Matt Wilkinson is one of our favourite (and cheekiest) local chefs and we've managed to steal him away from his kitchen for an hour or two next week!

His first book Mr Wilkinson's Favourite Vegetables (one of our favourite books for 2013) was a runner up for the prestigious IACP Julia Child award in 2014.  

His new book Mr Wilkinson's Simply Dressed Salads, in our view, will be a contender for the big cookbook prizes this year.

Why?  Because it's great casual food, beautifully, yet simply presented that screams "Eat Me"; all in a gorgeous quirky design, richly illustrated with real and personal photographs.

Matt's writing has all the hallmarks of his birthplace - Yorkshire; dry, witty personal, slightly salty and honest.  We loved reading it and have also loved cooking from it!

Coming from a classical and fine dining background, Matt champions local and passionate producers as well as his home grown veg.  Throughout the book Matt shares a wealth of practical experience with his guides to dressings and views on 'salad design'.

We'll be serving up a number of fabulous tastes from the book whilst we have a chat to Matt 'unplugged' about his new book, his love for salads and vegetables and his forthright views on food and it's producers.  

Please join us for an intimate, fun & tasty evening!

Over the past three years we've enjoyed watching Paul West in episodes of  River Cottage Australia; from its humble beginnings to a now fully functional small holding - and often muttered 'wouldn't mind the recipe for that!"  

Well, this April the long awaited cookbook will be published and we'll be joining with like-minded local food hero and chef Matt Wilkinson and his team at  Pope Joan to host River Cottage Australia host and chef Paul West at a dinner to launch his new cookbook.

Over 3 years ago, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall sowed the seed for an antipodean River Cottage installing Paul West in a beautiful old dairy farm on the Southern NSW coast hinterland that needed lots of love and TLC.

Paul is a fresh, exciting face on the global food scene, as well as a brilliant presenter. Predictably, there are comparisons drawn between Hugh and Paul, but despite their obvious differences (for our money Paul is a better cook!)  they have similar passions - sustainability and environmental issues being at the forefront - and on the farm they celebrate beautiful produce, foraging and the importance of cooking and eating with their local community.

Featuring recipes from the first three series of River Cottage Australia, The River Cottage Australia Cookbook showcases the delicious dishes which Paul has been creating on the farm. The book is divided into seven chapters and includes more than 120 recipes such as pumpkin scones, roasted octopus salad, baked salmon, spiced aubergine salad, pig on a spit, borlotti bean broth, raw courgette salad and warm curb cake with honey rhubarb.  

With a preface by Hugh (and a sprinkling of his recipes throughout), plus atmospheric, beautiful photography by Mark Chew, this is going to be one of the better cookery books of the year.

Join us for a lovely 4 course dinner prepared by Matt and inspired from Paul's book.  We'll be celebrating with delicious local produce, local wines provided by Neil Robb of Sally's Paddock at Redbank Winery.

We'll also be having a chat with Paul about what life is really like on the River Cottage farm.

Each ticket includes a four course dinner, matched beverages and a signed pesonalised copy of The River Cottage Australia Cookbook