Nearly two years ago, Mr Silver and I embarked on an adventure that took us around the east coast of Australia. It was the best holiday I’d ever had and you can read about our whole experience starting here.
One my favourite things about Australia is the food, we rarely had a bad meal, there’s so much gorgeous fresh seafood and good quality meat served in the restaurants over there. So when I was invited to a supper party with Australia’s version of Jamie Oliver, Luke Mangan, as chef, I was excited to sample his cuisine.
I arrived at the venue, a private house in Fitzroy Square, and took a moment to enjoy the surroundings.
An oasis in the centre of London…
But more importantly…
Let’s get the party started!
The event was held by the Small Maldives Island Company in order to present the chef of their new resorts.
Here’s the man himself!
Luke is one of Australia’s leading chefs and restauranteurs. He trained under Michel Roux and has shot up the Australian culinary scene, running 10 restaurants in Australia and Asia and consulting to Virgin Australia. He is a regular on Aussie TV and has five cookbooks and a range of products under his belt! Find out more about him here.
Luke is set to head up the restaurants at the The Small Maldives Island Company’s two resorts, Amilla Fushi (launching at the end of 2014) and Finolhu (opening 2015).I’m getting married in May (as I may have mentioned once or twice…!) and the Maldives has always been a dream honeymoon destination for me. We’re getting married at the wrong time of year for the Maldives so I’ll have to save it for another time but I loved listening to hotelier, Tom McLoughlin and his colleagues tell us about the gorgeous properties.
And then it was time to eat!! We were invited into the kitchen to help ourselves to the food!
First the starters
Oysters
Delicious salmon and feta
Beautifully cooked prawns and mango
Luke cooking philosophy is fine fresh ingredients showcased with a contemporary twist. He achieves this by frequently fusing his classic French style of cooking with Asian influences.
With the main course it got even better…
A fantastic Mediterranean fish dish
Quail
Rare beef…Mr Silver would love this…
Butternut squash
Stunning tomato salad
A Moroccan halloumi and chickpea creation
Does Mr Mangan know me? He uses all my favourite ingredients!
And to finish the night, dessert was served.
Ahhh….brownies
A modern Eton Mess
Cheese!!
Chef enjoys his own creations.
It was a really wonderful night; I ate amazing food and met lovely people and I went home to dream of future Maldives holidays…. especially if Luke Mangan is cooking for me.
