Surprise award

Press, 19 July 1989, Page 27

Surprise award

Winning the first Tegel Poultry Co, Ltd, Restaurant of the Year award was surprising and exciting for the owner-opera-tors of Grimsby’s Restaurant, Wayne Beaumont and Rex Morgan. The award was for excellence in the preparation and presentation of Tegel poultry products.

Three restaurants — Grimsby’s, the Parkroyal’s Canterbury Tales and Tiffanys vied for top place in the event, which was part of the Christchurch Polytechnic’s Interhost, held recently in the Town Hall.

Each restaurant taking part had to prepare, cook and serve a three-course meal in two and a half hours using Tegel products. This took considerable effort and organisation because pots, pans, ingredients, crockery, cutlery and furniture had to be transported to the Town Hall, Wayne Beaumont said. “It was a real team effort by all our staff.”

The “team” consisted of the chef, Tony Gibson, the second chef, Marcel Rood and the waiter, Tony Boyce. Grimsby’s entered the event aiming to do the best they could. Winning the prestigious event justified their faith in the business, Mr Beaumont and Mr Morgan said.

Each restaurant had the freedom to choose its own fare. Points were awarded for originality and for the amount of food prepared during the competition rather than brought preprepared. The mouthwatering menu the chefs cooked into first place began with duck breast salad with a warm champagne and orange vinaigrette accompanied by chicken livers flambe and hot corn muffins. This was followed by chicken tournedos nesting on a bed of fresh vermicelli accompanied by a medley of mushrooms. Raspberry and lime crocuembouche enhanced with a beech honey dew ice cream was the delectable conclusion.

The wines they chose won them high points, Rex Morgan said. Their choice of wines was to enhance the dishes rather than blend with them. Tio Pepe accompanied the first course, 1986 Morton Estate Methode Champenoise the second while 1986 Weingut Seifried Beerenauslese was served with the dessert.