Wednesday 16 November, 2011

Wellington Proves to be to Melbourne’s Taste
WLG pop up restaurant opens in Fitzroy

Logan Brown’s Shaun Clouston last night opened the WLG pop up restaurant kitchen, where Melburnians are being treated a flavour-filled fortnight flown over from the capital of cool.

The much anticipated Melbourne follow up to last September’s sell-out Sydney promotion is proving just as popular, with 500 tickets selling within 25 minutes of being released. Pre-sale tickets sold out last week, but limited walk in spots are available nightly, says Positively Wellington Tourism General Manager Marketing Sarah Meikle.

“We’ll also be leveraging the hype with travel offers to woo both those who attend and those who miss out across the ditch to try the real deal.”

The opening has been well received by Melbourne’s food bloggers, who aren’t exactly short of epicurean delights in their city. In a post reviewing Monday’s test night, Sophia Levin of Poppet’s Window describes WLG as a “brilliant showcase of all things delicious from Wellington”.

“They know their product, they know their menu, and they sure know how to tempt you over to Wellington.”

Michele, of IronChefShellie.com, describes the food as “fantastic” in her opening night review.

“My favourite was the entrees, although mains and desserts were still delicious….Our waiter was brilliant, he knew which wines to recommend and had the best moustache in town.”

Just over 100 guests were served at last night’s opening, and some 2000 customers are expected to enjoy WLG’s $35 three course meal through the promotion. Already the project has generated 44 pieces of media coverage reaching a total circulation/unique browsers of over 2.8 million.

The transformation of the Rue de Fleurus Salon & Bar in Fitzroy into a pop up showcase of the capital of cool by Wellington interior designer Kerryn Dunshea is attracting a lot of attention, Ms Meikle says.

“The design is drawing heaps of interest from passersby who can’t believe how quickly the place has been transformed – the team flew over last Thursday so they had just over four days for fit out.”

Some 25 hospitality and tourism staff are flying across the Tasman over the course of the two weeks to serve the regionally-focused dishes designed especially for WLG by Shaun Clouston (Logan Brown), Jacob Brown (The Larder), Rex Morgan (Boulcott Street Bistro), Tom Hutchison (Capitol) and Terry Lowe (Black Barn Restaurant & Vineyard), who are each taking shifts as head chef in residence. Meals will be washed down by beer from Tuatara and Moa, wines from some 20 vineyards from throughout Marlborough, Wairarapa and Hawke’s Bay, and a Capital Collins cocktail designed by Justin McKenzie of Hawthorn Lounge.

“We’re delighted to have so many local products on board. WLG is designed to literally give Melbourne a taste of Wellington through the flavours, the design and the experience. It’s about building awareness of the urban experience the city offers and its proximity to New Zealand’s finest wine regions so Australians choose Wellington as their next stop for a short break,” Ms Meikle says.

The WLG set menu includes a ‘Tastes of Wellington’ shared tasting plate to start, a selection of five mains (one designed by each of the five chefs in residence) and a choice of two desserts. Local products are a major feature both in the kitchen and the bar, with the recipe of a good time being served by Positively Wellington Tourism showcasing a range of Wellington and New Zealand’s finest.

WLG_Menu.pdf

WLG Recipe for a Good Time
These are but a few of our not-so-secret ingredients:

Take five Wellington chefs and some 20 Wellington tourism and hospitality professionals.

Start with 30.8 litres of olive oil and 12.5kg of spicy olives from Lot 8, 3kg of Telegraph Hill dukkah, 26.3 kg of Lavender’s Green preserved lemons and roasted lemon chutney.

Add 110kg of Regal Salmon smoked salmon, over 125kg of strip loin and braising venison from Silver Fern Farms, and about 38.5kg of lamb (shoulder and loin) and 117 lamb racks from Taylor Preston.

Flavour with 400 grams of dried horopito tips, 3.2kg of dried beetroot powder and up to 5kg sea salt.

Sweeten with 126kg Whittaker’s chocolate, 27 litres of Damson Collection coulis and 6 litres of Soprano licoricello.

Wash down with 684 litres of still and sparkling water from Antipodes, 54 litres of Lavender’s Green cordial, 16 litres of 42 Below vodka, over 250 litres of beer from Tuatara Brewing and Moa, and 115 cases (1035 litres!) of wine from Escarpment, Giesen Wines, Gladstone Vineyard, Wither Hills, Allan Scott Family Winemakers, Twin Islands, Hunter’s, CJ Pask, Villa Maria Estate, Mission Estate, Spy Valley Wines, Lawson’s Dry Hills, Stoneleigh, Clearview Estate, Craggy Range, Crossroads Winery, and Nautilus Estate.

Finish off with 20 kg of Mojo coffee.

Notes to editors

What is WLG?
Named after Wellington’s airport code, WLG promotes the Wellington region by transporting Australians to the city through taste, personality and experience. The Melbourne course follows the extension of the There’s No Place Like Wellington campaign to Australia’s culinary capital earlier this year. WLG is a Positively Wellington Tourism initiative designed to build buzz and increase the city’s profile as an urban short-break destination. The inaugural WLG in Sydney in September 2010 saw almost 1,500 tickets snapped up within five hours of the restaurant’s announcement. It served an estimated 3000 Sydneysiders, broke timeoutsydney.com.au booking records and helped see visitor arrivals into Wellington from New South Wales increase 10% in the six months following the initiative, when compared to the same period the year before. It was also nominated for a SABRE Asia-Pacific PR award alongside tourism heavyweights such as Disneyland, Madame Tussauds and Expedia.

Where and how is WLG Melbourne taking place?
The Rue de Fleurus Salon & Bar in Fitzroy – the heart of Melbourne’s cultural hub – has been transformed into a pop up that reflects and showcases the capital of cool by Wellington interior designer Kerryn Dunshea. Some 25 restaurant staff are being flown in shifts across the Tasman, where they’ll serve regionally-focused shared plates designed especially for WLG by Shaun Clouston (Logan Brown), Jacob Brown (The Larder), Rex Morgan (Boulcott Street Bistro), Tom Hutchison (Capitol) and Terry Lowe (Black Barn Restaurant & Vineyard). Meals will be washed down by beer from Tuatara and Moa, and wines from some 20 vineyards from throughout Marlborough, Wairarapa and new regional partner Hawke’s Bay.

Positively Wellington Tourism (PWT)
PWT is the regional tourism organisation for Wellington, New Zealand. It is a council-controlled organisation primarily funded by Wellington City Council through the Downtown Levy, a targeted rate paid by commercial ratepayers in downtown Wellington.

General Tourism & Australian Visitor Statistics
• Visitors spend over $2200 in the Wellington region per minute - $1.2 billion every year. (Source: Ministry of Economic Development Regional Tourism Data)
• Over four million visits are made to Wellington every year: 750,000 international and over 3.4 million domestic. (Source: Ministry of Economic Development Regional Tourism Data)
• Australia is Wellington’s largest international visitor market, with over 220,000 Australians visiting each year. Australians spend approximately $327 million in Wellington each year. (Source: IVS, YE June 2011)
• Direct arrivals by Australians into Wellington increased 10.21% in the year to the end of September 2011, when compared to the year prior. (Source: International Visitor Arrivals)

ENDS

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