Oysters, once the food of the people. Now if you are interested in various different varieties you’ll be paying up to $4 in restaurants.That’s nearly $50 for a dozen and in my opinion too much. I want to eat them but can’t afford to pay that much.So I will often will buy them at one of Melbourne’s markets (pre-shucked if I’m feeling lazy) for about $1 each. The fact is that unless you are a cashed-up hedge fund manager the […]
Recent posts
The Everleigh: ice cool on Gertrude St
For a very hot country, it is remarkable how little care we give our ice. Sure, you can buy large bags of ice pretty much anywhere, but it’s the kind of ice to stick in a bath or an Esky and chill beer and sauvignon blanc; not the kind of stuff to put in a cocktail. A while back the shiny Japanese ice machines at Match Bar were a revelation. And now The Everleigh, which sits atop the old Dante’s […]
Inside Modernist cuisine
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 […]
Rapadura sugar, the best cake ever and the KitchenAid
Donna is the winner of Ed’s KitchenAid competition. She blogs at Donisbaked and here puts her shiny new machine, which was supplied thanks to Kitchenware Direct, a whirr. So me winning a KitchenAid is old news, but what is new is the pure pleasure using the machine at home is. I’m getting out all my “shelved” recipes that require lots of aeration and creaming etc etc and lining them up ready to bake. If you are thinking about buying a […]
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 […]