Local hospitality businesses joined with producers on the weekend to showcase food and beverage pairings that put smiles on the faces of all in attendance.
Karu Distillery's House of Spirits teamed-up with Copperstone Restaurant at Karu's Grose Vale headquarters to create a four-course menu with drink pairings, everything sourced from within 40 kilometres of the venue.
Producers included Happy Farm North Richmond, a regenerative, certified-organic farm on the banks of the Hawkesbury River, as well as Llandilo's R&R Roosters, a small farm that highlights ethical practice.
We aim to support our local community whilst enjoying the wonderful flavours around us.
- Taylor Lang
Produce was also sourced from Fairy Wren Organics based in Grose Vale and Bilpin which supplies fresh vegetables, herbs and gourmet mushrooms, as well as Melanda Park, a fourth-generation Ebenezer farm that provides ethically-farmed pasture-raised pork.
Also on the menu was produce from North Richmond's Goose on the Loose, which makes award-winning beef, duck, pork, venison and wild boar varieties of salami, and Bowen Mountain Bread which makes sourdough.
House of Spirits Duty Manager Taylor Lang said the concept of the event was to highlight what's "right in the backyard of the Hawkesbury".
"We aim to support our local community whilst enjoying the wonderful flavours around us. We have come together to bring an event where all food and beverage pairings are all sourced within 40km of House of Spirits," Ms Lang said.
She said it was a common goal of Karu and Copperstone's to source as locally as possible.
"In the Hawkesbury, we are fortunate to be surrounded by a region with a diverse range of agricultural products. When we're eating locally, we're eating in season with produce tasting fresh and flavourful. We see it as investing in your community and enriching local culture," Ms Lang said.
Ms Lang, 25, was recently bestowed with the Outstanding Youth Award at the 2022 Hawkesbury Local Business Awards, something she said was down to her "serious passion to create exceptional guest experience, in every job I do".
On the 40km Long Lunch menu, some mouthwatering creations included the hot rooster terrine with chilli crunch and Bowen Mountain sourdough with whipped butter, and a course of whipped goats curd, fennel marmalade, baby leaves and ginger with charcuterie, radishes and ranch dressing.
ALSO MAKING NEWS:
One the drinks side of things, there was a special cocktail for sale on the day, called Nan's Blue Lemonade, which used Ms Lang's nan Peta Lette's lemons, and lemonade made by Ms Lette's neighbour Chris Norkaitis, both from North Richmond.
The beverage paired with dessert, called a Shot of Happiness, teamed apple pie spirit with a slurp of locally-sourced cider.
Sourcing from local producers wasn't just a one-off for chef patron Graham Neilson, who uses locally-sourced produce on his menu at Richmond's Copperstone Restaurant.