By TANIA PHILLIPS
THE TWEED Coast’s top chefs are lining up for the Scoot Long Table Dinner on Friday 29 November – one of the new signature events for next year’s ‘TASTE of Kingscliff and the Tweed Coast’ and a feature of this year’s five-day Tweed Foodie Fest.
“It promises to be a magical night of dining under the stars by the sea, with the long table set up in Lions Park, adjacent to the Cudgen Headland Surf Lifesaving Club,” said event organiser and Kingscliff Chamber of Commerce president, Jayne Henry.
“We’ll be serving canapés and bubbly as everyone arrives, followed by a stunning three-course ‘designer dinner’ where nine of our best local chefs will each create one perfect dish that reflects their own food philosophy and how they apply it to the Tweed’s abundance of fresh produce.”
Steven Snow from Fins Restaurant at Salt and Kingscliff’s Shankar Shrethka from Kathmandu Kitchen and Jo Jackson from Mockingbird Café will get proceedings underway with their innovative entrees, showcasing local seafood, lamb and vegetarian fare.
Snowy’s star ingredient will, of course, be seafood; presenting a delicate tian of tuna sashimi, served with avocado, white miso and fish chips.
Shankar is planning Newari Sekuwa Lamb, evoking the Nepalese tradition of cooking in the tandoor oven, with accompaniments of yoghurt raita and garnishes served by the Newari ethnic group.
And Jo Jackson will highlight the harvest from our local market gardens with oven-roasted eggplant, enlivened by chermoula spaces, a barley lemon salsa and garlic yoghurt dressing.
“We’re keeping the rest of the menu under wraps for now, but I can tell you that the dishes created for the main and dessert courses are equally innovative,” Jayne said.
“Service will be a three-way alternating drop, so each diner will be presented with one of the three dishes available for each course, but I’m sure there’ll be plenty of sharing between neighbours.
“We’ve also partnered with local brewers, Stone and Wood, as our exclusive beer sponsor on the night and Babalou will be managing the bar area and after-party.”
The Scoot Kingscliff Long Table Dinner is one of the unique dining experiences specially created for next year’s winter food event and featuring in this year’s jam-packed Tweed Foodie Fest calendar which runs from Wednesday 27 November to Sunday 1 December.
The program offers a full range of free and ticketed events that follow the food journey from paddock to plate, so there’ll be everything from farm tours, farmers’ markets and cooking classes through to Saltbar’s Bush Tucker Dinner, Steven Snow’s Signature Dinner at Fins Restaurant and the Tweed’s Biggest Dinner Party at the Murwillumbah Showgrounds.
Tickets for the Scoot Kingscliff Long Table Dinner are priced at $80pp and the festivities start at 6pm NSW time on Friday 29 November. Drinks will be available for purchase (so no BYO!)
Go to www.tweedfoodiefest.com.au for online reservations and the full program of Tweed Foodie Fest events – where each booking goes into the draw to win two return tickets to Singapore, courtesy of Scoot.
