Author: Ed

Cooking

Go to work on a 65/85 egg

Ingredients: serves two 2 eggs 4 slices of pancetta (he says thin but the only stuff I could find was round) Herby stuff 100g butter 1/2 an onion. Diced finely. i garlic clove. Diced finely. One cup each watercress and flat leave parsley leaves. One and a half cups baby spinach 25g grated parmesan Salt and pepper to season It’s just cooking not molecular gastronomy. But it is very precise cooking with the help of my new-fangled device, an Auber-WS […]

Eat streets

My British 100

Awhile ago I spotted the Omnivores 100 meme on Becks & Posh which was started by Very Good Taste. It was a pretty good list but some of the entries would be better off on a meme of 101 things not to eat before you die. For a start insects. Yes, I know we eat them all the time ground up in to flour. But I really don’t want to them (although I’ll contradict myself by saying green ants with […]

Drinks

Are you a happy little glutamate?

There is a buzz around right now caused by monosodium glutamate (MSG), or whatever you prefer to call it. The savoury flavour otherwise known as umami was named 100 years ago after first being isolated from seaweed in Japan in 1907. Even if you think you haven’t tasted umami or glutamate you probably have and it has probably compelled you to shove even more food in your willing cake hole. Chinese food has a bad reputation for containing MSG – […]

Cheap eats, Eat streets, Richmond

Still searching for the best Pho. Or am I?

The seductive thing is the doorway and a sign. There is no other indication of what lies at the top of the stairs in the Thy Thy (142 Victoria St, Richmond +61 3 9429 1104) Vietnamese restaurant. Perhaps restaurant is too strong a word. This isn’t a place I’d come to eat at night and apparently nor should you. But do drop in for an aromatic and filling bowl of sub $10 Pho and to enjoy Thy Thy’s retro chequerboard […]

journalism

Food for thought

From In The Black: In the trenches Achieving an effective level of management is a fairly universal story no matter what business you work in or run. Just look at the restaurant industry. It’s a microcosm of the business world, picky customers and tight deadlines. And the man who has highlighted it, warts and all, is internationally recognised chef and restaurant owner, Gordon Ramsay. His UK and US TV series Kitchen Nightmares has made his name as a straight-talking, business […]

journalism

Goodbye Curry in a Hurry

From SBS Food Five Indian restaurants have been awarded Michelin stars in the UK since 2001. Ed Charles investigates how the trend towards Indian fine diners is progressing Australia. When Chandra Kanodia opened the Phantom India restaurant in June 1979 on Swanston Street in Carlton, just outside the City of Melbourne, it claimed to be the first Tandoori Restaurant in Australia. He had chefs flown in from famous restaurants in India to make the best Indian food. Australians have always […]

journalism

Google targets small to medium-sized businesses

From The Australian, Entrepreneur JULIAN Persaud, the newly appointed online head at Google Australia, is a man with a big message for small and medium-sized companies. He wants to wake them up to the opportunities online presents for growing their businesses. “They are coming on board in increasing numbers,” he says. “About 40 per cent have a website and there’s about another 20 or 30 per cent who are currently building a website. There is a big opportunity. “The reason […]

Chefs

The stress and sex of the kitchen

Gordon Ramsay caught in the lens in Melbourne…shortly after admiring the blouse of an Age writer… Apparently most chefs are at it not just Gordon Ramsay. The Times in London reports: “Close working relationships are formed in the intense kitchen environment, while partners are often neglected at home, unable to understand the stresses and strains of the job. This goes some way in explaining a Time Out survey of New York chefs published this month, in which 50 per cent […]

Eat streets

Finally over Ferran fatigue: your questions answered

I got Ferran Adria fatigue and can only now face answering those questions. It’s not as bad as my Gordon Ramsay fatigue. Anyway I’m over it now. My main task was to ask questions for other publications so not everything was answered in full. In case you missed it Adria was launching his book “A Day at elBulli” and gave a talk put on by the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. Here we go: Phil: Can I please have a […]