People trying to impress outsiders with Australia’s culinary excellence don’t always leap straight to enumerating the wonders of the Northern Territory, but it’s actually full of deliciousness. Think fresh seafood and cooking with native ingredients.
When Dead Set On Life host Matty Matheson came to Australia to film for the new season of his man-with-a-big-appetite show (watch all three seasons via ), he spent some time in the Top End with the help of local military man turned chef “Sniper” Stephen Austin, and here’s why it’s worth booking a trip in his footsteps.
Darwin earns its reputation for good seafood
In a show like this, you can tell a great deal of footage has to be cut. By the time Matty bellies up to the table at Rachael’s Seafood Shack, he’s clearly had been disappointed with a previous eat. Fortunately, chef Rachael Ciesiolka brings the good stuff – simple seafood that isn’t drowned in sauce or overcooked (although Matty does look dubious at the oysters Kilpatrick). “The fresher the better” is Rachael’s motto and the dishes look delish (seriously, I’ll take those oysters if he doesn’t want them).
Litchfield is the home of incredible bush tucker
It wouldn’t be a Northern Territory trip without digging for yams, or in this case, and using paperbark to add smoky flavours to barramundi. In Litchfield National Park, Indigenous guide Tess Atie talks Matty through the process of cooking food in a traditional way, including native leaves that taste “planty” and the best piece of fish he’s had yet. His mission is to see “if there’s anything today’s local chefs can learn from that ancient knowledge”, and hopefully more up-and-coming kitchen whizzes are watching, so those of us who don’t fancy foraging for ourselves can also discover more of our native flavours.
Bynoe has some amazing fishing – as long as you stay clear of the crocs
Okay, so at one point Matty ends up sulking, but his first-ever helicopter ride takes him and Stephen to Bynoe’s billabongs and estuaries, where the barramundi fishing is second to none. Pilot/guide Steve Davies gives the standard NT lecture about not going near the crocodiles, but the only damage our host cops is from the sun’s harmful rays. After a few hours in those beautiful surrounds, he’s red, sweaty, and both shirt- and fish-free. But he soon perks up.
Mount Bundy Station
It’s the quintessential Antipodean gift: a garbage bag of bloody meat to cook over the barbie while you’re camping “out in the wilderness where every single creature can kill you”, as Matty puts it. This present comes courtesy of Scott Witham, who raises water buffalo on a 20,000-acre station. Kicking back under the stars, and with the use of a barbecue hotplate over their campfire, Matty and Steve craft a feast that would put most restaurants to shame – Balmain bugs, mudcrabs, yams, kangaroo and that water buffalo steak. It certainly makes the standard camping fare of no-name snags and foil-wrapped spuds look a bit sad.
Binge on all of
