New Winter menu arrives despite sourcing challenges

This article was taken from the Breeze Magazine – read the online version here.

Head Chef Campbell White will be adding more than a spoonful of magic to the dishes on his new Winter Menu this year. With orchards and market gardens pummelled by January’s floods and February’s Cyclone Gabrielle, the root vegetables and fruits normally associated with the colder months will be in short supply and very expensive.

“It is going to be a challenge to obtain those familiar vegetables we normally use, for example potatoes, kumara, onions and carrots,” said Campbell. “We also need to hit a good price point for members, as well as take the pressure off our suppliers by using alternative vegetables. “I’m going to have to look at fast growing above-ground lighter options like leeks, broccoli and cauliflower. And keep the heavier, hearty vegetable dishes on the ‘Specials’ section of the menu. We just need to keep the right balance.”

Campbell says he will also have to re-think his dessert menu, after tonnes of apples and pears were blown from trees to impale on fences or float down the flood waters. “Citrus fruits, rhubarb and feijoas could be the answer.” But don’t worry, Campbell assures us he will find a source of potatoes and his popular beer battered fish dish won’t be coming with celery chips! Look out for these dishes on the Members’ Bar Winter Menu, to be launched in late April…

Below, left/ Confit Maryland chicken, garlic puree, roasted Brussel sprout and bacon jus. Below, right/ Surf and turf crispy pork belly, grilled prawns, red cabbage puree, apple batons and bisque vinaigrette.