Together with news that Port Melbourne’s Ping has closed (via Epicure) comes, via Ruhlman, the news that 60 per cent of restaurants fail, not the popularly quoted figure of 90 per cent. According to Businessweek, banks perpetuate the myth that 90 per cent of restaurants fail, which justifies the fact that they won’t invest in them because they are high risk businesses. The story quotes research from HG Parsa, associate professor in Ohio State University’s Hospitality Management program: “about one […]
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Street scenes
The Weekend Australian, Travel & Indulgence Ed Charles goes fossicking in Melbourne’s city alleys and discovers a treasure trove of dining gems April 14, 2007 MELBOURNE may recently have landed its own Rockpool Bar & Grill, but with this one exception, high-profile restaurants are not where it’s at in this city right now. Rather, central Melbourne is teeming with exciting hole-in-the-wall restaurants and basement bars hidden down tiny alleys off the city’s famous laneways. With a few exceptions, the laneway […]
Herald Sun: Ed Lines
ED CHARLES dishes up the latest on Melbourne’s food, wine and bars GIGI’S REJIGGED A veteran of institutions such as Pellegrini’s, Florentino and Brunetti’s, Venetian-born “Gigi” Cipolato has retired after more than 50 years in the business. Chef Allan Parker has taken over Gigi’s (69 Ford St, Beechworth) and refurbished the shop-front restaurant, which now roasts its own coffee. While the menu is new, it maintains Gigi’s Italian roots. NEXT OF KIN As the name suggests, the recently opened Kin […]
Herald Sun: Ed Lines
ED CHARLES dishes up the latest on Melbourne’s food, wine and bars CHEAP EATS Check out the Tuesday night meals at Swinburne TAFE in Prahran, being run under celebrated Geelong chef George Biron from April 22. For $25 you get four courses of fresh, seasonal ingredients cooked by third-year apprentice students. Biron says the wine list is excellent and reasonably priced. Mecanix Restaurant, O’Brien’s Walk, off 144 High St, Prahran. Bookings essential, ph: 9214 6589. BISTRO 0 – DEVELOPER 1 […]
Out on the hops
Ed Charles quenches his beer thirst in wine country April 07, 2007 AFTER a hard day of wine touring, there’s nothing like a cleansing ale. Happily, in the past few years microbreweries have started popping up in Australia’s many wonderful wine regions. The notion of running a small beer-brewing business has attracted refugees from the wine world as well as others from fields as diverse as advertising and banking, all of whom share the dream of a less stressful, hop-filled […]
Ed Lines
Ed Charles dishes up the latest on Melbourne’s food, wine and bars FIFTEEN CHANGES Less than a year in and the director of the local franchise of Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Foundation charity, Lauren Oliver (right), has quit. She is replaced by short-back-and-sides Peter Brown, who has a background at the Lort Smith Animal Hospital and more recently the People and Parks Foundation. He’ll be ramping up fundraising, and looking to culturally diversify the next intake and broaden the kids’ education. […]
Sweet success in chocolates
The Australian, Entrepreneur ONCE upon a time chocolate was the preserve of the rich. That’s if you could find any decent chocolate to eat — a chocolate culture didn’t really exist in Australia. Then, inspired by their travels, local entrepreneurs began trying to replicate what they had found abroad. One of the first was Yarra Valley winemaker Peter Wilson who — seduced by the taste of Valrhona chocolate in France — started making his own in the late 1990s and […]
Rocky relations
The Australian, Entrepreneur A well-meaning government code to clear up franchisee confusion may be badly flawed, reports Ed Charles March 30, 2007 GOVERNMENT moves to make the franchise industry more transparent have been cautiously received by the $128 billion sector, with worries it will lead to more red tape and increased costs and that important elements have been left out. Chris Malcolm, founder and managing director of Clark Rubber, which last year was awarded franchise of the year, says the […]
Ed Lines
ED CHARLES dishes up the latest on Melbourne’s food, wine and bars BEST COFFEE Out of six Victorian baristas battling it out for the title of Victoria’s best coffee maker on Sunday, five used coffee from Veneziano Caffe in Abbotsford. David Makin, who is in sales and training for the company, won for the second year in a row and last year represented Australia at the world championships. Second was Erin Sampson from Coffee HQ at the Monash Campus in […]