Demolition Dinner- Claude’s X The Dip

Edit: Claude’s CLOSED So a coupla weeks ago, we found ourselves booked in for dinner at the Claude’s X The Dip Demolition Dinner ($110 w matching wines). Claude’s (10 Oxford St, Woollahra) is set to close for an eight week renovation and will hold a number of collaborative “demolition dinners” in the lead-up to its closure. When I saw that Andrew Levins from The Dip (Good God Small Club, 55 Liverpool St, Sydney) was going to be teaming up with head chef Ben Sears from Claude’s, I was all kinds of intrigued at trying the one-off American themed dinner but in a swanky swish restaurant.

We were lucky enough to be seated upstairs, away from the much more civilised crowd and as we chortled about how we missed the Flintstone booths and the pumping jamz at The Dip, the amuse bouche of Biscuits and Gravy arrived. Similar to a scone, the American biscuit is savoury and mainly used to mop up sauces and gravy and mop away we did! The gravy was made with pork sausage and we stage whispered whether or not we could ask for a whole tray of biscuits and gravy for a midnight snack.

Clam Chowder. Heh of course we had to do Simpson’s chowderrrr references all night. That, and meme references. True story. But anywhos! We dunked in house made crackers into the incredible clam chowder which was rich and comforting with the cubes of potato and bacon. Three giant plump clams floated around happily until I masticated them with glee. All too soon the plate was scraped clean and we all agreed that we totally could’ve gone for a whole bucket of the stuff. Each.

The Lobster Roll was one mighty fine specimen, the golden bun was almost too perfect to pick up! After removing my all time hated vegetable of all time- the dreaded celery, I proceeded to demolish the roll with ease. The lobster pieces were ginormous and so freaking fresh it was like they were only moments ago swimming in the sea. My mind is blanking at the moment in regards to the sauce but um it was tasty? Did I mention that it was also matching wines? On a school night? Whee!

And finally what we had all been waiting for: Chicken and Waffles oh baby yeah! This, my friends, is what happy dreams are made of: battered juicy chicken that has bathed in the glory of fresh oil till golden and was just plain awesome. The waffles with slightly crispy edges and a pillowy soft middle fought a battle with my heart on whether or not the chicken or the waffle could fill the last remaining spaces in my stomach. The waffle quite possibly won because there was the sweet sweet maple syrup glaze that calls to us all with its siren song.

Last but not least was the Shoo-Fly Pie, which was incredibly rich with molasses. Strangely I really loved the banana ice cream and ate it ALL. The dessert was paired with a very delicious concoction of Bourbon + Averna + OJ + Root beer. Seriously you guys, best drink ever!

Muchas gracias Levins, Bianca, Mel and the teams at The Dip and Claude’s! Food was crazy awesome and here’s to more random matchups!