news
Sustainable seafood on the menu WITH yet another one of Australia’s fisheries achieving certified sustainable seafood status and moves by Sydney chefs to declare the iconic Sydney suburb of Bondi Beach a sustainable seafood area, the issue of the best way to responsibly use seafood continues to be a big one. Australia’s Northern Prawn Fishery this month officially unveils its achievement of certification under the global Marine Stewardship Council program that gives it the right to sport the MSC’s blue eco tick for sustainable seafood. The NPF includes banana prawns, tiger prawns and endeavour prawns. Last month also saw the launch of a new group backed by Sydney chefs that is aiming to ensure that the six tonnes of seafood that is sold through the various seafood eateries at Bondi can be guaranteed sustainable. The idea is the brainchild of Sandra Marshall from non-profit group Blue Starfish who said she wants to make Bondi a ‘mecca’ for sustainable seafood. “So people know exactly what they’re getting when they come here,” she said. One of the challenges the group wants to tackle is how to make the right choices of seafood to use when there is such a range of opinion about what’s sustainable and what’s not. HOSPITALITYMAGAZINE.COM.AU
MOST READ STORIES
1 2 3 4 5
Liquid nitrogen ban for NSW bars T-rex spearheads Palmer’s Coolum Resort strategy Maggie Beer criticises supermarket duopoly Almonds containing salmonella recalled Australia-wide New backpacker tax a tourism threat, says industry
Source: hospitalitymagazine.com.au, 22-30 October, 2012
4
hospitality | november 2012
Awards
Regional restaurant savours crowning as national best Victoria’s Eleonore’s Restaurant has been named Restaurant of the Year. THERE were big celebrations at in the Victorian town of Yering last month when Eleonore’s Restaurant was named Australia’s Restaurant of the Year at the national Restaurant and Catering Australia’s Savour Awards for Excellence. The restaurant, at the historic Chateau Yering Hotel, was also named Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year, up against finalists including Sepia, Jacques Reymond, Sage, Restaurant Sanctuary, Spicers Peak Lodge and 1907 Restaurant and Cocktail Bar. Chateau Yering chef Mathew Macartney accepted the awards at a glittering industry event held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. The award caps a successful time for Eleonore’s since Macartney started at Chateau Yering in late 2007. Over the past four years the restaurant has maintained its one chef hat status in The Age Good Food Guide for the consistently high standards there. It’s the second year in a row the restaurant has been named national Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year at the Restaurant and Catering Savour Awards.
Mathew Macartney and some of the fine food at Eleonore’s.
STREAT’s the path to success for homeless A Melbourne organisation is using hospitality training to help to break the the cycle of homelessness for young people. By Brea Carter ON ANY given night, 26,060 of the 105,000 Australians defined as homeless are young people aged between 12 and 18-years-old. Compelled to see these numbers decline following their own experiences with street youth in Vietnam, Rebecca Scott and Kate Barelle formed not-for-profit organisation STREAT that’s using hospitality training to combat the problem. Now celebrating three years of operation, STREAT runs three businesses in Melbourne - two cafes producing tasty, affordable dishes inspired by the street culture of countries throughout the world as well as a coffee cart - that are used to train young people for a career in hospitality. STREAT general manager of operations Jen Miller said the trainees complete a Cert I and Cert II in hospitality with William
Angliss while doing weekly work experience shifts in the cafes. The organisation’s experienced baristas, chefs and hospitality staff facilitate on-the-job training as they coach and mentor the students while they prepare coffees, serve customers and learn food
preparation skills. So far more than 52 students have participated in the organisation’s program, which takes between eight and 14 students in January and July each year. For more see www.streat.com.au hospitalitymagazine.com.au