Just the best food news Top Cuts for Brisbane and beyond



It’s a busy week of announcements and awards plus the opening of Peter Kuruvita’s new restaurant and bar, Noosa Beach House from Friday May 17.

Peter has lured Stokehouse Executive Chef Tony Kelly to Noosa as Executive Chef for Beach House.  Pop in and check out the sleek new white décor and have a drink at the bar – I certainly will be!

Only two more sleeps

 



The countdown is on for the Noosa Food and Wine Festival which promises to be a spectacular weekend of Noosa food madness.  If you are into food it’s the place to be with just a simple stroll down Hastings Street an exercise in celebrity chef dodging. 

My dance card is totally booked on Friday starting with a Q&A opportunity with Tetsuya and the chance to taste some Petuna Ocean Trout, which forms his iconic and world-famous dish, as well as some CEAS Spanner Crab and a glass of champagne.

Don’t forget to download the NIFW ap to make your festival experience just perfect. www.noosafoodandwine.com.au


Bringing home the bacon for Mackay


Mackay butcher Steve Chapman of Slade Point Meat Specialists has taken out the top place in a competition to find the best 100 per cent Australian bacon in the country.

The national PorkMark Bacon Awards for Excellence are part of Australian Bacon Week 2013 (12 -19 May) and Slade Point Meats took the nation’s top honours for its short cut bacon rasher.

About two thirds of the bacon sold in Australia is made from imported, foreign government subsidised pork. That equates to over 2.9 million kilograms of foreign pig meat – $9.9 million worth – arriving in Australia every week destined for processing into smallgoods like bacon. Australian Bacon Week is an initiative to highlight the pink square PorkMark label – the only guaranteed way consumers can choose 100 per cent pure home grown Australian bacon.

QLD winners- Full Rasher -1st Steve Chapman, Slade Point Meat Specialists, Mackay, 2nd Mike Smith, Wavell Heights Quality Meats, Wavell Heights, 3rd Bill Evans, Perry's Prime Meats, Wynnum.

Short Cut – 1st Des Barritt, Barritts Butchery, Svenssen Heights, 2nd Steve Chapman, Slade Point Meat Specialists, Mackay, 3rd Peter Schulte, Schultes Meat Tavern, Plainland.

Primal Pantry


Teneriffe Village will soon be home to Brisbane’s first 100 per cent paleo grocery and café, with Primal Pantry set to open its doors in late May.

Primal Pantry owner, Brisbane-based Mark Rockley, has engaged a team of passionate paleo advocates including Brisbane Chef, Tracy Hirst (formerly of Gillian’s Garden), and Nutrition-meets-fitness blogger, Shannon Cooper (My Food Religion), to develop a café concept that sheds new light on nutrition simply by serving up conscious, delicious, fresh food.

The term ‘paleo’ is a recent addition to the Australian vocabulary. It’s a lifestyle, as opposed to a diet, that draws its principles from early ancestors, people who ate whole, unprocessed foods, lived a more active life, slept better and stressed less.

Rather than preach the paleo message, the team at Primal Pantry have created an environment where local executives and families, performance athletes and paleo ambassadors can come to enjoy delicious, recognizable breakfasts, lunches, take away meals, catering and groceries, being nourished through both body and mind.

Customers will have access to meal plans, recipes, customised shopping lists (particularly beneficial to those preparing for fitness/sporting events or looking to improve their body composition), as well as an active community of Facebook and Instagram followers, making it easy to stay on top of nutritional trends as well as the latest delicious dishes to emerge from the kitchen.

Primal Pantry will be open seven days – 6am until 3pm and is located at Teneriffe Village, on the corners of Florence and Macquarie Streets.


Asia-Pacific Food and Wine Festival


The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong will host The Ritz-Carlton Second Annual Asia-Pacific Food and Wine Festival from June 13 to 16, with a collection of some of the world’s top chefs, a celebrated chocolatier & pâtissier, and the world’s best affineur and wineries.  The four-day epicurean event with seven masters from China, Denmark, France, Italy and United Kingdom, together with The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong’s own talented chefs, will include a series of events, from cooking classes and a chef’s table to afternoon tea and an “All Star Brunch”.  Highlights include rooftop bar, Ozone, which will be transformed into a Cheese Market on June 15 for the festival. www.ritzcarlton.com/hongkong


This week I’m liking 

 




Joseph Joseph’s Cut & Carve board is a new addition to my kitchen courtesy of www.kitchenwaresuperstore.com.au   I first used one of these at The Golden Pig Cooking School and loved the clever sloping design which keeps everything very neat when cutting anything juicy.  It flips over to become an equally efficient carving board for my roasts.  I cook a lot of roast because K2 likes a little lamb, or perhaps a lot of lamb.  Find them on line, delivered to your door in a flash (well nearly) at www.kitchenwaresuperstore.com.au   
Note: Ed+bK was gifted this board.



Kerry Heaney