Throughout April & May, the Cutler & Co. Bar was cooking over coals.

Autumn Grill: Seasonal cooking over flames in the Cutler & Co. Bar

Inspired by the open-hearth cooking of Southern France and Northern Spain, the Autumn Grill was available in Cutler & Co.’s Bar throughout the months of April and May.

It showed respect to the intrinsic natural flavours of local produce, delicately urging each ingredient to its full potential. From lion’s mane mushrooms, local chestnuts, oysters from Merimbula and beyond - some quickly kissed by the flames, others slowly cooked in the coals.

There is an alchemy to cooking with fire; the grill coaxing incredible flavour from the season’s best. Five-year-old Akoya oysters, grilled just-to-the-point-of-opening then brushed with beef fat mignonette; chestnuts roasted with lardo & rosemary; and new season potatoes baked in coals and served with Polanco Oscietra caviar and crème fraîche.

“Diners could certainly sit down and have a full meal from the menu,” says head chef Tana Rattananikom, “but they could equally just stop by for a quick bite and a glass of something special.”

For the duration of the Autumn Grill, our team selected all manner of beverages befitting the season, the menu, and the state of mind. Mini Boulevardiers - a tiny yet robust cocktail made using rye from The Gospel, a local distillery we love.

Melbourne Sake Company 'Batch no.5' and Terada Honke's 'Katori 90', offering purity and suitably dry finish to complement some of the Autumn Grill's more nuanced flavours, while golden Spanish Finos - celebrated for their saline, umami, nutty characteristics - perfect with smoky, charred vegetables, seafood and beef.

For oenophiles, guests enjoyed Plageoles Gaillac l’Ondenc, a salty, savoury, full but fresh white wine made from the almost extinct, super rare variety Ondenc in historic Gaillac in southwest France. The Plageoles have dedicated themselves to rejuvenating the lost indigenous varieties of the region, which was planted long before even Bordeaux.