Chef says using fresh, local ingredients is a no-brainer

CREATING dishes that showcase the best the Moreton Bay Region has to offer makes perfect sense to Ocean View Estates restaurant head chef Tony Tierney.

A creation by Ocean View Estates restaurant head chef Tony Tierney. Photo: Dominika Lis

CREATING dishes that showcase the best the Moreton Bay Region has to offer makes perfect sense to Ocean View Estates restaurant head chef Tony Tierney.

Ocean View Estates restaurant head chef Tony Tierney. Photo: Dominika Lis

Q. You’ve got a reputation for sourcing local ingredients, what’s driven you to do that?

A. If you find out where good produce is, it’s amazing. You only have to go searching, look down the road to your local suburb wherever you live. The restaurant’s in Ocean View and there’s beef producers, there’s goat producers, there’s Blue Dog Farm, which is 4km down the road. They supply us with little garnishes and herbs and baby turnips and radishes for our dishes. It’s just about going searching.

Q. Why is that important?

A. You want to go to a restaurant and you want to look at the food on the plate and see that the chef’s actually working — we’re not buying things in. It’s actually handmade, it’s sourced locally and it tastes fresh. It speaks for itself.

Q. Do you think the expectations of diners have changed thanks to reality TV shows?

A. Definitely. People are a little bit more educated and they see the work that’s involved in food and they’re actually interested. You don’t just go to a restaurant to be fed, you go there for a bit of a show, a bit of education.

Q. Does the change in expectations make it challenging for a chef?

A. It keeps you on your toes, yes. But you should be. If you’re passionate about it, you want to be on your toes you want to make sure the customer is enjoying what they’re eating and can see how hard you’re working.

Q. Are there flavours that you think are unique to the Moreton Bay region?

A. We’re very lucky. There’s quite a lot in the Moreton Bay region. I go down and pick up my prawns, squid, bugs and pinkies (a small snapper fish) off our trawlers literally caught the night before. The quality and freshness of fish we can get, or the squid or the prawns, is just out of this world. I’m not buying in frozen prawns that have been snap frozen for six months, they’re actually straight off the trawler, they’re on ice and they’re on the menu that day. You can definitely taste the difference by far.