Mount Maunganui restaurant named wildest in NZ

October 8, 2007

Mount Maunganui restaurant named wildest in New Zealand

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The best beer and wild food in the country is to be had at the Mount Bistro in Mt Maunganui.

The restaurant took out the national prize at the prestigious Monteith’s Beer and Wild Food Challenge in Auckland tonight (Oct. 8), triumphing against fierce competition from nine other regional winners.

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And befitting Mount Maunganui’s coastal location, seafood plays a key role on the Mount Bistro’s wild food menu.

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Owner-chef Stephen Barry is no stranger to wild food fame after winning more than 10 Monteith’s Beer & Wild Food Challenge sub-categories in the past seven years.

More than 100 restaurants from 10 regions were invited to enter the Monteith’s Beer and Wild Food Challenge, now in its tenth year.

All dishes must be expertly matched to one of the Monteith’s family of six ‘Classic’ craft brews – Original Ale, Radler, Golden, Black, Celtic and Pilsner.

Mount Bistro’s two-plate entry features seafood prominently in dish one and more earthy ingredients in dish two.

Sword and Sauce-ry combines skewered crayfish, swordfish, scallop and prawns flambéed with horopito lime vodka and matched with Monteith’s Radler.

Are you drooling yet? Well how about A Knight’s Fare, duck confit with purple kumara, cranberry, crystal quail, and watercress with dragons’ breath consommé and venison tataki. That’s dish number two, matched admirably with Monteith’s Celtic.

Convenor of Judges Kerry Tyack says it’s appropriate that in the awards’ tenth birthday year, the standard of the regional finalists should reach such a high level.

“In all 10 regions entrants exhibited an extremely high standard and that indicates how far we have come in our ability to match great beer with outstanding Kiwi cuisine.

“The winner this year tops a very fine heap and was awarded the title for its imagination, execution and completeness as a concept, a meal and a challenge,” Mr Tyack says.

Monteith’s Beer and Wild Food Challenge is New Zealand’s longest running beer and food matching/wild cuisine competition and is competed for in 10 regions around New Zealand over three weeks.

Malcolm Everts, Monteith’s senior brand manager, fisherman, duckshooter & freediver says: “We’re blessed in New Zealand to still be able to catch or collect some of the best food in the world just by wading off the beach or up a creek. Sponsoring a competition that celebrates this New Zealand outdoors lifestyle by matching some of New Zealand’s best food with New Zealand’s best beer is a great privilege.

“This year has been great and we’re already planning the 2008 competition to be just as exciting, tasty, fresh and challenging!”

About Monteith’s Beer and Wild Food Challenge:

- Participants can either enter in the formal or informal category (formal entries must produce two dishes including a main and one other dish to be presented in a formal dining environment).

- The dish then needs to be matched to one of the Monteith’s family of six ‘Classic’ craft brews, including Original Ale, Radler, Golden, Black, Celtic and Pilsner.

- Wild food can come from the sea, rivers or lake, the sky or the countryside.

- Each dish must comprise the best available wild food, defined as non-farm-raised produce reared under normal health and safety conditions.

- The winning restaurants from each region each win a prize package valued at $7,000. In addition, the national winner receives a prize package valued at $15,000.

ENDS

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