Makuru Pop Up Dinner

RiverMint Dining recently held its second pop-up dining experience at Riki Kaspi's The Cooking Professor, in Mt Hawthorn. Cosy, and vibrant and decorated with illustrative art by Jodie Davidson, the dining space provided an interactive environment for guests to taste and explore ingredients from the season of Makuru.  

On arrival, guests were treated to canapés and welcome drinks featuring Broome Pearl Meat, Bunya nut and truffled Emu egg. It was great to see some new faces in the mix and to connect with return guests who attended our first pop up, Celebrating Djeran. 

Following a beautiful Welcome to Country by Noongar elder and guest Aunty Neta Knapp we began the sit down meal for Moments of Makuru with a drinks list featuring Swan Valley wines from Garbin Estates and Upper Reach Wineries as well as Matilda Bay Dirty Granny cider and Feral Brewery beers. 

The interior of The Cooking Professor provided an intimate and beautifully curated space for Jodie Davidson of Nature Art to display her colourful and clever illustrations, water colours and sculptures of Australian animals, It was such a lovely collection of work and a privilege to be able to exhibit them alongside our menu.

We tried to reflect the transition from sea to land throughout the Moments of Makuru menu whilst offering comfort from the rainy, very wintery weather outside.

Moments of Makuru

    Shaved Smoked Crocodile, Confit Jerusalem artichoke, Pepperberry spiced rhubarb, cucumber, nasturtium

    Exmouth King Prawns, Native lemongrass and Gubinge glaze, Sea Rocket and Baby Pigface, Burnt Citrus, Prawn head emulsion, Blood root

    Davidson Plum Sorbet, Atherton Ginger syrup, Caraway crisp, Wild fennel

    Seared Kangaroo fillet, Kangaroo tail croquette, braised red cabbage & WA apple, Illwarra plum chutney, game jus

    Sauteed winter greens and fungi : Rapini, Ice Plant and wild mushrooms, Ruby Saltbush

    Heirloom Carrots and Braised Fennel, Creamed Omega walnuts

Wine-poached Southern Forest fruits with Native Berries (Pink berry, Munthari, Lilly Pilly, Illawarra Plum), Chestnut Cream, Chocolate Sable, Lemon Aspen

Sandalwood Nut Fudge & Davidson Plum Truffles

Lemon Myrtle Tea & Choc Wattleseed Espresso

It was a fantastic and boisterous night filled with laughter and discovery and the reward was some great feedback. Even better was the discovery of some food blogger diners whose fantastic photos and blog posts truly captured the essence of the night. Be sure to check out Sandy Lim's blog post and photography featuring Moments of Makuru  on her blog sanlive.com and let's not forget Perth food bloggers and fanatics @food_and_I who posted a neat video and photos. It was great to meet you and we hope to see you exploring native ingredients with us again in the future.

A special thank you to our indigenous and non-indigenous suppliers whose produce and guidance is invaluable. We hope in 2018 to start hosting pop ups not just in Perth but further afield in Fremantle and the Swan Valley. 

RiverMint Dining caters for corporate and private events and functions from a discovery canapés party at a private residence to native-inspired executive grazing tables. Our pop up dinners are a unique dining event featuring foraged, wild harvested and plot grown ingredients usually only available in limited amounts. They are very special to the Rivermint Dining team and we always look forward to holding the next one with a new season in mind

Photo credit: Sandy Lim sanlive.com

The Season of Makuru

The cold and wet season is upon us, though the sun still loves to shine, mixing with sporadic showers to create beautiful rainbows across the winter sky.

Makuru is known by the Noongar people as the season of the first rains and fertility. Bird species such as Ravens (Wardong) and the Black Swan (Mali) increase in numbers and quieten down for the breeding season. This was also the time that Noongar people traditionally moved further inland to hunt and the diet was meat heavy as opposed to seafood, including emu (Weitj), bandicoots (Quenda)  and possum (Koomal).

Towards the end of Makuru, around late July, residents in the suburb of Peppermint Grove will no doubt notice the white flowers of the peppermint gums that line the verges, emitting a beautiful fragrance and appearance. Tea tree and fungus are also is great abundance in the southern regions.

Kangaroo (Yonga)  was an important source of food and materials during Makuru,  with its bones being used for tools and scrapers, tendons for bindings and ties and the famous skins used to make coats.

There is so much to learn about the Noongar seasons and culture and the best way to do this is to take part in one of the excellent tours and workshops held by respected Noongar elders in Perth and throughout Western Australia. The following businesses and tour operators are just a few of the suggestions we have here in the Perth Metro area and we highly recommend them to all those who want to learn more about culture, Australian history and the six seasons.

Bindi Bindi Dreaming: Marissa Verma does some great cultural workshops and will also introduce you to the Yonga Booka, a coat made from kangaroo skins turned inside out during this cold wet season. She makes some tasty native treats as well.

Indigenous Tours WA: Join respected elder Dr Noel Nannup and son Greg Nannup on a journey through Wadjuk country. Learn more about the their culture, traditions and spiritual links between land and sea, discover Fremantle's early indigenous history, or tour King's Park to learn more about bush food and medicine.

Wangi Mia, Yanchep National Park: One of our favourite places for reflection and learning, Yanchep National Park is the perfect place for a family day out. To discover more about Wadjuk culture, the tools and instruments such as the didgeridoo, visit the charismatic and very funny Derek Nannup at Wangi Mia.

Urban Indigenous:  An award winning private tour operator at both a corporate and educational level, Rebecca Casey and Ron Bradfield along with a truly fantastic team of guides and story tellers, share culture and challenge stereotypes with their workshops and tours with passion and a deep understanding of Aboriginal culture.

Go Cultural: Taking place at Elizabeth Quay, Perth, Go Cultural is the newest aboriginal experience available to those wanting to learn more from those with deeper connections to land and culture. Dreamtime stories, spiritual songs and an introduction to hunting and cooking implements are all part of the experience conducted by traditional owner of Nyungar Boodja, Walter McGuire.

Here's to enjoying these cold wet days and celebrating what the season of Makuru has to offer. We would love to hear more about your experiences and learning through tours like the above.

Winter Events with RiverMint Dining

The weather is getting chilly here in Western Australia and that means there is no better time to immerse ourselves in cooking, red wine, cosy dinners and winter fruits.

RiverMint Dining has a number of events coming up over the winter months. To kick off NAIDOC week we will be catering a 30-seat ticketed dinner called the Mungah Festival Dinner as part of the Binjareb Park NAIDOC celebrations on Saturday the 1st July. There will be tours, an outdoor cinema experience and some great live music throughout the day culminating in the dinner. Join the Pinjarra community in celebrating this special occasion. To find out more about Binjareb Park and the event visit the Binjareb Park Facebook page. Tickets can be purchased directly through trybooking.com here

We are excited to be collaborating with Westfield Whitford City in Hillarys as part their NAIDOC week celebrations. Customers will get the opportunity to try various tastings featuring native Australian ingredients and to chat with RiverMint Dining about using these ingredients in your own home. We will be located in the fresh food market section from 11am - 2pm on Monday 3rd July - Saturday 8th July. So pop on down when you are doing your shopping and try some delicious morsels.

We are also gearing up for the second of our pop up events to celebrate the season of Makuru. Local produce, north coast seafood and indigenous game will be featured on the menu and guests will be treated to a 5-course tasting menu with canapés and drink on arrival. Held at Riki Kaspi's The Cooking Professor, in Mt Hawthorn, the cosy location will provide an intimate and warm experience complete with drinks menu featuring some of the best Swan Valley beers, ciders and wines. We are very privileged to have Noongar Elder Auntie Neta from Urban Indigenous attending who will open the evening with a unique Welcome to Country. Local children's illustrator Jodie Davidson will also be showcasing some of her work highlighting the Australian landscape. Tickets available on eventbrite or click here.

Winter is looking busy for RiverMint Dining with some exciting collaborations, tastings and corporate catering functions in the works. Be sure to keep your eye on the Rivermint Dining Facebook page for updates on dinners and events or sign up to our newsletter to stay in the know.

We look forward to seeing you all and to enjoying a chilly but beautiful Makuru season.