Today, a new French restaurant for North Adelaide, innovative food businesses look for community support, events, issues and more.
Nu’s French gig
The rumours are true – gun chef Nu Suandokmai, formerly of Nu Thai and Golden Boy, has a new gig which will bring his take on French cuisine to Adelaide.
Nu helped out at North Adelaide’s Gin Long after leaving Golden Boy last year – and he’s not moving far.
He’ll be the head chef at a new operation backed by restaurateur Walter Ventura and partners at the old d’Artagnan site in O’Connell Street.
The Forager understands the new place will be called The French Menu, and will take advantage of Nu’s classical training and experience.
Crowdfunding deliciousness
RipeNearMe is a fascinating online experiment in sharing South Australian backyard produce – and the people behind it are looking for public support to expand the idea to cover seeds, seedlings, garden materials and more.
Founded by Alistair and Helena Martin, the website allows people to search for food grown nearby – or list their own – to buy, swap or give away.
The idea started in 2012, when they noticed citrus trees scattered about the suburbs full of fruit that nobody was eating – yet shops were selling plenty of them, some of which were imported.
They developed a website with a very simple interface: just type in your postcode and you’ll get a map showing what’s available nearby. Likewise, you can simply add your own excess produce to share or sell.
It works well but, after putting in thousands of their own dollars, the Martins want to kick things up to the next level. They’ve joined the growing crowdfunding movement, offering various incentives in return for donations from the public.
Alistair told The Forager the funds raised would enable a whole range of improvements to the site, including adding the ability to share seeds, seedlings and cuttings, list garden materials such as excess compost, leaves or a cafe’s coffee grounds, and establish user groups (like a food-swap club).
“We want to keep it simple,” he says.
The list of incentives on the crowdfunding page includes this gem if you’re prepared to part with $1800 – dinner with Gardening Australia presenter Costa Georgiadis for you and five of your friends (Costa’s a big supporter of the project – that’s his hairy visage above).
“You pick the restaurant (subject to approval – must serve fresh, local produce), and we pick up the tab for three courses and drinks. Here’s your chance to get a once-in-a-lifetime chat with a true local food hero, ask questions about your garden, and learn the secrets of the beard-iverse.”
Of course, you don’t have to donate that much – smaller amounts are welcome.
Full details here.
The project is explained in more detail in the video below:
And there’s more ….
Also getting in on the crowdfunding concept is Fleurieu farmgate butchery Wakefield Grange (featured in The Forager last year).
Wakefield Grange is an interesting concept – including a very rare on-farm butchery – run by couple Nathen and Sophie Wakefield.
Nathen hand selects the animals (beef, lamb and pork) in the paddock; they’re sent to an abattoir in Normanville – just 12km down the road – and then aged and butchered at the Wakefield Grange boning room by Nathen, a qualified butcher as well as farmer. Sales are made at the farm gate on South Road, Wattle Flat.
When the farm is unable to offer home-grown produce, supplementary stock is always sourced from local Fleurieu farmers.
On June 20, Wakefield Grange will launch a Pozible crowdfunding campaign to raise funds to create a commercial kitchen and curing room at its farmgate butchery near Yankalilla.
They say the “nose to tail” campaign will maintain the operation’s “on-farm” concept, allowing Sophie and Nathen to produce a wide range of house-cured smallgoods and farm-fresh charcuterie products. The new facility will enable them to utilise secondary cuts of meat and offal.
“Our approach has always been to pay homage to the entire beast by employing sustainable butchery practices,” says Sophie. “Ensuring that we use the whole animal is central to this philosophy, and so our vision of an on-farm kitchen and curing room means we can further develop this ‘nose to tail’ approach and offer the Adelaide public an even greater range of quality, locally-reared meat.”
The campaign aims to raise $30,000 from funders before August 19. Rewards include fresh meat, smallgoods, charcuterie, butchery classes and more.
To make a pledge, go to http://pozi.be/wakefieldgrange from June 20 onwards.
The Wakefield Grange farmgate.
A warning to food producers
Food producers making claims about the origins of their produce have been put on notice by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission this week.
Saskia Beer’s Barossa-based food business has been accused by the ACCC of making false or misleading representations about the origins of the company’s pig meat.
Barossa Farm Produce was accused of sourcing meat from white pigs for its ‘The Black Pig’ smallgoods range, instead of from premium-quality black pigs. The ACCC says that for several years the company promoted the range as being sourced only from heritage Berkshire pigs, but this was not the case.
Beer has apologised and undertaken to ensure that she knows the origin of every animal used in the range.
More details here.
Small bites
If you missed it – or want to relive happy memories – Channel Seven is broadcasting a Tasting Australia special this Sunday at 1.30pm on 7TWO. Presenter Callum Hann took Seven’s cameras to gala dinners, street fairs, cooking classes, art displays, wine tastings and regional events during the festival. He also caught up with Maggie Beer and Stephanie Alexander.
The Brasserie at the Hilton Adelaide is launching a new South Australian menu, this time focusing on the produce of the Adelaide Hills. The menu will be in place for two months, and will feature Hills produce from the likes of Feast Fine Foods, Woodside Cheese Wrights, B.-d. Farm Paris Creek, Buzz Honey and more.
The Curious Squire in North Adelaide is aiming to take advantage of a growing taste for genuine American barbecue (very different to the Aussie concept), with the installation of an authentic, southern-style smoker. The big Yoder smoker is being used to create dishes such as juicy pulled pork shoulder, smoked chicken in Alabama white Bar-B-Q sauce, smoked Texas beef brisket and Bar-B-Q spare ribs.
The 2014 Langhorne Creek Writers’ Festival is looking for entries to its writing competition with a food and wine theme. It’s one of the categories in the competition which closes on June 30. For terms and conditions and an entry form go here. The festival itself, to be held in September, will feature food writer Barbara Santich.
