The event sold out within days. Our foodies were so intrigued by the theme of Wild & Native, keen to learn more about native Australian ingredients.
As guests arrived at The Tilbury Hotel, a Sydney drink and dine institution, they were shown through to the outside garden bar. Twinkling fairy lights decorated the trees above as guests were handed an elderflower, honey and prosecco cocktail on arrival. Everyone was in such good spirits on this warm winters night and excitement was in the air.
When everyone had found the secret location and arrived we made our way through to the main dining room for dinner. The tables were decorated with Australian native and other wintry flora.
Head Chef James Wallis had worked hard to source some of the best native Australian produce for the dinner. This was a massive learning curve for the native Englishman who claims to have thoroughly enjoyed discovering new, local, seasonal produce. “Foraging for mushrooms in England is a lot different to foraging them in Australia”, he mentioned.
You can’t get more Aussie than kangaroo meat. For our first course James prepared a kangaroo tartare with coal oil, kohl rabi and charcoal crackers. It was one of the most popular dishes on the night (we’re working on James for the recipe). It had a real smokey flavour to the finely chopped, tender meat due to the coal oil.
Next it was the poached Tasmanian sea trout with cucumber ketchup, coastline herbs and fermented cucumber. It was beautifully presented on the plate and full of flavour.
The roasted venison for mains was covered in wattleseed and came with an absolutely delicious side of slow cooked, venison bush ragout and black cabbage. We could have easily eaten a whole bowl of the ragout on its own with some fresh pasta or warm crunchy bread. Please put this on the menu James!
For dessert we finished with a honey and white chocolate pav with a side of elderberry sorbet and hedgerow berries. James sourced the honey from a supplier in Tamarama Beach.
At the end of the evening James came out to speak with the group about his process for sourcing all of the native ingredients. Turns out it’s a lot harder than we think.
Guests had a wonderful evening sharing their photos from the event on social media and sporting some fabulous gold masks (a Secret Foodies tradition).
To see more pictures from the event check out our Facebook
Our next event in Sydney is A Visit To Grandma’s
Tilbury Hotel
12-18 Nicholson St, Wooloomooloo
http://tilburyhotel.com.au/