Dining Galleries — Off the Clock

Snacks: it’s your time to shine. We’re celebrating the dishes chefs turn to after service or with ingredients on hand when it wraps – plates best enjoyed with a glass of vino and a chat. These gems won’t be found on a menu, and that’s part of their magic.  

Zoe Birch, Dave Verheul, Trinh Richards, Nick Tadija and Georgie Rogers will shape a languid afternoon of eating and drinking. Discover their stories: recipes that speak to time and place, memory and connection.  

Birch grew up in country Victoria as part of a food-loving family, each year guided by the seasonal vegetable harvest, entries to local shows and the daily ritual of baked bread. She worked across top Melbourne restaurants – Middle Brighton Baths and The Courthouse among them – before launching the intimate Greasy Zoe’s in Hurstbridge. Here she will prepare two snacks: a lion’s mane mushroom schnitzel with goat curd and chives, and a kangaroo tartare accompanied by rye crisp, pickled muntries and purple carrot.  

Melbourne wine bar Embla is Verheul’s home base: stage for inspired dishes enlivened by the wood-fired oven and grill. Vegetables are given hero status in much of his cooking, while handcrafted vermouth made under his Saison label has emerged as a new passion. For this Tasting Australia experience he will offer fare including squid bigoli, fennel, green olive and black lemon. 

Also at the pass: Trinh Richards, whose Aldinga restaurant The Little Rickshaw is loved for modern Southeast Asian fare crafted in its tiny kitchen. Fellow McLaren Vale chefs Nick Tadjia and Georgie Rogers will join the fun too. Tadjia stars at Down the Rabbit Hole’s restaurant Fiore, embracing past and present in seasonal Italian fare, while Rogers is executive head chef at nearby Angove and champions small farms and producers through her wine-friendly food. 

Take your time at a lunch where chefs work unconstrained by the carte. This Tasting Australia experience is officially off the clock. 

INCLUSIONS –

• Food: ten snacks
• Beverages: paired beverages with each course

MENU HIGHLIGHTS –

• Chicken skin crisp, whipped anchovy, lemon and chicory 
• Squid bigoli, fennel, green olive and black lemon 
• Coal-grilled South Australian king prawn, ‘nduja vinaigrette, lardo, brioche toast, prawn head and tarragon mayonnaise  
• Lion’s mane mushroom schnitzel, goat curd and chives 
• Black sesame meringue with mandarin-spiced rum sorbet and buffalo milk crème patisserie   
• Wild fennel ice cream 

MORE INFORMATION –

• Wheelchair accessible venue
• Age 18+ event
• Caters to vegetarian, vegan and coeliac dietary requirements*

*For more information, refer to our Ticketed Event FAQ's. For any other requirements please contact the event organiser prior to purchasing.

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