Melbourne Food and Wine Festival
Culinary Luminaries, Michelin Stars, Wine Legends and More…
Marian Clarkin

The 17th Melbourne Food & Wine Festival’s Master Class, held on the weekend of 21–22 March 2009, featured the big names in the local and international food and wine scene, including Thomas Keller of California’s French Laundry and Bouchon and New York’s per se who has seven Michelin stars, Heston Blumenthal of Michelin three star restaurant The Fat Duck, in Berkshire, England, and luminary French winemaker, Michel Chapoutier from the Rhône. All in all, an unprecedented 30 Michelin stars could be totalled from the chefs present from Britain, France and Italy, as well as the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany.

The Format
The event represents a blend of the previous formats. What started at the Grand Hyatt, where food tastings were prepared in the banquet kitchens, and later moved to Federation Square, where a lecture theatre style did not allow for food tastings, has now reached maturity, with several venues offering a different function. All the while, the wine room has remained an interactive experience over this time, to allow for tastings as well as discussion, and was held at the Langham Hotel, at Southbank.
The reception facilities at the Langham were used to allow for Chef Master Classes with cooking demonstrations, in three venues with kitchens supplied by Miele, accompanied by an audio visual set–up featuring large television screens. Two courses of the three presented by each chef were offered for tastings, as samples were prepared by chef, Anthony Ross, and his team at the Langham.
The new Melbourne Recital Centre, a short stroll away from the Langham, became The Theatre of Ideas, enabling chefs to lecture in an intimate auditorium with a stage, supported by television screens. A total of 24 Chef Master Class sessions, eight Theatre of Ideas sessions and eight wine sessions, many of which were not repeated, meant it was not possible to attend all of the sessions, as a number were booked out last year, when the final programme was announced.  

from left to right — signing books Spanish Choclatier Ramon Morató, sold out despite the $300AUD price tag, Heston Blumenthal’s The Big Fat Duck cookbook and Dutch Alain Alders of one Michelin star restaurant, De Vrienden van Jacob

The Chefs
In addition to the international stars, there were also leading Australian–based chefs participating as presenters and moderators, including Neil Perry of Rockpool Sydney and Melbourne, Raymond Capaldi in the process of opening Locarno 150 at the old Mercy Hospital Melbourne, Frank Camorra, of MoVida and MoVida Next Door and Shannon Bennett, of Vue De Monde, Bistro Vue and Café Vue. Representing the best of regional Victoria were Alla Wolf–Tasker of Lake House, Dan Hunter of the Royal Mail and Patrizia Simone of Simone’s of Bright.

Chef Master Class

Alain Alders of one Michelin star restaurant, De Vrienden van Jacob, in Santpoort, the Netherlands, presented his approach to cooking modern Dutch cuisine, with the session A Fish out of Water. As Alders explained, Dutch cuisine has had many external influences, due to the travel and trading that the Dutch have been involved with over the centuries, which included the Spice Route. Substituting local ingredients, Alders offered two recipes available for tasting: Jelly of cucumber with curds of mint, Bavarian cream of tomato and lightly dried mini pomodori tomatoes; and Dublin Bay prawns, marinated in apple mint and vinaigrette “Melange Pouchkine” with citrus fruit.
Sat Bains of Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms, the first restaurant in Nottingham to attain a Michelin star was born in Derby to Punjabi parents and stands at an imposing height of 6 foot 4. An entertaining presenter, Bains presented a session on The New Food of Britain and gave an insight into his self–taught approach to cooking. Bains relies heavily on local producers and told the funny story of his parcel deliveryman, who had to confess to opening up Bains’ mail containing his weekly supply of herbs from Scotland. The delivery man then offered to grow them locally for Bains and is now one of Bains’ herb suppliers.
Instead of salt, Bains uses Marmite (and when in Australia, Vegemite) as a seasoning, as well as freshly grated chocolate and powdered liquorice. Bain’s session was hands on, showing each of the three dishes he provided recipes for, which included: a scallop dish; hare with cauliflower, chocolate and berries; and chocolate cream with rapeseed oil jelly seasoned with sea salt and wafer thin slices of sweet toast.

The Theatre of Ideas

In the Theatre of Ideas, René Redzepi, chef at Copenhagen’s Michelin one star Noma restaurant, which opened in 2003, presented an engaging discussion on Charting the New Nordic Way. Having worked with Thomas Keller and Ferran Adrià, Redzepi sought to create a similar dining experience in Denmark and told of the ridicule he and his business partner endured when they embarked on creating a restaurant that celebrated Nordic food. Redzepi explained that there was an all time low in people’s perceptions of their local cuisine in Copenhagen, which at that time was a French gastronomic city.
After Noma (an abbreviation for Nordic food) became accepted internationally and won a Michelin star, it was only then that the Danes were prepared to accept that Redzepi and his associates were onto something good. Rather than using produce from France like many of Copenhagen’s other acclaimed restaurants, Redzepi sources locally as much as possible making use of Norwegian sea urchins and Swedish truffles. Noma has between 200 and 300 local suppliers including three full time gatherers and their employees who collect wild mushrooms, berries and edible forrest, which along with fish are considered the jewels of Nordic cuisine.
At the conclusion of his presentation, Redzepi gave attendees a CD containing a short film on Noma and recipes from his book, which is currently out of print.

from the left — Raymond Capaldi (consultant chef), Matt Preston (Creative Director of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival) and René Redzepi (Noma)

Ramon Morató, from the Catalan area of Spain, has won the distinction of being Spain’s Artisan Confectioner Master. Morató runs Aula Chocovic, Spain’s first chocolate school and appeared in the Theatre of Ideas to present his comprehensive and informative talk, Chocolate is the New Pastry, which was one of the few sessions that was run twice. Morató examined cocoa as a commodity and a fruit and traced its evolution from the time of the Mayans and Aztecs, when it was used as a form of currency, until the present day, where chocolate is ubiquitous and it is more difficult to find places where there is no chocolate.
Morató gave everyone in attendance a gift, a Trikki Tricky Truffle, a chocolate truffle in a jar (he is obsessed with jars and producing fruit preserves) made from Chocovic dark couverture Kendari chocolate (60%), fresh cream and authentic Spanish Tuber Melanosporum truffle from the mountain forests of Osona (Barcelona) which looked and tasted like it was found on the forest floor.

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Book Signings

As to be expected, Thomas Keller and Heston Blumenthal’s sessions were sold out. However, it was still possible to meet them at the book signings held in between sessions at the Langham Hotel. Both of them are friendly and approachable, despite their fame and amazing success. Blumenthal’s The Big Fat Duck Cookbook is a large and heavy tome in a slipcase that carries a $300 price tag and, like the sessions, was completely sold out. Morató also participated in the book signings, and had his own $300 book available for purchase, Ramon Morató Chocolate.

The Wine Room
At the Langham, wine enthusiasts had the opportunity to attend sessions on wine, all of which were one offs, and several of which had sold out. The wine sessions were moderated by Ben Edwards of Sommeliers Australia.
International presenters included Bert Salomon, Austrian wine producer; Roberto Anselmi from Anselmi, Veneto, along with Pierre and Sophie Larmandier of Champagne House, Larmandier–Bernier. Winemakers, James Godfrey, of Seppeltsfield, Barossa Valley, South Australia and Stephen Chambers of Chambers Rosewood, Rutherglen Victoria, presented an impressive line–up of Australian fortifieds. James Halliday renowned Australian wine writer and judge and Matt Harrop, of Shadowfax Wines, presented a retrospective of 50 years of Australian wine with examples for tasting.
For Shiraz — Old Roots, New Wines, Michel Chapoutier gave an entertaining insight into Australian Shiraz and French Syrah, which included the M. Chapoutier Crozes–Hermitage Les Meysonniers, 2006 and the M. Chapoutier Côte Rotie La Mordore, 2005. Chapoutier’s tactile business card features Braille and describes him a Vine grower – Winemaker and Wine lover. His universal approach has led to investment in vineyards in Heathcote, Victoria, and he said he is the biggest Australian wine importer in France.
Winemaker, Alex Moreau, of Burgundy’s Domaine Bernard Moreau and Tom Carson of Yabby Lake, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria championed the cause of Chardonnay in a session called A Tale of Terroir. Examples highlighted the difference between French, Australian and New Zealand examples and the influences of oak treatment and malolactic fermentation on the resulting wines.
Pinot Noir was the focus of a session called Pinot Noir Comes of Age, which comprised a panel of the following winemakers: Helen Masters, of Ata Rangi, Martinborough, New Zealand; Larry McKenna, of Escarpment, also in Martinborough; and Timo Mayer of Mayer Vineyards in the Yarra Valley and Michael Dhillon of Bindi in Macedon, Victoria. This enabled a broad tasting of this cool climate variety featuring 2006 and 2007 vintages.

In Conclusion
Overall, the 2009 Master Class certainly provided both food and wine professionals, as well aspirational home cooks and wine aficionados, with some great insights and tastes from around the globe.
As discussed above, this year’s Master Class represented a broader selection of countries than previous years. Perhaps in future there may be scope to find out what is happening in emerging wine markets, such as those of China and various South American countries. In the same way that Northern European kitchens appear to be forsaking French culinary traditions, it may also be worth exploring what is happening in Eastern kitchens, particularly in the top restaurants of China and India.
To register for the 2010 Langham Melbourne Master Class, sign up for updates by visiting: www.melbournefoodandwine.com.au

Marian Clarkin — marian@galaxyguides.com