Aymeric and Anna love their little slice of Europe in the Byron Shire.
There are not many things more romantic than meeting your life partner in the ‘city of love’ and that’s exactly what happened for husband-and-wife team Anna Mortimer and Aymeric Albores when they met in Paris, where Anna trained and worked as a chef and Aymeric was managing restaurants.
Anna and Aymeric’s Honour is a celebration of their time in Europe. It’s a relaxed eatery, with a market-based menu in Brunswick Heads.
The ever-changing menu is inspired by both Anna’s French training and the abundant produce available in the Northern Rivers. More than 90 per cent of Honour’s fresh produce comes directly from either the Mullum or Byron Farmers Market.
‘My time in France has undoubtedly coloured my approach to food. It’s produce driven, stripped back, and usually requires bread for mopping. I learnt very quickly that you don’t need to do much when the produce is this good.’
Brisbane-born Anna worked at famed fine diners Septime and Verjus in Paris, before taking to butchery in Melbourne at Andrew McConnell’s Meatsmith. Honour serves a bounty of housemade goods that Anna makes by hand from capicola ham.
French-born Aymeric runs the front of house and sources interesting and hard-to-find wines. ‘All our wines tell a story of people and place,’ he says. ‘We support small family producers that make great wines, which are natural, biodynamic, or organic. We have a solid wine list of mainly Australian, French, and Italian wines and a blackboard by the glass that rotates weekly. We offer a lot of wines that you won’t find anywhere else in the region. I feel like we have something for everyone.’
Anna loves having access to wonderful produce and the ability to change her menu weekly based on what is at its peak. ‘Visiting the Mullum Farmers market each week is such a joy. I think what we have here in the Northern Rivers is really unique.’
Anna says when they moved to the region four years ago it was because they wanted to have a restaurant that was part of a community. ‘I think we’ve found that on our leafy corner here in Bruns. Our customers tell us they feel like they are back in Europe when they dine with us and really we couldn’t hope for anything more.’
Honour is open for dinner and drinks Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 5pm with bar snacks from 3pm. Bookings are recommend and walk-ins are welcome. Honour has a special ticketed event July 14 for Bastille Day. It’s a traditional three-course set menu to celebrate France’s national day.
