Welcome to our first 'Fresh from the Kitchens' blog

Posted on Thursday, 07 July 2011 by Executive Chef Martin Latter

Chefs catch-up
Last week I had the unique opportunity and pleasure of hosting a very distinguished group of Executive Chefs from all over Australia, when the Chefs from other AEG Ogden venues visited us to attend the inaugural meeting of the AEG Ogden Executive Chefs Group.

Chefs Mark Wright from Sydney’s Acer Arena, Jock Mitchell from Darwin Convention Centre, Andrew Kerby from the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, David Evans from Newcastle Entertainment Centre, Perry Stevens from Cairns Convention Centre and Michael Fitzgerald from the Perth Concert Hall, came together for a one day talkfest on all things food.

We discussed future collaboration on venue practices and standards and considered future opportunities and initiatives.

The visiting Chefs also enjoyed the opportunity to sample Brisbane’s restaurant scene when they dined at Tank, recently rated among Australia’s top 50 restaurants. 

Mini Masterchef serves up some inspiration
We recently enjoyed a very special visitor to our kitchens, Junior Masterchef contestant 12 year old Sam Bradley.

Sam, who made it to the top 12 in the first Junior Masterchef series, used his holidays from Brisbane’s Sheldon College for some hands-on experience helping to cook macaroons, pastries and desserts for our 7,000 guests who attended events at the Centre during the week.

A dessert connoisseur from the age of nine, when he first took an interest in cooking, he could be found every day at the elbow of our Chef Patissiere, Matthew, developing a chocolate palate by taste testing the very best of the world’s chocolate from Venezuela to Madagascar and learning about cocoa mass.

At the end of the five days, the courteous and very appreciative young chef presented us with a autographed copy of the Junior Masterchef Official Recipe Collection and thanked the Chefs for ‘inspiring me for the future’.

A Masterchef of a different kind
Following her recent back-to-back visits to the Centre, Australian culinary icon and celebrity chef, Maggie Beer felt right at home popping into the kitchens to say hello to the Chefs, much to their delight. Maggie was a guest presenter at Fresh Connections Conference and Trade Show and a couple of days later at the Happiness and its Causes Conference attended by the Dali Lama.