Food Wine Writers' Festival

Adelaide Food & Wine Writers' Festival

November 1997

A meal from Cheong Liew (The Grange, Adelaide Hilton) is about as good as restaurant food gets in Australia. And, I believe, only in Australia could Cheong's talents have developed so well.

After coming to Melbourne from Kuala Lumpur in 1969 he first learnt about pies and chips at Spencer St. railway canteen; then went on to Adelaide and cooking steaks in some pubs before chancing upon a very fine Greek chef who set him onto a more classical path. Cheong soon came to terms with French and Italian food and after meeting Barry Ross (who later partnered Phillip Searle, Sydney's Oasis Seros and now Vulcans, Blackheath) and his wife, Mary Zukelis, took over Neddy's and food culture in Adelaide and Australia has never been the same since. After selling Neddy's (which became Nediz Tu) Cheong spent seven years teaching at the Regency Park College before coming to The Grange.

I can't imagine that any other country would have provided a young Malaysian student with this range of culinary experiences and opportunities. And it was the "liberal" culture of Don Dunstan's Adelaide which had set the mood to accept Cheong's ground breaking style. It is a style which effortlessly combines Indian, Greek, French, Spanish, Asian techniques and flavours on the one plate into one harmonious and miraculous dish. Previously I have tried Cheong's legendary "Four Dances of the Sea" a graceful and inventive foursome of soused snook, octopus aioli, spiced prawn sushi, raw cuttle fish and black noodles; a White Rock veal cutlet with cucumber, shrimp and green tea, spring onion biscuits and many other dishes he cooked for us in Melbourne at Mietta's two years ago.

The inaugural Australian Wine and Food Writers Festival last month in Adelaide provided the opportunity to try more of Cheong's creations at The Grange (steamed bouillabaisse custard, fried fish with marjoram, anchovy butter; Kangaroo Island marron baked with bourbon and lime, marron mousse and Squab pigeon Muglai style with grilled pear, spinach puree, yoghurt curry) and also to talk with Don Dunstan and Steven Cheng his partner-chef at the restaurant Don's Table in Norwood.

Don chaired a forum on Italian Cooking at which I spoke during the Festival. This was just one of dozens of sessions held over four days in the Botanic Gardens at which the world's finest food writers gathered to talk, argue and sell their books. Some of them also collected "Ladles" at the first World Food Media Awards Dinner. Charmaine Solomon won a silver ladle for her Encyclopaedia of Asian Food (in the early days of Mietta's, her Complete Asian Cookbook was often used) and it was wonderful to hear Claudia Roden speak about the daily rituals of home cooking in the Middle East. Jules Lavarack, our first chef and original partner, used her recipe for Bstilla (a pigeon or chicken pie with spices, almonds, and eggs) on our opening night in 1974 and at Mietta's Queenscliff Hotel, Patricia O'Donnell (my sister), still uses the recipe for Orange and Almond Cake from Claudia Roden's A Book of Middle Eastern Food.

Alongside the talk fest in the gardens was Feast for the Senses with a wine tunnel, cooks in concert, tastings, master classes and large marquees showcasing food and wine from all over Australia, including that organised for Victoria by Mike and Sylvia Johnson (manager Melbourne Food and Wine Festival). The Feast, the Festival and the Media Awards were all part of Tasting Australia, devised by Ian Parmenter which saw some 62 international writers and more than that number from all around Australia.

So after days of talking about food and eating (good Malaysian noodles and asparagus sambal at Casuarina, gamberoni, linguini and fiori fritti at Cibo, oyster and skordalia pie at The Grange Kiosk) we escaped to the vineyards of McLaren Vale just 45 minutes from Adelaide. When we met Peter Dawson, Hardys' Chief Winemaker and the 1997 International Red Winemaker of the Year, at the company's Tintara winery he looked a bit tired after the previous day's celebrations following the Adelaide Wine Show results. The 1996 Eileen Hardy Chardonny had just won a swag of trophies including The Max Schubert Trophy for the Best Consumer Table Wine in the Show as well as the overall Adelaide Trophy Wine for the most Outstanding Red or White Table Wine in the Show. A white wine winning an award to honour the founder of Grange rather upset the traditionalists who assumed only a "serious" red wine could be a contender. We were pleased that our favourite, the delicious 1995 Tintara Grenache won a Gold Award as did the 1995 Eileen Hardy Shiraz. After tasting wines at Tintara, Chapel Hill (Pam Dodson's reds are all sold out at the moment but there is available a good austere Eden Valley Riesling) and Wirra Wirra (note the 1996 McLaren Vale Chardonnay and the original blend Church Block grenache and shiraz) we did need food again and found Wirra Wirra owner, Greg Trott's choice of Salopian Inn, a good one. The Tilbaroo veal tongue with tuna and caper sauce worked particularly well with The Fleurieu a co-operative wine made by a group of winemakers for the McLaren Vale Vistors Centre. The Inn's manager, Pip Forrester, uses and sells a lot of local produce including an excellent goats' cheese made by Francois Brehin.

Lunch was all too brief as we had to get back to Adelaide and the food talks. We missed visiting Chateau Reynella and the Barossa vineyards with the glorious Barossa Music Festival which provides (amongst many wonderful performances) recitals for the winners of the City of Melbourne Song Recital Award started in 1995 at Mietta's.

And before the next Festival I hope to get back to Adelaide to check out The Botanic Front Bar, the "Moderation" Cellar and Wine Shop which wine guru Phillip White will be opening before Christmas. Next week Don Dunstan and Steven Cheng take possession of a handsome historic building at 87 Kensington Road, Norwood, which, after some months restoration, will become the new site for Don's Table (current phone is 08 83643488) The 1860's building will hold a number of different dining areas and include an exhibition space in the old stables (1840's) of food history in Australia. Official opening is planned for the Adelaide Festival (Feb 27-March 15)

But if the horses in Melbourne give us a big win today we'll be racing back before then to eat more of Cheong Liew's food at The Grange, Adelaide Hilton. Phone 08 82172000

See also Angus Trumble's series of walks around Adelaide

Mietta O'Donnell
Published in the Herald Sun Food & Drink Section on the 4/11/1997
Â©Mietta's 1997

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