T-QUAL Tick Tour Launch by Matt Moran, Aria Restaurant, Sydney (22 Mar 2012)

1 Macquarie Street, Sydney NSW 2000

http://www.tourism.australia.com/t-qual

Ticking all the quality boxes

“Matt will kick off his T-QUAL Tick Tour tomorrow with an overnight adventure to Taronga Zoo’s Roar and Snore, where he will experience rare insights into the zoo’s nocturnal inhabitants and spend a night sleeping in an architecturally designed tent overlooking Sydney’s iconic harbour. Matt will then embark upon his journey around the country, visiting some quality tourism experiences in destinations such as Hobart, Darwin, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Broome.”

Thanks to Charlotte Ferrand from Burson-Marsteller for inviting me to the T-QUAL Tick Tour Launch held at Aria Restaurant — and no it's not a new species of dinosaur from the T-REX family which I thought they'd discovered. Now I'm not sure how its happened but Chef Matt Moran seems to have scored my job of heading off into the sunset for a few weeks to check out some of the best tourism experiences Australia has to offer — lucky bastard. And to make things worse he'll be updating everyone on his journey through his blog posts and video logs, tweets and Facebook so you get a real experience of what you're missing out on — brilliant! Obviously having a successful 2 hatted restaurant and opening his new popular Chiswick restaurant wasn't enough for the MasterChef guest judge. Well I guess all was not lost as I got to try his function canapés on a balcony that overlooked Sydney Harbour Bridge so that's not too shabby. Now how does one get an invite for New Years Eve to this spot? Some interesting and nicely presented canapés were served including prawn toast which were actually one of my favourite of the evening. I look forward to seeing what Matt will be discovering in Broome that's worth visiting. I can't think of the top of my head what it would be but you can rest-assure it have a T-QUAL Tick of approval.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Aria has a great function space I never knew existed. Prawn toast and fish fingers are making a comeback since Aria served it up, If it's got a T-QUAL accreditation it might take the guess work out of knowing if it's going to be good

CONS: Matt's going instead of me but I'll give him this one since he feed me tonight

MUST TRY: Seeing if they need an extra photographer/blogger on board to taste test all the food for Matt

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Tuna sashimi canape

Goats cheese canape

Prawn toast

Crab meat canape

Lamb and harissa sausage roll — even Matt loves it so it must be good

Fish fingers

Potato crisps and fish — yes, they do look like Thins packet chips but I believe they were homemade

Lamb and pea pie — but where's the tomato sauce?

Duck wontons

Bartlett's Brut, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir

Speech time — sorry about the Harbour Bridge coming out of your head though

Winners are grinners — taking time out to talk to guests

I love my official photographer in action shots — it's the only time they'll see themselves you know

Bad arse musicians doing their Blues Brothers impersonation

Katrina Holden (Sip Your Style) and Sireshan (Chic Traveller)

A few crowd shots

Flower setting - noice!

Goodie bag: USB with media release and images — And Then? No and Then! Some discount vouchers for some of the approved tourist experiences would have been nice perhaps.

So can I comeback for New Years Eve? Pretty please!




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