Taste of Auckland in partnership with Electrolux is back this Thursday 17-20 November with more signature dishes from some of the city’s top restaurants along with pop-up winery stands, food stalls, dinners and cooking demos. Here is a selection of the deliciousness that we’ll be looking forward to at this year’s Western Springs event.
Best in Taste
We’re keen to see how many Best in Taste entry dishes we can indulge in! Each of the festival restaurants below has picked one dish from their menu that they hope will win Best in Taste, to be judged by a panel and awarded on opening night.
For two years running Sergio Maglione of Farina has taken the award. Now he is hoping for a hat trick with his Morton Bay Bug Lobster Surprise. While at Farina we'll also be sampling their winning dish from last year which is making a return: Rosticiana d'Agnello — charcoaled lamb ribs with crushed summer peas, parma ham and salsa verde. And then there's Farina's 2014 Best in Taste winner, Valoriani Oven Pork Saltimbocca bun with Italian spicy greens, provolone cheese & cipriani mustard dressing.
The other restaurants and their Best in Taste 2016 entries are:
Artwok: Gongpao jiding
Wok-fried free range chicken thigh with chilli, spring onions, ginger, garlic and topped with roasted cashew nuts
Euro: Karitane crayfish
With heirloom tomato, house-cured bresaola and green olive
Fish: Argentinian red shrimp
With lardo di colonnata and gremolata
Ima Cuisine: Lamb mansaf
Slow-cooked fragrant lamb on rice with nuts with Arab salad
Miss Clawdy: Ceviche
With coconut cream, tomato, red onion, shallots, celery heart, coriander & avocado cream
Paris Butter: Clams escargot
Clams, escargot butter
The Culpeper: Pork belly corn dog
With house barbecue sauce and pork crackling
Tok Tok: Crispy hapuka dry red curry
With fresh herbs, toasted cashews, ginger, pickled chilli
Above: We'll be lining up at Depot for gloriously fresh seafood, including these Virgin Bloody Mary oyster shooters.
Beer & cheese
Wine and cheese move over for craft beer and Kapiti cheeses at Brew Street. Check out the schedule of talks from brewers and Kapiti’s cheese/beer pairing sessions. For a little take-home know-how Kapiti recommends:
- Pairing delicate beers with young, delicate cheeses.
- Pairing deeper, malty beers with nutty, aged cheeses.
- Enjoying hoppy, bitter beers with tart, sharp cheeses.
- Trying sweeter wheat beers with nutty or tangy cheeses.
- Beginning with the lightest beer and cheese and working your way to the heaviest and most complex.
Time for Welsh rarebit, perhaps?
Try
Bite's
for that wonderful cheese-and-beer-on-toast combo. Use a darker beer for a stronger flavour, just as Kapiti suggests. Add more Worcestershire sauce if you like things robust.
Not to be missed
Electrolux Chefs' Secrets — new this year, a series of cooking masterclasses with the likes of Giulio Sturla from Roots in Lyttelton, Marc Soper from Wharekauhau Country Estate, Megan May (photographed above) from Little Bird and Kyle Street from Culprit. Following the hands-on sessions, you'll dine with the chefs and enjoya glass of matched wine. Don't delay, numbers are restricted and it's first come, first served.
Our own Peter Gordon's cooking demonstrations at the Electrolux Taste Theatre. Peter's going to be one busy chef. He's also celebrating 30 years of the Sugar Club with a special dinner and will be joined by guest chefs with whom he has worked in New Zealandand in the UK — Che Barrington (Blue Breeze Inn and Woodpecker Hill), Pip Wylie (Onslow Bar & Eatery) and Neil Brazier (The Sugar Club, Skycity). Click here for tickets.
Adriano Zumbo, (above), showcasing his dessert-making skills over two sessions at the Electrolux Taste Theatre. Most Kiwis were introduced to Adriano via the croquem bouche and macarons he brought into our living rooms on MasterChef Australia. If stacking those profiteroles into a sky high tower seems a little daunting, no one's going to say no to a few chocolate-covered choux buns arranged nicely in a dessert glass instead. Keeping it sweet, check out Zumbo's Just Desserts on TV3 from tonight.
AT THE TSB BANK PRODUCERS’ MARKET, WE’LL VISIT…
Jenny's Kitchen — for her famous tamarind chutney (above) which won the People's Choice award in this year's New Zealand Food Awards. Like Bite readers, Ray McVinnie is a big fan and he uses Jenny's chutney as an ingredient in his stuffed bread pie with butternut and feta.
Still on the relish track (and now the price of the fresh fruit is hiking up again) we'll be stopping by for a jar or two of Tam's from the Tamarillo Collective. It's made in Auckland from fruit grown in Northland.
We'll visit Bio Farm for their wild apple yoghurt (concentrated syrup from organic apples meets probiotic yoghurt) and Grinning Gecko's handmade soft organic cheeses will be calling our name too, particularly their Kau Piro washed rind which won a gold medal at this year's NZ Champion of Cheese Awards.
See here for tickets and more information on the fesitval.
Among the artisan producers, we'll be stopping by Puhoi Valley for a taste of their new flavoured milks. There's Real Belgian Chocolate, Caramel and White Chocolate, Colombian Espresso (delicious for a morning pick-me-up) and the Spiced White Chocolate (just like Christmas cake in a bottle) which is paired with these spiced cookies from Karla Goodwin at Bluebells Cakery. Get the recipe