Collaborations between chefs and brands have become commonplace in recent times, with powerhouses joining forces to create innovative products and events. GT takes a closer look at four of the best, both past and present.
1. Tanqueray x Marley Spoon
If there were a perfect time to play host, this would be it. Last month Tanqueray joined forces with food critic Matt Preston and meal kit delivery service Marley Spoon to create two specially curated dinner boxes themed around entertaining. Available in two menu variations – Korean and French – each box provides home diners with everything they need to host a three-course dinner party, including Tanqueray London Dry Gin cocktails.
The collaboration comes as new research reveals the increasing popularity of at-home entertaining, with more people doing so now than five years ago. In addition, the Ultimate Dinner Party Box contains locally sourced, pre-portioned ingredients, with zero food waste.
An elevated take on the regular meal kit delivery model, menus include a medley of Asian snack favourites (think Brussels sprouts bao buns with fish sauce caramel and kewpie), as well as Australian restaurant mainstays such as roasted Sommerlad chicken with duck fat potatoes. The dessert offerings are just as impressive: there’s a spiced dark chocolate and walnut torte or chocolate mousse with mandarin.
Of course no menu is complete without a tipple to match, and Tanqueray’s selection of gin-based cocktails only further adds to the experience. Ginger and shisho leaf G&T, anyone? The collaboration is available until 26 April.
2. Breville x Sydney chefs at Raising Dough
Breville’s new collaboration sees leading Sydney chefs and media personalities join forces to raise money for the ongoing Australian bushfire crisis. On Monday 23 March, the appliance company will host a pizza party at Three Blue Ducks in Roseberry, where chefs will partner with media stars to create bespoke toppings, with all ingredients and produce sourced from fire-affected areas.
Among the lineup of chefs: Mark LaBrooy (Three Blue Ducks), Trish Greentree (10 William St), Nic Wong (Icebergs Group) and Orazio D’Elia (Matteo Sydney). Media talent will include Larry Emdur, Tim ‘Rosso’ Ross and GT‘s Joanna Hunkin. Fratelli Paradiso and 10 William St will power the bar, curating wine and drinks for the night that, again, are sourced from towns in fire-affected areas.
Tickets are $50, and will include pizza, snacks and drinks from 6pm-9pm.
3. Sonoma x Icebergs Dining Room & Bar
Last December, Sydney’s Sonoma bakery and Icebergs Dining Room & Bar collaborated on a Christmas panettone. The joint venture held significance for the two Eastern Suburbs landmarks, with Icebergs one of the first restaurants to use Sonoma’s bread in 2003.
Made with Australian native ingredients (honey, vanilla roasted macadamias, milk chocolate, Davidson’s plum and sour cherries), the down-under take on the Italian sweet bread was the result of a nine-month project led by Sonoma’s executive pastry chef Alejandro Luna, Sonoma’s bakers, and Icebergs’ Alex Prichard (head chef) and Brittany Smith (pastry chef). The Christmas panettone was available on the menu at Icebergs group venues, as well as for sale at select venues, in the lead-up to Christmas.
A true labour of love, each panettone took 36 hours to make: in keeping with tradition, breads were hung upside-down for six hours after emerging from the oven to preserve their dome top.
2019 marked the first Christmas creation between Sonoma and Icebergs, but we’re holding out hope for an annual release.
4. Drumstick X Messina
Since its inception in 2002, Australian dessert giant Gelato Messina has continued to entice customers with its unrivalled line-up of audacious flavours (Milomiso, Foxy Cleopatra, Left Over Turkey Stuffing – to name a few). Its east-coast outposts have established a cult-like following, with its availability on home delivery services adding further demand.
Last year, the gelato veteran announced a collaboration with another Australian dessert icon; Peters Drumstick. The partnership resulted in the creation of four Drumsticks x Messina flavours, available in supermarkets nationwide. The two dessert brands travelled between Peters Drumstick’s factory in Mulgrave and Messina’s kitchen in Rosebery to develop the co-created cones.
A successful partnership in more ways than one, the Messina company switched its mango supplier throughout the collaboration to the same supplier that Peters uses after learning of its superior flavour.
5. Chase Kojima x Victor Liong
One of the biggest chef collaborations of 2019 was that of Chase Kojima (Sokyo, Kiyomi) and Victor Liong (Lee Ho Fook), with news the pair would abandon their respective Japanese and Chinese cuisine for an experimental fusion of the two, making waves throughout the hospitality industry.
Chuuka, the chef’s joint harbour-side restaurant, in partnership with The Star, opened in July last year. A first, the one-of-a-kind fine diner settled the debate of ‘what cuisine should we have tonight?’, plating up a respectful union of the two cultures, the cooking style effectively a Japanese interpretation of Chinese cooking but geared to suit local tastes.
Featuring a mix of familiar Cantonese classics, made with Japanese ingredients and cooking techniques, the menu is fuelled by big flavour and off-kilter twists. The venture includes a caviar service where fish eggs are served with savoury sides, as well as a frozen yoghurt service where diners can create their own dessert (perhaps a yuzu-spliced froyo with matcha milk crumbs?).
The esteemed chefs’ ‘East meets East’ take on fusion may have left Sydney diners divided, but the consensus remains: there’s nothing quite like Chuuka.
Lead image: @chuukasydney
Brought to you by Tanqueray
