Star Chef To Tantalise At The Ekka

BRILLIANT Ipswich chef David Manz will share his refreshing brand of cooking with Ekka-goers today.

Manz, head chef at Platform 9 Restaurant and Lounge Bar in the Metro Hotel Ipswich International, will demonstrate how to cook a mouth-watering burger at midday.

Aspiring cooks can learn the secrets to making the perfect burger.

Manz said he was looking forward to putting a fresh twist on an Ekka-season favourite.
"I decided to cook a dish in keeping with the Ekka theme, and also to bring a professional edge to a dish that can be cooked at home," he said.

"This burger's a bit different because it's Asian-inspired."

Manz said spices such as cardamom and cumin, combined with gourmet beef, made the dish a treat for tastebuds.

"The mince is made from eye fillet, and there's lettuce, tomato and bacon on the bun," he said.
Manz said today's demonstration would be his first.

"It's exciting, I've worked hard since I start my apprenticeship at 21 so it's great to be invited to do this nine years on," Manz said.

His experience includes working at Brisbane's Ecco Bistro, and a year at Platform 9.

Manz completed his apprenticeship in Ipswich and was happy to have returned.

"My future goal is to own and run my own restaurant, and I'd like to do it locally," he added.

Celebrity chef Dominique Rizzo will host Manz's demo, as well as others at the show.

GOURMET STYLE

• Manz will prepare a beef burger on a sourdough bun with sweet lychee chilli sauce, hand-cut chips and lime and ginger aioli.
• He said fresh ingredients, including meat minced at home and mixed with duck fat, made for a great burger.

Metro Hotel Ipswich International - A Summary of 72 Guest Reviews

A summary of 72 guest reviews of Metro Hotel Ipswich International

• Out of 16 reviews of the staff, 16 said they were kind and polite
• 11 guests reviewed the hotel's location, 11 said it was conveniently located
• Six guests mentioned the room cleanliness in a review, six felt they were very clean
• We found four reviews that recommend eating at the restaurant, only one said to avoid it
• Out of six reviews of the beds, five said they were comfortable
• Two guests reviewed the bar, two felt it had a great atmosphere and selection

Results from these 72 Guests Who left Feedback: 

• Good, 7.9  
• Excellent service
• Great location
• Clean rooms

Metro Hotel Ipswich International - A Summary of 72 Guest Reviews

A summary of 72 guest reviews of Metro Hotel Ipswich International

• Out of 16 reviews of the staff, 16 said they were kind and polite
• 11 guests reviewed the hotel's location, 11 said it was conveniently located
• Six guests mentioned the room cleanliness in a review, six felt they were very clean
• We found four reviews that recommend eating at the restaurant, only one said to avoid it
• Out of six reviews of the beds, five said they were comfortable
• Two guests reviewed the bar, two felt it had a great atmosphere and selection

Results from these 72 Guests Who left Feedback: 

• Good, 7.9  
• Excellent service
• Great location
• Clean rooms

Pisasale is Realistic on G-20 Meet (Ipswich to Host Pre-G20 Meeting)

MAYORS around Queensland are vying for the chance to host a major pre-G-20 Summit meeting in their city, but Ipswich's Paul Pisasale is playing it cool.

"We're talking about a very important meeting of leaders, and the cheapest and safest option would be Ipswich," Cr Pisasale said.

Cr Pisasale said he hoped the city would be considered alongside regional centres such as Townsville and Cairns as a possible site for the G-20 Finance Meeting in 2014.

"Our Safe City cameras would keep the finance ministers safe, and we've got the RAAF Base here, too."

"I believe we have the infrastructure; the ministers could use the plane and helicopter facilities at Amberley," he said.

"It's not a tourism thing, the city would have to be placed on red alert and we would keep the ministers completely safe.

"It's not our decision to make, but I'm happy to put up my hand."

Metro Hotel Ipswich International manager Ted Matthews said hosting the meeting in Ipswich would only add to the benefit of the summit.

"We're already very excited, and we certainly would see Ipswich benefiting from the summit," Mr Matthews said.

"I don't know that we have the infrastructure to host the pre-meeting, but I would like to see this hotel used as a base for a delegation or even a media group.

"The NBN should be up and running by then, so we could act as a great hub.

"We already have a close relationship with Brisbane Marketing, and we've already started looking to talk to people."

G-20 SUMMITS

• The G-20 a group of 19 countries and the European Union.
• It is aimed at "promoting international economic co-operation", the Australian Government states.
• Leaders, finance ministers and reserve banks from countries including China, Russia, the US, UK and India will attend.
• Australia will host the ninth annual G-20 Summit in 2014.
• Russia will host the 2013 Summit.

Camp Quality Ipswich to Newcastle Fundraiser Ride

This year 30 special riders are going to bush bike ride 1000 Kms from Ipswich to Newcastle in an endeavour to raise enough funds to be able to send the Camp Quality kids to their week long Junior and Senior Camps at the end of this year. These Camps are an amazing, fun filled, action packed journey of distraction from cancer where kids can just be kids, even if just for a while.

Of course there are lots of “easier” ways of raising the money for this, but the riders really wanted to do something that would encourage people to stop and think. As Volunteers, Mums and Dads and Friends of Camp Quality they see first hand how brave our special kids are and how they look every challenge they are faced with straight in the eye and keep on pushing on. For this reason, they wanted to do something very challenging and so eventuated the “Sylvania Camp Quality 1000 K’s 4 Kids”.

The Riders and their Support Crew are a powerful team of dedicated and caring people ready to help us achieve our dream. Together they are “the ordinary doing the extraordinary” for a courageous group of kids. The Ride will start in Ipswich on Friday, 7th September and finish in Newcastle on Sunday, 16th September. Over 100 Kms will be ridden each day and lots of Schools will be visited along the way so that the kids all get to learn what Camp Quality is all about and why we are doing the ride.

The Camp Quality Puppets will also be accompanying us along the Ride so they can educate the kids on Camp Quality and bring some fun and giggles along with them. All the Riders are working extremely hard getting sponsors and running fundraiser's as we all work together to try and reach our goal of raising $150,000.00. We will be hosting a Breakfast ( sausage sizzle and hot coffee) on forecourt on Friday 7th September starting from 7am - till their departure at 8.45 am all monies to be donate to Camp Quality .

Hopefully we will be entertained by the Camp Quality puppeteers . We are looking for the support of the local bike riding community to cheer them on plus if you can find your way to donate a prize/ gift for thier raffle to drawn on their arrival in newcastle. If you can assist in any way it would be much appreciated, this is too be a yearly event for a very good cause.