Seafood sure to catch attention
The new kid on the block for Taste Great Southern will be out to leave a lasting impression using two of the region’s most fancied delicacies.
When it comes to seafood and wine, the Sustainable Seafood Fiesta at Due South may have well found the right combination coupled with the stunning ocean backdrop of the popular tavern-restaurant.
Delving into what the inaugural seafood fiesta will bring to the Taste Great Southern program, Due South executive chef Kenny McHardy is clear on the vision for the event, which has the prestige of being the grand finale to this year’s Taste.
The brainchild of McHardy, a Kiwi-bred chef who ventured to the port city for a new calling on the Albany waterfront, the fiesta will bring more than just top-notch seafood and a perfectly matched Great Southern wine.
With Albany oysters, King George whiting, sardines, mussels, mackerel, marron, calamari and crab all on the menu for the day, some of Albany’s seafood specialists will also join in the seafood market and live cooking stalls.
Joining Due South’s chefs will be Liberte owner and former Three Anchors chef Amy Hamilton, The Venice’s Guy Lembo, Cosi’s Cafe owner Giuseppe D’Antonio and IGA York Street chef Enzo Manera.
“Everyone has been really positive about this; it’s been so easy to put an idea together and people have just jumped on board,” McHardy said.
“They want to promote the area for its seafood and for the producers and fishermen down here as well.
“We’ve been collaborating with local wineries. We’ll be setting it up so you’ll walk in, oysters will be our main focus of course and we are going to have a couple of wines that will match the oysters.
“What we are doing is we will be designing recipes based on the day.
“Being a pop-up, it’s an opportunity for us to showcase more about who we are as chefs and what we are doing down here as well.”
McHardy said the fiesta would have a casual market atmosphere, allowing attendees to interact with the chefs and enjoy the magnificent views.
“The whole focus on the cooking demonstrations is actually cooking a few dishes that people, when they go to a supermarket, they don’t go for the easy options,” he said.
“I want to show them a couple of different ways of cooking stuff that they would never have thought they would be cooking at home. We are going to push a few boundaries for ourselves.”
While the fiesta has the recipe to be a raging success in its first year, McHardy admitted there were some nerves along with excitement in being given the privileged opportunity to not only close out the festival, but bring the idea to fruition.
“We want to sustain the event for years to come,” he said.
