Curious Feast for the Senses

This week I was one of many lucky foodies who won tickets to attend a night of food and wine fun hosted by New Zealand wine brand Brancott Estate. The Curious Feast for the Senses event is being held over four nights this week and I got to attend last night for the second round of the event. Our hosts for the evening were Cully and Sully who kicked off the night by getting the audience involved in some fun and games. These were designed to challenge our perceptions of food and engage our curiosity. It's amazing how wrong people can get when sampling simple food items while blindfolded!

Our chef for the night was Garrett Byrne of Campagne in Kilkenny, which I was delighted with, as this is a restaurant that has been on my to do list for quite a while.On the menu were foods I had never sampled before such as Samphire and Oyster Cream. We were served a three course meal teamed with wines from the Brancott estate and what a feast it was! A starter of cured organic salmon, oyster cream, cucumber, dill and samphire followed by a main of slow cooked suckling pig, apple marmalade, picked white cabbage and organic carrot puree - sublime deliciousness. This was all topped off by a dessert of raspberry jelly, white chocolate mousse, pistachio and dried raspberry tuille.Out of all the Brancott wines we got to sample I particularly like their Marlborough Pinot Noir - I'm a red wine girl at heart.

There are two more nights to this event which will feature chefs from Pichet and Tankardstown House. I'm a little bit jealous that I can't attend them all but sure I will just have to go and visit all the restaurants now but a trip to Campagne will be top of my list!!

Here's a link to Campagne if you feel like going there too!

Cully, Sully and Chef Garrett

Cured organic salmon, oyster cream, cucumber, dill and samphire

Slow cooked suckling pig, apple marmalade, picked white cabbage and organic carrot puree

Raspberry jelly, white chocolate mousse, pistachio and dried raspberry tuille