Queenstown’s Cup & Cake store owner Jaimie Stodler and her German-born pastry chef Josie Geimecke have won the Dilmah High Tea competition at the NZ Chefs National Salon final.
The prize includes a trip to Sri Lanka to attend the Dilmah School of Tea to help mentor students at the MJF Charitable Foundation’s culinary training centre and to see the tea plantations and spice gardens for which the country is renowned as the Isle of Spices.
“We are so proud to have had the honour to compete and to have been recognised four our efforts is amazing,” said Stodler.
Their winning menu consisted of three dishes all showcasing Dilmah tea infusions. One of the dishes included a pate a choux swan filled with Dilmah Italian Almond Tea infused crème patisserie, a piece of raw ‘cheesecake’ topped with Dilmah Italian Almond Tea pearls and spiced pinot noir cherry pearls and was served with a Dilmah Green Tea kombucha shot.
