweed is toasted and then whizzed together with all these charred greens for an ultra-smoky effect. It’s served with an avocado puree that’s been blitzed with blackened chillies, salt, lime and lemon juice. It's simple and to-the-point flavours highlight what you can do when you really push plants to the next level.
Elvis Abrahanowicz is a fan of this dish. (Alex Mayes) Source: Alex Mayes
Vegetables have been a major part of my life … Mum would have an asparagus patch, grapevines, a pear tree, apple trees, potatoes, corn, beans, it was endless.
Then there’s the corn dish that’s almost like congee, seasoned with roasted popcorn and Old Bay seasoning that Llewellyn’s mother has smuggled through the post (wrapped in her handmade napkins).
And that’s not even the entire menu – but it highlights how inventive Llewellyn and Walsh are with their vegetables. And it might even make you forget that fried chicken was ever a fixture at Hartsyard.
Llewellyn hopes people will be open-minded about the changes – which also includes an understated renovation of the dining area.
Hartsyard's new stripped-back and spare look is a clever trick of design: the restaurant has actually managed to fit in more seats into the venue. (Alex Mayes) Source: Alex Mayes
“I just want [people] to come and relax and try it out. Because they may have been here before, but it’s a completely different space,” he says. “We’re not doing [fried chicken] anymore, so don’t hold that against us. We’re offering something that is just as tasty and is well thought out, but it’s totally different.”
33 Enmore Road Newtown, NSW
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