Check out Everything wanted to know about coffee (but were afraid to ask your hipster Barista) part 1 I‘m drinking coffee made from beans that are one month old. The beans are from the Bambito estate in Nicaragua. They are arabica, from from a mutation known as Caturra. It’s here in Australia because Nolan Hirte, owner of Proud Mary in Collingwood, brought them back to be followed shortly by 450kg he sourced directly. It’s the big change in coffee locally […]
Recent posts
Chin Chin: feel the heat on Flinders Lane
That’s the door Ho in the foreground. Two of the hottest restaurant openings in the last fortnight are Golden Fields and Chin Chin. The punters have packed both places and the brains behind each – Andrew McConnell and Chris Lucas – both say that for the first time they are seeing the message spread through social media. In the case of Chin Chin, I should declare I have a conflict of interest in writing this review as I helped Lucas […]
Last of the summer winemaking
It’s the dream of many to buy a cute little vineyard somewhere and start making wine, good wine hopefully. It’s the sort of hobby that sends people broke with high entry costs and often inferior wine produced. But oh what a joy to drink something you’ve made yourself, even though all your friends just want to spit rather than swallow. The sensible way to make wine is not to own a vineyard. All you need is access to good grapes […]
The downside of taking the China option
Kerrie Richards says quality and specifications aren’t up to scratch FACING a strong dollar and the prospect of increased input costs from the federal government’s proposed carbon tax, the big concern for many local manufacturers is the threat of low-cost competition from China. But as Queensland manufacturer Merino Country has found, China has as many disadvantages as advantages for many Australian manufacturers of clothing. Kerrie Richards, managing director and owner of the merino clothing manufacturer, says the company is pinning […]
Gambling with padrons
Padron peppers: are you game? A box arrived in the post, a big one, packed with padron peppers. They were plump, bright green ones, picked the day before by Garry Crittendon, the pioneering winemaker on the Mornington Penisula, who first planted vines there in 1982 at the age of 28. These padrons were far larger and more vibrant in color than any I’ve seen for sale in some of the better food stores and in Melbourne’s markets. They looked and […]
Modernist Cuisine and how to buy cookbooks
There are plenty of reasons to buy Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking. The trouble is that all Australian retailers rip us off so I would, when it becomes available, buy it online If you are unfamiliar with the book, it is the brainchild of former Microsoft chief technology officer Nathan Myhrvold who holed himself up in a 1670 sq m warehouse with assorted chefs, geeks, scientists, cheffy geeks and food journalists to create the definitive six volume […]
Kicking Indian food clichés
What’s your favourite Indian dish? Chicken tikka masala? Rogan josh? Naan bread? Indian restaurants have huge menus full of these and other popular dishes from the north of the country, but most ignore the delightful vegetarian spiced food from the south, and the wondrous array of fish dishes from a country with 6,100km of coastline on the mainland alone. By moving away from the staples of the north, Atul Kochhar has changed the way Indian food is perceived. In 2001, […]
The chaos that is Misschu
Order at the tuckshop window Click through to the MissChu website at your peril. It’s noisy, just like the restaurant, if you can call it that. The vibe is exactly the same as the crowded chaos of a SE Asian city at this joint at the top end of Exhibition St, between Lonsdale and Latrobe. The walls are pasted with refugee-style imagery. The crowd at lunch is largely office with guys in shirtsleeves wearing lanyards, groovy Asian guys in beanies […]
Do you know a surcharge sinner?
If you can find somewhere open today – or any time this Easter weekend – potentially it’s an expensive time to eat out because of public holiday surcharges of 10% or more. It’s a unique situation having five days straight off work and I know I’ll be chowing down in what restaurants I can find open. I was interviewed by Channel Ten News (which should air sometime today after 5pm) on this, the fact that many restaurants and cafes are […]