Sweet Cuisine

On the Road Again

So I'm sat in Singapore's Changi Airport for 4 hours in Transit waiting for my flight to Frankfurt then on to Madrid arriving on Monday morning and heading straight out to have lunch at Sergi Arola Gastro, Cant wait. Was a cruisey flight to Singapore so hoping for the same to Madrid.  Its been a while since I did a long haul flight and am now wishing my Partner, Roselle is coming along for the ride, but instead she is at home working away for a top cafe group in Auckland. Missing you lots. Be patient though, will be home soon:)

It will be my first time in Spain and it seems strange having to travel 30 hours to get there, why I never went when I lived in the UK I don't know!! would have been much easier. Will be nice to see the sun again as its been a bit average in Auckland the last couple of weeks, heaps of rain, So hopefully my scottish complexion will handle the sun and I dont go toooo red.

So after lunch I get to hang around madrid till the next morning when I head up to San Sabastian and get to relax all day with dinner at Mugaritz on my first night, so reviews will be up soon and will let you know whats happening.
Of for some Airport food hmmmmmmmmmmm

Labels: Denia, Michelin Star, Off to Spain, San Sabastian

New Brasserie Menu Part 3

And this is another dish hitting the brasserie menu, a super light Vanilla Cheesecake with Nino Banana cooked in Caramel Sous Vide,  Passionfruit Sorbet and Lime foam.

Seasonality

I am a firm believer in being seasonal with my menus, Its taken a while to get used to the seasons being opposite to what I was used to before when I lived in Scotland back in the northern hemisphere, so now living in New Zealand  my spring and summer is from September through to around March.

I don't see the point in having strawberries on the menu in winter or apples and pears through summer when you can find fruit in season that is of a higher quality from a local supplier. There are so many advantages to being seasonal, and when I say advantage I mean for everyone from the Guest in the restaurant , me the chef in the Kitchen, and even our local suppliers and more often than not its cheaper. Even the Enviroment benifits due to our products having less food miles. I try to source as much as possible from local growers, suppliers etc.Im not saying I'm Prefect though as I do get chocolate and a few other  Pastry products brought in from Europe, Asia and the States.

But would I buy Asparagus or Strawberries or cherries from America or Europe just because I cant be creative enough to put something that is grown locally and in season on the menu? I dont think so. Its not because I dont want to use these ingredient because I do, as they are luxury in my opinion, but also to use them is lazy. I will use them in season for sure.

When I worked at Bracu we had a great variety of fruit trees on the estate which made for such an amazing harvest time, all through the year we would be picking something, Apples and pears, Citrus from Mandarin, Lemon, Grapefruit and Limes, Tamarillos, Kiwi fruit, Grapes, Passionfruit. It was awesome and I do miss that now I work in the city. If we ran out of Lemons I would just drive up to the Orchard in the gator and grab some from the tree, now that for me that is  a real Luxury. We do have some lemons and salads growing by our roof garden private dining area but not to much, its certainly not an orchard but keeps us in touch with nature.

That takes me back to my Exec Chefs farm, Peter Thornley and his partner Ro have just recently acquired  a fantastic farm with heaps of space to grow for us and he has been kind enough to ask us what we want to be grown, what we want on our menus, which now we can plan around what is actually in the ground, which in turn gives us amazing control. We can find herbs and cress's, heirloom tomatoes, berries and many other things that have long been forgotten over time due to people just wanting the norm like cherry tomatoes, rocket, basil and mint, which is partially due to supermarket shopping I think.

Another point to look at also is preserving, this I can understand, making preserves with berries, citrus, and chutneys,pickles and what ever else. This I believe in. I have a heap of Kumquat marmalade in the kitchen  due to the short season they have here i buy alot and preserve them, or if fruit(in season) is going cheap, there is no harm in preserving it down as the flavour will be so full and give the best results so if you do want that summer hit in winter you can have it, in around about way.
So next time your in the supermarket and you see some great looking imported Items for some ridiculous price turn your head and see the NZ product on the next shelf.

Whats happening?

Its been a little bit quiet on the Viaduct this week although on Saturday both restaurants got pumped. So during the week I got the chance to play around with a few things that Ive been putting off, 
Started of trying Nitro Moulding using Ladels, Spoons, and a few other stainless tools, anything basically that I could freeze and get a nice shape from, more to come on that later in the week. 
Spring is upon us now and I had my first delivery of New Season NZ Raspberries, although a little sour they are beginning to pack a flavour, so will be looking forward to getting them on the menu in  a few weeks when they come into there own.
Strawberries also, but they too are a little firm, Just beginning to get more and more produce from Peter Thornley's Farm he recently bought, Got some nice Sorrel that I will be turning into an Ice Cream. Possibly to match up to the Raspberries, I love the flavour from the sorrel and if What I am picturing in my head works on the plate it should be a winner. 
Its such a great bonus to have produce available like this from our Chef. Something new everyday.

16 sleeps to Spain

Time has passed so quick, just 16 days till I jump on a plane and head to Spain, cant wait, so now I am just preparing and arranging everything at work to deal with my time away, Summer menus are written, function menus too, I've even managed to knock out my christmas puddings for the brasserie which will be maturing well before christmas. Relocating the Brasserie Pastry station next week which will make a much more dynamic Pastry section at Kermadec and hopefully settling everything down before I get on the plane. I would be lying if I said Im not looking forward to lying on a beach in the sun for a couple of hours here and there!!

New things to look forward to in Spain, I got my booking at Sergi Arola Gastro 4 and a half hours after I get out of Madrids Airport, So the experience starts straight away.
Also hopefully will get up and see Chocovic courtesy of Andres Lara who is working there at the moment having just been at Paco Torreblanca's Totel and at El bulli where is Partner is also working in the Pastry, Looking forward to meeting up with these guys and checking out what is new in Europes pastry scene.

New Brasserie Menu Part 2

Here is the next dish in the Brasserie to hit the menu at the end of September, It will be a white chocolate and Hokey pokey parfait, served with Mango, Pistachio and Coriander salad , Yoghurt Struessal and Raspberry sorbet, after offering the dish as a special on a couple of nights it seems to be a perfect ladies dessert and very refreshing, I will be using Chocovics Jaina White chocolate which gives has fantastic flavour nuances of Yoghurt and takes away the usual sweetness that sometimes hampers white chocolates from other chocolate houses. 

New Brasserie Menu Part 1

Starting of our summer menu soon so here is the first of the brasserie desserts to be ready for the menu. A change in Location for the Brasserie Pastry Kitchen means that we can improve on the desserts and work as more of a team, we are all excited about the changes taking place and cant wait to get into the summer busy period so here is the Tarakan Chocolate Tart With Burnt Orange and local Hazelnut Salad, Vanilla Ice Cream and a Pink Grapefruit and Rosewater Veil.

Gorse Flower Ice Cream Cont.

Here are the Pics with the Gorse Flower Ice Cream, Just a quick dish with our Chocolate Orange Aero, Kumquat and Vanilla marmalade and lemon Curd, The Gorse Flowers did give a slight scent of coconut but the flavour lent more towards a floral Passionfruit and Orange blossom.I found it to be very  unique and lent itself to chocolate very well. In a Cloudy bay wine dinner we are doing in a few weeks time I am doing the Gorse Flower Ice Cream, with Chocolate Orange Aero, Longkeeper Farm Honey,comb and Carameliszed Chilli and vanilla Scented Pineapple. There will be a more complete version of a dish to follow and the recipe will be up on the Recipes page in the next week or so, Enjoy

Here Is another dish we will work on for the Cloudy Bay dinner in late September with the caramelized Pineapple, Honeycomb and chocolate Aero.

Auckland, some hate it , I love it

Somedays I get frustrated with Auckland, weather sucks, traffic is the same, same old same old but today is one of these days I realize why I moved to the other side of the world to make Auckland my home. Many people from other parts of New Zealand slate the city, many of them think that Aucklanders are arrogant idiots, I even had someone who thinks they know the world  recently ask me if I ever left Auckland before to see other parts of New Zealand. What they don't know is I have moved away from the City 3 times and returned every time. Ive lived all over New Zealand and to be honest I love living by the mountains to follow my other hobby of snowboarding, then heading back into town by the huge lakes for a night with my friends. I almost gave up cooking to become a snowboard instructor, but to have a good balance of work and play Auckland for me is the place to be at the moment.

So back to my original thought, today I was out for a cycle after work, managed to finish a little early today as it was quiet at the restaurant. So I headed out and cycled down my usual route for a ride around the bays. It was typical Auckland weather, windy, sunny, a little rain, nice and still. Everything apart from snow. When I got to the end of the bays (cursing the head on wind) I saw a couple of Para-gliders just sitting in mid air, probably checking out the city.  Immediately making me think what an awesome city I live in, Im minutes away from the centre, minutes away from the bays and beaches, and minutes away from getting on the motorway and heading to the Mountain(although the mountain is a 4 hour drive!!SHAME!!) The Freedom these guys have just hanging out and doing what they love right in the city.

New Zealand may not be a culinary capital of the world but there are many chefs here that are pushing on and creating awesome food. I moved here for the lifestyle and its great, laid back as well as having an awesome kitchen and great restaurant working with chefs from some of the great kitchens of Europe. Life feels pretty good as it is right now, Maybe in the future I will head to the countryside and work by the lakes and enjoy time on the mountains but for now Auckland is certainly keeping me busy. Work is motivating, Im off to Spain in Less than a month now and then I am back after a month of inspirational gastronomic visits straight into the hotpot of a summer in one of Aucklands busiest Restaurants on the Viaduct,
Bring it on!!