Tasting Spoon with a difference

This tasting spoon is one that we used in Switzerland and was a standard chef’s kitchen item.

The spoon is now the pride and joy of Kenny, and is the envy of the other chef’s. It is always on his jacket and used with great pleasure and a cheeky smile. Read more

Barista

The Barista is the person who makes your beautiful tasting coffee, hot & cold.
A true Barista should have acquired some level of experience in the preparation of, espresso based coffee drinks. Further than that the barista’s knowledge of coffee blends, varieties, equipment, latte art and more is down to the individual to gain. The art of coffee is far more than just a cup of black liquid.
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Matt Dobson, artist-pizzaman

This is Matt Dobson, our new pizza man.
Matt has done some time with pizzaialo Maurizio at the wood fired oven and learnt the method of making pizza dough, toppings and the art of rolling the dough and baking the pizza in the wood fired oven.
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Pizzaiolo Maurizio

Here at Beaches restaurant & Bar we have a wood fired pizza oven. Now having a wood fired pizza oven is one thing, but being able to make a good authentic Italian style pizza is something else.

Since controlling the kitchen at beaches I have experienced many pizza’s some better than others. But for the past 18 months we have had the pleasure of Maurizio Sevesi in my chef’s kitchen.

Maurizio is Italian as you may have guessed from a name like that, but has lived in Australia for many years now. Being Italian who better could I have to bring the standard of pizza to such new heights.

After creating a new pizza menu with 22 different pizza, we tested many a dough until we found one that we could use. This actually came about from a visit by Maurizio to Cairns and a pizzaiolo there. With the dough recipe set the toppings were created. The napoli sauce was not a problem, the cheese mix neither.

Now contrary to the Australian thinking, pizza’s should be thin based with a minimal amount of topping, not a mountain full!!!! This proved to be one of the biggest hurdles for us to overcome.

With the new menu came new prices, a considerable drop in price, also a considerable drop in topping. The outcome was in our opinion great. An authentic thin crisp pizza with a full flavoured topping that allows you to appreciate the pizza for what it is.

The sad end to this post is, that Maurizio my good friend has just left us and will be enjoying his life in Cairns. A dream that himself and his partner Barbie have had for some time. I wish them both lots of joy and great times in there new home, knowing that they will be sadly missed.