Food Fight - Port Douglas Carnivale

Tommy Young - 2 Fish Restaurant Port Douglas
15th May 2010

Get eight top chefs of Port Douglas together and you have a ‘Food Fight’; not in the literary sense but a challenge to create the most impressive menu and deserve the title of Master Chef Port Douglas.

Staged at sunset on the Port Douglas Sugar Wharf on Thursday 27^th May, a mystery basket of ingredients will put the chefs under pressure of a panel of professional industry based judges. Celebrity Chef Darren Simpson from La Sala Restaurant, Sydney and Neil Hargreaves, Food Stylist from the Age Epicurean will adjudicate the winner based on a number of criteria including the difficulty factor in preparation, the creative use of the ‘mystery’ ingredient, the skilled execution of the dish, how it relates to current cuisine trends and of course how good it tastes and looks.

Tommy Young is one of those Young Chefs of Port who heads up the kitchen at 2 Fish Restaurant on Wharf Street. He came to Australia from England and worked at the Radisson and Opera House in Sydney before taking off to Canada. Much too cold there, he needed to defrost and chose the lifestyle of Tropical North Queensland. Tommy enjoys the hard work of the kitchen that is balanced by ‘always something exciting to do’ on his days off, that this region offers. Tommy has been in Port Douglas for nearly six years and has worked as Sous Chef of Nautilus and The Living Room before becoming Head Chef at the stylish 2 Fish Restaurant.

“Awesome”! Tommy describes the local food of this region. “I love this Asian influenced tropical cuisine that is very different from the traditional one I was trained in” he added.

Other chefs participating in the Food Fight are Shaun Malone - Bucci Ristorante, Thomas Ahsendorf and Phil Seely - High Tide Beach Bistro Bar, Goran Zonai - Salsa Bar & Grill, Evan Seaward - Bistro 3, Spencer Patrick and Sam Hiroki - Harrison’s Restaurant, Andy Gray - Bel Cibo, and Anthony Kramer -Sakinah House Restaurant.

This inaugural event should be extremely entertaining with the audience also participating in the ‘People’s Choice’ vote which qualifies them for the door prize draw; two tickets to join the Chef’s Table at the inaugural Palates of Port dinner the following night. For more information go to www.carnivale.com.au