Page 54 - Tropic Magazine Issue 10
P. 54
Lifestyle
Food
Tropic food Q&A with Damon Georgiou
challenge How much local produce do you use in
your menus at Novotel Cairns Oasis
Novotel Cairns Oasis Resort?
Resort’s executive chef As much as we can! Since we are a
Damon Georgiou gives us 24-hour operation I have the opportunity
a modern TNQ spin on his to use it anytime of the day, through
grandmother’s traditional breakfast, lunch, dinner and also for our
Greek dish. conferences and events. Rollingstone
pineapples are featured almost every day
on our breakfast buffet, as well as
watermelon from the Atherton what the region has to offer. We have
Tablelands, which we also use on our A la tour operators showing off the lifestyle,
carte menu in Mizuna restaurant. Bowls the boats taking them out to experience
of Innisfail bananas are always around the Great Barrier Reef. And it’s a chef’s
for the kids to grab and many Mareeba responsibility to showcase the produce
limes are used in both our bars for and what can be done with each item.
tropical cocktails and in the kitchen for Some of the products will be familiar to
dressings. Daintree barramundi is a very the guests but it can also be how we use
popular choice for us. We also review the or serve it as people’s appetites and
catch list from Cairns Ocean Products cravings are different in our warmer
every day to see what the boats are climate compared to the southern states
bringing in. As I’m answering these and overseas.
questions right now we are using Mahi
Mahi. We also hand cut all our chips What are the challenges facing local
using potatoes from the Tablelands. chefs trying to use local produce?
Price and consistency. As we all know the
Why is it important to use local produce? price of local produce is very fluid due to
It’s pretty simple. People travel to Cairns limited supply, weather events and
(or any destination really) to experience sometimes shorter seasons. To manage
