We are happy to report that Chef Alan Yu, joined by Hunter McGregor, arrived in Christchurch mid last week and their visit to New Zealand took off with a good start - culminated in a successful event with a masterful cooking presentation.
The trip started with a visit to Mountain River Processors, for a tour of the factory and to meet with staff. Visiting a processing facility was something Alan hadn't done in around 28 years and his feedback was about how clean and efficient the operation was.
Then, Alan and Hunter visited Northbank Station to meet with Adam to see the deer farm in operation.
Alan then made is way into the kitchen at the Dunsandel Community Centre, to prepare dishes for the afternoon presentation. Joining Alan was Chef Graham Brown and quite a few helping hands to help with preparation for the evening.
We were delighted with the number of people who rsvp’d to the event (70+) and, while not everyone could make it, it was an excellent event with plenty of food and refreshments to go around.
The dish of the night was Venison Heart Tartare - here’s Chef Alan Yu in action preparing the dish:
Recipes and more info will follow as we share more of Chef Alan Yu's visit to New Zealand.
During the evening, Hunter and Alan answered questions from attendees and offered some interesting insights into the Chinese market, including the communication, online community-building and advertising opportunities available with WeChat.
We were delighted with the community coming together to welcome and meet with Chef Alan Yu, and we want to thank everyone involved in putting the event together and also those who came along to participate in the evening.
Alan has plans to immediately use our venison on a set menu in one of his restaurants when he gets back to China. Thanks, again, for those of you who could make it!