Will Cowper’s family on his mother’s side hail from the village of Krokos, about an hour southeast of Thessaloniki in Greece, so the Queensland-based chef has always been around Mediterranean food. He’s also worked in Italian restaurants for the past 13 years. When seeking inspiration for his much-anticipated return to Hamilton Island Race Week, the head chef of Otto in Brisbane looked no further than the Amalfi Coast.
“I have a real love for Italian food: the passion and just the simplicity of it,” he says, adding that the produce at his dinner on Thursday will also showcase the best of the Whitsundays, Hamilton Island and the Great Barrier Reef.
This is Cowper’s second star turn at Race Week.
“Last year was a bit of a mixed bag in terms of land and sea, but this year is Amalfi Coast inspired, and it’s a bit more seafood based,” he says. “Up here we have the best seafood Australia has to offer, and we’re lucky it’s on our doorstep. It’s right in my wheelhouse as well – fresh, local, simple – which is what we do in the restaurant.”
An idyllic setting awaits guests at Hamilton Island Race Week.
The 180 guests attending the dinner, overlooking Catseye Beach, can expect to indulge in local bay squid chargrilled over a wood fire and served with a salmoriglio salsa (a pungent Italian marinade made with olive oil, lemon, garlic, and oregano). There’ll be yellow-fin tuna caught around Cairns, served with finger lime and pickled melon – and a scialatielli pasta made in-house and served with frutti di mare: ocean king prawns, mud crab from Bowen, and Moreton Bay bugs.
The main course is coral trout from Queensland. “It’s possibly one of the best fish in the ocean,” says Cowper. “I’m steaming that and I’m doing acqua pazza [crazy water] sauce, so some tomatoes, fish stock, lemon, capers, green olives and basil.”
Chef Will Cowper has chosen a Mediterranean theme for his Race Week menu.
If that isn’t enough to tantalise the tastebuds, Cowper is following his meal with a dessert fashioned to pair perfectly with Piper-Heidsieck Essentiel Champagne. “It’s a really dry champagne and when I tasted it, I thought raspberries straight away,” he says. “The dessert can’t be too sweet because it will just take away from the champagne, so it’s on the more savoury side.”
Guests will be seated at long tables, so they can mingle throughout the evening. “Everyone is there to have fun,” says Cowper. “It’s always hard to get rid of them at the end of the night.”
