Photo by Mark Tantrum/ Hutt City Council
The annual Ōra King Awards return in 2015 for a third season – and chefs around the country and around the world will be sharpening their knives to compete for one of four titles. Once again there are New Zealand and international citations for both Best Ōra King Ambassador and Best Ōra King Dish.
The Ōra King Awards (The Ōra’s) recognise outstanding contributions from chefs working with Ōra King – New Zealand King Salmon’s premium foodservice brand produced exclusively for fine dining restaurants in New Zealand and overseas.
While the ambassador awards are decided solely by Ōra King’s global team, nominations for the best dish awards are made by chefs and diners throughout the country and the final judging is handed over to industry experts.
The first 10 New Zealand restaurant entries via the competition website for the Best Ōra King Dish Award 2015 get the opportunity to run an Ōra King funded competition on their restaurant Facebook page for greater diner engagement. Members of the public who vote for a dish using the #orakingawards go in the draw to win a $400 dining experience courtesy of Ōra King Salmon.
This year, chefs need to enter at orakingsalmon.co.nz/oras then post a photo with the tag #orakingawards – including details of the chef or restaurant showcasing the dish – to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest. The short-listed restaurants will be judged by respected food writers Lauraine Jacobs and Anna King-Shahab.
NZ King Salmon Marketing GM Jemma McCowan says the Ōra King Awards are proving to be an industry favourite. “The continuing high calibre of entrants for the awards shows that Ōra King chefs and restaurants are very much behind the concept.
“The Ōra’s are all about celebrating the efforts of those who have contributed their expertise, creativity and passion to Ōra King during the past year. We are absolutely delighted to have Lauraine and Anna on board to independently decide on the winners,” Ms McCowan says.
In 2014 Kiwi ex-pat chef Matt Lambert from New York’s The Musket Room picked up the Best International Ambassador Award for Ōra King salmon for the second year running. Vincent Pouessel, who is executive chef at Aureole in Las Vegas, took the award for the Best International Ōra King Dish.
The New Zealand winners last year were Glen Taylor from Taylors on Jackson in Petone who took out the Best NZ Ōra King Ambassador while Ben Batterbury from The Rees in Queenstown was awarded Best NZ Ōra King Dish.
Entries are open until 31 July, with judging commencing on 1 August. Finalists are announced on Monday 21 September and the winners announced at the awards ceremony in Marlborough on October 20.
