I got my first taste of this year’s Melbourne Food & Wine Festival at a preview event I was invited to with V-ZUG. I love the festival and always try to get along to as many events as I can so am seriously steeling myself for this year with the combination of MFWF and the World’s 50 Best restaurants. Next month is going to be huuuuge.
V-Zug is hosting a special event Top Chefs at the Table featuring Ian Curley, Jacques Reymond and Scott Pickett. You get to eat food cooked by these legendary chefs and then sit down at a table and eat dinner with them. It’s being billed as a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ and this is certainly not your usual dinner.
The Top Chefs at the Table dinner is being held inside V-Zug’s showroom in Kew. It’s a nice, intimate space for an event however be warned the dinner does involve a bit of product pushing.
We started with canapés of smoked salmon and prosciutto before sitting down to Ian Curley’s eggs and truffle. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the way to make the most of a luxurious ingredient like truffle is to serve it as simply as possible. Eggs are perfect for this and these baked eggs were so creamy and decadent it felt like we could have been eating dessert.
Jacques Reymond took on the main course with a classic Duck a l’orange. Forget every dry piece of duck you’ve eaten this was so tender and sweet thanks to the steam oven and the cooking skills of one amazing chef. Adding a twist the duck was served with wild rice, choy sum and broccolini.
For the sweet end of the meal Scott Pickett served up sticky figs with crunchy pieces of chocolate crostoli and vanilla cream. Figs are in season right now and are just extraordinary and Scott really made the fruit the hero ingredient. Pencil this event in for fabulous food and a chance to dine with a charming and talented trio of chefs. Just remember to restrain yourself otherwise you might leave the evening with a full stomach and a top of the range Swiss steam oven.
So what else is on my wish list?
- Chef masterclasses – always entertaining and you learn so much (check out my review of previous years) ($35);
- Checking out this year’s festival hub: The House of Food. I’d love to go to Fire 2.0 ($125);
- Crawl n Bite: Always so much fun and one of the best value festival events in my view ($73);
- Chef Collaboration dinners: I’d love to try Mehmet Gurs at Lezzet ($78).
Gourmet Chick was a guest of the Top Chefs at the Table event.
Essentials
Details: Top Chefs at the Table, V-ZUG showroom, Kew for the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival 2017.
Damage: Budget breaking. The dinner costs $268 but on this occasion I didn’t pay.
8/10
