Open Writing

Nigel Harvey cooked his first 'gourmet' meal at the age of 12.
He beavered away in his father's Sydney restaurant kitchen perfecting his first dish . . . crumbed lamb cutlets. He excelled in cooking at school, and ignored the jibes of his classmates. He is now chef de cuisine at the Kingfisher Bay Resort on world heritage-listed Fraser Island, Queensland.

Nigel's menus regularly feature some of Australia's more exotic—not to mention hard to catch—taste sensations. Smoked crocodile, wild buffalo, venison, paperbark barramundi and emu. All deliciously embellished with his unique sauces concocted from the native fruits and berries that flourish, mostly unrecognised, in Australia.

Nigel introduces his clientele to the delights of New Australian Cuisine, or bush tucker, first introduced worldwide by the eccentrically be-hatted military gourmand, ex-army Colonel Les Hiddens, the original television Bush Tucker Man.

Unlike the redoubtable Hiddens, Nigel is spared the necessity of traipsing around outback Australia digging up delicious grubs, wrestling crocs or burrowing into termites' nests to obtain the raw ingredients for his gastronomes' lunch.

Instead he steps a pace or two from his shiny hi-tech kitchen and into the Fraser Island bush to collect the essential ingredients for his creations.

Not only do guests get to see and experience the best scenery Australia offers, they get to eat bits of it as well.

'Australia is beginning to understand the potential of its native cuisine,' he explains while ripping lengths of paper bark from a tree. 'It tastes delicious and is extremely healthy. Very low in fats and high in minerals.'

'International travellers have taken to its unique flavours faster than the Australians,' he says. 'I experiment with my menus and I love watching guests' faces when they are presented with something new to savour, like bunya nut smoked crocodile.'

Nigel is in his kitchen deftly slicing up a curious looking bunch of leaves and berries that will become a delicious sauce for one of his 'experiments'.

'I do baby octopus on a bed of bush tomato chutney. Bush tomatoes are tiny and are also known as the desert raisin and are packed with tangy flavour similar to tamarillo and caramel. I then make a rosella sauce which is related to native hibiscus. It tastes like crisp rhubarb.'

Guests are invited to attend Bush Tucker Talk and Taste evenings out on the resort's spacious decks—with hilarious results.

Little bowls containing native fruits and berries are passed around. Resort ranger Keith Hamlyn, an expert in bush tucker, explains the origin of each nut or fruit.

Guests squeeze and chew warily at the Kakadu plum, then express their delight as their taste buds are caressed by the unexpectedly mild apricot essence.

They are then introduced to the pepperberry, native to Tasmania and Victoria.

The spicy flavour encased in the small berry leaves the assembled gourmands pop-eyed from the grenade-like explosion of flavour that is released from the first tentative bite.

A desperate grab for a glass of wine follows in order to assuage the potency of the little fruit that packs a big punch. Nigel and his fellow chefs think this is good fun and educational.

Back in Nigel's kitchen he is preparing baby barramundi steamed in paperbark and lemon aspen butter sauce.

'We do have a certain element which just won't eat native fauna,' he says. 'They just can't bring themselves to eat Skippy. So we use fruits and berries with more traditional dishes like flame-grilled beef on mushrooms and glazed with Drambuie and Kakadu plum jam.'

'My most requested dish is fillets of wild kangaroo with a quandong vinaigrette and Illawarra plum jam. I like my guests to walk away having had an experience. And I love to see clean plates,' he grins. 'It saves on washing up.'

© Mike Larder