MEDIA RELEASE
14th June 2011
Monteith's Wild Food Challenge Chefs Set To Be TV Stars
2010 Monteith's Beer and Wild Food Challenge winner, Brad King of The Porch, Waihi Beach.
Nearly 80 chefs from around the country are currently cooking their hearts out for the coveted 2011 Monteith's Beer and
Wild Food Challenge title under the watchful eye of consumers. But this year they have good reason to feel a little more
nervous than usual.
Television production company, Eyeworks, renowned for series such as Missing Pieces, DIY Rescue, Game of Two Halves,
Dragon Den and My House My Castle, will film 14 entrants for a new eight week series for TV One called, 'The Monteith's
Beer and Wild Food Challenge'. The series will screen weekly from Thursday 6th October at 9.30pm until 24th November.
Fronting the series will be Auckland-based Foodstore head chefs, Mark Southon and Wylie Dean, who will embark on a road
trip of New Zealand sampling entrants' wild food dishes and beer matches as well as meeting suppliers and local
identities in the towns they visit.
Monteith's marketing manager, Jennie Macindoe says the television series is a huge opportunity for all involved in this
year's competition, not just the chefs who end up being filmed.
"The involvement of a television network is a significant milestone and a great opportunity for the Challenge. Everyone
will benefit from the series, regardless of whether or not a chef and their restaurant are involved in filming. The
exposure that the entrants and their towns receive will be enormous. We're really excited about the opportunity and
looking forward to helping profile New Zealand's longest running beer and food matching competition and some truly
creative cuisine."
The series will be promoted by both Monteith's and TVNZ and those involved in the series will have their recipe detailed
on TVNZ, thefoodstore.tv and Monteith's websites.
The chefs and restaurants involved in the series won't necessarily be in the Monteith's Wild Food Challenge final.
Contestants in the Challenge are judged purely by their consumers and a panel of expert judges led by head convenor,
Kerry Tyack. The winner would traditionally be announced in August but this year's winner will be kept under wraps until
the series concludes given the final 'cook-off' will be the last episode.
Eyeworks will also visit the Monteith's Brewery in Greymouth as part of the series as well as filming the following
chefs and restaurants:
1. The Drake - Auckland
Chef: Diego Stella
Dish: The Black Duck Hopper (Locally grown duck, rabbit, rosemary, goat's cheese, pears, carrots, leeks, red wine,
coffee, chocolate, rice, mushroom, pistachios, raspberries, black grapes, Monteith's Black Beer, Monteith's Crushed
Apple Cider)
Beer Match: Monteith's Black Beer
2. Clevedon Hotel - Auckland
Chef: Paul Povey
Dish: Italian Cowboy (loin of buffalo with cress/herb salad, buffalo ricotta, spinach, sun dried tomatoes, ravioli and
huntsman sauce)
Beer Match: Monteith's Black Beer
3. Ribier Restaurant - Huapai
Chef: Eugene Sokolovski
Dish: Royal Hare Force
Beer Match: Monteith's Celtic Red Beer
4. Pepper Tree Restaurant & Bar - Coromandel
Chef: Scott Corbett
Dish: Honey, the Duck's Sweet on the Sow
Beer Match: Monteith's Radler Bier
5. The Porch Kitchen & Bar - Waihi Beach
Chef: Timothy Lumsden
Dish: Wild Peter Rabbit
Beer Match: Monteith's Pilsner
6. Smith & McKenzie - Hamilton
Chef: Tom Wiperi
Dish: Babbling Brook to Roar (Smoked Eel, Watercress, Monteiths Black Caviar, Horopito Rubbed Venison, Heritage Potato,
Kumara, Pikopiko and Roast Capsicum Salsa, Port Wine Glaze).
Beer Match: Monteith's Black Beer
7. Plateau Restaurant & Bar - Taupo
Chef: Jude Messanger
Dish: Four Wild Pigs in the Orchard (Wild pork tender loin, wild boar neck, smoked bacon, wild watercress, apple, pear,
baby carrots, grapes, fennel, chest nuts, walnuts, Madeira jus and fresh hand-made pasta).
Beer Match: Monteith's Crushed Apple Cider
8. The Redoubt Bar & Eatery - Matamata
Chef: Jenny (Ginge) Seidel
Dish: Bugs Bunny Comes to Matamata
Beer Match: Monteith's Crushed Pear Cider
9. The Loading Ramp - Havelock North
Chef: Daryle Schlierike
Dish: Paua to the Skate (skate wings and paua)
Beer Match: Single Source
10. The White Swan Hotel - Greytown
Chef: Shannon Katipa
Dish: Look Hare.....A Wild Little Pig Said, so what if I'm a tart! (Wild hare and pork belly ragout)
Beer Match: Monteith's Original Ale
11. Monteith's Brewery Bar - Khandallah, Wellington
Chef: John Mold
Dish: The Not So Boaring Billy Goat Burger
Beer Match: Monteith's Celtic Red Beer
12. Watershed Bar & Restaurant - Christchurch
Chef: John Finlayson
Dish: The Original Seabed and Boarshore (Carmalised wild pork belly, kumar, kawa kawa, flaxseed croquette, baked
Monkfish, Nelson scallops, wild manuka smoked bacon and Kaikoura crayfish bisque cream)
Beer Match: Monteith's Original Ale
13: The Coalface - Greymouth
Chef: Colin Cutler
Dish: Marinated Venison with Celtic Cabbage and Brandied Blackball Bacon
Beer Match: Monteith's Celtic Red Beer
14: Taste Restaurant - Geraldine
Chef: Bryanna McNab
Dish: Catch 22 (Hare, butter, flour, water, eggs, chocolate, ginger, garlic, spices, chicken stock, cream Wallaby,
nettle leaves, blue cheese, spring roll wrappers, berries)
Beer Match: Monteith's Crushed Apple Cider
ENDS