Whether you remember her smiley face from TV screens last year or not, there’s no denying it: Keyma Vasquez is a culinary force to be reckoned with. She’s famed as the first Latina to reach semifinals week in MasterChef Australia last year, impressing judges with her encyclopaedic knowledge of Latin and Caribbean flavours and cooking techniques. Throughout the season, she featured nine top recipes and won the most immunity challenges out of any other contestant.
And now, she’s teamed up with Argentinian-born head chef Sergio Tourn from Tino to take Aussie diners on a journey back across vast oceans and ranges to Venezuela, where her passion for food first bloomed. Book a table at Tino on May 3 for a cosy encounter with regional South American cuisine. For one night only, the Latin pair will co-host a four-course set menu dinner that plays upon each other’s strengths.
The odyssey through Keyma’s homeland starts with snacks that honour Venezuelan staples, such as fried cassava and halloumi tequenos (fried cheese sticks) with guava, a plantain, aniseed and macadamia mandoca (deep fried ring), and corn arepas with duck and avocado.
Next, entrees draw inspiration from the coast to the mountains. Let a seafood ceviche with plantain and salsa criolla melt in your mouth, before moving on to a vegetarian 'tartare' of potato, avocado, leek and egg. The mains are where Keyma and Sergio’s passions for the cuisine take centre stage, however, in a brilliantly curated succession of asado negro (dark beef roast) short ribs, a roast vegetable melange and a citrusy salad of palm hearts with cheyote squash. Dessert ends the night on a high note with a fresh, modern spin on the traditional piña colada cocktail.
A ticket to the intimate experience costs $90 per person, and you can reserve a table at the website here.
