If ever there was a time to be a foodie in Melbourne, this is the week. The World’s 50 Best Restaurants will be awarded at the Royal Exhibition Building, the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival is in full swing, and Estrella Damm just hosted their first one of a kind experience ‘Estrella Damm Gastronomy Congress‘ in Australia.
The Mediterranean beer brewer is on a mission to partner with the best chefs around the world. (Conveniently, many of them are already in town for the Restaurant Awards.) The Barcelona based brewery certainly knows how to make a Monday afternoon more interesting.
Their exclusive event featured cooking demos from four extraordinary chefs. By extraordinary, I mean: Joan Roca headlined the event – a man with three Michelin stars, two awards for the World’s #1 restaurant, plus a #2 ranking in 2016. Clearly, this was a food lover’s paradise.
Albert Adrià from Tickets (ranked the World’s #29 restaurant) opened the show cooking demonstrations. The Spanish chef spoke about how he was impressed by the seafood the first time he visited Melbourne. He then followed up with the sensible advice, ‘you can’t have quality cooking without quality products.’
While he cleaned fresh oysters and boiled Tasmanian clams, Adrià spoke about his approach to creating a restaurant. He explained that it’s not just about the food; he also looks at the concept, service, and ambiance. As he plated seafood on a colourful blue dish from his own venue, he remarked that he didn’t buy Tickets to be the best restaurant, but he would like to be #1 for the most fun restaurant.
Jock Zonfrillo runs a 30 seat restaurant in Adelaide that exists to give back to the first Australians and focuses on cooking with indigenous ingredients. Zonfrillo quickly mixed up a green ant gin & tonic from Adelaide Hills Distillery. Not to leave the audience in suspense, host Alice Zaslavsky passed a bowl of green ants through the audience (which tasted like pops of finger lime) and red rye berries (described as a ‘sexier’ version of juniper).
Zonfrillo spoke about his passion for ‘tasting the land’ in his cooking. He then proceeded to fill the room with the aroma of eucalyptus smoking over hot coals. Zonfrillo uses Australian wood to create the smoky barbecue flavour in his cooking, a taste that is certainly embraced by the Australian palate.
In true Plus Ones fashion, I had to dash to another event after these first two enriching presentations. But not without experiencing severe pangs of FOMO that I would be missing both Virgilio Martinez and Joan Roca cooking, plus a tapas dinner. Although I did manage to sneak in enough time for an afternoon beer on my way past the bar.
– Jenny
Jenny S. is an event adventurer. While most of her cooking abilities relate to putting out kitchen fires, she appreciates the passion and skill of those far more talented than she.
The Estrella Damm Gastronomy Congress is a world renowned event now in it’s sixth year, previously held in London and Miami.
Disclosure: The Plus Ones were invited guests of KDPO.
Image Credit: KDPO.
