fieldtrip

An amazing experience for the cooks and chefs alike. Yesterday we brought in a whole Nova Scotian Swordfish, 80lbs minus the head and tail. This guy would have been in and around 100lbs. on the boat. The fish was harpooned, the most eco-friendly way of fishing this species.

Chef JV giving it the “all clear”

The fish came from a cape island style 50 foot boat called the “Spoiled Brat”. These are small boats, generally a 4-5 man crew.

This small family boat operated by father, son and friends is as small town as you can get.

I love supporting this small industry, very few restaurants do. We are all to consumed by large companies all vying to sell for the cheapest price, with small margins, and large volume. This kills the small guy; the families trying to sustain what their forefathers did for generations, the East Coast Canadian fisherman.

The Atlantic Canada wild swordfish are deemed a great choice by Ocean Wise if hand line or harpoon caught. The international swordfish fishing idustry is poorly regulated and should be avoided. Go Canada!

Chef Danny Chae from Pure Spirits took on the task of breaking this guy down and did a fantastic job.

taking off the collar

We will be featuring this beautiful fish through Cluny, Pure and El Catrin through out the weekend.

Mike Stafford from Cluny Bistro has an old mate that is a fisherman on a similar boat in the waters our fish came from. Here’s a picture from his boat to show you the scale of these big game fish.

Nova Scotian Swordfish fisherman

A few weeks prior we took down a whole Canadian East coast Yellowfin Tuna. Here’s a couple of pics.

These fish were brought in by our supplier Fisherfolk.

Who focus on supporting fisherman who are closest to the source and use fishing practices that maintain the balance of healthy ocean, lakes and local fishing communities. They are committed to providing the freshest, highest quality, natural Canadian fish and seafood and in doing so respect the oceans, lakes, and fishermen.

11214083_10152809441315947_3135877236462613354_n

I am very grateful to be given this opportunity to go on a field trip with my colleagues. It is important not only for bringing our Distillery team closer but learning more about our industry as well.
I have never been in a Food terminal and that’s where we started our trip. I felt like a kid in a chocolate store where I was able to see, smell and touch all the beautiful produce and had a chance to talk with people who grow them.

I had a chance to ask questions, had a real conversation with farmers taking pride in what they do. Which made me even more proud to use their beautiful produce in our kitchen.

Once we came into Bondi produces warehouse I was impressed how clean and organized everything is. It was a pleasure to see such a high respect for every single piece of fruit or vegetable, to see people taking pride in what they do, see all high hygiene standards being used in the warehouse to assure that we would get only the highest quality products.

My favourite part of the trip was the winery because I never had a chance to visit winery before. I was surprised how much care grape wines need, I was happy to learn about different ways of making wine, using different barrels, aging… And the fact that this winery has its own bees means a lot. The wine we got to taste was amazing and the honey itself was great. We got to see unpasteurized honey, the little factory where it gets portioned and we got to try it! You could almost taste that the bees are really happy in there.
After all I am very happy that i had a chance to go on this trip. I learned more about produces in general, the way they are grown, how long is their shelf life, I got a chance to see the real way that produces travel to reach our kitchen and I enjoyed this little journey so much.

Indre Ramanciuckaite – Distillery Events

“…I see Riga Farms kale at work in the walk in all the time. I had the chance to meet the man from my home town that produces it. ….”

Jeff Glowacki – CDP @ Pure Spirits Oyster House

“…I definitely will not only appreciate more, but respect our produce differently whenever using them in our kitchen due to this eye opening experience….” “..This trip was so informative, I can’t wait to do this again..”

Henry Ng – Line Cook @ Cluny Bistro

“..Next stop was St. David’s Hydroponics where they grow red peppers and eggplants. It was surprising to see the level of automation used in their picking and processing. They even had a self driving robot that carted product from the greenhouse to the sorting warehouse. It stole the show…”

Steve Hoang – Apprentice Chef @ Cluny Bistro

“..Last stop, Rosewood Estates, they are our wildflower honey and honeycomb supplier for the Distillery Restaurants. The flavour of their honey is so distinctive compared to the regular pasteurized store bought honey. The winery itself was operated by mostly family members, with additional expert help for wine making. I really like small wineries like Rosewood, because they put their heart and should into the products that they are selling, it’s like going to a Mom & Pop diner in a small town, you know it’s going to be epic.

It was my first time trying mead, a fermented honey alcoholic beverage. It was interesting, but aI still prefer wine over mead, I fell wine is more balanced in flavour, acid and sweet, where mead was just sweet.
It was a fantastic trip down to the southern part of Niagara region, and I know our cooks learnt a lot from each stop we visited that day. Cant wait for the next one..”

Jacky Lo – Sous Chef @ Cluny Bistro

Click an image below to open the gallery

crack of dawn – food terminal musings

the boss from Riga Farms – we use their kale throughout the Distillery Restaurants

team DRC ! – at the warehouse

Matty explaining the shipping board and how our deliveries are scheduled

travis… being travis.

an inside joke.

the pristine warehouse floor of St. David’s Hydroponics

THE ROBOT ! !

the sorting and automation computer equipment. the food business has certainly gone hi-tech

a full cart of peppers. the robot follows a groove in the concrete with an optical ‘eye’ which directs it back to the sorting equipment in the warehouse