Chalk up another success for a Yamba export.
No, Yamba prawns were not on the menu when the Australia Chamber of Commerce celebrated Australia National Day at the Grand Ambassador hotel in Gangnam, southern Seoul, on Friday.
But, another Yamba product, in the shape of Wayne Golding, whom The Korea Herald described as ""an Australian culinary wizard", prepared the feast. Golding is executive chef at the Grand Ambassador.
Golding told The Korea Herald that he wanted everyone to feel that they were eating a traditional Australia Day meal.
Participants were greeted with a Down Under theme as cabanas decorated one side of the room and Aussie favorites like fish and chips and meat pies were served. No day marking the country’s birthday would be complete without a good old fashion Aussie barbeque.
Paul Matthews provided this review of Golding for 10mag.com :
When I step into The King’s Premium Live Buffet at the Grand Ambassador Hotel, I’m overwhelmed. Confronted by mountains of seafood, roast ducks and a walk-in dessert cabinet, I want to dig in straight away. But I resist, since the main attraction here is Australian Executive Chef Wayne Golding, who has transformed this thirty-five-year old restaurant into something extraordinary.
Hailing from the small town of Yamba in New South Wales, Golding started out in his father’s footsteps as a fisherman. He worked nights on the boats and studied during the day. After flirtations with carpentry, metal fabrication and architecture, he turned to the kitchen, rising up the ranks at a breakneck pace. From Yamba, he went to Sydney, then onto Dubai and Hanoi, before he found himself at the Paradise Hotel in Busan and his Korean career really began. He has been living here for the past seven years and has been working at the Grand Ambassador since 2009.
He is committed to making King’s the best buffet in the country, and he is bringing some exciting new ideas to the dining table. At King’s, everything is “live,” meaning that instead of lukewarm trays filled with congealed sauces, you can expect your food freshly cooked to order in front of your eyes. He has assembled a crack team of chefs to assist him, including a Chinese station complete with a dim sum expert, a roast meats master and a wok specialist. He has also ensured that seafood fans can get oysters all year round and that all the produce at King’s is the freshest it can be.
It wasn’t always that easy to source exotic fresh ingredients in Korea, and Chef Golding remembers when he used to have to scour the department stores in order to source the best products available. However, his job is a little easier now and he has even managed get a supply of fresh shrimp for the restaurant. As a fisherman’s son, he knows that there’s a big difference in taste between fresh and frozen.
The King’s Premium Live Buffet is in good hands with this Yamba boy, who knows the importance of “live” food and treats his customers to one of the best hotel buffets in Seoul.
Credits: The Korea Herald and 10mag.com
