Superstar chefs spice up new food festival

"There have been many food and wine festivals here but this is the first with soul. It has been truly inspirational."

WA chef Don Hancey said many of the superstar international chefs who attended the inaugural Margaret River Gourmet Escape weekend, which ended yesterday, "have just been blown away by this place".

"They're taking away a good feeling but they're leaving a good feeling, too," he said.

The four-day event, which started with a cocktail party on Smiths Beach on Thursday, ended last night when the 30 invited chefs held a private knees-up at the luxurious Cape Lodge near Yallingup.

Events ranged from $600-a-head dinners to $37 general-entrance tickets to the Gourmet Escape Village at Leeuwin Estate and included beach barbecues, talks, stage shows and appearances by some of the world's most-recognised chefs.

MasterChef judge George Calombaris said the calibre of chefs was remarkable. "I can't ever recall seeing so many heavy hitters at one event," he said. "It's created such a buzz around the world."

Although the dinners were sumptuous and the food exciting, it was the public appearances which had local audiences raving.

Internationally renowned restaurant critic A.A. Gill had dinner guests at Leeuwin Estate in stitches as he recalled the infamous incident when he and actress Joan Collins were thrown out of Gordon Ramsay's London restaurant in 1998.

Event organiser Michael Hodgson said the event has exceeded expectations in terms of ticket sales and crowds.

"We were also excited by the amount of Chinese visitors to the event," Mr Hodgson said. "That's something we'll grow on in coming years."

Mr Hodgson said exposing the visiting superstar chefs to indigenous culture was, unexpectedly, what turned out to be the talking point of the weekend.

Source: The West Australian, 26 November 2012