Anthony Bourdain doesn’t think much of Sydney but loves Melbourne. The New York Times restaurant critic Patricia Wells seems to agree that Melbourne’s Flower Drum is the best Chinese restaurant in the world (for its Peking duck at least).Now the LA Times food critic S. Irene Virbila, is wading in to the debate rating Sydney as one of the best places in the world to eat.The divides between the hometowns of the protagonists of this debate perhaps illustrates the cultural […]
Month: September 2005
COOKBOOKS PART 3: These books are actually quite clean
Encyclopaedia of Asian Food, Charmain Solomon Exactly what it says it is with pictures naming all those strange ingredients you have no idea about down at the market. Solomon is the doyen of Asian food writers over here. A few authentic recipes. Worth reading just to learn about the food and ingredients. Stainfactor 6Longrain: Modern Thai Food, Martin Boetz This bloke has a tres chic restaurant and bar in Sydney and has some poor sod grating coconuts by hand all […]
Zany with Zucchinis: chocolate cake
Chocolate and Zucchini cake. Photo: Christina Simons INGREDIENTS 180g dark chocolate 200g plain flour 125g caster sugar 1tsp baking powder 1/2tsp bicarbonate soda 1/2tsp salt 2 large eggs, beaten 6fl oz veg oil 225g peeled courgettes 60g chopped walnuts We start to get creative as our zucchini plants create a supply that could seemingly feed the 5000 or at least most of the Vegout community garden in St Kilda. And so it was that we unearthed Mama Tomato’s unorthodox recipe […]
Part 2: More stains on my cookbooks
Yes it’s shelf two with the tasse de vin from Burgundy.Nose to Tail Eating, Fergus Henderson. I haven’t had this book long enough to stain. But I have firted with pig’s tails, which raw freak me out. Anthony Bourdain thinks Henderson a god. We think he’s good. Very good. If only I had a pot large enough for a whole pig’s head. And it wasn’t a 30,000km round trip to the restaurant Stainfactor 5 (Because I’m frightened).
Part six: Anthony Bourdain puts the boot in
Photography: Christina Simons Anthony Bourdain has eaten some pretty nasty things on his travels. But it’s not always the gross-out factor of the food that is the problem. “I had a meal in Sydney so fucking awful at a place called Chinadoll. Very trendy, faked out Asian fusion – Just horrible, over decorated, over priced, fake Asian food. It was offensive. And even the name China doll is so fake.” It’s not that Asian fusion cooking is a problem. “Some […]
Fresh mushrooms and herbs on toast
Photography: Christina Simons The northern autumn is arriving and in damp forests and field mushrooms are starting to sprout. We had our Mushroom picking season back in May and June but they are still around. There is something uplifting about picking them yourself.
Part 1: The story behind the cookbooks
Books I love and use are spattered with food. I can’t keep them locked behind glass. They are living tools, part of my weekly and seasonal rountines. From left to right here are their stories: 1. The Organic Salad Garden reflects the fact that I have my own organic plot at the Vegout Community Garden in St Kilda (yes, I should have been at the working bee today). Stainfactor 2 2. The Alice B Toklas Cook Book, a present from […]
In the Black: No place like home
Should you invest in a home or in the stock market? From In the Black September 2005.
In The Black: You’re not alone
Life for the corporate elite is not as lonely as it used to be. Now CEOs have an abundance of mentoring options open to them. From In the Black September 2005.