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Four speeding fines, severe dyspepsia and stained trousers (on the groin, of course).To be honest I’m feeling a bit like a Wim Delvoye artwork. I mean a cloaca machine, not a tattooed pig.
Such is the life of someone who agree to become one of the taste police and review 27 pub restaurants and cellar doors in the six weeks up to 13 August.
At least I didn’t have to visit over 60 joints, as one of my colleagues did in judging the Telstra Countrywide Golden Plate Awards 2006 for the Geelong Otway and the Mornington Peninsula regions.
Still, each review required a two to three hour round trip, the supercharged engine tempting my clumping great foot. Some 50 hours in the car and 40 hours at the table, was subtracted from food blogging, dog walking, swimming and my own extracurricular food activities (remember I never mention sex).
Hence, a new (expanded) wardrobe, which thanks to multiple speeding fines I could ill (and I nearly was) afford.
The way the awards work is that each nominee pays to enter the competition, mainly to cover administrative costs. For that they get a "nominated" sticker in their window and a judge visits unannounced. Over 40 criteria are reviewed, ranging from the quality of the food, wine and coffee to the decor and the cleanliness of the bog.
The venue gets useful feedback from, in theory, my critique although it is difficult to say much about middle of the road, food, drink and service. It is much easier to praise the excellent or attack the bad.
Next week the finalists are announced and then I can write about the specifics of my experiences. And then it is up to local food critic Stephen Downes, to visit each finalist.
Anyway, I’m back. And I’m looking for elasticised trousers.
BTW, if this post looks weird it is because I’m using a desktop blogging client, Qumana, for the first time. Text wraps and leading may be all weird until I set up the thing properly.
Tags: Taste police, restaurant reviews, Geelong, Otway, Mornington Peninsula, Trousers
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