FOOD & DRINK

Auckland’s Abbey Bar & Restaurant has been named 12th annual Monteith’s Beer & Wild Food Challenge winner after an intense live cook-off against five other "wild" chefs.

One hundred and twenty restaurants entered this year’s competition to find the perfect wild food and Monteith’s beer match. The challenge was to create one main dish using two wild food ingredients sourced from within a 100-kilometre radius of their restaurant. Their unique meal was paired with one of eight Monteith’s beers and offered to diners alongside standard menu items.

Close to 6,500 diners visited the competing restaurants during June and July, voting on the dishes and enjoying the unique experience that Monteith’s has skillfully created. The public’s favourite entrants were also assessed by Monteith’s convenor of judges, Kerry Tyack, who had his own challenge of whittling down the leading contenders to six finalists. Joining Kerry at the cook-off was a respected panel of restaurant critics including Al Brown of Logan Brown restaurant in Wellington and award-winning food writer and food expert, Margaret Brooker.

The Abbey’s winning dish is called "Rudolf the Russian Red Beer," which is a lavender crusted venison rack with a taro and green banana filled apple, red currants, goat’s cheese and golden kumara soufflé and maple poached Jerusalem artichokes, carefully matched with Monteith’s Celtic. The dish’s name was inspired by Chef Eugene Sokolovski’s Russian heritage. The Abbey will continue to offer "Rudolf the Russian Red Beer" for another month for keen diners to try.

The other five finalists in the competition were Loading Ramp in Havelock North, Mount Bistro in Tauranga, St John’s Restaurant in Wellington, The Porch Kitchen & Bar in Waihi Beach and Wineglass Café in Wanaka.

Peter Yealands

Aucklander Crowned Cocktail Champion