Wiley’s Karen White was among the hungry gathering of food critics and industry representatives present for the official launch of the Brisbane Market’s state-of-the-art commercial kitchen last Thursday, 26 July, 2012.
Karen shares her experience.
The morning kicked off with a tour of the market’s trading floor in action and introduction to some of the local personalities. Celebrity chef and TV presenter Ben O’Donoghue was there and added his personal know-how about some of the available produce and particular suppliers as we walked through this busy area.
After grabbing a few choice potatoes, Ben led us into the test kitchen and along with Brisbane chef Wayne Dowse proceeded to show off the kitchen’s fantastic facilities as they prepared us a mouth-watering brunch. In particular, the audio visual system that allowed Ben and Wayne to demonstrate what they were doing via the two mounted cameras and four LCD screens, just like a cooking program on TV.
The glass outer doors of the kitchen were opened up directly out to the markets in full swing and it was a key part of the experience gaining such an obvious connection between the fresh ingredients and the food we were about to eat. I really savoured eating such fantastic food in this incredible new building surrounded by a bunch of foodies all thriving in their element.
This event also marked a chance for me to personally celebrate with Andrew and the market staff our recent ‘Excellence in Sustainable Building’ win at the Brisbane Master Builder’s Awards. It was great to talk with them about their ongoing relationship with the Wiley group. What a fabulous project outcome, none of which was possible without the extent of collaboration achieved between these two groups, and of course good decisions.
The market kitchen is now available for hire for the staging of cooking demonstrations, food orientated team building days, food photography, training, catering, and even small scale food manufacturing.
For enquiries contact the Market Kitchen Booking Coordinator on 07 3915 4200 or email admin@brisbanemarkets.com.au.
Read the Brisbane Markets press release on the launch here.
