Kick around for Starlight
Louise Johnson
Chefs Soccer Charity Cup raising money for the Starlight Children's Foundation [©Starlight Children's Foundation]
In early October the chefs of Melbourne go head to head in a soccer tournament that has become an annual fixture. While the rest of the country celebrates the grand final achievements for the AFL and league codes at this time of the year, Melbourne's hospitality industry is training hard for the Chefs Soccer Charity Cup.
In it's fourth year, the event began when a group of predominantly English chefs organised a "kick around" one Sunday afternoon. The first event in December 2005 saw eight teams from Melbourne's top restaurants play a charity tournament to raise money for the Starlight Children's Foundation.
Organising committe member and executive chef at The European, Ian Curley, says the event is a great opportunity for the industry to get together, and it's great for restaurant team morale in what can be fairly feisty kitchen environments.
"You get to see the front of house working with the chefs and even the kitchen hands and waiters, and the owners out there and it builds a big team spirit for us," he says.
This year 14 teams, representing 16 of Melbourne's best restaurants are competing.
Charity sporting events are quite common in the restaurant industry in the UK and Ian says a lot of the English chefs working in Melbourne are really enthusiastic. Many of those involved have worked with Starlight for their five-chef dinners.
"It just seemed natural after the first year to choose a charity and make it a bit bigger and invite more teams," says Ian.
The matches are held on October 5 at the Darebin International Sports Centre in Thornbury, and while competition will be fierce, Ian says the cocktail party later in the month will be even more competitive.
"The cocktail party this year is just going to be sensational. Instead of a sit down dinner, this year we wanted to make it a bit more vibrant with a cocktail party, grazing-style dishes, really good bands and a decent DJ," he says. Entertainment includes the Gentleman’s Swing Club, Georgia Fields & The Freeways, Dirty Laundry and DJ John Course.
Held at Peninsula at Melbourne Docklands, chefs from each restaurant will prepare dishes matched with wines from Giant Steps and Punt Road Wines.
"I don't think we're [the European] going to win the actual soccer on the day. We don't do ring-ins," says Ian. "Some teams bring in what look like semi-professional players. There's a fair few overweight chefs with bad sunburn on the day, but last year some of these players didn't even break a sweat."
Participating restaurants are:
- Atlantic Group
- Café Nacional
- Cecconi’s
- European
- Ezard and Gingerboy
- Grand Hyatt
- Grossi Florentino and Mirka at Tolarno Hotel
- Hotel Nest
- Interlude
- Pearl
- Sarti
- The Clarendon
- The Press Club
- Le Petit Gateau
Regions
- Melbourne (VIC)
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