Port to Plate: a month of seafood and wine

If you've been keeping an eye on the Hunter's food calendar, Port to Plate is the one that really fills August. It's a month-long celebration of the region's seafood and wine, based over in Port Stephens, and it's grown into one of the area's biggest winter events. The festival came together in 2019 when two older events, Love Sea Food and Tastes at the Bay, merged into the single month-long program it is now.

The month kicks off with the Port to Plate Gala Dinner on Saturday 3 August, a six-course seafood-inspired menu put together by five local chefs, with matched wine tastings at each course. From there, the festival spreads across the whole month: local restaurants and cafes put on seafood specials, so you'll see creamy rock oysters, fresh prawns and just-caught fish on menus all over the place, and there are weekly seafood cooking classes run by local chefs for anyone who wants to bring some of those skills home. The whole thing wraps up with the Tastes Port Stephens Weekend on 31 August and 1 September, taking over the Nelson Bay CBD and d'Albora Marinas with fresh oysters, cooking demonstrations and the Tastes Jazz Luncheon Cruise.

One particular event is worth knowing about, even if it's just to get a sense of the kind of thing on offer. A standalone Port to Plate dinner went on at Restaurant 2317 on Thursday 24 July, a four-course seafood meal paired with Tyrrell's Wines and hosted by the restaurant and the Nelson Bay Fish Market, at A$150 a head. It's the sort of thing that sets the tone for the rest of the month.

Restaurant 2317 sits on the top floor of Soldiers Point Marina at 2/2 Sunset Boulevard, and it's built its name on seafood, cocktails and the sunset views over the water. It used to be known as The Point Restaurant, so if that name rings a bell, it's the same spot. The wine pairing comes from Tyrrell's, Australia's oldest family-owned winery, which has been running in the Hunter Valley since 1858. It's based in Pokolbin and is now in its fourth generation of winemaking, with the fifth generation already involved. They're best known for their Semillon, especially the flagship Vat 1, and have picked up more than 5,000 trophies and medals since 1971.

And the seafood side is just as local. The Nelson Bay Fish Market is run by Bob Monin and his family, who've been fishing for more than 60 years — Bob himself has been at it since he was eight. They supply wholesale seafood to restaurants and cafes from Sydney up to Newcastle, alongside their retail sales, with wholesale deliveries running through Port Stephens on Tuesdays and Fridays from 2pm to 6pm. It's that kind of direct link from boat to plate that the whole festival is built around.

So if you're after a month of seafood and wine, Port Stephens is the place to be in August. Between the gala dinner, the restaurant specials, the cooking classes and the big weekend at the end, there's plenty to work your way through.