By BRIDGET COOK
LOCAL food and flora will be in the spotlight as the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival comes to Cranbourne this month.
The Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne has been selected as one of 22 locations for a Regional World’s Longest Lunch, as part of the festival, on Friday 14 March.
Part of the Australian Garden will be transformed into an open-air restaurant, alongside the Ian Potter Lake, for this inaugural event celebrating the best of food and flora.
Guests will enjoy a three-course lunch prepared by acclaimed chef Andrew Blake, including ocean trout, applewood barbecued chicken breast and caramel milk panna cotta.
Mr Blake said the menu selections would showcase the best of local produce alongside matched fine wines from Mornington Peninsula’s Ocean Eight Vineyard and Winery.
“It’s a match made in heaven,” he said.
“It’s a perfect storm… the combination of a regional World’s Longest Lunch cooked by Blake’s Feast with wines by our favourite vineyard, Ocean Eight, and in a fantastic setting at the Australian Garden is one not to be missed.”
In keeping with the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival’s theme ‘the bounty of water’, guests will enjoy expansive views across the Ian Potter Lake and its unique Lily Pad Bridge as they tuck into a seafood entrée.
The event will be held on Friday 14 March from 12noon to 4pm.
Cost is $145 per person and bookings can be made by calling 9821 0669 or emailing amy@blakesfeast.com.au.
