Monteith’s finalists set to meet challenge

Monteith’s finalists set to meet challenge

26 August 2005…… The announcement in Greymouth last Wednesday of the finalists in the West Coast Monteith’s Wild Food Challenge was the last stage in preparations to find the best beer and food matches in the country in 2005. Over the last six weeks, 147 restaurants cafes and bars in eight cities have been vying for the right to compete in the national Challenge which begins today. During the next month the winners in each region will be reassessed by judges to find who is best at matching Monteith’s beer with wild food.

National convenor of judges Kerry Tyack says determining an overall champion is a tough job given the high standards achieved by regional winners. “These guys have already demonstrated through their dishes an expert understanding of the process of beer and food matching, great technical skill, and a high level of innovation and creativity. Our job now is to find the restaurant team that has that extra quality, an X factor that will propel them into the overall winners circle.”

The national winner who will be announced on 28 September in Auckland will receive a prize package valued at $20,000. This is in addition to the $10,000 they have already received as a regional winner.

Monteith’s brand manager Jacqui Jones says this year’s competition has been hard fought with standards across the country higher than ever before in the eight year history of the Challenge. “We have seen better preparation, greater imagination and more polished delivery of entries. Great partnerships of beer and food cannot be achieved by taking an ad hoc approach. The rigorous judging process means 2005 New Zealand winner can rightly claim to be the best in the land at getting the match between beer and wild food perfect.”

Diners around the country can experience for themselves the winning dishes. Each regional winner will offer their Monteith’s Wild Food menu to diners for another month.

Attached: list of regional winners

Monteith’s Wild Food Challenge 2005

Regional winners competing for New Zealand Champion:

Auckland Regional Winner – Restaurant – Joust Regional Winner – Bar Category – The Horse and Trap

Hamilton Regional Winner – Restaurant – Narrows Landing Regional Winner – Bar Category – Sohl

Tauranga Regional Winner – Restaurant - Wharf Street

Wellington Regional Winner – Restaurant – Mange Tout Regional Winner – Bar Category – Hope Bros

Christchurch Regional Winner – Restaurant – Sammy’s Jazz Review

Dunedin Regional Winner – Restaurant – High Tide

Queenstown Regional Winner – Restaurant – The 19th Restaurant

West Coast Regional Winner – Restaurant – The Alice May Regional Winner – Bar – The Puke Pub

*Note: In Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington there were winners in both restaurant and bar categories. The three bar category winners will be assessed to find an overall New Zealand winner in that category

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