A fundraiser dessert. Pictures: DAVE TEASE
Caveau Chef Peter Sheppard with a fundraiser dessert.
If you're a breast man, or woman, then you'll love what's up for grabs at an upcoming event at Caveau restaurant in Wollongong.
The Illawarra's only hatted restaurant is serving up a Best Breasts degustation menu this month as part of the Crave Sydney International Food Festival.
Swordfish breast carpaccio, cured duck breast, confit pork breast, guineafowl and veal breast will all feature on the delectable seven-course menu by accomplished chef Peter Sheppard.
There'll also be pink grapefruit and Campari sorbet as well as a twin set of scorched champagne marshmallow, raspberry jelly, white peach and Amaretto ice-cream.
While the concept is a little cheeky, the reasons behind it are commendable. For every guest at the October 23 event, $50 will be donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF).
"Both my wife and I have had family members who have battled breast cancer," Mr Sheppard said.
"Plus one of our good customers Margaret Gardiner is an ambassador for the NBCF, and we do have quite a few customers who have fought breast cancer in the past or who are in the middle of their battle.
"So we thought it would be great to raise awareness and funds for this cause."
The dinner is one of the annual Crave festival's prestigious Hats Off dinners - which are only able to be offered by restaurants which have received one or more stars in the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Food Guide in the previous year.
Caveau has achieved one-hat status in the foodie guide for the past eight years and has taken part in the dinners for numerous year.
"The Hats Off dinners have to be something outside the restaurant's normal sphere and we've done some interesting themes in the past," Mr Sheppard said.
"The price of $160 a head is dictated by the festival organisers and while that's probably cheap for a meal at Quay restaurant [in Sydney], it's a massive increase on the $95 we usually charge for a degustation menu.
"In past years we've thrown in extra value to compensate for this, such as using luxury ingredients. This year we will donate the difference."
Mr Sheppard said breast was not always best, as it could be quite a flavourless cut - but with the right cooking technique and accompaniments it could shine.
"Chicken breast is the most marketed but every animal has a breast - pigs, sheep, even fish," he said.
"In some animals it can be quite tough and not as flavoursome which is why braising or slow-cooking methods are best."
The Crave dinner event would provide customers with a taste of what Caveau had to offer.
"It's going to be a pretty good cross-section of the food we do," he said. "The champagne marshmallow dessert is a spin on one that we've had on the menu previously, and while it wasn't designed to be breast-shaped initially, it never ceased to get a little titter from customers."