In this week’s column: Hills chocolate makers clash with fashion label, Assaggio chef takes a day job, new local produce-driven menu for a West End establishment, cooking with fresh horseradish, and wines to watch at the football.
Naming rights
An Adelaide Hills chocolate producer has been forced by a billion-dollar fashion label to change its branding to avoid a potential bitter legal battle.
After being incorrectly tagged in an Instagram post, the award-winning Hahndorf-based chocolatier decided to protect its seven-year-old brand, a process which subjected it to international scrutiny by trademark lawyers.
Some truffles have a dusting of cocoa of the chocolate kind. Photo: supplied
“Chocolate No.5 popped up on an Instagram post by a Melbourne company which produces hand-coated chocolate strawberries,” says owner Alison Peck.
“After that we thought we had better trademark the name Chocolate @ No.5, as it is now a well-known brand.”
Then Peck received a letter from lawyers acting for fashion label Chanel, asking that she withdraw the trademark applications.
“They said their client was opposed to the applications because they believed we could be passing off products to be that of Chanel’s.”
Chocolate @ No.5 was established at 5 Mt Barker Road, Hahndorf, in 2007 by Hahndorf restaurateur Sophie Zervas as a dessert café. Peck took over ownership in 2010 and introduced house-made artisan chocolates under the Chocolate @ No.5 brand. Chocolate @ No.5’s in-house chocolatier, Sarina Waterman, produces 60 different handmade chocolate products using Callebaut and Cacao Barry couverture chocolate.
The offending logo. Photo: supplied
Peck says that the typography used in the No.5 part of the logo, created under the business’s previous ownership, is very similar to the style of the No.5 in Chanel No.5, a perfume label in the more than 100-year-old French fashion house’s stable.
“I just thought the design referred to the address.”
The lawyers presented a list of demands: “They wanted me to withdraw the applications, to change the website logo and any future labels. They wanted to lock me into using the branding only for products sold at the Hahndorf site. They wanted me to take the label off the candles which we make in-house; to no longer use the logo if the business ever changed location. They wanted us to remove the numeral ‘5’ from any future logos, and they were even opposed to us spelling out the word ‘five’.”
Peck said she couldn’t afford to fight the likes of Chanel, so she withdrew the trademark application and sent a mock-up of a new logo to the lawyers.
The new logo. Photo: supplied
“They wanted to tie us to that new logo – I told them they were using bullying tactics,” she says.
“You can’t confuse chocolate with perfume. I said I wasn’t going to be dictated to, nor bullied, by their client.
“Chocolate @ No.5 has been in existence for more than seven years and I have owned it for more than five. Already I have invested so much into the branding of Chocolate @ No.5.
“The re-design, new labels and new signage, and the wasted costs in the simple act of applying for trademarks which have now been withdrawn, will cost me close to $10,000, but it’s far cheaper than battling an international multi-billion corporation in court.”
Fleurieu poultry plans look set to hatch
Since The Forager’s report several weeks ago, Fleurieu poultry producers are now one step closer to regaining local processing facilities with the completion of stage one of the feasibility study into reopening the Aldinga Turkeys factory at McLaren Flat.
When Aldinga Turkeys closed in December 2014, 79 jobs were lost to the community and poultry producers had to make the 300km round trip to the Barossa to have their birds processed, prompting the Fleurieu Poultry Association to seek assistance to resurrect the plant.
The State Government invested $70,000 in a two-part feasibility study to see if the large plant could become viable as a co-operative venture for local poultry producers.
The association’s Rick Duke told The Forager that the results of the four-week study were positive. “We have been approved to proceed to stage two. Stage one was quite broad, looking at things like bird numbers, community support, potential customers, distribution and costs.
“Stage two will go in deeper, including a detailed business plan which will be used to secure funding. I think we will know in the next four to six weeks whether the project will go ahead.”
Where did Camillo go?
Bar Mercato interior. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily
Former head chef at Assaggio Camillo Crugnale has taken up a position at Bar Mercato, swapping the night shift for business hours.
Bar Mercato is a new in-store eatery and bar at Campbelltown’s Italian food and wine emporium Mercato. Bar Mercato first opened as a pop-up a few months ago in the space that was previously occupied by O’Furno, but since then has emerged as a pizza bar, cafe and pasticceria.
Mercato owner John Caporaso said Bar Mercato was a two-stage project. “We have the lab and commercial kitchen up and running for us to be able to produce typical Italian sweets and pastries and pizze al taglio, a Roman style of pizza made with dough that is 72 hours old and when cooked is light and fluffy and rectangular shaped – our grand plan is to sell it by the kilo and cut to measure.”
Lab? “Our Italian pastry chef Andrea Rinella calls the kitchen the ‘laboratorio’. Rinella is a third-generation pastry chef out of Rome who we have sponsored. He’s with us for a minimum of four years and he’s making cornetti, crostata, venecianas and pizze al taglio.”
Front-of-house and head barista at Bar Mercato is Maria Munari (ex Tynte Street’s Caffe Tecca), and visitors can expect good Italian coffee, sweet and savoury snacks for breakfast, and rustic-style meals for lunch, typical of an Italian bar offering.
“Breakfast will be lots of coffee and pastries, with an egg dish for the Aussies,” explains Caporaso. “The lunch meals will be a list of weekly specials which incorporate a lot of Mercato core products such as cheeses, smallgoods and olive oil – it will be rustic in style.”
Bar Mercato is licensed and La Cantina’s full range of Italian wines, beers, spirits and liqueurs are available.
At this stage it is open week days and weekends during business hours, but the plan is to extend those hours to after-work spritzers and aperitifs and to promote stand-up espressos taken at the bar for a gold coin donation “just like they do in Italy”.
“Camillo is heading up the kitchen at Bar Mercato,” says Caporaso. “He’s really taken a fancy for the concept.”
Eating locally in Leigh Street
Cos Leigh Street has jumped on board the Eat Local campaign to incorporate South Australia’s best regional produce into its Express Lunch Menu.
Expect dishes such as Port Lincoln black mussels with tamarind, fries and mayonnaise (1/2 kilo $18); Spencer Gulf squid in a potato, caper and oregano salad ($25); orecchiette with butternut, chilli and rosemary ($26); and Berkshire pork neck with nam jim and fennel salad ($26).
This week at the Adelaide Farmers’ Market – horseradish
Fresh horseradish. Photo: Andre Castellucci
This fiery root is a member of the Brassicaceae (Cruciferae) family, which includes cabbage, radish and mustard, and is native to Eastern Europe. It contains an essential oil similar to that found in mustard, and it is this oil that gives it a sharp, pungent, tangy taste.
Horseradish is best used freshly grated and raw – just be aware that the finer it is chopped or grated, the more powerful and intense the flavour. Add it to soups, salads, seafood, sauces and braises just before serving. It can be mixed with cream, mayonnaise or yoghurt to make a hot-flavoured sauce to accompany roast beef or it goes exceptionally well with fish, such as the ocean trout available from Austar Mariculture at the Adelaide Farmers’ Markets.
Fresh horseradish is available to purchase from Adelaide Showground Farmers’ Market stallholder Alnda Farms every Sunday from 9am-1pm. Austar Mariculture sells fresh and smoked ocean trout at the Showground Farmers’ Market on Sundays and the Prospect Farmers’ Market on Thursday afternoons from 3pm-6.30pm.
Clare Valley wines go to the football
Claymore Wines began in 1997 with an Adelaide doctor, Anura Nitchingham, realising the opportunity to indulge his passions for great wine, timeless music … and the Liverpool Football Club. Now, almost 20 years later, Claymore Wines has paid his favourite football team the ultimate tribute by becoming the exclusive wine sponsor of the Liverpool Football Club 2015 Tour Adelaide Match on July 20 at Adelaide Oval.
To mark “The Reds” return to Australia, Claymore Wines has produced three commemorative wine labels for the tour: ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ Grenache-Shiraz-Mataro, ‘The Boot Room’ Shiraz and ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ Sauvignon Blanc.
“As the Liverpool Football Club hold high presence internationally and here in Australia, we saw our partnership as an opportunity to showcase our wines to a larger audience and capture the interests of football fans throughout Austalia,” explains Nitchingham.
“On a personal level, the affiliation is the perfect combination of my two favourite passions: wine and football. As a big Liverpool Football Club fan, I feel privileged to be part of the excitement that the pre-season matches will create. It’s a passion for great reds.”
What’s on?
Last Friday in North Adelaide – June 26
Last Friday is a new initiative, supporting creative culture and creating a community feel in North Adelaide. The upcoming Last Friday “Italian Carnival on O’Connell Street” will celebrate all things Italian including dine-in specials for those donning masks. The event will run from 4pm-8pm. To book your place on the Carnival Mask Making tour, [email protected].
WayWood Long Table Lunch Series #1 – June 27
Enjoy a four-course Spanish fiesta-inspired lunch prepared by Luscious Red Catering and matched with current, museum and pre-release vintages of WayWood Tempranillo at the WayWood Cellar Door on Kays Road at McLaren Vale. Tickets are $95 per person and numbers are limited. For bookings and information, phone 8323 8468.
Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival – July 10 to 12
Join chefs Drew Akin, Jordan Jeavons, Andy Nowell, Duncan Welgemoed, Brendan Bell and Sam Worrall-Thompson for barbecue demonstrations at the Adelaide Showgrounds’ Brick Dairy Pavilion and lawns during the Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival. Local and international beer and cider brewers including Lobo Cider, Birbecks Brewing Company, Rehn Bier, Swell Beer and Clare Valley Brewing will also be serving artisan beer and cider. A feature bar dedicated to the winning brews from the Royal Adelaide Beer and Cider Awards will be open for tastings.
The towering provolone at Mercato. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily
Cutting of the giant provolone – July 30
Join the crew at Mercato for the cutting of Australia’s only 400kg Auricchio Provolone Piccante cheese and enjoy a traditional Italian wine and cheese ceremony. Hanging from the ceiling of Mercato, this giant cheese is made with 5000 litres of milk in Northern Italy on the banks of the River Po and will be aged for almost 36 months at the time of the cutting. They say the cheese has a “succulent, sharp, buttery flavour” and should be enjoyed with fresh crusty bread, as part of an antipasto platter, as a pizza topping and with a glass of Bera Brachetto D’Alba wine from Piemonte.
News, tips and information?
The Forager would love to hear about your news, events and suggestions. Please contact us at [email protected].
