If Wellington was a dish

The first Wellington on a Plate food festival is on from Monday until the end of the month. To mark the event, we asked five top chefs, if Wellington was a dish, what would it be?
How would you interpret Wellington as a dish? Post a comment

Here they reveal what the city inspired them to create for us.

SHAUN CLOUSTON - SWEET PLACE TO LIVE

Jaffa mousse with honeycomb, almonds and a short black. The inspiration for this food interpretation of Wellington represents a few of the things that make the capital so great. For example, there is the friendly rivalry between Wellington and Auckland - we have a nickname for our Auckland cousins, the Jafas (Just Another F...ing Aucklander), so, a light airy jaffa mousse on a plate is a nice start to our dish.

Chocolate is also a part of this dish - Whittaker's has been making chocolate in Wellington for nearly 100 years, so it is fitting to use an iconic local product.

Honeycomb represents our rich political history and, of course, the Beehive. And as I spend a lot of time in Cuba St, I have added a nutty component almonds to the dish, as homage to some of the more colourful people who make Wellington their home.

Lastly, there's coffee; our cafe culture is rich and vibrant, and a great cup of coffee is an essential part of a lot of Wellingtonians' days. But the main reason I have chosen a dessert to represent Wellington as a dish is because it's a sweet place to live.

Shaun Clouston trained as a chef at Wanganui Polytechnic and was one of the founding staff at Logan Brown Restaurant and Bar, where he was sous chef. After six years travelling and working overseas, he returned to Logan Brown three years ago and is now head chef and a partner in the restaurant.

Logan Brown Restaurant and Bar, 192 Cuba St, ph 048015114, loganbrown.co.nz

REX MORGAN - COFFEE CULTURE

My dessert - a mocha mousse and cappuccino brulee on roasted bean and raspberry crumbs, with a cafe au lait gateau, espresso glass noodles and icecream with chocolate and mint sauce - is a tribute to Wellington's coffee culture.

And, much like the mix of people and cultures in the city, it has different flavours and techniques.

Like the city, the dish has an artistic side to it and, also like the city, it features both classic ideas, such as brulee, and modern ideas - the glass noodles and the bean/raspberry crumbs.

I believe Wellington is the coffee capital of New Zealand. Wellingtonians are pretty addicted to coffee - it's important to them. We get homesick for good coffee when we travel overseas.

The masters of the industry, L'Affare, Supreme and Havana, to name a few, have been doing what they do for a very long time and doing it so well. I was very excited when L'Affare offered to make a special blend for us at Citron so we could serve a smooth after-dinner coffee to finish an evening of dining, and not have it overpower everything our guests have just eaten.

How great it was when Fuel opened at Wellington Airport -  the first airport in New Zealand where you could actually get a quality cup of coffee.

Multi award-winning chef Rex Morgan (Te Arawa, Ngai Tahu) owns and operates Citron Restaurant with his partner, Wendy Hillyer, since they opened it in 1992. He trained at Waikato Polytechnic and has worked at Huka Lodge and Icon at Te Papa, as well as in Switzerland and at Blakes Hotel, London, and is a senior consultant chef to Air New Zealand.

Citron is closing on September 12 and Rex will become executive chef at Boulcott St Bistro.

MARTIN BOSLEY - CITY SKYLINE

Cocoa-dusted venison short loin, mushroom-thyme sponge, wild mushroom reduction, suet pork pie with truffled lentils, roasted quail breast on a bed of silverbeet, with beetroot, pumpkin puree, smoked tomato jam and blackberry powder.

Visually the dish represents what we see from the restaurant. The pumpkin puree is the harbour, the movement of the waves. The pie, the mushroom sponge and the venison is the skyline - Kaukau and the view across the CBD that you get when you are seated here. The pie is a nod to the colonial settlers; there's coffee flavours that reference the city's cafe culture, and European influences with the truffled lentils. The flavour reference is our terroir and that's the wine regions of Martinborough and Marlborough - so it's quite earthy, quite mineral-ly.

(Martin chose to highlight a dish from his restaurant menu which had been inspired by the city, rather than creating a new dish).

Martin Bosley owns award-winning Martin Bosley's at the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club in Oriental Bay. He was head chef at the Grain of Salt at the age of 20. A brief stint at Petit Lyon followed, after which he opened his first restaurant, Giverny. He was head chef at Brasserie Flipp during the '90s before a four-year spell in Port Douglas, Australia. As well as writing weekly and monthly magazine columns, he also appears regularly on TV One's Good Morning. He published his first book last year.

MANFRED DROTSCHMANN - POLYNESIAN INTERPRETATION OF WELLINGTON ON A PLATE

When looking into the history of Wellington, I found Polynesians were the first people to settle here, so I wanted to reflect that in my dish. It's infused with elements of traditional island flavours; a sort of reinvented take on tradition, if you like.

The fish - kehe or marble fish - represents the fish hooked up by Maui. I've marinated it in coconut milk and lime, then grilled it. Underneath there's a green banana and oat porridge, and tomato for colour. A pawpaw puree and raspberry infused balsamic vinegar add extra zing and represent the colours of Wellington. It's finished with a sweet wisp of spun sugar and coriander to garnish.

Manfred Drotschmann is the executive chef at Bellamy's restaurant at Parliament House. A German-trained chef, he also has a degree in economics. He has cooked in three, two and one-star Michelin restaurants throughout Europe, and before coming to New Zealand in 2005 spent five years working on a cruise ship. His first job in Wellington was at the award-winning White House restaurant in Oriental Bay.

SARAH GINELLA - WELLINGTON'S LANDSCAPE

The city's bush covered hills meeting the sea reminded me of a Spanish dish, Mar y Montana (sea and mountains). It was my inspiration for the Wellington On A Plate dish I have designed. It incorporates ingredients found on both land and sea, including mussels and fish, rabbit and pork, so that both the composition of the dish and its look reflect the original inspiration. This is my version of the classic dish, with a modern twist.

Sarah Ginella is a freelance Wellington chef, currently at Bella Italia in Petone. She trained in New Zealand, then cooked in London for five years, at Quaglinos, Atlantic and Del'Ugo. She returned to the capital to take up the position of head chef at Pravda. That was followed by a stint at Rocco, after which she opened her own restaurant, Powder, in Auckland's Ponsonby Rd. After living in Uruguay for several years, she returned to Wellington as chef at the new Holiday Inn.

- Dominion Post