Kate Holland
Being a chef means juggling a multitude of demands. So, is inviting a fellow foodie into the kitchen to interpret your menu an act of generosity or insanity? Alana Brabin, head chef at Kangaroos Island’s majestic dining venue The Enchanted Fig Tree, is all for it.
She’s set side two nights of the season where she’ll be joined by guest chefs, who are also her friends. Sarah Turner (Chef of the Year 2007) and Rocky Oliver (Pirate Life) will enter the fig tree fold on Sunday February 25 and Saturday March 23 respectively.
Sarah Turner is one of Adelaide’s fine dining hospitality legends. Classically trained and disciplined, plating to perfection is something she’s really proud of. Alana, on the other hand, is more focussed on the theatre of fire, flavours and connecting with people. What they have in common is a great respect for each other’s talent. When they combine forces, magic happens. Alana forages for weird and wonderful ingredients and they brainstorm recipes together.
Do they remain amicable in the kitchen? In fact, they do. Working together as part of Big Bad Wolf Catering, they fall into the positions they need to. “Fine dining events see Sarah take the lead while festivals and BBQ-style occasions have me at the helm”, Alana said.
For their joint effort at the Enchanted Fig Tree, Sarah will take the lead on the canape, entrée and dessert. It will be an equal collaboration on the existing main meal. You can expect a healthy dose of fun-filled banter along the way.
While Alana wouldn’t share too many secrets about the dishes on offer, she did mention that Sarah went to school with KI’s scallop diver and said there could be a nod in his direction.
If Sarah’s name seems familiar beyond her reputation as chef, it could be for her role heading up the catering call during the horrific KI fires. She collected donations from suppliers and cooked non-stop for two weeks to ensure service people on the island were fed.
Next to share cooking duties is Rocky Oliver, Executive Chef at Pirate Life. He and Alana have a great relationship and have collaborated on many events. They click over food and humour. In the heat of the kitchen together, they laugh! A lot.
Not only is Rocky a very funny man, but according to Alana he possesses next level talent. During his visit he’ll create a canape, entre and main very different from the existing menu.
While it can be said that too many cooks can spoil the broth, on these two occasions they look set to enhance it. Bookings are available via the Gastronomo website.
The current Enchanted Fig Tree season runs until April 8.
