News

We were excited to be featured in a promotional booklet of regional NSW included in the December issue of New Zealand’s Cuisine magazine.

Titled “50 reasons to visit New South Wales” it includes 10 must-do activities in each of 5 regions. We appear under the South Coast section with other wonderful foodie experiences!

Part of our busy-ness in Spring was due to preparations for the small part we got to play in the Restaurant Australia campaign. This Tourism Australia initiative saw over 80 food influencers – chefs, bloggers, journalists etc – from around the world descend on Australia in November. Visiting all states we had a number of these influencers tour regional NSW including the South Coast.

We helped host French foodie, Anne Anne Latillade fom the blog Papilles et Pupilles and also helped with the locations selected for Chinese TV program ‘Follow The Master’ with celebrity chef Yifan Liu. Both dined at Wharf Rd in Nowra, with Anne also visiting Salvatore’s Smokehouse to try our smoked south coast oysters, and then South Coast Providores; while Yifan’s crew filmed at Schottlander’s Wagyu and sampled milk and gelato at The Pines, Kiama.

We had great fun filming with Mike Whitney and the team from Sydney Weekender once again. The episode is going to air this coming Saturday, 5 April, so be watching at 5.30pm on Channel 7.

The team filmed three of the venues we visit on our Foodie’s Indulgence ‘Tastes of Saddleback’ tour which showcases producers in the Kiama, Jamberoo and Gerringong region. On the day the weather was amazingly great given the serious floods and storms that besieged the South Coast the night before. So on a surprisingly sunny day on our lovely south coast you’ll meet Gerhard from Schottlander’s Wagyu, Kel from The Pines gelato and Kirsten from The Schoolhouse artisan cheese and tea.

 

Exciting to read this story in today’s Sydney Morning Herald Traveller section, mentioning some of our friends and farms in Jamberoo, Kiama and Gerringong. Our thanks to Kate and the team from Kiama Tourism for organising this media showcase late last year. These are just some of the places we will be visiting on our ‘tastes of Saddleback’ Foodie’s Indulgence tour this year (kicking off in Autumn). Read the story here.

We were chuffed to receive a note from the Mayor of Kiama after he read the story by Sally and Gordon Hammond of website ‘Food and Travel’. Sally and Gordon were part of a media tour late 2013 to check out the foodscape in and around Kiama, Gerringong & Jamberoo.

“I have just read the report on the recent famil tour of our area in ‘Food and Travel’ and of your assistance to the writers. It was a great report. Congratulations on your efforts. I hope all is going well…” Regards, Brian Petschler, Mayor, Kiama Municipal Council.

Pretty cool! Here’s the story and video if you’d like to check it out.

From oils to table olives… Kangaroo Valley Olives has a simple philosophy – to bring to kitchens and tables across Australia the highest quality table olives, grown and produced in Kangaroo Valley.

They offer locally grown olives from green to purple to black and from the small nuttier varieties to large and fleshy types. The olives are hand-harvested and left whole so the superb taste of the olives offers a complex balance of fruitiness and bitterness, delighting even the most discerning connoisseur.

kangaroovalleyolives.com.au

We were delighted to host a small contingent of international travel journalists and media as part of the Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) 2013. This annual event is our largest tourism showcase profiling Australian tourism businesses to international buyers and media and we provided the guests with a ‘taste’ of our Foodie’s Indulgence tour as part of a 4-day South Coast food and wine trail.

In December 2012 Foodscape Tours had the pleasure of hosting Lorraine Elliott of food blog Not Quite Nigella, along with her husband, Mr NQN. It was a delightful day hosting them on our ‘Berry and Beyond’ Foodie’s Indulgence tour. Check out the ‘Bewitching Berry’ post (opening with the shot of a beautiful Illawarra Flame Tree we passed at Numbaa – used here with permission from Not Quite Nigella) for a blow by blow account of our tour and some great tips on other foodie delights around Berry: http://www.notquitenigella.com/2012/12/21/berry-ns/#more-74122

If you missed out on seeing Foodscape Tours featured on Sydney Weekender back in May 2012, we now have the clip posted on YouTube. We were visited by program host Mike Whitney who had a great day tasting his way around ‘Berry & Beyond’. In addition to the main story we’ve also posted the show opener which was shot at Two Figs Winery where we concluded our fun day of filming. Click here to check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8KEKYcScro

Named because of the two Moreton Bay Fig trees on this expansive and gloriously located property, Two Figs Winery is usually our last stop on our Berry & Beyond Foodies Indulgence tour.

At Two Figs we are hosted by winemaker and owner Shayne Bricker and his team, where we enjoy a walk to the chardonnay block and some education about the unique aspects of winegrowing on the South Coast.Planted in 2003, Two Figs winery is now producing wines including cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, chambourcin and verdelho. The climate is temperate with maritime influences and produces soft approachable wines. These premium award winning wines are available for tasting and cellar door sales amidst the equipment and barrels of his working winery.

Speaking of awards the 2011 Rose won a Silver medal and Best in Class at the 2012 South Coast Wine Show, while the 2011 Chardonnay and Grumblebone Shiraz were both awarded Bronze medals. In addition, Two Figs bagged four Bronze medals at the 2011 Kiama Regional Wine Show for their 2009 Chambourcin, 2011 Rose, and both their 2010 and 2011 Chardonnay!