Shire Restaurateur Brooke Jensen Lets Us Into Her Foodie World
From Favourite Dishes To Life As A Restaurant Owner
Brooke Jensen
For born-and-bred restaurant owner Brooke Jensen, food and service is in the blood.
Having never considered a career in anything else, she started out young in cafes and bars, climbing the industry ladder with experience growing thick and fast. Brooke is a rare kind; she approaches things with a full-immersion attitude and isn’t afraid to be neck-deep in floor service stints, get her hands dirty in the kitchen or participate in near-scientific menu tastings on a regular basis. And now, even after celebrating 18 years of serving the people of the Shire via iconic institution Summersalt, six with Jensens and three with Art Deco-inspired cocktail bar Papa Js, Brooke is showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, something tells us there’s yet more to come from this hospitality dynamo (no spoilers - yet!) and restauranteur husband, Carl Jensen.
We sat down with Brooke to grill her on her impressive career thus far, and get her insight on the ins and outs of incredible service…
The Jensens Group has three exceptional venues. What is the philosophy behind your brand?
Amazing venues, happy, friendly and personal service, and just simple and delicious food and drinks. It might seem like a very simple formula, but being consistent with it is probably the hardest part. My husband and partner in all restaurants, Carl, has owned and operated venues in the Shire for 35 years and this formula is at the forefront of everything he puts his name too.
Jensens Yearly Melbourne Cup Event
Eat, Drink, Wear Pink Month For The National Breast Cancer Foundation
Celebrating 6 years of Jensens
As a restaurant owner, what does a day in the life look like for you?
Busy, busy, with minimal sleep.
Look, I'm very service oriented, but I'm obsessed with being on the floor as well. A lot of people in my position can take a backward stance and work on the business. And I do work on the business, but I also love to be working in the business. I think that's really important.
We operate our businesses five days a week, so we are closed Monday and Tuesday and open Wednesday through to Sunday. But Monday and Tuesday are still tailored around the business; getting things organised for the week ahead. I come in on a Wednesday and as well as doing all of the back-of-house stuff and pushing the business forward, I’m generally around for a lot of the services as well.
So, it's nonstop. I get down here early in the morning at about 9:30 am. I'm fortunate enough that I can leave here before close, so I tend to get out at about 10:00 pm. It’s still a long day!
Jensens, Kareela
When it comes to Jensens, why did you choose Kareela?
Carl and I were looking to open a restaurant on the other side of the Shire from Cronulla. So we looked at a few sites and suburbs. Engadine was one, but nothing was big enough for our vision. The gentleman who owns Kareela Village, an amazing man, approached us through a contact and said, “do you want to come and see this site?” I was very, very sceptical about it being in Kareela, because you don't tend to pass through there to get anywhere. There has to be a real reason to bring you to Kareela.
But we saw the site, we had our vision in mind, and we thought; we’ve got to back ourselves and see if we can bring the people to the area. And it has exceeded our expectations.
Your menus are very in tune with the seasons - which we love. What does it look like when you're looking to add a new menu item?
We're actually doing a few at the moment and it's quite intense. By the time something actually gets onto the menu, it has probably been tried, tested, and plated several times.
We start practising with it, we start plating it, we start trying it. I believe that's a really big part of the process, because we eat as if we were a customer. We get everybody involved, and we're getting everyone's opinions. It can take weeks before that dish will actually make it onto the menu. It's not an easy feat!
Soft Serve Sundae - vanilla bean soft serve ice cream, fried churros, cinnamon crumb, vanilla fudge and dulce de leche
Are there any particular ingredients that you feel inspire your menus?
We are your typical modern Australian. And when I say modern Australian, what I mean is that it's so diverse. There are influences from absolutely everything. We've definitely got - here at Jensens especially - that Italian sort of thing going on with pizza and pasta and so forth. But then we also have a Thai influence that comes through in curries and sauces, and there’s a little bit of French that pops up as well. We sometimes even bring in native Australian flavours. So look, it's so diverse that we really can't restrict ourselves to any box.
On that note, do you have a favourite dish?
There are dishes that I literally cannot take off the menu because customers would be so upset, like our fried gnocchi with goat cheese cream and truffle honey. I think if I ever took that off people would just be in uproar about it. And I really like our prawns. Again, this dish hasn't changed too much. It's all about the produce. Big juicy prawns done in a Café de Paris butter, just lightly baked. And again, people just love it, they come for that reason.
Fried Gnocchi with Goat Cheese Cream and Truffle Honey
BBQ King Prawns With Curry Butter and Fried Curry Leaves
you've got one of the best menus in the Shire. How did you go about designing it and do you have a favourite cocktail?
So we are primarily cocktail-based at Jensens, which was a bit different for me coming from Summersalt where the drinks menu is based around beautiful wines. Our four pages of cocktails at Jensens are generally broken down into seasonal and signature. Signature cocktails are those that I can't take off the menu because everyone loves them so much. That includes The Scientist, The Pearls Of Wisdom and The Jensen. So these cocktails have been on there since we opened Jensens six years ago.
Dry-Aged Beef
Carl and Brooke Jensen
Do you have any dishes that you recommend for first-time diners?
Definitely the two dishes I mentioned above, prawns and gnocchi, which are entrees, but for the main, another popular one is our aged beef. We actually age in-house. I don't think any other restaurant in the Shire does that - the ageing process tenderises the meat and enhances the flavour. It's a beautiful black Angus sirloin with a marble score of five plus.
Any big plans for 2023?
Ahhhh! Nothing that I can share. Sorry! There are a lot of things being thrown around. But I think it's got to be the right location. Once all those boxes are ticked and aligned, I’m ready.
Details
Kareela Village, 1–13 Freya Street, Kareela
02 9528 8433
Posted: 1st April 2023