Vera Wine and the hatted Humbug restaurant are celebrating Christmas in July with a retro-themed dinner and ugly festive jumpers.
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The uglier the better.
Josh and Florence Distefano (Vera Wine) and Michael Portley and Stephanie Wells (Humbug) collaborated last year for a Winter Solstice dinner featuring rare wines from the Jura region of Switzerland.
"We absolutely love working with Steph and Mike from Humbug. They have a very similar vision to us on how events should be run so it's a dream combo," Josh Distefano said.
"This time we're taking ourselves a little less seriously. We're pulling out our ugliest sweaters and we're even making eggnog.
"The menu is traditional, quirky and fun and we've paired delicious wines that would usually be too rich for Australian summer. It is sure to be a night of good food, good wine and lots of laughs. There is even a prize for the best Christmas jumper.
"It's a great opportunity to open some really special wines to splash around the room."
Michael Portley says events like Christmas in July "allow us to depart from our usual style and do something that we love and get excited about, but may struggle to get an audience for all year round".
"We will be having some fun with this one," he said.
"There will be some retro classics with a modern spin. I think there will be a red prawn (deep-sea prawns fished off the coast of NSW) vol-au-vent and some kind of homage to devils on horseback.
"Christmas, for me, always brings the conundrum of 'What's the best way to use up leftover ham?' and I think I have the answer.
"There's a sandwich called a Monte Cristo, which is a sort of croque monsieur made on French toast. We will do some mini versions on this with leg ham from Hungerford Meats and a healthy dose of maple butter.
"It seems sensible to finish on a roast game bird with all the trimmings."
Humbug has a Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide "chef's hat" and is known - and loved - for taking familiar comfort food to the next level. The Newcastle restaurant's new winter menu is a case in point.
"At the moment we are running a tortellini filled with a 'fonduta', which is a sort of liquid cheese filling," Portley said.
"It has truffled pecorino and a puree made from caramelised jerusalem artichokes and is topped with fresh black truffle, for which the Australian season has just commenced. That is one of the most exciting parts of winter for me.
"Another current menu favourite is our school-prawn fritti. It's a dish that gets an overwhelmingly positive response; it is very textural and packs a punch."
Portley invited former Restaurant Mason chef Chris Thornton into Humbug's kitchen last month for a wagyu and truffle dinner. Tickets sold out quickly.
"We had been talking about working on something together for a while, and I'm so glad we did it. Chris is a legendary chef and a joy to work with," Portley says.
"It was super decadent and over-the top - we might have shaved a couple of years off everyone's lives with the amount of wagyu and butter we served.
"I believe we have one more special guest that we will be collaborating with in for another special dinner in August but we're keeping a lid on it for now."
- Tickets to Christmas in July at Humbug on Hunter Street, Newcastle, on July 31 are on sale now at verawine.com.au.
Vera Wine Bar
Josh and Florence are in the process of obtaining a small bar license for the front of their Hamilton shop. It will seat 12 and, if approved, could lay claim to being the smallest bar in NSW.
"Up until late last year, the NSW Government wouldn't allow two licenses within the same four walls, but a venue in Sydney obtained it after four years of fighting. The day we found out, we started the journey," Distefano said.
"The concept of a wine shop with a wine bar attached to it is so normal in Melbourne. Florence and I used to frequent these venues a lot and its a great way to drink a range of wines without the big restaurant mark-ups."
He said it was a "no-brainer" to open a wine bar within the shop.
"We want Vera Wine Bar to just be an extension of what Vera Wine Shop does. It allows guests to drink by the glass and try things before purchasing bottles to take home.
"We have a by the glass list, but the full wine list is on the shelves. We love the fact that guests can just peruse the shelves, pick what they want, take a seat and let us do all the work for them."
Vera Wine Bar will offer a wine-friendly snack menu, too, which includes "a range of high quality anchovies, olives and a serious cheese trolley for tableside indulgence".
"This Saturday we've got a really special tasting with Tyrrell's. It's a look at all of their top wines: Vat 1 Semillon, Vat 9 Shiraz and Vat 47 Chardonnay with a few other wines thrown in. Truly not one to be missed," Distefano said.
"We're also doing a collaboration event for State of Origin's game three at The Oak in Tighes Hill."
