Bay of Plenty Names Restaurant Consumer's Choice
PRESS RELEASE
Locals Confirm ‘Plenty of Flavour’
in the Bay’s Restaurants
10 November 2009
Two
Small Fish, Tay Street Beach Café and Mount Bistro outshone
some very strong competition to take out honours in the Food
Bay of Plenty ‘Plenty of Flavour’ culinary competition.
The results for the inaugural event were announced
last night at an awards ceremony held at Creative Tauranga,
attended by over 80 of the Bay’s top restaurateurs and
local food and beverage producers.
Competition
ambassador and Deli on Devonport owner Peter Blakeway said
“Increasingly, people want to know where their food is
coming from, and this competition has raised the profile of
the quality food and beverages produced right here in the
Bay”.
“We are lucky enough to have some amazing
restaurants and world class chefs here as well. Their
contribution to the local economy cannot be underestimated,
as well as confirming the Bay’s excellent reputation for
providing a variety of unique dining experiences using fresh
produce. The competition has stimulated the enthusiasm of
all involved in the local food and beverage industry and
developed some inspired collaborations between the
restaurants and producers. The response from the community
has also been fantastic, with people in restaurants across
the region keen to sample the competition dish.”
The
‘Plenty of Flavour’ competition ran for six weeks during
September and October. Twelve of the Bay’s best known
restaurants created dishes inspired by local ingredients to
highlight the capability that exists in the food and
beverage sector. Three categories were judged in the
competition. Fine dining (meals costing over $25) and
casual dining (meals under $25) were both judged by an
independent and anonymous judging panel. The consumer’s
choice category was run in association with More FM, whereby
members of the public voted via text for their favourite
local dish.
The winners in each category were:
Fine Dining – Two Small Fish
Casual Dining – Tay Street Beach Cafe
Consumer’s Choice – Mount Bistro
Other restaurants that took part were
Astrolabe, Bravo, Esplanade Omokoroa, Halo at the Sebel,
Harbourside, Mills Reef, Nautilus, RSVP Cherrywood and
Twickenham at Katikati.
Designed to promote the
amazing array of locally produced food and beverages, along
with the talent of our local chefs, the competition is the
brain child of Food Bay of Plenty. The competition also
stimulated interest from consumers keen to eat good quality
local produce and challenged restaurants to think about
ingredients that are produced locally. This theme carried
right through to the beautifully carved trophies, which were
crafted by students of Otumoetai College using wood sourced
in the region.
The challenge has been issued says
Peter Blakeway “Let’s make this the start of a movement
to support local wherever possible and give the Bay of
Plenty the title that it so richly deserves - that of ‘the
food bowl of New Zealand’.”
Visit http://http://www.plentyflavour.co.nz for more
information
ENDS