Overview
Matt Whiley's Re- has sustainability at the core of every element, from its menu to its upcycled and sustainably sourced interior. Since opening in 2021, it's led by example, demonstrating how the hospitality industry can be less wasteful, with Whiley taking out Ketel One Sustainable Bar Award in 2021 at The World's 50 Best Bars awards. This focus on environmentally-conscious operations extends to its drinks list, of course, and the team is continuing to push the boundaries with Re-'s new cocktail menu.
The idea around Re-'s ten new cocktails is to divert the world's ten most wasted food items away from landfill and into tasty, one-of-a-kind cocktails. The ten oft-wasted pieces of produce include: bread, dairy, bananas, rice, chicken and eggs, leafy greens, apples, tomatoes, seafood shells and root vegetables — all of which Whiley and co. have creatively turned into different 100 pantry staples and ten signature cocktails.
Take seafood shells, for example. Their signature drink combines Tanqueray gin, oyster shell amazake, black granny smith apple, waste wine vermouth and martini caviar into a truly luxe reminiscent of your classic martini.
Some of the food waste is incorporated into cocktails in more obvious ways. Like apples, which are combined with Johnnie Walker Black, banana butter, muscat and Lucky Kwong sake.
Ingredients like chicken may be more challenging to imagine in your standard negroni. Yet, Whiley isn't one to shy away from a challenge and has created a caramel out of chicken feet which he has combined with Ketel One, black garlic vinegar, cascara and muscat.
"For this menu, we've turned each of the world's most wasted food items into 100 pantry staples. From here, we will create recipes with these ingredients, offering an ever-evolving list of cocktails and drinks," says Whiley.
These food waste items have also been incorporated into the bar's list of more traditional cocktails including martinis, sgroppinos and old fashioned.
"It's never been more important to recognise that we all have a responsibility to make changes now that are so desperately needed to shape our future for the better. We developed Re- with an overriding commitment to sustainability with a minimal-waste mentality and so this new menu is going to help us maintain this ethos. We think about waste all wrong. Food waste isn't mouldy stuff, it is more often perfect produce that someone doesn't want."
The plans don't stop here, with Re- announcing it's looking to create 100 drink recipes based on these 100 pantry items across the coming months.
Re- is located at Shop 8, 2 Locomotive Street, Eveleigh. It's open midday–10pm Tuesday–Thursday, midday–midnight Friday and 4pm–midnight Saturday.