You don’t have to know much about Anthony Bourdain to know he loves Melbourne. He was back earlier this year guided around town – and down to the Royal Mail Hotel – by Matt Preston, Tony Tan and Paul Wilson. Here are the Youtube clips from what was show recently in the US. [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa6gTkgIbgc] Part one: Paul Wilson while he was at the Half Moon in Brighton. [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo6ic9iIUzE] Part two: Playing Trugo with Matt Preston and kebabs on Sydney Rd […]
Recent posts
What really made you sick last night
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZQOEZO1n10] Restaurants are defensive of their hygene in the same way that newspapers are defensive of the accuracy of their reporting. Phone up and complain and the last thing either will do is admit liability. And nowadays when people are treated shabbily they turn to the internet. Or me. What surprises me is the number of emails and comments that come my way from diners who’ve returned home from some of Australia’s top restaurants only to fall ill. I have […]
My recipe for perfect porridge (and tight buttocks)
Warning: unsubstantiated claims follow Creamy porridge 1 measure of cheap rolled oats 1 measure milk 1 measure and a bit more water A substantial pinch of salt Cook slowly, for an hour or so. Serve with drizzled honey and milk There is one secret I want to share with you. It’s the reason I’m not the size of Falstaff – or if you are into serial TV rather than theatre in the round – Hurley from Lost. It’s the reason, […]
Thomas Keller talks Tomato
Neil Perry (left), Thomas Keller and Heston Blumenthal (bald). Courtesy of the Melbourne Wine and Food Festival. On the SBS Food site you can see my story on meeting Thomas Keller at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival earlier this year. Like most chefs of his calibre, he is charming and practiced and I got a lot out of him in some 20 minutes, more than there was space for in my profile on him. I’ve included some raw quotes […]
The big De Bortoli salami making porkathon
Giving birth to salami. Even before all my dirty pork talk on Twitter I was typecast as the salami guy. During the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival I hosted a discussion on salami with the big sausages from Don. It got messy with a late night on the town with a few of us and a couple of wide-girth extra spicy salami. Then I’m invited to the salami making day at De Bortoli in the Yarra valley with guest, fellow […]
Crappy Miele cooktops with knobs on
See where the knobs broke. Or should that be knobs off? On the surface Miele is the brand to buy. It’s solid, doesn’t discount and sponsors most of the important food events. It is the backbone of the mobile kitchens at Prahran Market. Then why am I left so angry by my stove top? Because it is really badly designed, has plastic knobs which broke off within a few months and because it costs about twice as much as, for […]
Talking to Thomas Keller
Outside the US Thomas Keller isn’t as well known as Spain’s Ferran Adria and the UK’s Heston Blumenthal. But he is one of only two chefs in the world to hold three prestigious Michelin stars for two restaurants: The French Laundry in California and Per Se in New York. And his place in the culinary history of America is firmly cemented in place by one of the simplest most accessible dishes, a tiny savoury ice cream cone (or cornet), a […]
The Abyssinian: freedom fighter food in Kensington
There’s a lot to be said for ethnic restaurants. They usually offer big, cheap hearty meals often cooked from the heart. They also often offer the chance to reacquaint oneself with monosodium glutamate, fluorescent strip lighting, surly service and dodgy lino. Then there’s The Abyssinian (277 Racecourse Road Kensington, Victoria 3031, 03 9376 8754), run by two Eritreans, which has taken the genre to another level and avoided all the crap which is why it was packed out the night […]
Carry on Gordon Ramsay
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVySZsSNKmk] On the bombshell that the Herald Sun is dropping the Gordon Ramsay cookery column on Tuesdays, the craggy-faced man arrives in town and we are invited to see him pre Tracey Grimshaw. I reckon he’s wearing heel lifts in his trainers and looking a bit taller than when he was last in town, has a better hairdresser and highlights and has had a bollock-load of botox. He forehead is more wrinkled than my scrotum and frozen solid. I didn’t […]