Food & Wine - June 2010

In This Issue

	• Localvore tours at Airlie Beach • Bedarra Gourmet Series 2010 • Brisbane City bursting with new restaurants • New sassy supper club • Product update • In season • What’s on
	Localvore tours at Airlie Beach Get up close to a beefalo and pick your veggies for dinner while exploring local food in the Arlie Beach area. Airlie Beach Hotel has launched Localvore tours, expanding on their already popular Localvore menu. The tour takes in several of the local farms supplying Airlie Beach Hotel’s Capers restaurant with fresh local produce, including the unique Beefalo farm in Cannon Valley. Foodies join Executive Chef Tim Whitehorn and Hotel Manager Mark Bell for an afternoon learning about local produce and then retire to Capers to enjoy the localvore menu fresh with ingredients picked up on the farms that afternoon. The tours operate on the last Saturday of every month. More information: Kristen Goldup +61 7 4728 9990
	Bedarra Gourmet Series 2010 Bedarra Island’s Gourmet Series Weekends are a collaborative showcase of the very finest wine and cuisine set against the backdrop of a stunning luxury tropical island with seven weekend events from June to December. Led by Bedarra's Executive Chef Geoffrey Crabbe, the resort's culinary team will create seven-course gourmet degustation menus, using fresh local produce and ingredients to expertly compliment wine or champagne such as Bollinger, Louis Roederer, Croser, Chandon, Katnook Estate and Petaluma. “The experiences are at no additional charge to our guests and we look forward in welcoming all devotees to the finest things in life,” said Mark Eletr, resort general manager. Bedarra Gourmet Series packages are priced from $3468 per couple and include return flights from Cairns to Dunk Island and a boat transfer to Bedarra, and island activities, including motorised dinghies and picnic hampers. More information: Bedarra Gourmet Series www.bedarra.com.au/occasions-a-events/gourmet-series Media contact: Mia Lacy +61 7 40578370
	Brisbane City bursting with new restaurants The spiciest spot in the Brisbane CBD is now underneath Oaks Charlotte Towers with the new fully licensed restaurant Chilli & Spice serving some of Brisbane’s hottest authentic Thai cuisine. Award winning restaurateur Tina Ratanavaraha also has Thai Orchid Restaurants in Milton and Springwood. Chilli & Spice offers a diverse menu suited to both locals and travellers with breakfast (western style al a carte), lunch and dinner offered almost every day of the week. Watermark Hotel Brisbane has transformed its first floor restaurant into the 551 Restaurant & Bar 9 (pictured). Nestled on Wickham Terrace, Spring Hill this slightly hidden destination is already proving a hit with locals with its new sleek tapas bar and restaurant revamp and free parking. Newly installed bi-fold picture windows offer uninterrupted views from the restaurant across to the sub-tropical Roma Street Parklands and cityscape to take in the stunning sunsets. Newly redeveloped King George Square in Brisbane’s heart has been completed with the launch of The Groove Train Restaurant and Bar. The restaurant has a mix of Mediterranean and modern Australian inspired dishes using fresh, local and seasonal produce and a wood-fired pizza oven. Find The Groove Train in King George Square, 100 Adelaide Street, Brisbane. Media contacts: Chilli & Spice: Kelly Boswerger +61 0404 875 073 551 Restaurant & Bar: Maree Reason Cain +61 7 3278 1803 Groove Train: Kirsty Gow-Gates +61 2 8267 9960
	New sassy supper club Drift, Brisbane’s sassiest supper club, will showcase its first cabaret show ‘Undercover with the Duvets’ in July. Join the fun every Friday and Saturday night from 9pm till late. Drift is home to Brisbane’s only floating cafe – Drift Jetty and also the city’s first Moet & Chandon Piano Lounge which has live entertainment every night. Find Drift at 330 Coronation Drive, Milton. Media contact: David Moore +61 7 3368 1866 www.drift.com.au
	High res images for all stories available from Kerry Heaney

Product Update

Karen Deeth, Granite Belt Dairy Farmhouse Cheese, pic KH.jpg

Granite Belt Dairy
Enjoy a cheese platter and a glass of local wine at Granite Belt Dairy at Thulimbah, near Stanthorpe. Granite Belt Dairy is Queensland’s highest and coldest dairy farm. Their cheese is hand made using traditional methods with milk from a single herd of cows on one farm. Try the cream, sweet Stilton-style Brass Monkey Blue Vein or the Thulimbah Matured, a soft nutty gouda-style cheese. There’s also Stanthorpe Matured, a real farmhouse cheddar and Rosco’s Rough Red, a washed rind cheese that’s great with robust red wines. Find Granite Belt Dairy on the corner of Amiens Road and Duncan Lane, Thulimbah.

More information: Karen Deeth +61 7 4685 227 www.granitebeltdairy.com.au

OlivFresh Organic Olives

Developed by Benedictine monks on the Italian Riviera four hundred years ago, Ligurian style table olive processing combined with olives grown on Organic Olives’ 7,000 tree olive grove property at Coominya on Lake Wivenhoe South East Queensland is scooping up the awards. (Finalist, Delicious Produce Awards, 2010; Silver, National Australian Table 2008; Bronze, National Australian Table 2007).

The olives have a mellow nutty flavour, mixed with traditional olive flavour overtones. They are hand harvested and graded then laid down in vats containing purified rainwater and sea salt for four months. The natural fermentation produces high quality, food safe, nutritious and delicious olives with no artificial preservatives or flavourings.

More information: Susan Agnew +61 3371 6221 www.olivfresh.com.au

What's In Season

Amazon Custard Apple

Thanks to the dramatic effects of Cyclone Larry in 2006, Fruit Forest Farm at Tully has improved production systems designed to establish sustainable orchards with substantial gains in fruit quality and yield. Owner Peter Salleras says visiting foodies are impressed by the diverse colours, tastes and textures produced in the lush, wet tropical growing environment. His new plantings show commercial potential given the current trend towards healthy eating and new flavour sensations. Peter believes with the vibrant diversity of reef and rainforest in infusing primary and value added production, the Cairns region is clearly a ‘sleeping giant’ in the Australian food basket.

Try Amazon Custard Apple (Rollinia Deliciosa), a new tropical fruit from North Queensland that tastes like smooth lemon meringue. In season until August, it’s currently pleasing guests at Elandra and Castaways Resorts at Mission Beach.

More information: Peter Salleras +61 7 4068 6104

What's On

	Eumundi Food Fest 27 June Lovers of good food and fabulous fresh produce, eager cooks and budding chefs are in for treat with the upcoming 2010 Eumundi Food Fest, from 10am – 3pm on Sunday June 27. Part of the Noosa longweekend, a 10 day cultural event, the Eumundi Food Fest (now in its eighth year) brings together local producers, growers, chefs, restaurateurs, entertainers and food lovers with a host of activities and entertainment throughout the day and over 70 stalls. More information: Trent +61 458 128 020	Michael Moore & Jacques Reymond at Vanitas 3 July Palazzo Versace’s award-winning Vanitas restaurant will host Jacques Reymond (of his iconic self-titled Melbourne restaurant) and Michael Moore (of Sydney’s spectacular Summit Restaurant) with Palazzo Versace’s executive chef Steve Szabo in the kitchen to create an exquisite five-course menu. Tickets cost $240 per head and places are strictly limited. Bookings +61 7 5509 8000. Media contact: Samantha Warren-White +61 3 9836 2167
	Wine on the Wharf 18 July Wine on the Wharf is Stewarts Wine Co’s major wine tasting event celebrating premium and boutique wines from the best regions of Australia, New Zealand and the world. This year guests will sample over 400 different wines. There are two wine sampling sessions - 11am – 1.30pm and 2.30pm – 5pm at Moda Events, Portside Wharf, 39 Hercules St, Hamilton. Admission is $38.50 for each session or $66 to attend both. More information: www.stewartswineco.com.au +61 7 3216 4444.	AFCM 2009 Chefs in the North Dinner 29 July Brilliant music and a delicious six course degustation menu served on the rim of the Great Barrier Reef, will delight guests at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music’s 2009 Chefs in the North Dinner. Five Townsville based chefs will be working alongside six of Australia's most distinguished chefs for the degustation dinner which is served in a spectacular marquee on the grassy lawns of presenting partner Jupiter's Townsville. www.afcm.com.au Media contact: Nicole Tiedgen +61 2 8356 9711
	Jazz in the Vineyard 28 August John Morrison and the Swing City Jazz Band with vocalist Jacki Cooper will perform at Jazz in the Vineyard 2010 at Ballandean Estate Wines. The festival style format makes a relaxing and fun afternoon of music, food and wine. Tickets available online at www.ballandeanestate.com or call +61 7 4684 1226	Journey with Jansz 25 August The Journey with Jansz wine dinner will be hosted by Jansz Vineyard winemaker, Natalie Fryer, with a menu created by two e’cco bistro’s Philip Johnson and Era Bistro’s Marcus Turner. This is the first time Jansz has held a wine and food event open to the general public. The Jansz vineyard lies in the Tamar Valley, on the Northern Tasmanian wine route, in a region known as Sparkling Tasmania. The event, at The Landing at Dockside, will support Variety, The Children’s Charity. Tickets are $190 per person available from oztix.com.au or phone 1300 762 545. Media contact: Kath Rose +61 7 3357 9054