Culinary feast a festival highlight

Reporter William Woodworth continues his series talking to some of the people who help make the Marlborough Wine and Food Festival a success. Here, he sits down with Arbour’s chef Bradley Hornby.

For Arbour’s Bradley Hornby, the idea of a luxurious culinary experience is a place where you can relax and be confident you will experience the best.

Bradley is looking forward to showcasing some of Marlborough’s finest local produce in the Culinary Pavilion.

And attendees will be given ideas for ways they can serve the produce to their own friends and family for special meals.

With the festival exposing both locals and visitors Bradley says the trust people give him is the same trust he gives Arbour’s suppliers.

“As a chef you’re representing the producers with every plate because without high quality food, and the equally high-quality relationships we have with providers, Arbour is really nothing.

“Marlborough’s Wine and Food Festival is at a time when our local produce is at its most abundant for the year; it’s the region’s opportunity to show the care and craftmanship that goes into both Marlborough’s large famous brands, and the many smaller, boutique providers”

After 25 years in high end dining, 10 years of those as the co-owner and top chef at Arbour, Bradley says that to him, the restaurant’s awards are only as valuable as the experience that people have under his care.

“I live by the mantra that you’re only as good as your last plate.

“We have an ever-changing set menu because tastes, textures and flavours of the produce evolve, so we need to evolve with it.”

Bradley says by having producers so in tune with their product “it’s a true craft. It’s his pleasure to be able to represent their hard work to keen guests at the Wine and Food Festival, and the restaurant, he says.

For example, Arbour’s Hapuka fisher, Troy, notices when the fish’s properties change through the season. This helps chefs adjust how they prepare it, and the flavours they pair it with.

“The experience of food is so subjective, and the combination of food, wine, space and people makes that experience so much better than the sum of its parts,” Bradley says.

“The concept of Arbour only works because people trust us to make those combinations play beautifully off one another, tune out of the world for a while and allow themselves to be looked after.

“We’re grateful to have built and kept that trust with many over 10 years, and I hope the visitors to the Festival’s Culinary Pavilion take some of that passion for my definition of luxury home with them”.

Find out more at marlboroughwinefestival.com