Chow down on clam chowder

CUDGEN Surf Life Saving Club’s clam chowder has been named the best dish on the NSW North Coast in the 2024 Your Local Club Perfect Plate Awards.

Head chef Adam Gane was thrilled to be recognised with the gong, saying it was completely unexpected.

“We couldn’t have got a table further away from the stage at the award ceremony in Sydney,” he said. “We were so happy it did happen – it’s a great pat on the back for the boys in the kitchen and a real boost to their confidence. I’m very proud.”

Gane grew up on an oyster farm on the Clyde River at Batemans Bay on the NSW South Coast and began working as a chef when he was 13, lying about his age to get into TAFE. He moved to the Tweed in 2002 to be closer to family who had also moved to the area.

He had always wanted to visit California’s famous jetty restaurants to try their clam chowder, but when he finally went there just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020 he thought he could do better himself.

“I realised how good our seafood is in Australia,” he said. “I wanted to put my twist on it and put a more extensive range of seafood in there.” The dish includes fish goujons, prawns, calamari and black kinkawooka mussels.

“We cut our own fresh fish every day, so we need a lot of fish bones and carcasses to make stock for the clam chowder, which is a one-day process,” he said. “It’s a very hearty meal, similar to something grandma would have cooked in the day.”

Gane, who works alongside Kiah Blanco from the 2013 series of MasterChef in the kitchen, has previously worked at several surf clubs on the Gold Coast and wanted to have a point of difference when he took on the role at the Kingscliff club in 2021. “We make all our own sauces and sources seafood fresh daily from Wilkinsons and PFD,” the 48-year-old said.

“The latter supplies some of the best oysters I have had in my career.”