admin July 1st, 2010
In April S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list went live on the internet, and Noma in Copenhagen was named the world’s Number One. Next day they got 100,000 emailed enquiries. 822 jurors around the world nominate winners from their region — a jury made up of critics, chefs and industry people. Gourmet Traveller’s Pat Nourse heads up the jury for Australasia. He says that “I don’t think it’s a perfect system, it’s not without flaws, but I think it’s a pretty good-looking list.” Sydney’s Quay came in at 27 and received so many inquiries that they systems crashed.
Noma is not into molecular gastronomy (more a ’neo naturalist’ approach to food) so is this the new direction for food at our top restaurants? Some say the Pellegrino list favours “bistronomie” instead of technical excellence, but many believe it is an international yardstick for what’s happening in contemporary dining.
The new gastronomic centres are Spain and Scandinavia these days, rather than France. But this is all at the rather esoteric stratosphere of restaurant experiences – which is not for everybody. France’s “best” restaurant was No. 11 — Le Chateaubriand, a bistro and not a 3-Michelin starred establishment as you might expect. Is this all a reflection of new trends … or just fad and fashion?
Whatever … it keeps us all interested in what restaurants are up to, food, learning to cook and an extraordinary number of people glued to the box watching Masterchef.
admin April 2nd, 2010
The latest trend to hit London is the pop-up restaurant. This is subversive dining that runs from student fare to haute cuisine. It is said to be the offspring of the GFC but roving supperclubs in New York and one or two in Paris have been going for years. Aided by Facebook, Twitter and Paypal these underground ‘restaurants’ operate like this: budding chefs, or entrepeneural types after some extra cash, clear out some of their loungeroom furniture once a week and offer meals to their friends and the public, sometimes for a ‘donation’ and other times a price is set. Another variation that is legal is when would-be restaurateurs borrow the kitchen of an established restaurant for one night to serve their own cooking.
Do you know of any home restaurants operating in Brisbane? Restaurateurs may see this trend as a threat, but I say ‘bring it on’. Many people have the peculiar idea that restaurants are easy money and a tootle to pull off successfully. After a stint in a pop up, for both ‘chef’ and the dining public, I am guessing that most will be more than happy to let the professionals do it next time. Still … it could be fun.
admin March 19th, 2010
I’m not thrilled by a great deal these days, but having dinner and a cooking class with Rick Stein in his new restaurant at Mollymook (3 hrs south of Sydney) is the best thing I’ve done in ages. I have been a fan because he is so down to earth and uncheffy, and he does a good line is gastro-tourism with his very entertaining TV series – French Odyssey (canal boating thru France), Mediterranean Escapes and coming to ABC TV in May Far Eastern Odyssey. All of these by the way come with the same-name cookbook. He is just as charming and passionate in person, as on film.
Rick Stein at Bannisters (Bannisters is a boutique hotel at Mollymook) is the first restaurant he has done outside his home base of Padstow in the UK. We were part of a group of foodies who spent 2 days at the hotel indulging in some excellent food, a dinner with Rick and a cooking class at his nearby home. Here is a very easy recipe he gave us, perfect for your next dinner party:
Marinated Tuna with Passionfruit, Lime & Coriander
“Chefs agree that tuna is best served rare. Here I’ve taken the idea of a ceviche and added some Australian flavours — but don’t marinate the fish for longer than 10 minutes.” Rick Stein
3cm thick piece of tuna loin fillet (or Atlantic Salmon)
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 passionfruit
3 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 medium/hot green chilli, seeded and finely chopped
1 teaspoon caster sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander
1/2 teaspoon salt plus ground black pepper
Slice tuna into very thin slices. Lay slices overlapping onto plaates. Just before serving make the dressing. Sieve passionfruit pulp into a bowl to extract the juice and mix the rest of the ingredients. Spoon marinade over tuna for 10 minutes only and serve.
Gregor & Lewis Bespoke Travel at Noosa organised the trip, and hopefully will be able to do another … after Rick has filmed his northern Spain/Portugal TV series. noosa@gregorlewis.com.au or phone 5447 4666.
admin March 19th, 2010
This week our head chef, Graham Waddell, put together a 6 course duck dinner for a packed restauran tof 93 people at Baguette — and pulled it off splendidly. He used (every bit) of the excellent duck we get from organic grower Bendele Farm, outside Gympie. The menu:
* Duck liver parfait on apple galette, date confit * Soft boiled duck egg, tarragon brioche & white asparagus soldiers * Duck consomme with asian flavours, artichoke tortollini * Confit duck leg, crisp potato mille-feuille, veloute of wild mushrooms * Pan roasted duck breast with giblet & fig pie, cinnamon sauce * Pear & duck egg clafoutis with brown bread ice-cream
WINES
The food was team with some very interesting wines made in France by a group of Australian and French winemakers … for the Australian market. Fascinating idea and highly successful, if comments on the night are anything to go by. The project put together by Fosters is called Maison de Grand Esprit (loosely “a meeting of the minds”). Ask for them at your independent bottle shop — they go under La Belle Voisine, Les Petites Vignettes and Les Seize Galets labels.
admin October 17th, 2009
In this Weekend’ Australian newspaper, Graeme Blundell writes: ‘…when many of us are tired of poncy, expensive restaurants, the lionisation of self-indulgent food critics and esoteric cooking that has lost its attachment to a living culture. We want satisfying platefuls of good ingredients, cooked well, and value for money.’ Amen to that!
Marilyn December 4th, 2008
Over 32 years at Baguette Restaurant we have done a number of renovations, but earlier this year we decided on a completely new concept. We would become a bistro. Why fiddle with a “brand” that has been so successful for so many years? Well, our personal tastes have moved on and we are over going to formal restaurants with fussy service and over-engineered food. We believe that to enjoy a restaurant experience you need good company, real food and a quietly competent waiter. Bruno Loubet, our wonderful French Chef, devised a menu of French classics plus some innovative contemporary dishes. Flavour is what it’s all about.
The make-over began in September and was completed in an incredible 2 weeks. High priority was given to two issues that many restaurants get wrong … acoustics and lighting. I simply wont go to a restaurant where I have to shout or where the lighting is too bright or too boring. We bought beautifuly tables (the tops look like tortoise shell but are in fact made from coconut shells) and tossed out the table cloths. Replaced the floor with acid-washed black marble, all new lighting with huge, sexy pendants, deleted the art gallery and threw some interesting French pieces into the mix to add character. People are telling us that they love it and I hope they are being honest because what we did was risky business.
Marilyn March 1st, 2008
Bruno Loubet has headed up the kitchen at Baguette for almost a year now, and without doubt he is the best head chef we have had in 31 years of operation … and we’ve employed some pretty good chefs. He comes from traditional French training and upbringing and in his early 20s became a celebrity chef in England. He was Raymond Blanc’s head chef at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saison (2 Michelin stars) at 24 years old, and earned his own Michelin star at Four Seasons at 29 years. He went on to open his own restaurant, Bruno’s Bistrot, and it was voted Best New Restaurant in the UK. A TV series and 2 books followed.
Fortunately he chose lifestyle over celebrity status and brought his family to Brisbane 6 years ago. He owned his own restaurant here (Bruno’s Tables) which won 2 stars from Gourmet Traveller, and then went on to head up the kitchens at Berardo’s at Noosa, awarded Best Regional Restaurant in Australia by Gourmet.
Now at Baguette, his food is simply superb — modern French — and you can find his menus at www.baguette.com.au/restaurant.
Marilyn July 23rd, 2007
One of my favourite blogs is Waiter Rant (see recommended blogs on the right). His comments are always perceptive, occasionally outrageous and usually a ‘belly laugh’. If you ever wondered whether you can drop into your favourite restaurant but it’s after 10pm so will you be welcomed? … go to Ask the Waiter — Late Night Dining, July 19, 2007 on Waiter Rant.
Marilyn June 13th, 2007
The best meals in Shanghai are not where you expect them to be, so be adventurous. Yes there are expensive western fusion restaurants (about the same cost as Australia), but you can also eat for almost nothing in Chinese cafes. Most have shortened English menus with photos of the food.
Some of the dishes though are only for the adventurous. Here are a few examples:
* Salt and pepper king snake
* Braised bullfrog legs, or tortoise in casserole
* Cows lungs soaked in chilli sauce
* Steamed rabbits ears or goats’ feet tendons
* Red stewed fish lips and shark mouth
… get the picture? MSG is alive and very well too, so if you have a sensitivity to this chemical you’re in real trouble. There is quite a lot of protocol involved if you are a guest at a restaurant, so my advice is to read carefully the Lonely Planet’s guide to China (or the slimmer version just on Shanghai).
Marilyn June 13th, 2007
Shanghai’s steamed dumplings are world famous and can make a cheap, delicious meal. There is a trick however to eating them as they are full of scalding broth. Put one onto your chinese spoon, nip off the top with your teeth, blow to cool and slurp the whole lot down.
On a recent trip to Shanghai we sampled a number of restaurants specialising in dumplings. One modern one with 3 branches is Din Tai Fung which has the lightest dumpling dough, delicious fillings and queues. Expect queues anywhere popular, in a city of 12 million people.
Dumplings are bought by the steamer basket and shared. Dip the slippery ‘ravioli’ into little bowls of vinaiger and fresh ginger. Tricky so be prepared to be messy. They are generally stuffed with meat, spring onion and greens. Cost? About $9pp for more than you can eat.
