A food adventure to discover the #TasteofAus, visit #NomaAustralia and launching #APBfoodperiscope.

So my first post for 2016 (finally) and its more exciting then even I could imagine it to be! 

As I type I am all packed and ready to go off on a food adventure! In a few hours I’m flying off to Australia on a foodie walkabout. My trip starts with Adelaide, relatively undiscovered but very much a food hub. From there we travel to Sydney where I will join some of the finest foodies from India and the world for the Noma Australia pop up. And after that I head to Melbourne  where we will savour the Mebourne food and wine show and explore Victoria’s secret J!

I am travelling to Australia as a guest of Tourism Australia for the #NomaAustralia pop up. This is part of a grand extension to Tourism Australia’s #RestaurantAustralia’ campaign. The concept of ‘Restaurant Australia’ was developed to highlight the exceptional food and wine experiences Australia has to offer. In 2014 they invited the world to dinner. And now they have surpassed themselves by welcoming one of the world’s most influential restaurants, Noma, to curate a unique cross continental ‘pop up’.  Chef René Redzepi’s original Noma restaurant, located in Copenhagen, has been named Best Restaurant in the World four times and received two Michelin stars till date. Noma’s Sydney pop-up opened its doors on January 26 and already has a waitlist of 27,000 diners! The restaurant will run until April 2 at Anadara Building, Barangaroo, Sydney serving lunch and dinner to food fanatics. Redzepi has scoured Australia from coast to coast, travelling and tasting wild ingredients from Margaret River in Western Australia to South Australia’s Limestone Coast, Port Phillip Bay in Victoria, the New South Wales Northern Rivers region and off-shore - from the Tiwi Islands off Darwin to Tasmania’s Flinders Island.

“Our menu is about the flavours of Australia,” said Chef René Redzepi. “The last few months have been about experiencing first-hand where produce comes from, then trying to recreate it in situ, adding our own touch. We began by getting an understanding of the landscape. Visiting the people, seeing what they eat and how they cook, filling ourselves with those experiences and images. Then we went on to decide the direction of the food and the cooking style. On my many trips around Australia I’ve seen larder that is so foreign to me. Foraging for abalone, eating fresh muntries, nibbling on pepper berries and cracking open a bunya nut – these experiences are so wild compared to what we’re used to in Europe. Spending time with indigenous communities in places like Arnhem Land, have left the biggest impact on me and the team. For instance, seeing the use of fire as the main way of cooking ingredients inspired us. Most of what we’re cooking at Noma Australia will be cooked over fire.  We’ve built a menu based around the ocean and the coastal ranges. Clams, crabs, marron, the seafood is so pristine in Australia that we’ve had almost too much to choose from.”

 

Chef Rene has taken Australia’s culinary offerings to the global map by showcasing the country’s heritage and people, its stunning locations and extraordinary array of produce, including wonderful ingredients indigenous to Australia. And I cannot wait to experience what he has created.

Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, Chef Vicky Ratnani, Chef Ranveer Brar, Vir Sanghvi, Rashmi Uday Singh and Marryam Reshii are also going to be part of this gastronomic sojourn and I cannot help being excited to share and learn from such industry stalwarts! Not to mention the crème de la crème of the global culinary industry will be coming together that night! A meal out of my food fantasies as interpreted by of one of the world’s best chefs with such fabulous company!

But wait, there is more! You know how we always say wish you were here when we are having a great time while travelling? Well this time I can invite you along! Food lovers in India who can’t be there will be able to savour this gastronomic extravaganza with front-row seats! Join me and all of the others as we travel around Australia, bringing Australia’s food alive through Q&As, live Periscope broadcasts, master classes, videos, photos, live tweets and more #OnlyOnTwitter!

In fact, Twitter will be home to all things food trough March. Twitter India and Twitter Australia in collaboration with Tourism Australia will also host one of Twitter’s iconic food properties: #TweetWhatYouEat on March 2nd at 9.30 am IST at the all-new Twitter Sydney office! For two hours, Twitter users will be able to ask questions, converse and engage directly with all of us through Twitter Q&As that will be held at the #BlueRoom in the Twitter Australia office. Joining us will be Adam Liaw of Masterchef fame.

And for you my dear reader, I would like to share that we have launched #APBfoodperiscope today. This means that I and my team at APB Cook Studio will be sharing much food porn as I head out to #RestaurantAustralia #TasteofAus and Team APB Cook Studio live broadcast bits from our classes and events over the next few weeks..

I have always loved Australia, I once wanted to live there. That did not happen but my sisters did migrate there. And thanks to that I have been able to really discover amazing Australia long before Masterchef put it on the map. But this trip is one I never anticipated in my wildest dreams! A incredible backdrop in Australia, which is vast, full of beautiful landscapes and home to the finest produce and wine. Add to it the best chef (Rene Redzeppi of Noma) in the world create a meal of food fantasy. Fabulous company to share it with! If you had asked me 12 years ago whether I saw myself being here at this moment in time, I doubt I would have had much to say! I'm not sure what other women dream of but all my fantasies have revolved around food for a really long tiime. This, however has pretty much surpassed most of them. Excited and humbled and excited and thrilled all at once!

Here is the Periscope video where I launched #APBfoodperiscope . I was awful in this one but there will be a lot more food and lot less me from down under so do follow me on #Periscope which is an awesome app on twitter that allows live broadcast from anywhere. Come trip the food fantastic with me Down under!

Never has food been celebrated at so large a scale, kudos Tourism Australia for such vision and more so for seeing it through! And @TwitterIndia thank you for coming on board for this mad scheme! I love your enthusiasm and support of food, lets make this delicious!.  

GYAAN

Here are all the handles and #Hashtags you need to follow on Twitter:

Follow (if you don’t already ) @SanjeevKapoor, @VickyRatnani, @RanveerBrar, Me (@RushinaMG), @VirSanghvi, @RashmiUdaySingh, Marryam Reshii - @Reshii, @ReneRedzepiNoma and @AdamLiaw.  

And the hashtags are #TasteOfAus (an exclusive hashtag coined specifically to capture the Australian culinary journey of only the Indian influencers travelling to Australia. Also follow #NomaAustralia, #RestaurantAustralia and #TweetWhatYouEat and #APBfoodperiscope.

On Instagram and Facebook

Follow @Australia and click on #SeeAustralia and #RestaurantAustralia