Chef’s mission

By Tania Martin
OLINDA’S chef extraordinaire, Ben Higgs, is doing his country proud: he is working hard to boost Australia’s food and wine profile.
Mr Higgs, the owner and head chef of Wild Oak restaurant, is getting ready to return to Hong Kong and China this year to continue his quest to highlight good old fashioned Aussie cuisine.
This follows a “guest chef” tour he took last September.
Mr Higgs was chosen to head a promotional tour of the region in conjunction with several South Australian wineries.
“I was just in the right place at the right time,” he said.
One of the biggest challenges had been the language barrier: The executive chef was French and even he didn’t speak Chinese.
“It was like watching an episode of Fawlty Towers,” Mr Higgs said.
A problem in China was that food quality and availability were poor. “We ordered an Australian barramundi two months ahead of time and it arrived two days after I got there,” he said.
“They freeze everything in China, even the mushrooms.”
No such problem in Hong Kong where the best Australian produce and meat was on offer.
Mr Higgs said the trip was a fantastic opportunity to highlight not only Australian cuisine but the best fresh food and wine on offer in the Yarra Valley and Dandenongs.
There was a lot of work to be done for his June tour, Mr Higgs said, and he even plans on conducting a few cooking classes.
“I am going to teach some kids how to make lamingtons and maybe a pavlova,” he said.
Now he is busy getting menus organised and recipes perfected.
“When I get there I have to hit the ground so everything has to be ready to go,” he said.
It will take more than 100 hours to prepare for his trip, putting together menus and deciding on the right wines, Mr Higgs says. But it’s all worth it
“It’s a great experience and good promotion for our food and wine industries,” he said.