Packed into the new recital centre in Melbourne were a star-studded audience to hear Neil Perry, Heston Blumenthal and Thomas Keller discuss “A new approach to cooking”. Sydney chef Tony Bilson was taking notes sitting next to the legendary Cheong Liew. I think I spotted Karen Martini and Martin Boetz. The audience was also packed full of a who’s who of local food media as well as few bloggers and quite possible a few more food twitters. We were all […]
Chefs
Interviews with famous chefs and stories about them.
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 […]
Last of Gordon Ramsay for this year
Gordon Ramsay: “Ladies, I’m 100% real, there’s no need to pinch quite THAT hard!” Ellie the Kitchen Wench received a pack of Monsieur Truffe raspberry truffles for her winning entry (above) to my Gordon Ramsay caption competition. I think she liked them. She says: “…oh lordy, I don’t think that taking a bite of chocolate has ever made me whimper before…” Food fascist 1. No more Gordon Ramsay this year please 2. Enough of Monsieur Truffe. Gorged on 15 yesterday
The Bulletin: Oliver’s twist
The Melbourne restaurant supporting Jamie Oliver’s charity foundation is largely owned by a businessman who is banking on profits which may not be there. BY ED CHARLES JAMIE OLIVER’S GONE HOME. The cameras are switched off. The TV show will soon end. Now the local franchise of the celebrity chef’s charitable cause, the Fifteen Foundation Australia, and the commercial restaurant venture, Fifteen Melbourne, have to make it on their own. Fifteen, the restaurant, is the public face of the project. […]
Gordon Ramsay lands in Melbourne
CAPTION COMPETITION: Kylie (left) and Monique from the Tomato posse want your caption suggestions. Monsieur Truffe truffles for the winners. I’ve a bloody awful headache but it went something like this: Tomato: “My friend Neil wants to know why you didn’t just kick Marco Pierre White in the bollocks.” Gordon Ramsay: “We scrapped a couple of times times…” Tomato: “I read Marco’s book and it’s a bit crap. just settling scores and telling everybody how good he is.” Gordon Ramsay: […]
The Gordon Ramsay nightmare
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlhJF7qVcNA]
Questions for the ladies man?
I was becoming jealous of all the Gordon Ramsay tales from Sydney and thought I was missing out. It appears he is a bit of a ladies man wooing Cucina Rebecca, kissing Julia and offered a bit of Mr Darcy for Augustus Gloop. Now I’ve been unexpectedly invited to a Gordon Ramsay supper at Lamaro’s in South Melbourne by the nab private bank (no I’m not a client). This is the terrible thing, I dumped going out with Kylie on […]
Bourdain on Ronnie di Stasio
Perhaps your way here from the food issue of The Age (Melbourne) Magazine . If you haven’t seen the mag, London-based Aussie food writer Terry Durack quotes Anthony Bourdain from an interview with Tomato from a year ago. You can check out my full Anthony Bourdain archive. He says this of Ronnie di Stasio in part 3: “He’s a fucking madman. And you have to be a fucking madman to be in the reastaurant business. There should be a statue […]
The Bulletin: Whose restaurant rules?
My story about the egos and clashes behind the restaurant awards season appears in The Bulletin (that’s our local version of Newsweek) today. The brief agreed with news editor Tim Blair was end of restaurant awards guide season, bruised egos etc. Innocent questions stimulated an interesting response from the people behind The Age (our local daily broadsheet) Good Food Guide. Shannon Bennett’s Vue de Monde I’d heard was upgraded from two to three hats but The Age had only checked […]