Sitting in the plush surrounds of Sepia in Sydney’s CBD, surrounded by men in suits brokering deals and drinking strong liquor, it’s hard to imagine throwing the impeccable food laid out in front of us. According to Martin Benn, founder and owner and chef at the three-hatted Sepia restaurant, successful food fight dishes must have ‘throw-ability’ and ‘splat-ability’, but must also taste great. The menu Benn designed for the Schweppes Mineral Water Fancy Food Fight also had to have explode-ability. Combining the different tastes and colours of the Schweppes Mineral water range, Benn created a tasty menu, which included a gigantic wobbling jelly with a liquid centre that almost knocked over one of the chefs.
According to Benn, matching the Mineral Water flavours to the food was the easy part. “It was really simply a matter of once I had come up with the concept of the desired effect, then I was to look at the flavours available to me to inspire the creation of the dishes. For example, Orange and Mango is one of the Mineral Water flavours available, so I instantly thought of beetroot and goats cheese as complementary ingredients. You have the earthiness of the beetroot to the sweetness of the orange and mango, a perfect match. For its throwing capability I then looked at the best way to create the most mess and decided on presenting it as a tart.”
Benn incorporated everything a great food fight has to offer, including the secret weapon – the Golden Egg. The quintessential food fight ingredient, Benn’s egg for Schweppes was like no other. There was no gluggy egg whites, or gooey yolk, instead the Golden Egg was filled with the most delicious tastes of Persimmon and Yuzu that were injected into the shells Benn created with his team. And now, anyone can experience the incredible Golden Egg, served on a luxurious matte black plate with gold dust at Sepia. Cracking the egg at Sepia brings back many nostalgic memories of cracking an egg at the breakfast table as a young child. In fact, Benn has created the perfect weapons of nostalgia for grown-ups to feel like children again – just don’t try throwing them at home, or at Sepia!
