Kailis Hospitality Group culinary director David Coomer
Are you a Christmas lover?
I will be if Santa brings me a tractor.
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READ NOWHow are you celebrating Christmas this year?
We will be spending Christmas in Manjimup with family and hopefully catching up with friends.
What is your favourite memory?
Definitely when my kids were young, nagging us to get out of bed from 5am and their excitement and joy about the day.
What does Christmas mean to you?
Making people happy, enjoying time with loved ones and making my dogs wear reindeer antlers.
What’s your favourite festive food?
It’s got to be Manjimup cherries… oh and Christmas cake. I’m a sucker for fruit cake!
What Christmas Day meal are you planning?
Jamon and pate on the barbecue with nuoc cham, a couple of ducks roasted Chinese style with Hoisin sauce, green mango salad, and probably a pavlova with cherries and stone fruit.
Do you have a Christmas Day signature dish?
When in Manjimup, it’s got to be marron fresh from the dam, split, seasoned and barbecued.
Any cooking tips for the day?
Keep it simple. Don’t spend all day in a hot kitchen cooking five different meats and roast vegetables. Flick on the barbecue half an hour before, throw together a couple of nice salads, barbecue some nice seafood and one or two throw some cream and fruit on a pavlova and enjoy the day. Make your kids do the washing up and fall asleep watching The Grinch for the 20th time!
See David’s recipe for barbecued king prawns with eggplant matbucha and coriander relish here.
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