Champagne For A Trifecta Win

7 May 2008

THE annual Restaurant and Catering Association Awards for Excellence apprentice competition was held last week and Cuvee at Petersons Champagne House, Pokolbin, was a big winner.

Cuvee's second- and fourth-year apprentices both won their competition category, with Bianca Palmer winning the second-year competition and Erin Keith winning the fourth-year category.

Both apprentices work under executive chef Ebonnie Newby, who has a long history of winning the Restaurant and Catering Association's apprentice competitions herself.

The first-year apprentice competition was won by Carli Gargan, from Deck 56 at Belmont, while the third-year competition was won by Alexandra Cox, from Bistro Molines, Pokolbin.

All four girls will compete at the the grand final in September at Ryde TAFE.

Central Coast contenders

JOINING the Hunter apprentices at Ryde for the grand final competition will be four Central Coast apprentices.

The Central Coast competition was held in April and the winners were Sarah McWilliam, from Lizotte's Restaurant for first years, Tegan Morgan, from The Cowrie Restaurant for second-year apprentices, and Mike Nolasco and Tracey Stewart, both from the Letterbox Restaurant, winning the third- and fourth-year competitions.

Judges out on best restaurant

WHILE the apprentices can breathe easy now, restaurants and cafes are now being judged for the Restaurant and Catering Awards, which will be announced at Western Suburbs Leagues Club on June 2.

More than 100 restaurants have been named as finalists in a range of categories, from restaurant in a winery to family and BYO categories, and now judges are visiting each restaurant and cafe, scoring each establishment to find the category winners and the overall best restaurant for the region.

While a win in any category means prestige and more diners, the most important category each year is the best new restaurant, which this year has been been split into two sections, one for the Hunter Valley, the other for Newcastle and surrounds.

Competing in the Hunter Valley region is 305 Restaurant and Cafe and Oasis on High, both from Maitland with the rest, Bistro Molines, Cracked Pepper, Margan Restaurant, Restaurant Cuvee and The Verandah, all from the Pokolbin area.

The Newcastle restaurants competing for the top new eatery are Deck 56 at Belmont, Jagged Reef at Newcastle, Lakehouse Cafe at Murrays Beach, Nourish at The Hunter Wetlands, Sandgate, Peppers at the Boulevard at Hamilton, Ritual Organics at Nelson Bay and Union Brasserie at The Junction.

Greek cooking tour

GREEKALICIOUS cooking school has a new Greek Island Culinary Tour planned for September this year.

The 19-day trip will travel to Chios, Psara, Crete, Santorini, Kalamata and Athens and explore authentic Greek dishes but also the regional flavours and ingredients.

The tour starts from $9850 a person and for further information or bookings telephone Greekalicious on 9331 0734 or email info@greekalicious.com.au.

Relish moves on

RELISH Catering has moved out of the Lowlands Bowling Club to a special kitchen at Broadmeadow Jockey Club.

The move from the quaint Cooks Hill bowling club may be a blow to regular diners but Relish owner and chef Lauren Deger said that the time had come to move to bigger premises to cope with the increase in catering jobs.

"We began by leasing the commercial kitchen at Lowlands Bowling Club in Cooks Hill, opening the restaurant three nights' a week and providing off-site catering for corporate and private clientele," Ms Deger said.

"The word spread quickly and as our client base expanded so did the need for a bigger commercial kitchen to cope with the large number of function bookings."

Ms Deger, who worked at various restaurants in Newcastle, including the former Brewery Restaurant and Peppers Anchorage Resort, before turning her hand to corporate event catering for the Bayswiss in Sydney and Brisbane, noted that stand-up, cocktail-style events had become more popular.

"There is a growing trend for stand-up events and Relish offers a sleek and substantial cocktail finger-food menu and our menu package changes seasonally, keeping up-to-date with the latest food trends," she said.

Her function menus range from breakfast to high teas, sandwich platters and picnic hampers, as well as fully catered, sit-down menus although some of the packages she puts together have included healthy lunch packs for the Sydney City to Surf.

For further information look up the website relishcateringtoimpress.com.au or telephone Ms Deger on 0413 037 042.

jtarran@theherald.com.au


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