Mount Bistro Chef Stephen Barry. Photo/John Borren
Record numbers of New Zealand's top chefs, from the Bay of Islands to Winton, are finessing their entry dishes as they compete for the title of Premier Master of Fine Cuisine in the fourth annual Silver Fern Farms Premier Selection Awards.
The nationwide competition showcases the talent and craft of 73 of the country's best chefs, who were invited to create an original dish for their menu using Silver Fern Farms premium red meat cuts of lamb, beef or venison.
Diners can take advantage of this year's competition by sampling the delicious creations at participating restaurants until November 6.
At the same time a team of over 30 experienced food experts, overseen by returning judging co-ordinator Kerry Tyack, will assess the entries.
The participating chefs and restaurants can be found online at www.silverfernfarms.co.nz/for-our-chefs/premier-selection-awards. Award categories include best beef, best lamb and best venison dishes as well as the best regional and the best metropolitan. These specific awards provide an additional opportunity to acknowledge the chef's top dishes. Dishes will be judged on how well they 'let the red meat be the hero'. Points will be awarded for presentation, preparation and cooking, taste and texture, and creativity.
There are four participating restaurants from the Bay:
Elizabeth Café, Chef: Andrew Targett. Dish: Slow cooked Silver Fern Farms beef cheek.
Macau Bar, Kitchen & Lounge, Chef: Mark Pieterson. Dish: Shared plate of marinated Silver Fern Farms fillet steak ssam, with red kimchi puree & Chinese pickled mustard seed sauce.
Trinity Wharf, Chef: Stuart Perry. Dish: Duo of Silver Fern Farms lamb and chermoula.
Mount Bistro, Chef: Stephen Barry. Dish:12-hour Silver Fern Farms lamb cutlet and cured tenderloin, with kumara, tomato, nasturtium and tamarillo.
We sent Kiri Gillespie along to review Mount Bistro's entry.
Mount Bistro's Stephen Barry's no stranger when it comes to creative lamb dishes. After all, he is a NZ Beef and Lamb ambassador and has won countless awards before for his efforts. This time around, he is entered in the Silver Fern Farms' fourth annual Premier Selection Awards and competing against three other restaurants in the Tauranga area.
Hubby and I started the evening by sharing an entree of the mushroom parfait ($16), which is like no other mushroom dish I've ever encountered. The creamy parfait is made with cashew butter and adorned with pickled mushrooms and lavosh, framed by black garlic. The dish is so exquisite; I'd suggest even people who don't like mushrooms would enjoy it.
But onto the main - 12-hour Silver Fern Farms lamb cutlet and cured tenderloin, with kumara, tomato, nasturtium and tamarillo ($36).
There's plenty in the dish's description to fall in love with, but there are also some special surprises which really make this dish a stand out.
Two rosy french cutlets sit side by side on the tenderloin, framed by tamarillo sauce and edible flowers. The lamb is cooked perfectly, but you would hope so given the chef is a lamb ambassador representative.
The cutlets are everything to love about this style of lamb - light, delicate and full of flavour. This is further enhanced by the sauce but it is really taken to another level when combined with a tamarillo macaroon. The result is a sweet but moorish, flavoursome sensation. It's as though the trusty classic lamb cutlets have been given a 'Pimp my Ride' makeover. I'm still getting my head around what a macaroon is doing on a main meat dish, but Stephen Barry clearly knows his stuff because the result is a next-level, mouth-watering combination of flavours - and we're not even half way through.
I move to a sole pickled cucumber quietly sitting on a bed of dressed tomato at the base of the dish and use its clean, zingy and refreshing qualities as a palate cleanser before moving on to the 12-hour cured tenderloin.
The loin is also framed by the sweet tamarillo sauce and topped with a kumara and feta gnocchi, adding a comfort food presence to the dish. It's clear the meat has been slowly and carefully cooked. It is succulent and practically falls onto the fork, offering a deep and indulgent flavour the way only slowly cooked meat can. Before I know it, I'm murmuring utterances of taste bud bliss before I remind myself I'm in a public place and the tables next to us might not appreciate my audible delight.
A cheeky glass of Nautilus pinot noir ($12) further enhanced the flavours of the dish and created a complete dining experience I'm unlikely to forget for a while.
Having read the menu I would have expected the tenderloin to be the star of this dish, but it would be impossible to single it out. The whole dish in its entirety is a knock-out. The cutlets with the sauce, macaroon, the pickled cucumber, then the loin with the gnocchi take the taste buds to seventh heaven and back again. It is incredibly unique, creative, artistically presented and ticks all the boxes in my book. Chef Barry should be confident of his efforts in this year's competition.
If you love lamb and after something truly special, then book into Mount Bistro by November 6. If you're not a lamb fan, there's plenty of other award-winning options available.
Winners of the Silver Fern Farms Premier Selection Awards will be celebrated early next year. Other participating Tauranga restaurants are Trinity Wharf, Elizabeth Café and Macau.
* silverfernfarms.co.nz