By Marie-Antoinette Issa.
The scent of saffron will linger at Letra House this November, as it channels the spirit of a Valencian market into its cobblestoned courtyard, hosting a one-off daytime fiesta that captures the heart and heat of Spain’s most beloved dish – paella.
For one Sunday only, on November 9, Culinary Director Scott McComas-Williams and Head Chef Brandon Jones will trade their late-night wine bar rhythm for something brighter and bolder. The duo will fire up the pans for the third instalment of their ‘El Camino’ dining series, this time paying homage to Valencia’s iconic ‘Fiesta del Arroz’ – a ritual of rice, fire and community.
The setting is made for it. Sunlight spills across the hidden courtyard on Kent Street, the air laced with woodsmoke and citrus, vermouth glasses glinting on the tables. From midday, guests will move between courses – beginning inside with small plates and Valencian tapas, before stepping outside for the main act: two paellas, cooked the old-fashioned way, over flame and patience.
Scott and Brandon will take turns at the pans, layering flavour into every grain. One will be the paella de butifarra y sepia – a rich blend of housemade and smoked butifarra blanca, cuttlefish, broad beans and rosemary. The other is a golden paella de marisco, where prawns, mussels, squid and saffron conjure the taste of the Mediterranean.
The key, of course, lies in the socarrat – that thin, caramelised crust of rice that clings to the bottom of the pan, both prized and fought over. It’s a detail Brandon knows well; it’s also the inspiration for his signature dish at Letra House, where an iteration of ‘socarrat’ appears year-round.
The set menu ($90 per person) reads like a love letter to classic Spanish dining. There will be pan con tomate with housemade fuet, bunuelos de anguila – crisp fritters filled with Nik Hill’s smoked eel – and smoked sardines served on delicate potato galettes.
Plates of esgarraet, Valencia’s traditional roast peppers with olives and salt cod, will make the rounds alongside chopped salad and panxineta, a Basque custard tart served with turron. It’s a menu that moves with rhythm – bright, briny, deeply satisfying – each bite a reminder that Spanish food is as much about conversation as it is about cooking.
As the paellas finish, guests will be encouraged to gather around the pans, glasses in hand, to watch the final flourish. There will be music, the clatter of serving spoons against steel and the kind of easy conviviality that defines the best long lunches. For a few hours, Kent Street will feel like a Valencian plaza, alive with warmth, chatter and the faint perfume of smoked paprika.
"This is going to be an awesome day,” says Brandon. "There’s something mesmerising about watching a paella come to life – the sound, the smell, the movement – and we can’t wait to share that energy with Sydneysiders.”
True to Letra House form, the drinks list will play its part. The full wine selection will be available by the glass, alongside vermouth, cocktails, Estrella beers and a handful of non-alcoholic pours designed to carry the afternoon well past dessert.
By the time the last grains of rice are scraped from the pan, guests will have travelled far beyond Kent Street. The sun will hang low, the courtyard will hum with contentment and the lingering scent of saffron will serve as proof that sometimes, the best way to explore Spain is one paella at a time.
