Re made a name for itself by being a bar built on waste. But that wasn’t good enough for Matt Whiley.

During lockdown, the pioneering bartender approached high-profile chefs to repurpose food and drink waste into new cocktails for the Never Wasted menu. Restaurants including Saint Peter and Firedoor, plus cult specialists such as Gelato Messina, Artificer and Brickfields have since jumped onboard.

Murray Cod fat from Saint Peter is used to enhance a drink of Burnt Lime Ketel One, Fig Leaf Gin, Murray Cod fat salted caramel and lychee. Sourdough from Brickfields is used to create a banh mi inspired cocktail, along with Don Julio Blanco tequila and lime.

The spent beer grains from Yulli’s are teamed with spiced scent grain Ketel One, apple, mulberry wine, pumpkin trim and black walnut. Coffee chaff and cascara from Artificer are paired with 14yo sherry cask soda, Chaff Clynelish 14, cascara, cardamom and spent coffee. Chardonnay lees from Margan Winery are used with Johnnie Walker Black Label, raspberry, sunrise lime, charred Jerusalem artichoke and botrytis.

“We wanted to launch Never Wasted to show how bars and restaurants can move waste around from other venues,” Whiley says. “Gelato Messina cuts off the tops of the strawberries for their strawberry sorbet and that would normally just go in the bin. The pulp left over from juicing pandan, we get that too, and the chocolate that gets stuck in the machine they use for tempering. All those elements make up the Messina drink. We hit the strawberries with liquid nitrogen to make it super frozen, then we break it down to a fine powder and infuse it with tequila. It’s such a strong, bright red strawberry flavour that comes from a part that nobody eats”.

Re’s new food menu follows the same philosophy and utilises waste from other venues. The coffee sorbet tastes so good you’d never guess it’s made from the coffee chaff that Artificer would normally throw in the bin.
The initial Never Wasted menu sees Whiley collaborating with eight hospitality venues but he hopes to grow it to “50 or 100” so all restaurants, bars and suppliers share waste and by-products to collectively cut food waste by 80 per cent.

“We want to be at the centre of how we can stop food waste in Sydney by bringing venues together,” he says.

Re Never Wasted menu

Messina – pandan pulp, strawberry calyx, tempered chocolate
Cryo strawberry Don Julio, white chocolate, pink peppercorn, pandan

Yulli’s – spent beer grains
Spiced scent grain Ketel One, apple, mulberry wine, pumpkin trim, black walnut

Artificer – coffee chaff, cascara
14yo sherry cask soda, chaff Clynelish 14, cascara, cardamom, spent coffee

Margan Winery – Chardonnay Lees
Johnnie Walker Black Label, raspberry, sunrise lime, charred jerusalem artichoke, botrytis

Saint Peter – Murray Cod Fat
Burnt lime Ketel One, fig leaf gin, murray cod fat salted caramel, lychee

Markets & Growers – Whole Fruit
Tanqueray, whole mango, ancho chilli, dryden orange, cryo-eucalypt

Sonoma – Sourdough
Bahn mi Don Julio, sourdough, lime

Firedoor – Roasted Bones & Cinder (coming soon)
Cinder aged Ketel One, cinder toffee, macadamia, tropical tepache

Re
2 Locomotive Street, South Eveleigh,
Tuesday – Saturday, 4pm – 12am
wearere.com.au

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