Could 2006 be the year that the local foodblog community seriously starts to challenge traditional media? Predictions are a dangerous thing. But I’m prepared to put my neck on the line about the growth of food blogging’s in popularity in Australia. There are currently 49 local food blogs, about 80 per cent of them regularly updated. I reckon by this time next year there will be at least 250 – possibly more – if the current growth rate is continued. […]
Author: Ed
All change for restaurant critics
Well sort of. Last week saw the appointment of Melbourne critic and John Lethlean and Epicure’s (the food section of our local broadsheet, The Age) deputy editor Necia Wilden as the co-editors of our local Good Food Guide. Now Sydney’s man of the sharp knives Matthew Evans has quit Good Living (the food section of the Sydney Morning Herald) as restaurant critic after five years (although it’s not clear if he remains joint editor of the Sydney Good Food Guide). […]
Reflections on beer glasses
Sure Asahi isn’t the cheapest beer on Tap. But that is more than compensated by the stylish frosted glass that this beer comes in. We’ve just popped in to recently refurbished Espy, (The Esplanade Hotel, 11 The Esplanade St Kilda 3183 +61 3 9534 0211) for a quick beer. For those of you not in the know this pub has one of the best bay views in St Kilda. It serves the beers made or marketed by Fosters which means […]
Always choose a wine by its label
I find wine labels pretty exciting and this Wine Blogging Wednesday #16 even more so. I once worked in a marketing type job and was involved in some brand development. The idea was to imagine what the bottle’s label would have been like, say, a couple of hundred years previously. With that in mind we could develop a label that communicated heritage, quality and all that guff. Winemakers are split between heritage look labels and funky designs. There are plenty […]
In The Black: The house always wins
For In the Black in December 2005. Ed Charles tells why reverse mortgages should be handled with care, and vetted by professionals. This is a story about how a new car or a cruise might cost pensioners their home. It’s about the lucrative reverse mortgage, where banks will lend up to 45 per cent of a home’s value and compound the interest over a pensioner’s lifetime. It’s about the gap between compounded interest rates and increasing property values. And about […]
How to drink it. Or how I learnt to ignore the whisky bore within
Who looks the plonker: the whisky bore who drinks the oldest single malt within reach or the person who likes it with a splash of coke? Well here’s a thing. The guys who make the world’s whisky when down the pub have a choice of mixer on the bar: a jug of water or a bottle of lemonade. They choose, of course, the lemonade because that’s what they like best, according to whisky maker Ian Williams manager of Home of […]
Grange Hermitage 1990
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Wagyu beef: the virtual farmer
This story came out in The Australian on Friday. I can’t find the link online so have posted the raw copy here. When the cast of Hollywood tucked in to beef burgers after this years 77th Academy Awards, it was made from Blackmore Wagyu Beef. When the first Yarra Valley truffles arrived at the Botanical restaurant in Melbourne, chef Paul Wilson served it with Blackmore Wagyu Beef. And if you visit what Gourmet Traveller has rated as Australia’s top restaurant, […]
The Australian: The fat of the land
From the Entrepreneur supplement. David Blackmore is a farmer with a difference – he’s prepared to outsource, writes Ed Charles