For those keen on good food and wine, the cunningly named Good Food & Wine Show on October 7-9 at the Wayville Showgrounds in Adelaide was a great day out.
You could sample food and wine from some of South Australia’s leading producers, watch cooking demonstrations, learn about cheese or chocolate, take part in a wine tasting, get up close and personal with a celebrity chef in the kitchen, buy products at special prices and then relax and recharge in the Coopers beer garden.
Final numbers are still coming in but it looks like the second Adelaide Good Food & Wine Show was attended by 12,000+ people over the three days, a strong increase from last year’s inaugural Show.
Rather than try to summarise the whole Show, which would be a very long post, I’ve decided to highlight some of the producers, products and chefs that caught my eye.
First up is Murray River Salt, renowned for its award-winning, naturally pink salt flakes. We got a sneak peak of their latest creation, Truffle Salt, which takes their regular pink salt and soups it up by impregnating it with the scent of truffles. The smell is completely intoxicating – I can imagine this would be incredible on scrambled eggs. Truffle Salt is still in the development stage but should be available to buy in the next few months.
Many Adelaideans know Enzos on Port Road, the fine Italian restaurant serving up wonderful pastas, risottos and steaks. However, Enzos is just about to launch an Enzos at Home line producing pasta and other dishes for you to heat up at home. We try the lasagne and the gluten-free muffins and both are extremely good – I can’t even tell that the muffin is gluten-free and I’ve eaten a lot of gluten-free food. I foresee a bright future ahead for Enzos at Home – pick up some yourself at 302 Port Road from tomorrow.
ChocoMe is a brand new company producing custom Belgian chocolate. Andrea Simko, a trained pastry chef who used to work for one of Hungary’s leading restaurants, first spotted ChocoMe’s products in Hungary a year ago. She loved the products so much that she contacted ChocoMe’s founder and an agreement was reached so that she could open ChocoMe in Adelaide under a franchise agreement. Chocolate can be bought in the ready-made flavours or you can design your own combination of dark, milk or white chocolate, sprinkled with all kinds of freeze-dried fruits, seeds, nuts, flowers, confectionary and spices. ChocoMe’s products will be available to buy from their website from next week and can also be found at Viva in North Adelaide and Burnside, the National Wine Centre, Mercato, Unley Gourmet, and Gourmet on Main.
Created by Vicki Mattchett, a Cordon Bleu trained chef based at Middleton, South Australia, Mattchett’s is a boutique producer making a selection of chutneys, sauces, dukkahs, dressings and olive products. Matchett’s packaging is bright and cheerful but also serious and grown up. It’s a line with a lot of personality. I especially like the tagline on their Chilli Fire relish below: “very friggin’ hot.” Take a bow, Matchett’s.
Preshafruit make fresh juices and fruit coulis that have been pressurised cold (not heat pasteurised), which preserves flavour, texture, colour and smell. Their packaging is modern, slick and playful, with a different animal on each container. I also like the quasi DIY label gun font and design. Nice work, fellas. We try the grapefruit juice and it’s absolutely delicious. I’d definitely buy Preshafruit juices again.
Kyton’s Bakery is renowned for their award-winning lamingtons, which are hugely popular with fundraising groups. My beautiful niece gives them two thumbs up.
Hailing from Muswellbrook in NSW, Pukara Estate make excellent, award-winning olive oils, relishes, mayonaises and dukkahs. I don’t sample them myself but Mr Hungry Australian raves about their mayonaise.
Cocolat is an Adelaide success story. Established in 1992, the family owned company operates three busy stores – Rundle Street in the city, Adelaide Airport and Balhannah in the Adelaide Hills – serving up chocolate in just about every conceiveable form. Their Rocky Road is delicious. And just a little bit addictive.
Beach Organics, located near Middleton and Port Elliot in South Australia, produce a line of organic spices, oils, salts, and breads. It’s founder, Barry Beach, manages the strictly organic, 4-acre property using permaculture techniques and also runs cooking workshops and garden tours. After seeing their gorgeous products I’m planning a day trip there.
Popular Indian restaurant Dhaba at The Spice Kitchen in Leabrook produces a range of readymade spice mixes including Tandoori, Vindaloo and an Easy Best of the South mix. I’m going to a farewell there in a few weeks time so will post about my dining experience then.
Although I love an occasional glass of wine or bubbles, my Asian genes and inability to metabolise alcohol without becoming bright red and itchy (not a great look) means that I am rarely in the market for a good bottle of wine. So I merely stroll through the wine exhibitors, organised by growing region.
I also poke my head into the Reidal Wine Theatre, where keen wine lovers are being tutored through a tasting of some great Australian wines.
I then duck into the Fisher & Paykel Celebrity Theatre to find Matt Moran (MasterChef, Aria) wowing the crow with his knife work. His salmon looks simple but stunning – something you could easily try yourself at home. That, I guess, is the point of these cooking demonstrations: to encourage people to get into the kitchen and try cooking like a MasterChef at home.
Next up is Alastair McLeod (Queensland’s Bretts Wharf and Tank Restaurant), who does a great job whipping the crowd into a frenzy for the next presenter, Ainsley Harriot.
UK chef Harriot is the star import of the day, the granddaddy of them all. The original celebrity chef with the longest running cooking TV show in the world, he has sold over 4 million books worldwide. He also has some funky dance moves.
Ainsley is enormously popular with the crowd, who hang on his every suggestive word.
After Ainsley I’m in need of lunch. I head outside to the Cooper’s Beer Garden where folks are enjoying the beautiful weather and great music.
With so many exhibitors I wasn’t able to make it around to everyone so if you don’t see your favourite company or Chef here, it doesn’t necessarily mean that I don’t like their work. So feel free to comment below on who I should have included here. I was reliably informed, for example, that Manu Feildel had women swooning in the aisles during his cooking demonstration. I can understand this: a man who can cook is very, very sexy.
The Good Food & Wine Show will take place again in Adelaide in October 2012.
Christina Soong-Kroeger attended the Adelaide Good Food & Wine Show as a guest of the show.
