Page 52 - Port Douglas Magazine 30

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“THE DEFINING
CHARACTERISTIC OF
ANYONE WHO COMES TO US
IS QUITE SIMPLY THE LOVE
OF FOOD. WE LOVE TO EAT
IT, COOK IT, TALK ABOUT IT
AND BOND OVER IT.”

“I remember coming up here for a school holidays and talking to Dad After cooking - and eating - the scallop salad, we move onto whipping
about gardening,” Rachael says. “Well, he spoke, I kind of skulked up a traditional Myanmar Shan tofu, made on a chickpea flour base.
along behind him, barely feigning interest like most teenagers. He Ben explains how the tofu dish lends itself to a myriad of flavours
said he always wanted to grow his own lemongrass, so when Ben based on whatever herbs are available from the garden and has no
and I arrived on the property, lemongrass was one of the first things choice but to be tasty. “We can add any flavour to the dish - tamarind
we planted. for sourness, fish sauce for saltiness, fresh herbs for seasonality and
“Everything has been a learning curve, a work in progress. I grew texture,” he says. “How good are chickpeas? Hummus is delicious so
up in Newcastle then moved to Victoria – the seasonality down there of course this will be too, right?”
is vastly different to the tropics! Apparently, tomatoes don’t grow in The main course, jungle curry, is next off the pass. The group bash
September up here,” she laughs. lemongrass to release its tangy aroma, mash garlic, chop spring
Ben’s enthusiasm is equally palpable and ever present - he talks of his onions and pound the scud chillis, peppercorns, galangal and holy
love for the tropics and his discovery of South East Asian adventures. basil to a paste. After this, we simmer the ingredients in a row of
He was classically trained and spent good time in France and Europe mini pans along with freshly picked apple eggplant, snakebeans and
as a young chef. Then, after travelling through Asia and simply being the hero of the dish, the coral trout, with its skin on and meaty flesh
exposed to the different ingredients and cooking methods, he knew absorbing the intensely fragrant flavours.
he had stylistically found his base, and happily shares his culinary Lesson finished, aromas wafting and stomachs rumbling, we
knowledge of the garden Rachael tends. reconvene around the communal table to enjoy the results of our
“Tamarind is a sour element we use a lot of rather than using lime labour, languishing in the undeniable romance of the setting. “I look
juice. Lime juice can lose its flavour quickly, while tamarind sustains at the garden, and think, that’s not growing as well as I’d like it to,
throughout the cooking process. Ginger and galangal can be similar, and the weeds are getting away a bit over there, but other people
but galangal does tend to be more intense. It’s better in stocks and come here and just fall in love with the place,” says Rachael. There’s
sauces, while ginger can be eaten directly.” no lack of poetry in her gardening soul, while Ben’s mind is visibly
ticking over with recipes and flavour combinations based on what
The first items on today’s menu are fried shallots for garnishing and he sees.
the fish stock for the upcoming jungle curry. An enthusiastic and
gentle teacher (possibly the antithesis of many celebrated chefs), Ben “It’s the community we love the most here,” Rachael says. “The
instructs us how to fillet the freshly caught coral trout cleanly and defining characteristic of anyone who comes to us is quite simply the
swiftly, a task our surgeon friend quickly steps back from. “Humans love of food. We love to eat it, cook it, talk about it and bond over it.
yes, fish no,” he laughs. With fish filleted, onions fried and stock It’s a communal space where everyone is brought together over the
simmering away, we move onto the first dish, a spicy Vietnamese visceral experience of eating.” SECURE ONLINE BOOKINGS
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