Tasting the best of downtown Tauranga

Victoria Thomas from Pluto. Photos and video by Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

Monique Corbett from Teawanui won a $4000 diamond from Peet Jewellers; and new dishes, flavours, and dining events were launched on Wednesday night at Tauranga's Art Gallery.

Taste Tauranga is a culinary takeover of downtown Tauranga for the whole month of August, with over 25 restaurants, bars and cafes offering taste bud experiences. There's also the chance to win Peet Jewellers diamond earrings.

The launch event featured 2014 Masterchef NZ winners Karena and Kasey Bird, who have travelled to over 50 global destinations creating their award-winning television show ‘Karena and Kasey's Kitchen Diplomacy'; and have published two cookbooks.

The first cookbook ‘For the Love of…' went straight to number one on the Best Seller's List, and their second cookbook ‘Hungry' won an award at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.

They are both delighted to be involved in Taste Tauranga, and have created their own bespoke dinner to be held on August 31.

'We just really want to be a part of this,” says Kasey. 'We love the hospitality sector and want to support and encourage the downtown Tauranga restaurants, cafes and bars.”

'After our extensive travels around the world, at the end of the day, we realise in every country, food means family, food means love, and food is important to everybody,” says Karena. 'Our idea is to do a degustation of all of the underground cooking methods, similar to our hangi. So you'll see dishes from Peru, New Caledonia, Fiji and everywhere we've been we're we've cooked in the ground, there will be some kind of fancy fine dining dish. We'll take you on a journey. Everyone is connected and that's what I really think food is. It connects people.”

'Taste Tauranga for August is about us saying let's honour those passionate, clever, dedicated people that run those establishments,” says Mainstreet Tauranga manager Sally Cooke. 'They open their doors to us, they put food in their cabinets, they put drinks out, they make us coffee. And we run in and we dash out again. Let's not stop doing that, but let's make August the month where we celebrate and experience that part of our city centre culture that makes it so rich.”

It's the first time that four restaurants have collaborated to create a Tapas Trail which happens on Tuesdays in August.

'Picture this if you will,” says Sally. 'If you buy a ticket to the Tapas Trail, this is what you get to do – you arrive at Brooklyn Patio & Bar and get served crispy chicken with apple and ginger slaw, a selection of wood-fired pizzas and a margarita to match, move on to Macau for steamed bao bun and ginger prawn dumplings gyoza with fruity sake. Next stop Nomad Food + Wine for a mouth-watering ginger and lime cheesecake with turmeric curd and coconut sherbet, paired with a whiskey sour cocktail. Finish your Tapas Trail at The Barrel Room with a selection of finely aged Port and Cheese served with walnut crackers and quince jelly.

'This event is going gangbusters. The great thing about the Tapas Trail is you get to choose a 6pm, 6.30pm, 7pm or 7.30pm session. Get with your friends and do it.”

The event is selling out so quickly that Sally is hoping it may be run an extra night.

'On Wednesday August 8 is meet the locals at The Barrel Room,” says Mainstreet Tauranga's Millie Newitt. 'Your opportunity to try local artisan food as well as local wine by Mills Reef Winery.”

'If you like whisky and cheese the Top Shelf Tasting Room will be doing a Midwinters Dram, pairing whisky and cheese.

'Also there is Bare Essentials, at The Barrel Room, a beer tasting experience for ladies only, presenting a wide selection of craft beer, with nibbles included.”

'An event that's already sold out is a wine tasting with gourmet banquet at Brooklyn Patio & Eatery,” says Sally. 'We've asked them to see if they can fit in their schedule another evening for this for Taste Tauranga. If they can't they will next year. It's another example of a great event, you've got to get in quickly to get your tickets.”

Winner of the $4000 diamond Monique Corbett from Teawanui with Harry van Heerden from Peet Jewellers

Deputy Mayor Kelvin Clout, his wife Kathryn, and Tauranga City Councillors Larry Baldock, Leanne Brown, Terry Molloy and Catherine Stewart all attended the Taste Tauranga launch.

'This is an event that we've wanted to put together and have worked on for such a long time to showcase our city centre,” says Sally. 'To showcase those amazing bars, cafes and restaurants that make up our city centre. To celebrate everything that's good in food and also to support our hospitality sector because they work so hard.”

Sally plans the event to be held annually. Already at the start of August, some of the events featured for 2018 have sold out.

Millie Newitt

Other events planned during August include A tour of NZ Pinot Noir presented by Snapper Rock at the Topshelf Tasting Room, which will take participants on an exploration of different Pinot Noir from Malbrough, Martinbrough and Central Otago. The wines will be served with antipasto and there will be spot prizes and discounted prices.

Lone Star will be providing ‘All you can eat Redneck ribs' on Wednesdays through August.

Taste Mediterranean at The Barrel Room is an event that will feature a selection of Mediterranean wines to taste, and nibbles from Vetro.

'A Wild Degustation sounds fantastic,” says Sally. 'The team at Crown and Badger have put this together. It's five courses with each course paired with a cocktail.”

Over 25 restaurants have set menus planned for August, which are priced at $20, $30, $45, and $60.

'The set menus are also amazing and the restaurants and cafes have done an awesome job of putting together new flavours and dishes,” says Millie. 'It's a great way to spend your lunch or dinner, you can choose your price, your flavours and your location.”

'Set menus is the foundation of Taste Tauranga,” says Sally, 'and has been put together by us and by the cafes, bars and restaurants because we wanted to encourage people to spend a bit more time in August, and maybe dine out or grab lunch, and be out and about more than you often would.

'We're trying to break people's habits by tempting them with some set menus that are at great value prices.”

Taste Tauranga runs through August, and more information can be found on the Downtown Tauranga website - https://www.downtowntauranga.co.nz/taste-tauranga

Natalie Baker and Andrea Meredith

Kasey and Karena Bird

Amy Rice from Kex Kitchen

Joe Brownless and Wendy Oswald from Comvita

The diamond was hidden inside an ice cube

Kathryn Clout and Aimee Driscoll

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