The annual Autumn Celebration of Food is serving up two entirely different culinary adventures, structured around impossible briefs. Organised by the Shoalhaven Food Network, two extraordinary chefs compete against strict sourcing limits. Whether it is gathering ingredients across a three-day regional road trip for dinner at Terrara House or sourcing a whole lunch from a single industrial block for lunch at JB Brewing Co, these events display the sheer variety of our local food bowl.
Two completely different challenges showcasing the best of the Shoalhaven food bowl are part of the Autumn Celebration of Food. At the Chef’s Challenge dinner at Terrara House, media personality Simon Marnie and Moonacres Chef Stephen Santucci scoured the South Coast for 72 hours to create a long table event full of theatre. While Chef Rowan Andrew faced the challenge of creating a menu based on the produce from a 1200 square metre block of factories in Woollamia—arguably the smallest area ever to source a whole long lunch.
We spoke to both teams to find out how they approached their task, and what diners can expect from these extraordinary events.
Chef’s Delight: Stephen Santucci and Simon Marnie at Terrara House
One of the biggest jewels in the crown of this year’s seasonal celebration, join two passionate collaborators at 4pm Saturday 6 June, tickets $175
From canapes hanging in the trees to the deep flavours of the wood fired oven, from the infusion of our region’s exceptional beverages into the dishes on the plate, this collaboration between Stephen and Simon promises to be an evening of theatrical dining like no other.
The Chef’s Challenge was more of a chef’s delight, admits Simon when pressed on how challenging it could really be to create a menu, when faced with the abundant food bowl of the Shoalhaven.
“We stayed two nights in Bangalay, which was perfect to do day trips to meet the pork producers, the mussel growers, the gin and liqueur makers, coffee grinders, tea sellers, beef growers. We kept it to those people we visited then over a couple of gins and tonic, Stephen and I nutted out the basic idea and what you see on the menu is essentially what we came up with on those two days,” Simon explains.
As collaborators, Simon likes to describe a dish to Stephen, who then “chef’s up” the concept into a fine-dining delight.
Collaborations across the Menu
“Those conversations about food is how the brisket dish came about,” Simon explains, “I’ve been doing it for years, a classic French way of cooking a fillet of beef rolled in a mixture of coffee, black pepper, brown sugar and salt. You don’t have to seal it, you just put it in the oven and it comes out with a beautiful sealed crust and you don’t taste the coffee.
“Stephen said, why don’t we use brisket, and I’m going to brine it—which I would never do—and slow cook it with the coffee crust.”
This intriguing interpretation takes the collaboration even further as the South Coast Butcher’s Pantry is working with Stephen on the brine, along with many other elements of the menu.
“I was blown away by the South Coast Butcher’s Pantry, apart from the meat that is incredibly fresh and from the local area, he has a chef there who helps with the salumi and charcuterie,” says Simon.
“To be frank, I’m not someone who will run to a cabana but these are incredible.”
Terrara House as a Canvas
These same said cabanas will be hanging from the trees in the beautiful gardens of Terrara where guests will mingle on arrival, while students from the Gaining Through Training program (from local high schools) will slice off chunks as canapes, alongside wood fired mussels and freshy shucked oysters.
“These ideas come about by being there,” explains Simon of their visit to Terrara House on the 3-day producers tour, “if it was me in Sydney and Stephen in Robertson, there’s no way we would have come up with a menu like this.”
Terrara House is a canvas, says Simon, an intrinsic ingredient alongside the food and beverage. Infused into the menu, the house and gardens are as much a part of the experience as the produce.
Speaking of infusing, the menu has cleverly used the beverage of the region—the teas, liqueurs and coffee—right into the dishes. From the aforementioned brisket to the tea-infused Lap Cheong sausage to the dessert of Tangelomisu.
What is that, you ask? We will come back to that in a minute. But first, there is a deeper philosophy of food and eat than what is on the plate, for both Simon and Stephen.
“Cheap” ingredients Transformed
Simon and Stephen hope that diners will be inspired to use these ingredients from local suppliers in their own cooking. “A pasta bake is really easy, but when you are sourcing it direct from the farmer—and we want people to find out about those farms and how they work—it’s not like sitting down in a restaurant and being separated from where your food comes from,” Simon says of the interactive elements of this event.
“It’s literally seeing how rich the Shoalhaven is when it comes to ingredients, and getting an insight into using them.”
Simon hopes that conversations around the table will include diners sharing their own personal food experiences. “If we’re lucky enough we can enjoy food three times a day, then to find out the stories behind the food, and for people to share what they would do with these ingredients while we’re having dinner—if there’s someone there who has always done a pasta al forno, I’d love to find out how they do it. It’s going to be a learning experience for Stephen and me as well.”
The fish, a bonito that the butcher is smoking for the occasion, is another inexpensive and accessible ingredient which will be transformed with a prawn powder that takes the umami flavour from good to a world-class flavour, according to Simon.
“That’s what I love about the Shoalhaven, there are people doing really unique and fascinating things and doing it to the beat of a different drummer,” he says of their road trip of discovery.
Dessert is the Ultimate Fusion
The story behind the twist on tiramisu for dessert is as rich as the dessert itself, and is the ultimate illustration of how this menu was put together.
“There’s no better example that the dessert, which again comes back to Terrara House and the people from Old Salt Distillery,” Simon says.
“Their warehouse setup is amazing, their cooking credentials are impeccable. To be able to use their tancello, a tangelo liqueur into the tangelo-misu, which is a take on the traditional tiramisu, is also inspired by the tangelos growing at Terrara House.
“We saw the tangelos growing and we had been to Old Salt Distillery and so it was just natural to combine the two.”
As a final incentive for people to buy a ticket to this extraordinary event, Simon says it’s not just about the food journey, it’s about supporting the people in the Shoalhaven who make it a haven of hospitality, including the Shoalhaven Food Network. The funds from this event will help the network to continue it’s great work such as the Gaining Through Training program for high school students to gain skills and experience in the hospitality sector.
Simon says, “To watch those students working both in the kitchen—they’re going to be making the pasta for this dinner—and on the floor, their level of expertise just blows me away.”
Chef’s Inventory: Rowan Andrew at The Sheds Precinct Woollamia
In a brand-new event for 2026, guests are invited behind the roller doors of some of Jervis Bay’s—and Australia’s—most innovative producers, on a full-day tour and long lunch, plus cocktails & tapas, tickets $195
The highlight of the day tour is a long lunch with an impossible brief: create a menu that celebrates the ingredients from this 1200 square metre industrial precinct of Woollamia.
Chef Rowan Andrew, of 5 Little Pigs café in Huskisson and food truck in Woollamia at the Jervis Bay Brewing Co Taproom, was totally up for the challenge. “I had to draw on my experience of working with what we’ve got on the day and bringing that together with a common language throughout the meal,” Rowan says, adding “how do I get a seaweed into a dessert? How can I include as many producers into the main dish?”
Astoundingly, he has squeezed six of the 10 businesses of The Sheds Woollamia into the main, which will combine a squid ink agnolotti with a seafood-forward sauce that uses the whole fish, from nose to tail.
Seafood such as Bay-grown mussels and oysters and seaweed are the results of innovative aquaculture farming which are brought together in this lunch with produce from the Bakehouse Espresso Group, the apiary and kitchen garden produce from Bay & Bush Nature Retreat, and local beverages from Jervis Bay Brewing Co and Jervis Bay Distilling Co – of whose gin the dressing on the oysters will be the hero.
Bounty from the Ocean
“We love the ocean, we spend a lot of time in the ocean and I’d like to think the way we approach food and eating means these ingredients will be around for a long time to come,” says Rowan, adding “I want people to come to this lunch open for tasting and experiencing something new.”
This event promises to be an adventure in every way, from the moment guests hop on the bus at Huskisson Wharf in the morning till they arrive back at Club Jervis Bay for cocktail hour and tapas.
Read more about what to expect in our story about The Sheds or on the event page at Shoalhaven Food Network.
