Sydney Top Chefs Take Over Thomas Kellar's Kitchen in New York to Promote Sydney's World-Class Dining

NEW YORK, Jan. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Two of Australia's top chefs cooked up a storm for a selected group of travel and food journalists in New York as part of a 'Sydney Destination Dining' event showcasing the best of New South Wales' (NSW) food and wine.

New South Wales Minister for Tourism Jodi McKay said Mark Best (Marque Restaurant) and Peter Gilmore (Quay Restaurant) were guest chefs at Thomas Keller's New York restaurant Per Se, part of a series of events organised by Tourism NSW to promote Sydney to U.S. visitors during G'day USA.

The two chefs presented an eight-course 'Taste of Sydney' dinner, accompanied by matching premium wines from across NSW, to more than 30 high-profile travel and food writers.

They also appeared on The Martha Stewart Show in a live segment showing off Sydney's world-class cuisine, promoting high quality NSW produce and talking about Sydney as a must-visit destination for U.S. foodies.

"Sydney enjoys global appeal as a superb dining destination and this event is a great opportunity for us to promote the excellent fresh produce and great wines available in Sydney and NSW," Ms. McKay said.

"Sydney is Australia's only global city, ranked alongside London, New York, Paris and Rome and Sydney's restaurant scene has strong appeal for visitors from around the world. 

Ms. McKay said Quay and Marque, along with Tetsuya's, were last year named among the world's best dining experiences in the San Pellegrino World's Best 50 Restaurant Awards.

"Marque won the breakthrough award in the San Pellegrino list and was recently named Restaurant of the Year in the 2011 Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) Good Food Guide."

"Quay was named Best Restaurant in Australasia in the Aqua Penna World's Best 50 list and is a two-time winner of the SMH Restaurant of the Year."

"Tourism NSW, has been working with Sydney's top restaurants and chefs since 2009 to promote the city both domestically and internationally as Australia's premier dining destination," Ms. McKay said.

Today's showcase is the second event of this kind organised by Tourism NSW, and followed on from a successful event at London's Ledbury Restaurant in September last year.

That event led to tens of thousands of dollars worth of publicity for Sydney, and attracted some of Europe's top food writers to visit our city, sample Sydney's fine dining and spread the word to their readers.

Other food-related events during the G'day USA program this year include an Australian Premium Wine dinner in Los Angeles on January 20, which will feature the two chefs as well as De Bertoli wines.

SOURCE Tourism New South Wales