Hamilton Island
GREAT BARRIER FEAST
Food & Wine Series
Welcome Dinner
Friday 24 June 2011
menu by Jane-Therese Mulry
wine selection by James Halliday
on arrival: Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label
SPROUTED GARDEN
sesame sand, mulched minted peas and garden sprouts
Robert Oatley Margaret River and Pemberton Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2009Bright straw-green. Wow. From the Brindle Vineyard, Wilyabrup, Margaret River/Channybearup Vineyard, Pemberton, part barrel-fermented; the wine has wonderful drive and intensity, its composite pieces welded together with citrus, passionfruit and acidity in the centre of the action.
COBIA AND MUD CRAV
mud crab and tonka bean, lemon meringue and parsley oil
Robert Oatley Craigmoor AC1 Mudgee Chardonnay 2009Pale straw-green; from the historic Craigmoor Vineyard, which has some of the oldest chardonnay vines (after Tyrrell’s HVD Vineyard) in Australia; the wine has considerable impact with its mix of white and yellow peach, melon and citrus acidity, the oak totally subservient to the fruit.
BEEFALO
braised and roasted with truffled jerusalem artichoke and pickled pear
Robert Oatley Ovens Valley Shiraz 2008
Good crimson-purple; from a single vineyard in the lower parts of the Victorian Alps; has been very well made, its medium to full-bodied palate a seamless union of black and red fruits, bitter chocolate and oak; the tannins play an important role in the structure of the wine; and will do so into the future.
CLOTH MATURED CHEDDAR CHEESE
cheese pillow and fig sheet
Robert Oatley Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon 2008Bright crimson-purple; from the Brindle Vineyard at Wilyabrup; a super-elegant cabernet, with fragrant redcurrant and blackcurrant aromas, and great intensity and drive on the perfectly balanced palate; finishes with fine, savoury/chocolatey tannins.
ESPRESSO, CARROT AND BACON
espresso parfait, carrot cake, bacon and maple
Whilst the drawcard of the Great Barrier Feast was one of our greatest Australian Chefs, Peter Gilmore, the talent, creativity and discipline of qualia Executive Chef Jane-Therese Mulry should not be under-rated. For the Great Barrier Feast long weekend the Welcome Dinner presented her very modern and brave menu which highlights all that is good about food in Australia. With a focus on produce, Mulry combined interesting and sometimes challenging flavour combinations across a dinner that worked.
Like her other qualia venues, the Long Pavilion dinner focused on sourcing artisan and local Australian produce including the aptly name beefalo. Can you guess what that is? (hint prefix beef and suffix buffalo). Every dish was a taste sensation and the menu ebbed and flowed at a tide that was just right for the evening. The simplest dish of the night, the unctious gooey warm cheese pillow, nudged ahead of the others as my favourite. The beefalo dish was right up there too with a decadent shaving of fresh truffle to offset the jerusalem artichoke and pickled pear.
We were captured in the evening by a magical glistening dewy web of the brilliance of MC Simon Thomsen. We were entranced and entertained. With the wine selection by the renowned James Halliday, and the delicious food by Chef Jane-Therese Mulry, the curtain was raised on the delicious theatre that was to be a spectacular weekend at the Great Barrier Feast.
