Taking over his studio, the table is set for the semi-annual boys catchup and Hayden’s shaking Filthy Martinis and sizzling steaks.
Hayden Quinn has been on the road a lot lately. He’s filming the next season of his show Taste of Australia, which means a lot of time in the car visiting different producers, farmers and makers around the country to see where our food really comes from. While filming on the farms the hospitality is top notch, but when they’re between places, meals are a little more on the fly. “It’s not the most haute cuisine,” Hayden laughs. “There's a lot of chicken schnitzels and a lot of steaks from the pub. But we try to mix it up a little bit. We’re in country towns so we try out the local Indian place, or Chinese place. Got to have a little spice in there as well.”
All this makes Hayden look forward to being back home, in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, where he and his girlfriend Jax, do a lot of hosting. “Jax and I love to entertain. We love having people around, we love setting the table and choosing the menu.” On his last trip home, they had Hayden’s mum and dad over for dinner. “I cooked them a really nice steak. It's always good for a group that size. My dad loves a good steak, and so does mum. Though to be honest, they're pretty happy with anything.” Hayden’s mum is partly responsible for his love of and fascination with food. “She was a home economist who taught cooking at TAFE and worked in food magazines, and all sorts of stuff. So we always had great food and there was always cooking going on at my house. It's definitely something that imprints on you strongly when you grow up with good food and cooking.”
Hayden remembers helping his mum in the kitchen to make cookies and cakes, but the first thing he remembers being able to cook himself was egg-in-a-hole. “You'd get classic white bread and cut a little circle out of the middle, and you'd put it in a pan with some butter, and then fry an egg in the middle. I feel like that's actually a good starting point for people getting into cooking, because you've got to control the temperature, you've got to put just enough butter on the bread so that it isn’t dry, then you've got to cook the egg just perfectly, so it's a little bit runny but not too much. Not a bad start.”
Here, Hayden shows us all his cooking skills, sharing his penchant for really, really dirty martinis (so dirty they’re filthy) and setting a beautiful table to host some of his very best mates.
Home essentials
- Q.Go-to drink order?
“If I’m on the road filming, like I am a lot, it’s nothing fancy, just a cold beer, but if I’m out and about, I’ll order a Filthy Martini. I like it with one olive, but really filthy. I like it to taste like the sea.”
- Q.Favourite way to spend a Saturday night?
“A night-in at home with my girlfriend just chilling out. Snacks and wine and I might make us a Martini – I make it with a truckload of olive juice and Tito’s Vodka. It’s a corn-based American vodka. It’s my favourite. If we put something on, it has to be a series because I always fall asleep in movies.”
- Q.Drink you should always have on hand?
“You’ve always got to have cold beers and a four-pack of Fizz in the fridge. And on the bar cart, Campari is a key player. It’s really versatile either as a Negroni or with soda on a hot afternoon. What I love about it is that it really gets the taste buds tingling and things moving and grooving, so you’re ready to eat.”
- Q.What kind of home cook are you?
“I'm the sort of cook that gets fixated on wanting to cook something very specific. I get excited about a new recipe or ingredient then I'll go to the shops and I'll buy everything I need for it. You know those people who don't just make do with what they've got in the fridge or pantry? I'll be like, ‘I need this, I need this, I need this.’ I'll go and get everything I need and go from there.”
- Q.What kind of entertainer are you?
“We do the plan-ahead dinner parties, but we also have a lot of friends who live around the corner. So when we’ve got a heap of cheese, or a great big steak, or some great wine we want to open, we’ll often ask those guys to come around.”
- Q.What makes a great event?
“Company and conversation. So I’m lucky I have a great mix of friends. I always like introducing different people to each other from different friend groups and walks of life. It’s good to mix it up.”
- Q.Hosting tip?
“We have a shitload of games at our place, board games and cards, and after dinner it’s always good to crack some out and have some fun with them. It keeps the vibes flowing. Cards Against Humanity is good for a bit of a laugh, but also UNO because it gets quite competitive.”
Notable mentions
- Q.All-time favourite event that you’ve hosted?
“I used to live in an old building in Manly that had an epic rooftop that overlooked all of the harbour. One year we had a New Years Eve party up there and it was just the perfect spot. We had the BBQ running all day, with rotating cooks, and everyone just BYO’d their drinks. We had a great view of the fireworks.”
- Q.Best event you’ve ever been to?
“It was a New Years Day party at Icebergs in Bondi. That annual party used to go nuts. That particular year me and my best mate Mason ended up having the best time with Jamiroquai. I think that was the coolest I’ve ever felt.”
- Q.Last dinner party you hosted?
“It was a Friday night with my mum and dad in attendance. They are pretty happy with anything, but I like cooking them a really nice steak because it’s so great to share.”
- Q.Best restaurant you’ve ever eaten at?
“I love LuMi in Sydney. Fredrico [Zanellato, the head chef and owner] and the team there are pretty amazing in how they create a very beautiful take on Japanese and Italian food. Internationally, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, which is in upstate New York. I went there over Christmas and it was on a completely other level. Absolutely amazing. The Sous Chef, Kylie Miller, is an ex-MasterChef contestant.”
- Q.Favourite place for a drink?
“I really love to just get down to Wharf Bar in Manly. It's where all the crew hang out. It's always fun. The sun comes in there in the late afternoon. It's got good food, great atmosphere. The perfect spot for a cheeky burger on a Sunday evening.”
Let’s plan... a long lunch with the boys
- Q.Who’s coming:
“My really good buddies. Guys I went to school with, guys that I owned businesses with, all my really close mates. We like to have a boys’ lunch as soon as we can and everyone’s free. It’s been a while, so we’re due.”
- Q.The guest brief:
“Head to the studio. Bring a bottle, come for lunch and don’t make any other plans for the day.”
- Q.Drink on arrival:
“Cocktails to start, Filthy Martinis or a Negroni. Generally one or two of the guys will roll up with magnums, so we’ll pop one of those.”
- Q.The main event:
“We usually do a late lunch, eating around 2:30pm, and then all of a sudden it’s 10pm – so there’s a few phases. For the main, at-table lunch I’ll do steaks, potatoes, some really nice veggies and simple salads. Some of the boys aren’t bad in the kitchen so they can help out. We’ll have wine with dinner, starting with the whites and moving to reds.”
- Q.The post-dinner mingle:
“Snacks are really my thing. I love making snacks. Charcuterie, cheeses, all that sort of stuff is really ideal for later in the evening when we start to get hungry again. We usually end the night sampling different whiskeys and bourbons from my collection.”
- Q.The decor:
“My studio is the perfect place to host a bigger group because it’s a 300-square-metre open space with a massive kitchen. This lunch thing rotates between the boys to host so you’ve got to impress or you won’t be invited to the next one. So I'll have the table properly set, napkins out, the proper cutlery and plates, and all the different glasses for the wines. I’ll get the candles going, all that stuff. I don’t mind setting the tone for the lads.”
