This was one of three key things that made her and Vicki feel they’d nailed it. Julia says there was great excitement when Ben Bayly, former Te Awamutu-boy-turned-celebrity-chef, agreed to cook dinner in his old hometown. There are opportunities for new places, too, such as Lykke Café in Frankton, to be part of it, and Amanda Graham’s Taste Asian Flavours Walking Tour.”įeast also looked for some top culinary names to be the headliners. “Cinnamon, in St Andrews, is doing BBQ, Burgers and Beers on its terrace, perfectly pitched for a brilliant café at the heart of its community. As well, there will be wine (from Dog Point Vineyard) and platters for the owners. It’s doing a Hoppin’ Hounds Egg Hunt, where people can bring their pooch to what is believed to be the country’s first Easter egg hunt for dogs.
She mentions The Keg Room, at Rototuna, known as a dog-friendly place. Vicki says Feast is an opportunity for hospo people to showcase the essence of their business. The invitation went far and wide to hospitality businesses to devise a Feast event stalwart supporter restaurants such as Mr Pickles, Hayes Common, Cinnamon, Keystone, Smith and McKenzie and others came forward, a progressive dinner in Hamilton’s CBD was locked in, the bones were there.
We are stronger together there are so many benefits in collegiality.” We said we’ll find a way to make it work. And people in hospitality are exhausted, there is so much unpredictability. “We should have been signing people up from one Feast to the next, but we lost a year. “We’re really proud of this, there’s great variety,” says Julia.Ī quick recap: the first Feast celebration was held in 2019, the more ambitious 2020 programme was launched on a February balmy night at Hamilton Gardens, and then it became another casualty of the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown.
#Dreamview pasta free#
Julia skims through the programme, counts heads there are 26 different functions ranging from big-ticket affairs with celebrity chefs to smaller lunches, dinners and free events hosted by local eateries and groups throughout the region. They joke that some people probably said ‘yes’ to stop the stream of calls. Vicki and Julia have made countless phone calls and pitches to chefs, restaurants, funders and sponsors. She’s talking about the somewhat bumpy path to this particular Feast, over coffee with Julia Clarke, WFI’s project and events manager.įeast 2021 has largely been cooked up at Vicki’s kitchen table or Julia’s office desk, and there is a board that shares the vision and the work. The challenge is harder: find the money, the sponsorship, the people, places and producers to make it fly.įeast Waikato 2021 – March 31-April 5 - has been a tough beast to deliver, but as Vicki Ravlich-Horan says, “we never give up, that’s our mantra.” Vicki is the founder of Waikato Food Inc (WFI), the not-for-profit hospitality promotional group that runs Feast and other events. The motivation is simple: run a key event at Easter that celebrates the Waikato’s amazing food and producers, make it a joyous occasion that builds pride in the region. Just two words about our water: it gushes from the mountain and from chemical and bacteriological analysis (that we do regularly) prove to have a low dry residue, it is very light and stimulate diuresis purifying organism.Denise Irvine talks to Vicki Ravlich-Horan and Julia Clarke about putting Feast on the Waikato’s Easter table The meal includes cover, a selection among three starters, three main courses, side dish, fruit or dessert and spring water. If you ask for a particular diet (vegetarian, celiac, diabetes, etc.) please inform us at the time of booking.Īll our guests can also choose both half-board and full-board. In autumn we organize chestnut festival to spend a cheerful day with music and taste of chestnut product. In Amelia we have a little sitting room next to the bar, where we serve breakfast and even lunch and dinner in winter period (booking required). We also have typical dishes like soups, tripe, livornese salted codfish. Our cuisine offers genuine and simple plates of Tuscan tradition such as fresh homemade pasta, game and mushrooms.