In the first of a new weekly column, ED CHARLES dishes up the latest on Melbourne’s food and bars HARD ROCK The Hard Rock Cafe (1 Bourke St, city) will close this year to be replaced by shops as part of a refurbishment of the Windsor Hotel. Rubbish bins in the next-door alley, Windsor Place, will be swapped with cafes and restaurants, making a new eat street. No fixed plans for Hard Rock Cafe yet. BAR HUMS The Red Hummingbird […]
Author: Ed
Five things you didn’t know about me
I’ve been tagged by Andrea, an Australian living in Paris, from Buy Organic for the “five things” meme. Sorry it has taken me a while… 1. I was exposed in The Australian today. Yes, it is true that this food blogger soon becomes part of the “enhanced” food media landscape. I was first approached by the Herald Sun (Australia’s biggest selling daily newspaper) last November, it firmed up earlier this month and I finally signed a contract last Wednesday. The […]
For beautiful bread, historic oven proves old ways still best
THE CURIOUS COOK 
 IT’S 11pm at the Portarlington Bakehouse, on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula, and the wood-fired oven is still warm from the morning’s baking. I watch as Terry Christofi lights some pieces of newspaper stuffed between the old palings in the oven’s firebox; flames shoot out. Christofi taps on the antique brass temperature gauge, waiting for it to reach 800F on the old scale (almost 430C). The baker is making these preparations in the middle of the night because […]
Waging guerilla war
You can create a marketing buzz on a small budget, writes Ed Charles IT’S the classic business dilemma. You’re launching into a crowded market and the main competition has a marketing budget of tens of millions of dollars, whereas you have a few thousand. You can’t compete head-on. The only option is to use your wits and creativity to create a marketing buzz out of nothing. Welcome to the world of guerilla marketing. The term was coined by Jay Conrad […]
The new cards on the block: pre-paid or cash

They’re just the shot as a gift for travellers or for those who don’t have credit cards, Ed Charles reports THE pre-paid credit and cash-card market is barely nine months old, yet there are already more than six cards on the market, with more predicted to be launched this year. They can be used for internet transactions and telephone shopping by people who have traditionally shunned credit cards. “It is definitely an area of growth in the credit card market,” […]
Hotel etiquette Battambang style
I’m not sure whether or not I’m meant to feel reassured or frightened in a country where hotels feel the need to remind me than guns and grenades are not wecome. At Hotel La Noria in Siem Reap I think I was safe. With its leafy garden and swimming pool it is a comfortable escape from the bustle on the street at a cost of $40 plus a night. It is also reassuring that being a Childsafe hotel – one […]
Top cinema sweets
From my niece clanky: 1 Maltesers 2 M&Ms – Peanut – Chocolate – Mixed – Crispy 3 Skittles 4 Pick ‘n Mix – Fantails – Minties – Chicos (never heard of these)
INTHEBLACK: Caught in the middle
Big 4 firms have traditionally aimed high. But now that they’re turning their attention to the middle market, just where does that leave mid-tier firms? Something’s in the air. First Big 4 firm Deloitte swooped on the Melbourne office of mid-tier firm BDO. Not long after it scooped up the Sydney business of Horwarths, also a mid-tier firm. And at the end of 2006 the remaining BDO and Horwarths networks in Australia announced a merger. What gives? The big end of […]
Cabbage turnip vs grapefruit
Stone cold sober, this vegetable does pass for Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite sent into the earth’s orbit. The only thing is that Sputnik was 23cm in diameter, this veggie is about a quarter of the size. Sputnik was metallic while the kohlrabi comes either in a light green or purple variety. According to Wikipedia (BTW I spotted the Sputnik thing before I looked it up) the name comes from the German words kohl (cabbage) and rabi (turnip). There […]