Check out on Youtube how the cutaways were made. Finally, $484.60 9including postage) and after a three month wait Modernist Cuisine has arrived. I’ve bought it so you don’t have to but also to add to my collection of books by Peter Barham, Herve This and Harold McGee that examine the science of cooking, as I mentioned in May. Out of all of them McGee’s On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen (which you can buy […]
Author: Ed
The Estelle: a taste of Basque country in Northcote
A change of direction at The Estelle with chef Ryan Flaherty There a little bit of Basque country foaming away in Northcote, at the relaunched The Estelle, best known previously for the knitted cuts of meat hanging on the wall. How much foam diners in Northcote – or indeed Melbourne – can take is the question that perplexes me. The food (and foam) coming out of the kitchen of the newly installed chef Ryan Flaherty, which was recently bought by […]
Start queueing for Bar Americano
Like its name, the fit out of this latest Der Raum spin-off is very slick and let’s say Americano. That’s slick tiling and panelling. The narrow bar inset with copper. And the fact it’s very very exclusive, allowing only 15 people in at once. That means while you are there sipping you hanky panky (above) behind the shut gate, late coming friends have to wait in the cold with nothing but Melbourne’s smallest artspace, the Twenty by Thirty gallery, to […]
27 social media tips for restaurants
Broadcast across multiple social media platforms thanks to Instagram. Today I’m on a panel at Food Service Austalia with Matteo Pignatelli and Robelen Baja talking about social media and marketing for restaurants and caterers. My specific topic is how to deal with negative comments but also how to use social media. I know this is a little off topic from restaurant reviews and recipes but I thought my thoughts jotted down over a couple of coffees (Sumatran Wahana Estate Magic […]
Q: Does Fairtrade matter in Australia?
A: It didn’t used to but increasing in Australia we are buying into the idea of Fairtrade, as these charts show. This week Harriet Lamb director of the Fairtrade Foundation in the UK is visiting Australia, a leader in certification of the ethical sourcing of products. The fact is that Europe has been leading the world in sourcing Fairtrade goods for some 18 years while in Australia in the past five or six years we have only come to buy […]
And the KitchenAid winner is…
Win a KitchenAid mixer in the colour of your choice thanks to Kitchenware Direct Songs, poems, pictures. And ideas for parties and blog redesigns (coming soon, which I’ve been saying for two years). It’s been two long months since I launched my win a KitchenAid kindly donated by KitchenwareDirect – with a bit of self interest to promote this blog, my Twitter profile and Facebook fan page. First I’d like to thank everybody who has entered, getting into the spirit […]
Everything you wanted to know about coffee (but were afraid to ask your hipster barista) part 2
Check out Everything wanted to know about coffee (but were afraid to ask your hipster Barista) part 1 I‘m drinking coffee made from beans that are one month old. The beans are from the Bambito estate in Nicaragua. They are arabica, from from a mutation known as Caturra. It’s here in Australia because Nolan Hirte, owner of Proud Mary in Collingwood, brought them back to be followed shortly by 450kg he sourced directly. It’s the big change in coffee locally […]
Chin Chin: feel the heat on Flinders Lane
That’s the door Ho in the foreground. Two of the hottest restaurant openings in the last fortnight are Golden Fields and Chin Chin. The punters have packed both places and the brains behind each – Andrew McConnell and Chris Lucas – both say that for the first time they are seeing the message spread through social media. In the case of Chin Chin, I should declare I have a conflict of interest in writing this review as I helped Lucas […]
Last of the summer winemaking
It’s the dream of many to buy a cute little vineyard somewhere and start making wine, good wine hopefully. It’s the sort of hobby that sends people broke with high entry costs and often inferior wine produced. But oh what a joy to drink something you’ve made yourself, even though all your friends just want to spit rather than swallow. The sensible way to make wine is not to own a vineyard. All you need is access to good grapes […]