A trip to Mandurah by Chinese celebrity chef Louis Yin, hosted aboard Mandurah Cruises’ new Wild Seafood Experience, is set to be screened to a global audience of more than 150,000 people.
Showcasing Mandurah’s fresh seafood for the cameras, Chef Yin and his assistant pulled up their sleeves to haul in pots of Western Rock Lobster, ready to cook for passengers aboard the luxury Mandurah Cruises’ tour.
The chefs prepared a seafood banquet featuring a fresh crayfish sashimi art piece, barbecue garlic-butter crayfish, and a lobster-based Szechuan chili noodle dish.
With a Platinum 5-Star ranking to his name, Chef Yin has worked as an executive chef for some of China’s most exclusive hotels.
His visit was filmed for an OzStar International Media TV production promoting Mandurah – the 2018 GWN7 WA Tourist Town of the Year – as a tourist destination.
The program will be broadcast online to 150,000 members of the Chinese population across mainland China and Australia, as part of a Chinese New Year travel special.
“This is a great example of our local tour operators working hard to showcase the amazing marine attractions we have here,” Mandurah and Peel Tourism Organisation chief executive Karen Chief said.
Wild Seafood Experience
With a 100-year history as a crayfishing centre, Mandurah is renowned for its plentiful population of crayfish. Local commercial fishermen have long exported the delicacy to foreign consumers.
The new Wild Seafood Experience by Mandurah Cruises brings seafood lovers, both local and international, direct to local seas for their very own catch-and-dine marine adventure.
Aboard The Reel Affair II, a converted charter boat, the cruise takes passengers out to the open ocean, where they help to haul in pots, before sizing, handling and learning all about the crays.
On returning to the Peel-Harvey Estuary, a seafood banquet is prepared in front of guests, with freshly-cooked crayfish from the day’s catch, plus Mandurah blue swimmer crabs, oysters, prawns, octopus, salmon and more.
Passengers enjoy beer, cider and local wines, while dining and cruising Mandurah’s scenic canals, spotting dolphins, pelicans and sea eagles.
Since its launch in early 2018, the tour has attracted many local visitors, plus tourists from as far as Beijing and Guangdong in China, according to Mandurah Cruises director Myrianthe Riddy.
“Guests love seeing the crayfish go from the ocean to the barbecue, but the most common feedback we get is how much they enjoy being able to sit on the boat and eat, surrounded by dolphins and other wildlife – they think it’s magical,” she said.