bonus nz culinary fare souvenir pages 19-27 download extra copies from www.restaurantnz.co.nz
The NZ Culinary Fare celebrated it’s 21st birthday this year, with an event full of excitement, action, noise and sensation over three days at the end of August.
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ementing itself as one of the longest running and the most prestigious culinary events on the annual hospitality calendar, the Fare this year incorporated 57 competitions and over 7,000 competitors, judges, trade, family, friends and public supporters. The competitions cover all aspects of hospitality, from kitchen, front of house, cocktails and barista. For competitors it is a high pressure decision to compete at these events but the hospitality industry reaps untold benefits when the individuals who work in it challenge themselves to push their own skill levels and passion to greater heights. The NZ Culinary Fare has been a launching pad for many future hospitality stars and winning a class in this competition is an impressive addition to anybody’s CV. Te Anau chef, Ken O’Connell won the prestigious title of NZ Chef of the Year at this year’s event, the second time he has achieved this award and Queenstown chef, Vivian Clarke, from Blanket Bay Lodge was awarded Pastry Chef of the Year. Other major award winners included Anja Sunnus from Jet Park Airport Hotel & Conference Centre who won NZ Commis Chef of the Year and Sasa Li from AUT University who was awarded the New Zealand Training Food & Beverage Person of the Year 2013. Auckland’s North Shore International Academy were also overjoyed to again win the sought after Training Excellence Award and Manurewa High School took out the Secondary School Excellence Award for the second consecutive year. The Restaurant Association looks forward to continuing to develop this event and introduce new innovations in 2014 to ensure its continued support by the industry.
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FOR FULL NZ CULINARY FARE REUSLTS GO TO WWW.RESTAURANTNZ.CO.NZ
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DISTINCTION HOTELS CHEF KEN O’CONNELL CHEF OF THE YEAR Southern Region Group Executive Chef, Ken O’Connell of Distinction Hotels has been awarded the prestigious New Zealand Chef of the Year title at the 2013 NZ Culinary Fare. Chef O’Connell topped a field of elite chefs from around New Zealand.
Congratulations to the winners of the following major titles at the 2013 NZ Culinary Fare New Zealand Chef of the Year (Sponsored by Moffat Ltd and Southern Hospitality) Ken O’Connell, Distinction Te Anau
New Zealand Pastry Chef of the Year (Sponsored by SKYCITY) Vivian Clarke, Blanket Bay Lodge
New Zealand Commis Chef of the Year Based in Te Anau for the past year, Chef O’Connell is responsible for overseeing the kitchen teams based at the four southern region Distinction Hotels. His flair for sourcing the freshest ingredients and turning them into imaginative flavour combinations has boosted Distinction Hotels’ restaurants popularity and reputation. Distinction Hotels Chief Executive, Duncan Fletcher said “this award speaks volumes for our top class cuisine which both guests and visitors are able to appreciate when dining at our restaurants. We are constantly looking to improve what we are doing as a hotel group and Ken’s recognition certainly reinforces this search for excellence in all that we do.” The culinary event requires competitors to undergo months of planning and training, something which obviously paid off for Chef O’Connell, as this is his second time winning the title. “It means more to me this time, as it cements my skills, knowledge and ability as a chef. I hope this inspires the young chefs in my kitchens, that anything is possible with hard work, training and pushing yourself to be the best.”
(Sponsored by the NZ Chefs Association) Anja Sunnus, Jet Park Airport Hotel & Conference Centre
New Zealand Training Food & Beverage Person of the Year (Sponsored by Restaurant & Catering News) Sasa Li, Auckland University of Technology
Training Excellence Award (Sponsored by Gilmours) North Shore International Academy, Auckland
Secondary Schools Excellence Award (Sponsored by Service IQ) Manurewa High School, Auckland
Training Team of the Year (Sponsored by City and Guilds) NZ Defence Force Defence Catering School, Feilding
New Zealand Bartender of the Year (Sponsored by Hancocks) Sai Charan Hamsala, Hilton Auckland
The ServiceIQ Cookery Modern Apprentice of the Year (Organised by ServiceIQ)
Tamara Johnson, St Heliers Bay Café & Bistro, Auckland
Toque d’Or (Organised by Nestle Professional in association with Vegetables.co.nz, NZ Chefs Association, Beef & Lamb NZ, Akaroa Salmon and The House of Knives) Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology
A WORD FROM OUR PREMIER SPONSORS... American Express® is proud to partner with the Restaurant Association and promote upcoming chefs and wait staff coming into the industry. We wish all of this year’s participants and prize winners well with their future endeavours .
G6 Hygiene congratulates all the contestants and their supporters for making the 2013 Culinary Fare such a great success. It was fantastic to see competitors from across the country competing. It was particularly gratifying to welcome a number of contestants and industry personnel to the G6 Hygiene stand, who showed great interest in the importance of hygiene awareness and standards. G6 Hygiene plays an integral part of a company’s health and safety commitments in a cost effective way for businesses to address this potential problem. By creating a healthier work environment G6 Hygiene implements the awareness of problematic hygiene issues within the workplace while at the same time complying with their “duty of care responsibilities”.
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Southern Hospitality was pleased to once HOS P I TA L I T Y again be one of the major equipment co-sponsors of the New Zealand Culinary Fare in 2013.
Our company produces, markets and delivers iconic brands including MeadowFresh, Vogel's, Nature's Fresh, Kiwi and Olivani and we understand the importance of quality and hard work. The hospitality industry is an important industry for New Zealand. Goodman Fielder alone has 4,000 foodservice customers throughout the country and we enjoyed cheering many of you on. We understand that a successful business is not possible without long term, loyal customers and we thank you for your support. The NZ Culinary Fare continues to grow in stature and importance within the foodservice industry in New Zealand. The commitment from all stakeholders, the competitors, the judges, the organisers and sponsors alike shows the commitment that we all have in this essential industry. Moffat have again enjoyed our involvement with the Salon and have already committed ourselves to next year.
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Goodman Fielder congratulates all those who participated in the 2013 NZ Culinary Fare. It was a pleasure to meet a number of you over the three days while we showcased our Puhoi Cheeses, Kiwi Bacon Butty's and our massage chairs!
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As part of Southern Hospitality’s support a Chef Shop was set up on site – providing easy access for those last minute or forgotten purchases required for competing.
This year has seen Moffat grow, not only in New Zealand but in all markets we supply. Our factory has had a record production year and after a long wait we look forward to building our new factory. The continued support from all our customers is really appreciated and we look forward to catching up with you all soon.
GOLD FOR
YOUNG CHEF
Tamara Johnson from Auckland outshone competitors in this year’s ServiceIQ Modern Apprentice Chef of the Year competition, winning the gold medal. Beating seven other future stars, Tamara excelled across the board at menu creation, flavour matching, technical skills in preparing and cooking both her dishes, and in presentation. Organised by ServiceIQ and held annually under the watchful gaze of experienced chef judges from around New Zealand, eight top apprentice chefs compete for the coveted title. Just as sought after is the trip to the annual Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and the opportunity for associated master classes with international chefs. Tamara said she was thrilled to win. “It’s fantastic to have won against so much tough competition. The support I’ve had throughout my training and in the lead up to the ServiceIQ Modern Apprentice of the Year has been amazing, and thanks go to them all.”
COMPETITOR INSIGHT
Anja Sunnus, Commis Chef Of The Year
Why did you decide to participate in the 2013 Culinary Fare? The Culinary Fare, or any competition for that matter, is a great experience for any chef of any level. It takes a lot of courage to enter and compete. But it is also a great learning process. During the preparation you learn more skills as well learn how to cope with the pressure.
Who assisted you with your entries and practice? All chefs at Jet Park contributed to my practices in one way or the other. Some were giving me great advice from their past competition experiences. And I am grateful that I had Executive Chef, Nancye on my side during that time. She is a great mentor and I couldn`t have done it without her. She has been very supportive during that time. She pushes me always to go the one step further.
What would you do differently next time? ServiceIQ CEO Dean Minchington says, “The skill, dedication and hard work these young people have demonstrated prove the vibrancy of the industry. Every one of the finalists in the ServiceIQ Modern Apprentice Chef of the Year has something in common – what I call the hospitality gene par excellence. They’re an excellent example of the passionate and talented young people that New Zealand has.” Tamara’s winning menu was a main of crispy skinned salmon with salmon and prawn tortellini, on a celeriac cream, with a prawn and truffle sabayon and served with buttered swiss brown mushrooms. For dessert, Tamara created a rhubarb and ginger soufflé, with a cinnamon and clove spiced cocoa syrup and vanilla crème fraiche. Runner up this year was Nickolas Han, from Pacific International Hotel Management School in New Plymouth. Second runner up was Haven Bellamy, from Trinity Wharf, Tauranga.
There is always room for improvement. I need to work on my presentation skills, knife skills, flavour combinations and so on, but this applies pretty much to any young chef.
What was the most enjoyable aspect of the comps? When you bring your plate to the judges on time and you know you did the best as you could. Of course there are always doubts… And of course it's a great buzz with all the people cheering for you. You get to know many other chefs, who start a conversation because they watched you or saw you at the prize-giving. But the most enjoyable moment this year for me was when I got announced as the winner.
What are your career goals in hospitality? I just want to improve my skills, get a bit more into pastry work and just become the best chef I can be.
ALSO AT THE FARE... Hospitality is an exciting and rewarding career. SKYCITY wanted to support our employees in competition and promote the awesome career opportunities we have across Food & Beverage, whilst adding a bit of fun to calm the competitors nerves. We hope you got your opportunity to get your photo taken with one of our Chef and Bartender cardboard cut outs. Hospitality Management Consultants – HMC is a hospitality management provider who have specialised in providing training around the Licence Controller Qualification (LCQ) and Food Hygiene for over 15 years. We facilitate over convenient training days during the working week so contact us on 0800 835 1014 to find out more. The Telecom Business Hub localised service is created just for you and being at the Culinary Fare meant we were able to speak to a number of hospitality based businesses and learn more about what your specific industry needs are. It was a great event and we were really excited to participate. The Telecom Business Hub is your one point of contact for all your business communication needs. Our job is to understand your business needs to tailor the right communication solution. Your dedicated business expert will come to your premises for a one-toone conversation at a time that’s convenient to you, give advice to ensure you get the right solution for your business.
The 2013 Culinary Fare is over and in keeping with tradition, the judges for this event have been well catered for by the usual team of willing and enthusiastic suppliers. We would like to thank all of the suppliers for contributing to the judges room. As we know many of the judges, assistants and industry professionals volunteer their time and often these are very long days. It is great for us to be able to offer support and be able to contribute to the success of this event. The judges room in its current form has grown from a simple selection of pastries and sandwiches to continuous hot cooked fresh food throughout the 3 days. This is not insignificant, numbers in excess of 100 per day with fresh baking and breakfast out at 6am, morning and afternoon tea and buffet lunches. All in limited facilities. What we collectively do is very much appreciated by all and the gratitude and acknowledgement makes it worth while. We would also like to acknowledge the team who put this all together. Tony Gunby of Barker’s, Justin Rimmer of The Pastryhouse, Dennis Bone, Gemma Jex-Blake of Verkerks, Kylie Bearda of Farrah Wraps, Pina and Kiriana who pitched in to help. CONTRIBUTORS:: Barker Fruit Processors Ltd, LHF – Food by Chefs, Verkerks, Moffat, The Pastryhouse, Inghams – Waitoa Free Range Chicken, Pave Brands, Farrah Wraps, Leader Products, Bidvest Fresh, French Bakery, Delmaine, Goodman Fielder, Florentines, Genoese, Sanitarium, Unilever, Western Milling, EasiYo Foodservice, Zealfresh, New Zealand King Salmon, Fresh To Go, The French Bakery, Watties, Tatua, Ellerslie Convention Centre
Again our thanks to all who contributed. RACHEL DICKMAN, BARKER FRUIT PROCESSORS LTD AND MARK MARTIN, LHF.
These are the businesses that support our event…. PREMIER SPONSOR
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CERVENA