Cuisine's "Supreme Winner" restaurant joins Game Bird Food Festival line up

Hunters all over the country will be crouched expectant in Maimais hoping to bag a few birds next weekend, with May 7 heralding the start of the game bird season.

And those who do come home with a few birds could be dining in style!

Back for its sixth year, and fast becoming a Kiwi tradition, is the 2011 Fish & Game NZ Gamebird Food Festival, which starts on Sunday, May 8.

A mouthwatering list of participating restaurants has just been announced.

Alongside the festival faithful like Cazador, à Deco, Bistro 1284, Café Nero and Café de Paris, is some exciting new blood this year; some of New Zealand's best restaurants and most celebrated chefs have been recruited.

The “Supreme Winner” Cuisine Magazine NZ Restaurant of the Year, Riverstone Kitchen, joins the festival along with other finalists Palate, Bracu, Cable Bay Vineyards and Bouterey’s at 251

Gamebird Food Festival event manager Rose France says: “We are delighted to have so many restaurants supporting the event and thrilled to have some of the country’s most awarded chefs participating.

“With restaurants spread throughout the country, from Whangarei to Invercargill, there is an opportunity for all New Zealand game bird hunters and their friends and families to enjoy meals prepared by top chefs using their own harvested game bird meat."

The concept is simple: You take your birds into a participating restaurant, and the chef will turn them into a feast!

As restaurants are not allowed, by law, to purchase or sell wild game birds, the only opportunity for New Zealanders to taste it is to harvest it themselves or join a hunter who has.

This, along with a restricted hunting season, makes game bird a relatively rare treat for food lovers, an exciting challenge for chefs and an event New Zealanders always love.

The Gamebird Food Festival is an annual event and an initiative of Fish & Game NZ.

“Game bird meat is free-range, organic and delicious and we thank the participating restaurants for showing us new and creative ways to prepare it. We also wish to remind everyone of the importance of safe and responsible licenced game bird hunting,” says Hamish Carnachan, communications manager, Fish & Game NZ.

With game and wild foods very fashionable right now courtesy of Masterchef game specialist Cameron Petley and TV shows like Al Brown’s Hunger for the Wild, Kiwis are increasingly looking for new ways to enjoy their ducks, geese, pheasants, swan, even pukeko!

The Gamebird Food Festival is a chance to see how they are served by the very best in NZ cuisine.

For a complete list of festival restaurants www.gamebirdfoodfestival.co.nz