The Gardens
Utilising the garden is a major part of our food philosophy.
It is that time of year when things come ready for us. We always have the rhubarb which grows like crazy for our entire season, but we have picked the blackcurrants that go into the Muttonbirds jus, my second attempt at mushrooms is looking good, cape gooseberries are ready, raspberries coming on and blueberries (second lot after the birds got the first good crop) getting there also.
These are things from our traditional earth gardens, as we also have the hydroponic setup with the tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce etc. The mushrooms are looking good after a slow start with me trying to grow them from a Mitre10 purchased bag. It has to be simple to be worth doing so our mussel bouy setup could hold the answer, fungers crossed (excuse the pun).
With running the restaurant light on numbers our ability to sustain ourselves is becoming more realistic. Homegrown and homemade is a theme for many restaurants these days but it is something we have always done, not just a marketing catch phase.