Mushrooms are all the rage right now. Gone are the days when these humble fungi were just a sidekick in your stock-standard vegetarian risotto. They’re now living their best life, blended into coffee powers, dehydrated into chips, infused into chocolate bars and shredded into mock meat. But before mushrooms became ‘trendy’, they were revered as healing superfoods in ancient Mexican culture.
Glebe’s colourful Mexican taqueria and mezcal bar, Nu’u by Nativo, is taking the ingredient back to its roots with a healing supper club series running over four consecutive Thursday nights from February 29.
Titled Sabina Sessions, this exclusively vegetarian (and gluten-free) dinner series is inspired by the wisdom of legendary Oaxacan healer Maria Sabina – the ‘priestess of mushrooms’ who is famed for inadvertently bringing magic mushrooms to’ 60s counterculture. While you won’t be dining on psychedelic mushrooms, you can expect to see fabulous fungi sautéed into taco meat and served with salsa in a traditional molcajete (pestle and mortar hand-carved from Mexican volcanic rock), or skewered with pineapple using traditional Oaxacan techniques.
Other hero dishes, curated by Michelin-trained chef Manuel Diaz, focus on the healing power of plant-based cuisine, like the ceviche-inspired watermelon aguachile with jicama and cassava (root vegetables), avocado and habanero salt; tapioca tostadas with avocado cream, charred zucchini and fermented pomegranate salsa; and traditional Oaxacan flan of baked caramel custard, topped with cacao caramel.
To complement the menu, Nu’u’s general manager and Australia's sole certified Mezcologist, Diana Farrera, has concocted a limited-edition cocktail menu. Like Taylor Swift’s latest concert, each drink will transport through the eras of Oaxacan history, from the Healing Tepache with fermented pineapple, brandy, mezcal and agave syrup, to the Huautla Negroni with sweet vermouth, cloves, mezcal, Campari and burnt orange.
Tempted to see what the healing power of mushroom magic could do for you? Try your luck by booking into Sabina Sessions by Nu’u, which will run every Thursday night for four exclusive weeks from February 29 to March 21.
