A local relationship between a Wanaka restaurant and a Cardrona Valley farmer has come up trumps at a national hospitality awards ceremony.
A merino lamb-leg creation from Edgewater Resort head chef Damon McGinniss was named "best lamb" dish at the Hospitality Association of New Zealand (Hanz) awards for excellence recently.
The winning dish is a braised and pressed merino lamb leg with whipped potato, green pea mash and smoked tomato jus, the lamb sourced from Cardrona Valley farmer Ben Gordon.
Mr Gordon set up his lamb-supply operation, Cardrona Merino, two years ago to market his lamb cuts directly to restaurants and customers.
Mr McGinniss said the great relationship with his supplier was a crucial aspect of creating signature dishes.
Merino lamb was becoming a much sought-after cut by top-drawer restaurants for its distinctive and hearty taste, he said.
"It has so much more flavour than normal lamb - bolder and more pronounced," Mr McGinniss said.
Cardrona Merino was set up to promote merino lamb cuts as a quality product because of what he considered was a unique taste as yet unexploited in the market, Mr Gordon said.
Hanz has more than 1500 members and Edgewater's Sargoods Restaurant was picked as the winner from three finalists chosen from across the country.
It is the second nationwide food competition at which Mr McGinniss and Edgewater have made the finals with a dish of quality locally sourced ingredients.
A hare and doppelbock beer pie, rabbit sausages and confit of rabbit leg - all sourced from Tarras gamekeeper Steve Brown - made the final in the Monteith's Beer and Wild Food Challenge in July.
Photos by Matthew Haggart; prints available from otagoimages.co.nz.
