The kitchen at Wise Restaurant in Eagle Bay is buzzing with excitement for next month's WA Gourmet Escape which will see the team from Wise collaborate with head chefs from BO.LAN in Bangkok.
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BO.LAN is owned by husband and wife team Duangporn Songivsava and Dylan Jones who are famed for being socially responsible and working with local farmers.
The Thai restauranters have also lessened their environmental impact by working to become a zero carbon restaurant.
Wise Restaurant owner Heath Townsend and his wife Melina have been at the establishment for almost 25 years and will serve up a Thai feast with the chefs from BO.LAN to celebrate family, community and local produce.
Head chef Ben Jacob and Townsend have been collaborating with the Thai team in preparation for the Gourmet Escape event.
"It is such a great opportunity to see what other people are doing and have some fun in the kitchen while showcasing our regional produce in a different way," he said.
"It is good for me and my staff and it is also great for the consumer who get to try something different of our great region.
"There is no doubt Gourmet Escape is good for the region, and one of the things we have going for us is that we have so many great restaurants down here, quite a lot of restaurants are in the top 50."
Chef Townsend said at past Gourmet Escape events they have worked with Daniel Patterson from Long Chim and George Calombaris.
"We have had some fantastic chefs who we look at as our peers and respect highly, we get to chat with them like normal people in our kitchen," he said.
"I also get a kick out of my staff loving the challenge of cooking new things, we are not a Thai restaurant and we will be bringing in two Thai chefs.
"We are now working with them to be able to choose our produce which is awesome, the staff get totally excited about that as well.
"We have fantastic produce at our doorstep and some great producers.
"We are really just collaborating on that side of it at the moment, Gourmet Escape will be a fairly big week for us because we have so much on.
"It is a month away now and we can already feel the excitement building up, it is a great time."
Chef Townsend said the off the back of Gourmet Escape he was already booked out around that time with different corporate events which was testament to how well that particular weekend worked.
"So many people are coming down for Gourmet Escape which is awesome," he said.
This year sees the first reformatted version WA Gourmet Escape which will now have events held in Perth and the Swan Valley before heading to its original home in the Margaret Region region.
South-West events will run from Friday November 15 to Sunday November 17 including festival favourites Gourmet Village at Leeuwin Estate and the Westpac Gourmet Beach Barbecue at Castle Rock.
When Bo.Lan Came To Wise: Celebrating The Family Meal will be held from 6.30pm on Friday November 15, tickets to the almost sold out event are available from gourmetescape.com.au/events/wise-winery/.
