Jul 9 / Devan

Perth Good Food & Wine Show 2010

Perth’s Good Food & Wine Show weekends have largely been seen as occasions to get pissed on the endless supply of wine, beer, and spirit tastings. This year’s was very much the same affair – large crowds gathered around the wine section of the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre. Getting pissed is simply a part of the West Aussie culture.

The foodie section comprised the same stalls as last year, with only a very few new additions such as Cheesebuddy Food Supply, Mini Melts Ice Cream, Sence Rose Nectar, and Kikkoman Australia. Throughout the day we did our rounds, however got bored rather quickly. It was the same show, mostly the same products, and same celebrity chef lineup (except for the addition of Manu Feildel). Just a different year. The highlight of the Good Food & Wine Show was Matt Moran’s Favourite Things.

Matt Moran’s Favourite Things show proved to be entertaining with the chef butchering a lamb carcass on stage. Most of the poor lamb was given away to members of the audience. The lady in front of us even won an unwrapped lamb leg, three times the size of her handbag. Matt prepared three dishes – an entree of Roasted Scallops with Shaved Serrano Ham, Chestnut Puree, and Brussel Sprout Leaves, Roasted Lamb Joints as the main, and for dessert, a Lemon Mousse with Fresh Raspberries & Sesame, and Poppy Seed Tuile. All were simple recipes suitable for the cold winter weather. The recipes can be found here.

Matt Moran’s Favourite Things

Matt Moran with Manu Feildel’s lamb

At lunch time, we dined at the Fifth Leg Restaurant. We purchased a main and dessert each. We shared them, savouring each celebrity chef’s special dishes. Of particular note were Gary Mehigan’s Bastilla of lamb, olives and pine nuts, and Manu Feildel’s Coq au vin. Although small, they were favourites among our group. All mains were $24.00, and desserts $8.00.

Fifth Leg Restaurant Menu

George Calombaris

Braised chicken and celery fricasse

Chocolate and walnut tart, salty caramel sauce

Tobie Puttock

Polenta Gnocchi with marjoram, tallegio and prosciutto

Baked pears with vin santo and cinnamon

Gary Mehigan

Bastilla of lamb, olives and pine nuts

Panna cotta with Rhubarb

Manu Feildel

Coq au vin

Vanilla creme brulee

The Cheese Matters Masterclass was similar to last year’s and proved to be very popular. After my write up on Good Food, Wine & Blue Cheese, I checked Ticketek and all classes were “sold out”. Damn, I needed two more tickets for the latecomers in our group!

The products we ate in the Cheese Matters Masterclass

Our table

Naomi Crisante again held the reigns and took us through a 45 minute session of cheese and wine tasting. In order, we were taken through the following.

Fresh-Style Cheese
South Cape Persian Fetta and olive bread
and
Croser Vintage Sparkling

Soft White Cheese
Tasmanian Heritage Traditional Camembert
Tasmanian Heritage Signature Brie with fresh grapes and South Cape Crispbreads
and
Croser Vintage Sparkling

Swiss-style Cheese
Tasmanian Heritage St Claire Swiss-style cheese with cornichons and cashews
and
St Hallett Faith Shiraz

Cheddar Cheese
King Island Dairy Surprise Bay Cheddar with South Cape Quince Paste and green apple
and
St Hallett Faith Shiraz

Parmesan Cheese
Mil Lel Extra Aged Parmesan with fresh corella pear
and
St Hallett Faith Shiraz

Washed Rind Cheese
Tasmanian Heritage Red Square with Pomona Glace Apricots
and
Preece Victoria Moscato

Blue Brie Cheese
King Island Dairy Lighthouse Blue Brie with Pomona Muscatel Clusters
and
Preece Victoria Moscato

Blue Cheese
King Island Dairy Roaring Forties Blue with Truffle Honey from The Wine & Truffle Company

The Mil Lel Extra Aged Parmesan, Tasmanian Heritage Red Square, and King Island Dairy Surprise Bay Cheddar were all given a unanimous thumbs up at our table. Bloody fantastic. Our only gripe with the masterclass was its 45 minute length – too short and too rushed. At 4.45pm everyone was asked to leave. We gobbled up our cheeses pretty quickly, and downed the wine glasses bare. One of our friends loved the moscato so much he polished the bottle off by drinking straight from the bottle. On our way out, we received a show bag with a Cheese Matters recipe book, which we later got signed by Naomi Crisante. On mine it said: “Dear Devan, Say Cheese… Naomi Crisante“. All in all, the class was way too rushed and as a suggestion for future classes, an hour minimum would have been nice.

In conclusion, the 2010 Perth Good Food & Wine Show was no different to last year’s show. The Melbourne and Sydney shows are so much better as they offer more variety of products, and show more depth. That is, not all products are the standard affair breads, dips, and sauces. Oh, would it have been nice to have a larger showcase of Western Australia’s produce, cakes, artisan breads, desserts, and seafood. Sydney’s show is up next and they have the Chocolate Masterclass, Cocktail Flair Challenge, Coffee Experience, Coffee & Cupcake Classes, in addition to the Cheese Masterclass, Decanter Bar, and Gourmet Garden Cooking School. Will we get them in Perth next year perhaps? On the up side we all had a good time – an excuse to catch up with friends, bond through eating, and errr yeah, laugh ourselves silly on the wine.