LYALL MINHINNICK

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BEEF DISH

Beef fillet with smoked beef cheek, oyster mushrooms, confit Maori potatoes, leek and fennel puree, laver-bread wafer, charred onion, Maori spinach dust, nori butter and jus.

Lyall wanted to reflect the beautiful environment where he works with the ocean lapping at the front door. Fleurs Place has a reputation for gathering, harvesting and working with what the area provides, such as locally grown oyster mushrooms, Maori potatoes, fennel and seaweed. He felt all these flavours would combine beautifully with the light clean flavour of a beef fillet, delicately sous vide for the most tender outcome.

To add a punch of flavour he chose to pair the fillet with an opposing flavour and texture of the more gelatinous beef cheek. He lightly smoked the beef cheek before braising to intensify and add a denser beef flavour to his dish.

“While foraging on my way to work, I decided I wanted to showcase the clean subtle flavours of the coastline herbs and vegetables of Moeraki. I felt they matched so well with the purity of New Zealand grown beef raised on the well-nourished soil of the farms it is grown on.”

LAMB DISH

Lamb rack, lamb belly crackling, beetroot pickled onion, beetroot ketchup, roasted fennel, cauliflower puree roasted harissa cauliflower, pickled cucumber and sea asparagus, raita and lamb jus.

Lyall chose a premium cut of French lamb rack as the star of his lamb dish and paired it with the off cuts - the lamb flap and fat cap to make a delicious lamb belly crackling. He says using these off cuts adds an interesting texture and flavour to the dish without overpowering the clean and subtle flavours of the rack. He made the lamb crackling by roasting down the flap and cap until crisp then combining it with smoked sea salt, smoked garlic and toasted fennel seeds, all flavours he felt would complement and enhance the flavour of the lamb. Once the lamb rack is cooked and cut this crispy crust is pasted back onto the lamb rack using Dijon mustard to stick the crackling onto the rack.

To get inspiration for his lamb dish, Lyall visited the historic Totara Estate Gardens. While there he took the time to learn about the history of the paddock to plate journey as well as harvesting heritage vegetables from their gardens to use on his lamb dish.

“Using all these vegetables and also now having the knowledge of the history of New Zealand lamb has given me inspiration to showcase our lamb through my dish and tell the story to our guests through what is on the plate.”