Two more of New Zealand’s best culinary talents were recognised at the Feast by Four Famous Chefs, the restaurant industry’s annual black tie gala dinner.

Twenty-eight years’ experience in the hospitality industry, including establishing Wellington’s highly acclaimed Logan Brown Restaurant & Bar and co-creating the popular TV series Hunger for the Wild, was recognised with chef Steve Logan being presented with the Hall of Fame Award.

The Westpac Innovator Award went to returned Kiwi ex-pat and former New Zealand and British “Chef of the Year” Mark Gregory for his work in founding and managing the local DineAid charity.

Make a statement with your food purchasing habits by buying products displaying the Blue Tick - it’s your guarantee of cruelty-free food.

The Blue Tick is the Royal New Zealand SPCA’s national certification programme that identifies the animal food product it adorns as being produced in a manner that is guaranteed to be cruelty-free. 

Choosing products displaying the Blue Tick logo enables consumers to confidently select humanely-produced food.

This means that the animals have a good life and have been allowed the “Five Freedoms”:

• Freedom from Hunger and Thirst, by having ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour.

DB Breweries has been crowned 2010 New Zealand Champion Brewery at the BrewNZ Awards in Wellington.

The title for the country’s best brewery capped off a triumphant night for the 80 year old company which collected five trophies and eight medals in total - the most for any entrant.

DB Breweries’ managing director Brian Blake says credit for the company’s success lies with DB’s team of experienced and passionate brewers.

“I’d like to congratulate our brewers on their achievements on winning five trophies and eight medals across a wide range of categories and beer styles. After 80 years of brewing the brands Kiwis love, it’s rewarding to see our brewers’ passion, talent and commitment to quality recognised by the international panel of judges.”

Muddy Water is proud to announce that Sylvain Taupenas has been promoted Assistant Winemaker

Sylvain is our latest team member. Born and raised in France near the Swiss border, he initially trained as sommelier and Chef. Sylvain used to work in top restaurants in France and Switzerland (Marc Veyrat, Paul Bocuse, l’Ambroisie, Lenotre….).

He came to New Zealand in September 2006 to have a break for a year, and has remained. He travelled around New Zealand for several months before settling in Christchurch where he worked at Saggio di Vino as a sommelier.

He learnt a lot about NZ and Australian wines working at Saggio’s. “It was very hard to find NZ wine in Europe, especially in France.” He tried lots of wines to improve his knowledge. At Saggio’s he was responsible for the improvement of the wine list.

A whopping 39 Hawke’s Bay restaurants and cafés will compete at this year’s Regional Signature Dish Competition being held from September 10th to October 19th.

Food Hawke’s Bay’s Jane Libby said the numbers were astounding and a “real thrill to see in a tough economic climate”. For the first time a café category has been added to incorporate as much of  Hawke’s Bay’s culinary expertise as possible.

Diners will be able to vote in the People’s Choice Awards in each of the three categories – formal, casual and café. A line-up of mystery judges will be kept a close secret in order to maintain the utmost transparency and fairness for eateries.

All entrants have submitted their dish of choice for the competition with competitors’ details and menu descriptions featuring on the Food Hawke’s Bay website.

Testo rolls out the first water-tight folding thermometer and the smallest folding thermometer

Testo of Germany, one of Europe’s leading instrumentation manufacturers has released a new range of folding thermometers in New Zealand through their sole NZ agent, Eurotec Limited of Auckland.

Designed for the food industry, the testo 103 and 104 folding thermometers quickly and reliably measure the temperature of food. They are robust, hygienic and extremely easy to operate, making them ideally suited for use in relation to quality assurance and production in the food sector.

At Hallertau Brewbar and Restaurant, located just north of Auckland in the quaint township of Riverhead, doing things differently is completely normal.

The brainchild of self confessed beer guru Stephen Plowman, the Hallertau concept is a New Zealand first, being the only restaurant with its own locally brewed beer running exclusively on tap. Steve is so confident that his beer is the best in the country, he sees no need to sell anything else. 

As well as that, Steve and his wife Hayley are committed to using wine, food and products sourced locally, with their location meaning that many world class ingredients are available right on the doorstep.  

Hallertau’s commitment to the creation of a genuinely unique and warm epicurean experience extends to the keeping of its own chickens so that eggs are as fresh as they could possibly be, and also its own herb and vegetable garden.