Bella Events is the results of an idea and an abundance of passion from Natalie Miller. It takes boldness and drive to decide to put together a debut event, in this case a long table lunch, but after some incredibly hard work Natalie managed it with grace, flair and the utmost respect for the occasion. The 100th anniversary of Remembrance Day.
B-E-L-L-A Events are designed to be “Bespoke Experiential Limited Local Artisan” and first up was the Artisan Remembrance Day Long Table Lunch at the beautiful Paul Conti Winery in Wanneroo.
Fortunate to be held on a day with abundant sunshine, for those guests that couldn’t attend the first part of the day’s festivities at the Raffles and headed straight to the winery. We happily gathered outside on the grass, enjoying the shade of some well-placed umbrellas. Sparkling was offered and gratefully accepted by attendees. There is something about a glass of fizz. It so aptly sets the tone for a special events; particularly in this case, providing the opportunity to cheers those that have bravely defended our country.
Epic platters were set up for folks to happily graze on ahead of taking our seats, which were beautifully created by talented Poach Pear team of Adam & Marissa Bielawski. Their store, Black Pig Deli & Co, on Beaufort Street is well worth a visit and where you are able to easily purchase all of these delicious charcuterie goodies. Go there and get all the things!
The lunch was being prepared by three well known and talented Perth chefs. Sophie Budd from Taste Budds Cooking Studio in Highgate, Herb Faust of Herb Faust Foods and previously from Houghton’s Winery Café and Paul ‘Yoda’ Iskov from Fervor Foods. A seriously solid line up.
To commence proceedings each talented chef had created a tasty canape:
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- Yoda’s creation – saltbush
- Sophie’s creation – potato crisp, lemon myrtle lamb
- Herb’s creation – cured and asked swordfish belly, white miso, honkarebushi
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As you can see each presented beautifully and managed to expertly incorporate native ingredients. I’d been fortunate to enjoy Yoda’s saltbush canape previously and it is eye opening to see how amazing this special local ingredient tastes with some relatively simple preparation. You find yourself reaching for more and more sprigs!
After a memorable welcome to country, we took our seats and Rob Ratkovik, CEO of Legacy WA, said grace and we all then took pause to remember our fallen soldiers. A special feature of Bella’s debut event was that part proceeds were going to be given to Legacy, to continue their outstanding work in caring for the families of deceased and incapacitated veterans, which was really lovely.
Lunch then commenced and it was a delightful afternoon of good eating and drinking, combined with lively conversation between fellow foodies. MC Christina Morrissy ensured the day progressed smoothly and provided an opportunity for guests to hear from each of the chefs and learn a bit more about their story and inspiration as well as the events creator Natalie Miller.
A few photos below of each course and action throughout the day is shown below.
Entree – Yoda
Macadamia/Lemon Myrtle/Quangdong Dish
Main – Sophie
Chestnut Brae pork belly, chestnut cream, Funk Cider jus, apple crisp
Dessert – Herb
Black rice and coconut, gin jelly, peach, muntries
Cheese
Suzette Pont L’eveque style cheese
Great Southern Forests smoked honey
It was also excellent that some of the key producers were actually in attendance at the lunch, so while we heard from the chef who was preparing the dish we could also hear more about that farm to plate story and I always really enjoy that. It makes you appreciate the hard work done by our West Aussie farmers all the more.
So my sincere thanks. I am incredibly grateful to Natalie for the opportunity to attend her first long lunch and am excited to see what comes next for Bella Events. Keep an eye on their website here for future updates.
perthmunchkin 
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