Food & Drink. Travel. Est. 2005
Restaurant and bar stories, news and reviews
Uncle Ho. Happy Endings. And the latest Misohawni, a new restaurant in Johannesburg with a gimmicky name and a mishmash of Asian cuisines including Ramen. The social media and, in particular Twitter, backlash against the trivialisation and sexualisation of Asian culture in restaurants is inevitable. As is Misohawni taking down its Facebook page within 24 hours of opening. Check out my Medium post on the sexualisation of Asian women in restaurants.
One month in Lisbon. That’s some 90 meals. Quite a few I prepared at home. What is remarkable is how cheap fruit, vegetables, meat and fish are in Lisbon compared with Australia. Peppers and onions are sweet and cost pennies. Tuna and Swordfish are about €12-€13 a kilo. It’s a shock to the system. With cheaper ingredients, property and labour costs it is understandable that Portugal has plenty of quite cheap eats. I say quite cheap as Lisbon isn’t as […]
There’s a new trend in restaurants and cafes. Design it for Instagram sharability. Pidapipo on Chapel Street has done a reasonable job strategically placing its neon so it can be photographed with Hawker Hall’s neon in the background. Match Mylkbar takes it to the extreme, from the neon green finger in its window to… well pretty much everything about the place. The lattes come in all colours of the rainbow from regular to mushroom, pink (beetroot), green (matcha) an golden […]
Queues who needs them? I’ve learnt to accept the queues for restaurants on Flinders Lane. I’ll pick an unpopular night and/or time for a visit. Or I’ll plan a Negroni or two around the corner for the hour or so I have to wait. Lune Croissant is a different story. People are rising before dawn to queue for croissants (see pics). Not only that they are queueing in the dark and the cold but are leaving empty handed, myself included. […]
by Pam and Ed Imagine you were going to spend $330 on a meal for two. You could go for a four course a la carté at Vue de Monde for $150 a head (subject to the day and time of the week). You may bust your budget when you order a glass of wine each. Still, you get the full Vue De Monde experience. And the view. Or you could visit the Tuesday night Chef’s Table at Attica for […]
Moon Under Water, George Orwell, Evening Standard, February 1946 George Orwell: My favourite public-house, the Moon Under Water, is only two minutes from a bus stop, but it is on a side-street, and drunks and rowdies never seem to find their way there, even on Saturday nights. Moon Under Water, Andrew McConnell, Gertrude St, July 2012 Tomatom: First, the public house is called the Builders Arms and it is also close to the tram stop on Gertrude St. The entrance […]
This week a review of a TV chef’s restaurant in the New York Times went viral after a slamming from critic Pete Wells (below). These kind of reviews are as much about entertainment, especially coming from UK-based critics such as A.A. Gill, as a service to the public. Here are eight of my top scathing reviews. Please feel free to add links to worse ones in comments. Pete Wells in The New York times on Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar: […]
There’s a new burger in town and it’s a contender to take Melbourne’s best burger crown from Neil Perry’s Rockpool Bar and Grill. It’s from a joint called Huxtaburger, the choice of hangout for a new breed on Smith St, the Huxtabogan, and costs $10 to Perry’s $23. There’s a lot that’s good about the burger, each one named after a character in the The Cosby Show. My favourite is “The Bill” which at $10 is a patty of grass-fed […]
There’s no website. Or Twitter account. Or any effort in marketing the newest spot on the Collingwood side of Smith St, Gorski and Jones, which is next door but one to Cavellero. Yet G&J place is packed with good reason. The place looks fantastic and their short menu of food and drinks is good. Very good. It’s brought to us by the people behind Brunswick St Alimentari – “The Deli” – and a keen fan. The music is booming and […]