Some of the region’s finest Asian culinary professionals are set to converge for a two-day foodie festival.
Several well-known chefs and cooks will serve up some delights at the Sunshine Coast Asian Food Festival at Spicers Tamarind Retreat on August 3 and 4.
Visitors will be able to savour unique, street food-style dishes from the iconic Spirit House restaurant, as well as local favourites Rice Boi and the Retreat’s own Tamarind Restaurant, led by Sunshine Coast native and acclaimed executive chef Daniel Jarrett.
There will also be live music, drinks, market stalls and masterclasses.
Mr Jarrett welcomed the chance to put on a feast of local produce for a happy crowd.
“For all of these chefs, it’s an opportunity to put a spotlight on the amazing produce we get to use every day,” he said.
“We’ll cook for more people in an afternoon than we’d usually see in a week.”
Spirit House head chef Tom Hitchcock, who featured at the festival last year, looked forward to this year’s edition.
“Asian cuisine has a big part of my background and we love showcasing our local produce in Spirit House style,” he said.
“It will be interesting to see what all these chefs come up with.”
Mr Hitchcock and his team will offer Fraser Island spanner crab.
“We’ve rolled the local spanner crab wafer-thin inside spring roll wrappers and added a yellow curry sauce thickened with egg to make it as rich as possible, and garnish with two kinds of puffed rice,” he said.
The dish will also be dressed with locally grown herbs and ‘Champagne Red’ finger limes from Green Valley’s orchard near Beerwah.
Mitch Smith is the executive chef and co-owner of a host of restaurants on the Sunshine Coast, from the modern Greek cuisine of Spero in Mooloolaba to a bunch of casual Asian-themed bistros with Giddy Geisha in Maroochydore, Piggyback in Palmwoods, Rice Boi in Mooloolaba and fine-dining with RB Dining in Mooloolaba.
He said his stand would serve barbecue satay-spiced chicken skewers with a fragrant green curry, Thai basil and jasmine rice.
Mr Jarrett, who leads the award-winning Tamarind Restaurant and popular Tamarind Cooking School, and his team will offer two dishes.
There’s oysters with a Japanese-style salsa of wakame, soy and yuzu with those beloved Green Valley finger limes.
Next is an artisanal sai ua sausage originating in Chang Mai in Thailand’s north.
It combines pork, chilli, kaffir lime and coriander, and is served with roasted chilli jam.
The Tamarind Restaurant and Maleny Food Co will also dish up a Filipino mango float with mango gelato.
The Sunshine Coast Asian Food Festival will also include drinks from local beverage producers.
There will be craft beer from Brouhaha Brewery, cocktails from Sunshine and Sons Cocktail Bar, Brockenchack Wines (a locally owned Barossa Valley winery), as well as champagne by the glass and bottle from the House of Taittinger, and a range of non-alcoholic beverages from Sunny Coast Water.
Return buses will run to Spicers Tamarind from Noosa, Caloundra and Mooloolaba on the Saturday and Sunday.
The festival is part of The Curated Plate culinary festival, a celebration of the region’s produce, producers and chefs, supported by Tourism and Events Queensland, the Sunshine Coast Council and Visit Sunshine Coast.
The 2024 Curated Plate program offers more than 100 events across the region from July 26 to August 4, showcasing more than 300 local producers and suppliers
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