Tasting Australia Winter Series program announced; events across Adelaide and South Australia

After a bumper Tasting Australia festival, a Winter Series of food and wine events has been announced – we reveal the best.

‘Tis the season to be picking – for mushrooms, specifically – and for these two acclaimed chefs, it’s an opportunity to find common ground.

Tom Tilbury, of newly revamped inner-city restaurant, Press Food and Wine, and Kane Pollard of Topiary in Tea Tree Gully are collaborating for the first time in a key event on the Tasting Australia Winter Series program, announced today.

Wild at Heart Dinner, at Victoria Park Social Club, will showcase wild local produce and is one of nearly 30 events to be held across South Australia in July.

Chefs Tom Tilbury and Kane Pollard forage together in Stirling Forest ahead of their Tasting Australia Winter Series event. Picture: Tom Huntley

It follows this year’s Tasting Australia festival, which welcomed 60,000 people through the festival’s hub in Victoria Square – the biggest crowds since before the pandemic – and aims to continue that momentum.

Pollard said his July 27 dinner with Tilbury would feature the pine and slippery jack mushrooms foraged this week, though they would be pickled or fermented by then.

“We’ve (Tilbury and I) been friends for quite a few years now, and have always talked about doing something together,” Pollard said.

“The foraging aspect has always been a prominent part of what we both do. That locally-sourced, garden-to-table hyper-seasonality. The menu changes as things come in. Foraging plays a big part in that.”

It’s an ethos long held by Tilbury, who also creates dining experiences as part of his Gather brand, which ran restaurants in Robe and, more recently, Coriole in McLaren Vale.

The pair will source “all wild-caught” meat and seafood, as well as native plants, herbs, fruits, seeds and flowers. Each course will be matched with two local wines – Wangolina and the more natural-inclined, Scintilla Wines.

Events SA executive director Hitaf Rasheed said she expected this year’s series to be bigger and better than last year’s inaugural event, which faced “some challenges due to capacity restrictions and lockdowns”.

“This year, with close to 30 events across the state, we are looking forward to an exciting program that showcases South Australia’s abundant food and beverage industry,” she said.

Tickets are on sale today at tastingaustralia.com.au