Fish & Game NZ Wild Game Bird Food Festival

5 May 2006

The Fish & Game NZ Wild Game Bird Food Festival will run from 8 to 28 May at 16 of the country’s top restaurants, one in every main city throughout the country.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for New Zealanders to taste and appreciate the wonderful flavors of wild game birds, prepared in a variety of exclusive dishes by the country’s top chefs,” says Shonagh Lindsay, Fish & Game NZ Public Awareness Advisor.

“New Zealand has experienced a food and wine explosion in the last few years that is truly astounding, with the integrity of our local food flavors commented on by food experts worldwide.”

“We want to expand this reputation with an appreciation of the delicious variety of our game birds complemented by perfect wine matches from our superb wineries.”

Ms Lindsay says the restaurants selected – all award winning or highly reviewed – will participate in the ‘Fish & Game NZ Wild Game Bird Food Festival’ for a three week period only from 8 to 28 May.

Each restaurant will create a special game bird menu, based on any of the game birds on the hunting list and select wine matches for the different dishes.

“ Hunters can bring their bagged wild game birds to any one of the restaurants participating a minimum of 24 hours before a dinner booking to be prepared for a dish selected from this menu,” says Ms Lindsay.

“We know restaurants cannot sell wild game birds but they can charge for the service involved in cooking them, and so this gives both the restaurants and the hunting fraternity a fantastic opportunity to experience what delicious meals can be prepared from this country’s wild game birds.”

“And it gives our game bird hunters a wonderful cuisine occasion to celebrate their prowess with their friends, family and colleagues.”

Ms Lindsay says the restaurant will take 15% off the price of each dish for the provision of the wild game bird meat, and in addition is offering a prize of a dinner for two (valued at between $80 to $200 depending on the restaurant).

The dinner prize each restaurant is offering is drawn from the game bird licences bought in each region with around 45,000 sold throughout the country.

The restaurants participating from north to south are:

à Deco (Whangarei)

Cazador (Auckland)

Canvas (Hamilton)

Bistro 1284 (Rotorua)

Morton’s Winery Restaurant (Katikati)

Te Awa Winery Restaurant (Hawkes Bay)

Aubergine (New Plymouth)

Hope Bros Restaurant & Bar (Wellington)

Bacchus (Blenheim)

Olivias on the Quay (Nelson)

Sign of the Takahe (Christchurch)

Le Monde (Timaru)

The Bathhouse (Queenstown)

High Tide (Dunedin)

Louie's Café & Bar (Invercargill)

The game birds on this year’s hunting list are: Canada Goose, Grey Duck, Mallard Duck, Paradise Shelduck, Californian Quail, Cock Pheasant, Black swan, Chukar and Pukeko.

“By the time the Fish & Game NZ Wild Game Bird Food Festival has ended phrases such as duck prosciutto, whole foie gras, pheasant confit and semiboneless quail will have entered our country’s cuisine vocabulary,” says Ms Lindsay.”

ENDS

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