The insiders guide to restaurants, food and drink in Melbourne.

The best and best value food in Surfers Paradise has long been the tiny Korean and Japanese joints hidden in its low-rent 1970s shopping malls. But it is also worth escaping the main tourist drags for Chevron Island where soba Master Yoshinory Shibazaki & his wife Keiko are bringing Japanese food on the Gold Coast to a new level.
The restaurant Shimbashi Soba on Chevron is a local manifestation of the well-known and reviewed (even by those who really know Japanese food) Jugemu & Shimbasi in Neutral Bay.
The first clue that this restaurant, which has been opened for just a year, may be something special is the grinder and the stone bench top in the window. Daily flour is ground from Tasmanian organic buckwheat and soba noodles are made in the traditional manner.
The second clue that this place is good is the number of Japanese eating there.
The menu advertising the health-giving properties of the soba noodle, the fact that it lowers blood pressure, strengthens capilliaries, reduces cholesterol, has high vitamin C, reduces fat in the liver and slows ageing of the brain.
The food is also an absolute bargain, possible one of the best cheap eats you’ll find in Australia.
In the summer humidity of southern Queensland we opted for a can of cold tea each - green and oolong. There is Sapporo on tap and a small list of good saki and sochu by the glass and bottle.
While soba and udon are the speciality there also are other dishes. We started with six room temperature pieces of salmon sushimi ($12) and two pieces of tempura Crystal Bay prawn ($6) that are almost a match to Tempura Hajime in Melbourne.
A huge $13 bowl of Oroshi - cold soba with grated radish and wakame - that Jak couldn’t finish.
I was warned that my Taromi ($15) contained fermented soy beans with a strong flavour. It was delicate and with a strange but enticing sticky texture, thin sticky slices of okra and cold soba.
It also serves many dishes on the traditional zaru, a sieve-like bamboo tray.
This is a place where you can easily eat well for under $20 and worth the diversion, even if its a two hour flight to Queensland. The most annoying thing of all is that I discovered this place only a few days before I leave for India.
I’m double posting this on Very Cheap Eats.

Tagged as: Chevron, Gold Coast, Japanese, Restaurant, Shimbashi, soba

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As far as the culinary history of the Gold Coast goes the pineapple, bacon and cheese (you might add banana to the mix) fingers at Charlie’s should be icons.
When Charlie’s opened on Cavill Avenue in 1976 I’m told it didn’t look as smart as it does now but the fingers were a favourite.
And just as the cafe - restaurant is too strong a word - has been made over so have the fingers but for the worse.
When I first holidayed in Australia in 1988 it was to Charlie’s that Jak took me after a good shag at the Sheraton in Brisvegas.
It was then that my glamourous dreams of what is called Surfers Paradise were shattered. I was introduced to what I now know is a perpetual building site.
I travelled to Queensland to chase the woman I loved because I was entranced with stories of the bananas and passion fruit her parents grew in their back garden. It didn’t take long after arriving to realise that everybody grew bananas and passion fruit in their backgardens but I was sold on the Charlie’s fingers, a snack inspired by the Hawaiian pizza that speaks volumes about the food preferences of tropical Queensland.
Our eastern european waitress deserves full marks for thoughtfully bending over in front of me to give a grandstand view of her more than ample cleavage. “Savignon Blank” (Sauvignon Blanc) she confirmed, the staple of wine lists on the coast, Jak ordering Australia’s best selling wine Oyster Bay which is made by new Zealanders. We also ordered a full $14.50 serve ($17 odd with 15% holiday mark-up) of “Charlie’s famous fingers”.
Two saucers soon arrived for us to eat our fingers from plus the bill, held in place from the breeze by a single paper tube of sugar.

The Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc was everything we expected of it. Acid yet sweet and tropical fruity, almost the embodiment of the Natural Confectionery Company sour treats in liquid form. This isn’t a good thing in wine which also had the volatile aroma of nail polish remover. I can’t think of a food I’d match it with although it may go well with a TV show such as A Current Affair.
The fingers were not what we remembered or expected. I realised how cynical the tourist restaurants in Surfers had become. Two pieces of toast covered with diced ham, pineapple and cheese grilled. Nothing more or less. It was the sort of thing that if I had served at home that Jak would have sent back as a slap dash effort.
The owners of Charlie’s are taking the piss and ripping off tourists.
We should have gone around the corner at the Absynthe Bakery where for about $5 I could have a ham and cheese croissant prepared under the auspices of Michelin starred chef Meyjitte Boughenout who has lifted the game on the coast.

Tagged as: Absynthe bakery, Charlie's, Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise

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Merry Christmas or, perhaps, Festivus. The good news this Christmas day is that Pim has extended the deadline for buying tickets from First Giving for Menu of Hope V until 30 December her time. That’s new year’s eve if you are in Asia Pacific.

So far on Christmas morning $36,025 has been raised.

There are plenty of great prizes locally and internationally (though you should check whether or not they can be posted to your region) and great odds for winning - all for only a $10 ticket.

Even if no prizes appeal you can just donate to a great cause which last year fed 388,000 meals to 19,000 children in Lesthoto.

Pim has posted most prizes to the masterlist here. You can check the Asia Pacific masterlist here with the odds of winning as of earlier this week.

Alternatively visit the regional hosts below.

How to buy a ticket.
1. Decide on a prize number, for instance, AP30.
2. Go to the First Giving site.
3. Simply donate $US10 for every ticket you’d like to buy.
4. Prizes announced mid-January

US: West Coast (If you are closer to SF than you are to NY then you belong here.)
Matt Armendariz of Matt Bites (matt.armendariz@gmail.com)

US: East Coast
Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen (jaden@steamykitchen.com)

Canada
Meena Agarwal of Hooked on Heat (meena@hookedonheat.com)

Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand
Ed Charles of Tomato (edcharles@mac.com)

and, last but not least, our special Wine Blog Host
Alder of Vinography (alder@vinography.com)

Tagged as: Menu for Hope V

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There are some brilliant odds for winning prizes from Menu for Hope for which Asia Pacific has raised US$1010 so far

You are guaranteed to win for the first six prizes listed below because nobody has bought a ticket yet. What I’ve done is counted up the donations and worked out the odds of winning with  a meal for two at Attica being most popular.

There are a couple of days left to buy prizes so hurry up and get something brilliant for a US$10 ticket.

How can you help?

All you need to do is buy a US$10 raffle ticket for prizes at First Giving or arrange for a prize to be donated and blog about it or ask the help of a friendly blogger to blog about it (I’m happy to help out). You can read more about offering prizes here. Logos to use are here.

Donation Instructions:
1. Choose a prize or prizes of your choice from the Menu for Hope masterlist at Chez Pim or the Asia Pacific List below.
2. Go to the donation site at First Giving and make a donation.
3. Each US$10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. Please specify which prize you’d like in the ‘Personal Message’ section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code.
For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for AP01 and 3 tickets for AP02. Please write 2xAP01, 3xAP02
4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.
5. Please allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

The prizes

AP21: A day With amazing gateaux chef Sunny Yaw in Kuala Lumpur Odds: Guaranteed win

Big Boys Oven brings you “A Day With Chef Sunny Yaw”. The raffle winner will spend a day close up and personal behind the scene with Sunny Yaw the resident chef of Big Boys Oven, an incredible gateaux chef with 15 years of baking experience behind him. He is famously known for his lovely macaroons.

AP09: A years supply mineral water from spa country Odds: Guaranteed win

Here is a great prize for thirsty locavores hosted by Rigo at the guerrilla gardening site IPlant and IGlean. A years supply of mineral water with minimum food miles from Daylesford and Hepburn Mineral Springs Co. The prize is 7 cases of 18 X500ml or 12 X 750ml Hepburn sparkling or still mineral water delivered in Melbourne (retail $440). Ongoing, the winning bid can buy mineral water at the wholesale price and have it delivered to their door.
The water is bottled in spa country for restaurants and cafes in inner city Melbourne including Pearl, Verge, Cicciollina, Baker D.Chirico, Cafe Racer, Carlisle St Wine Bar, Arintje, St Judes Cellars, Gertrude Street Enoteca, Cafe e Torta, Gills Diner, Benitos, Von Haus, Dench Bakers, Joes Garage, Babka, Alementari, Ladro, Panama Dinning Room, North, Small Block, Gingerlee, Rumi, Journal… Being conscious of food miles and the carbon footprint all of our packaging - bottles, boxes, and labels are manufactured within a 100 kilometre radius, and wherever possible we use recycled materials. Delivery to Melbourne only.

AP17: $100 Voucher The Prince Wine Store Odds: Guaranteed win

The Prince Wine Store isn’t the cheapest but it is definitely one of the best wine shops in Melbourne and is donating a $100 voucher which is being hosted by the ever so splendid Neil from At My Table. Its South Melbourne store has a superb range of local and imported wines to choose from making this a really worthwhile bid.

AP16: 2 nights accomodation for 2 people in Dromana Odds: guaranteed win

The Purple Goddess from A Goddess in the Kitchen has donated a weekend for 2 at Chez Fur. She says: “As you will know, dear reader, this is our beloved holiday house, down at Dromana on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula. The prize consists of 2 nights for 2 people. You will have access to our famous wood-fired outdoor oven! The house itself, is walking distance from Dromana beach.”

AP15 A RM200 cooking class voucher at The Cooking House in Desa Sri Hartamas. Odds: Guaranteed win

Babe in the City from Kuala Lumpur is offering A RM200 cooking class voucher at The Cooking House in Desa Sri Hartamas. The hands-on learning, step-by-step demonstration and menu preparation are easy and enjoyable for novices as well as chefs. This offer is valid to KLite or anyone willing to travel to Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia for some cooking action.

AP08: Skin Saviour - his and hers worth A$219.90 Odds 1 in 2

Skin Saviour is skin care specially formulated by a Melbourne-based naturopath from natural plant extracts and oils for the sensitive skin-wise and planet-wise. This prize comprises a set of the woman’s products worth A$109.95 and the men’s worth the same - a total of nearly $220. It contains no animal products whatsoever and no ingredients are tested on animals. It contains, no GM products, petrochemicals, harsh soaps, hormones or known irritants. It’s softening the skin of all-sorts from upmarket builders to budding internet entrepreneurs. A must try. I’m hosting this prize and it can be delivered anywhere. Hosted by me.

AP13 Get your health back on track in 2009 Odds: 1 in 2

Another great prize from Kathryn Elliott of Limes and Lycopene. She works at The Balance2health clinic in Gladesville NSW which is offering a $220 package to get your health back on track:
* 30 minutes of personal training
* Diet evaluation session to maximise your health and energy levels
* 30 minute Remedial Massage
* a Hot Stone Massage
Valid until 30 June 2009.

AP01 Pie: A global history Odds: 1 in 3

This is a terrific prize from Janet at The Old Foodie who will send a copy of her book Pie: A global history to the end of the earth. If you are not familiar with The Old Foody it is well worth a visit and packed full of quirky stories and facts from food through history. And congratulations to Janet as another blogger who is entering into print. Post anywhere.

AP19: An almost priceless meal for two at Sunnybrae from local seasonal ingredients and good aged local wines Odds: 1 in 3

Visiting George Biron’s Sunnybrae Restaurant and Cooking School blog is almost as much of a joy as visiting the restaurant itself, a 2 hour drive out of Melbourne. Now you can buy a ticket to visit this wonderful restaurant where George barters local produce and produces absolutely sensational food. He is donating a table for 2 for any available date with some of the best wines that he has including museum stocks of Bannockburn wines and good champagne. Sticky and myself went there earlier this year and you can see how wonderful we thought it was here. I want to go back and she returned for more.

AP07: Coffee heaven and training Odds 1 in 3

They drink so much Java (just so we don’t have to) that I don’t know quite how the buzzed-up bods at the Melbourne Coffee Review ever sit down to write a post. But they do and regularly. Steve Agi from the MCR is offering: 1 x Espresso Quest book by INSTAURATOR A$60. 1 x Entertainment Book (MELB) A$65. 6 x Cafe Workshop Tix (Cafe COACH) valued @ A$79 each worth a total of $474. 1 x Melbourne Coffee Review cap, limited edition PRICELESS.

AP14 Barista training and gourmet coffee hamper Odds: 1 in 3

Matt at Abstract Gourmet has got Fiori Coffee in WA to donate this juicy java.The coffee lover’s prize includes a 2.5 hour professional barista training course for 1 person and a hamper comprising 6 x 250 gram bags of fresh roasted coffee, 1 bag of chai, 1 bag of hot chocolate and a stovetop espresso maker (moka pot) which are worth in total $250.

AP18: Cooking class with Tony Tan Odds: 1 in 5

Jeff at Thermomixer has organized for 2 tickets to an evening class of the winner’s choice (subject to availability) for Tony Tan’s Unlimited Cuisine Company in Toorak to be taken at any time in 2009. Tony Tan is a great fun and a charismatic host of cooking classes featuring Asian, Indian, Spanish or Australian cuisine. In 2008 he cooked with guest chefs, who have included Chui Lee Luk, Dan Hunter, Ben Shewry, Andrew McConnell, Justin North, Brent Savage and Philippe Mouchel.

AP10: A year’s supply of Tim Tams Odds 1 in 5

Jules at the gorgeous Stone Soup and her employer Arnott’s are donating offering three delicious cases of Australia’s favourite chocolate biscuit Tim Tams. That’s 72 packets of Tim Tams over a year - way more than one pack a week. The way I eat Tim Tams that will last about two months.

AP20: A degustation meal for two at Libertine with matching wines worth $270. Odds: 1 in 6

Libertine is a charming romantic French restaurant without the beret in North Melbourne and is offering a degustation for two of eight courses, focusing on seasonal produce available on the day, including highlights from Libertine’s a la carte menu, with matching wines, valued at $270. I’ve eaten there myself this year and had a great meal but ran out of time to blog about it. The food is good but what is exceptional is the list of carefully chosen wines mainly from small French producers. Unlike some large restaurants connected to a certain casino you won’t find yourself here being charged through the nose for wines that you could by off the shelf from your local bottle shop.

AP06: SYDNEY: A day behind the scenes on a food styling shoot with Australian Gourmet Traveller Odds: 1 in 8

This is something money can’t buy and you can read how Jackie at Eating with Jack got on last year. Available to anyone who can make the trip.( Hey Gourmet guys, share some link love)

AP11: 1 night’s accommodation and a 3 course meal for 2 at the Provenance Restaurant in Beechworth. Odds: 1 in 9

Michael Ryan, ex Range in Myrtleford, has taken over the Bank in Beechworth which he has renamed Provenance Restaurant and Luxury Suites. In last year’s Good Food Guide Ryan scored two hats which means we can expect some pretty special cooking at his new place. The whole site, including the four suites at the rear of the property in the old stables, have just had an extensive refit. He is offering one night’s accommodation worth $295 and a three course meal for two worth $140. Hosted by me.

AP02: A half-pound bag of Shan State green tea Odds: 1 in 11

It’s a striking land, Shan State. Just across the northern border of Thailand lies a different world; a landscape steeped in beauty, a people with histories worth reading.
And tea. Fine, sweet, glorious green tea. When my Burmese students took journalist and blogger Karen Coates from Rambling Spoon to dinner last month and she asked the origin of the tea on the table. One blurted out: “Shan State. The best tea comes from Shan State.” People around here know this as truth.
This year, Karen is offering half a pound of green tea from Loi Mwe, an old British hill station nearly 5,000 feet up a Shan mountain. These are whole tea leaves, which produce a mild, smokey, flowery drink without the slightest hint of bitterness. It is the drink of the Shan world, served with every meal, offered to every guest. It warms the heart on cold winter mornings. I purchased this tea myself in Shan State, with profits going directly into local hands. Post anywhere.

AP03: 6 weeks of personal food and nutrition planning odds: 1 in 17

Sydney-based blogger Kathryn Elliott of Limes and Lycopene is offering everything you want to start the new year fresh and healthy. That’s 6 weeks of online personal food and nutrition planning and coaching worth A$290. Available anywhere - online.

AP04: Mugaritz down under: A tasting menu with matched wines for 2 people worth $460 at the Royal Mail Hotel, Dunkeld Odds: 1 in 15

When I uploaded a photo of Mugaritz’s head ex-chef Dan Hunter to Flickr somebody tagged him as cute. I don’t know whether that alone makes a visit to the Royal Mail Hotel at Dunkeld in Victoria’s southern Grampians worthwhile but his food does. His food showcases the herbs, vegetables and leaves from the hotel’s extensive kitchen gardens matched with the wines selected by sommelier Lok Thornton from one of the best wine cellars in the state.
I’ve eaten there twice and both times impressed. On my last visit I ate one the of the best most aromatic truffle dishes I have ever had made with the Tasmanian Perigord variety. His flavours are pure; squid tastes of squid, for instance. And his presentation, as you’d expect, is art.
A tasting menu with matched wines for 2 people is worth $460. Available to anybody who can make the 3 hour trip from Melbourne. I’m hosting this one.

AP05: Degustation dinner for 2 with matching wines at Melbourne’s Restaurant of the Year Attica. Odds: 1 in 23

Attica is running hot this year having won Restaurant of the Year and Dish of the Year in The Age Good Food Guide Awards. New Zealand-born chef Ben Shewry brings real passion and innovation to this tiny kitchen that somehow consistently serves up amazing food. Much of the inspiration is drawn on Shewry’s experience, for instance a near drowning as a child or the earth. He also dives in the bay to forage for unusual ingredients which you will find nowhere else. Ben tells me that he’s stopping eating at at other restaurants and deliberately not ready the Ferran Adria books so he can forge his own way with food which is pretty cool. I’m hosting this prize. I’ve eaten at Attica three times this year (including for the Martini Monster’s birthday) and I think four last year, including for my own birthday. Available to anyone who can make the worthwhile trip to Melbourne.

AP12: Accompany Age restaurant reviewer John Lethlean on a review Withdrawn as he’s quit

Neil from At My Table is offering an amazing prize a review with John Lethlean, Australia’s premier food critic and food writer for The Age and Gourmet Traveller. This will give invaluable insights into what he looks for in a restaurant experience.

Please join in. Please link. Please buy tickets from First Giving which is here.

Tagged as: Menu for hopeA

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The latest news is that John Lethlean and Necia Wilden who yesterday quit The Age and The Age Good Food Guide are joining The Australian not the Herald Sun.

Elliot at 1001 Dinners 1001 Nights also has a post on the story from a different source to mine here.

Over the years The Australian has introduced Melbourne pages to try and boost its local readership which is quite small compared to NSW. The Australian also has a history of nabbing people from Fairfax, as it has done to build up what is now an amazingly strong business section.

Certainly Lethlean at The Australian would appeal to the prime melbourne AB demographic. But will it prove that The Epicure brand is stronger than the Lethlean one?

Again, this is speculation. No doubt Crikey when it is out at 1.30 today will add its perspective.

Tagged as: Age, Australian, Lethlean

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There are more great prizes coming in day by day. I’m continually updating the list from the main post here. If you are a blogger reading this it would be great if you could post about your favorite prizes and link back - to drive traffic and get people to buy tickets.

Times are tough. But the odds are really good for winning something in this online raffle.

It costs US$10. Ten lousy dollars, for the chance to win a chance to eat and drink some of the best food and drink locally (or to have great skin in 2009). So get on down to First Giving and buy some tickets now.

Or you could check out the full global masterlist of prizes at Chez Pim.

Now, and I’m doing this topsy turvey, it’s time to spruik the prizes that I am hosting. And remember i’m continually updating the master list here.

How can you help?

All you need to do is buy a US$10 raffle ticket for prizes at First Giving or arrange for a prize to be donated and blog about it or ask the help of a friendly blogger to blog about it (I’m happy to help out). You can read more about offering prizes here. Logos to use are here.

Donation Instructions:
1. Choose a prize or prizes of your choice from our Menu for Hope at Chez Pim or here.
2. Go to the donation site at First Giving and make a donation.
3. Each US$10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. Please specify which prize you’d like in the ‘Personal Message’ section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code.
For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for AP01 and 3 tickets for AP02. Please write 2xAP01, 3xAP02
4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.
5. Please allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

The prizes

AP04: Mugaritz down under: A tasting menu with matched wines for 2 people worth $460 at the Royal Mail Hotel, Dunkeld

When I uploaded a photo of Mugaritz’s ex-head chef Dan Hunter to Flickr somebody tagged him as cute. I don’t know whether that alone makes a visit to the Royal Mail Hotel at Dunkeld in Victoria’s southern Grampians worthwhile but his food does. His food showcases the herbs, vegetables and leaves from the hotel’s extensive kitchen gardens matched with the wines selected by sommelier Lok Thornton from one of the best wine cellars in the state.
I’ve eaten there twice and both times impressed. On my last visit I ate one the of the best most aromatic truffle dishes I have ever had made with the Tasmanian Perigord variety. His flavours are pure; squid tastes of squid, for instance. And his presentation, as you’d expect, is art.
A tasting menu with matched wines for 2 people is worth $460. Available to anybody who can make the 3 hour trip from Melbourne. I’m hosting this one.

AP05: Degustation dinner for 2 with matching wines at Melbourne’s Restaurant of the Year Attica.

Attica is running hot this year having won Restaurant of the Year and Dish of the Year in The Age Good Food Guide Awards. New Zealand-born chef Ben Shewry brings real passion and innovation to this tiny kitchen that somehow consistently serves up amazing food. Much of the inspiration is drawn on Shewry’s experience, for instance a near drowning as a child or the earth. He also dives in the bay to forage for unusual ingredients which you will find nowhere else. Ben tells me that he’s stopping eating at at other restaurants and deliberately not ready the Ferran Adria books so he can forge his own way with food which is pretty cool. I’m hosting this prize. I’ve eaten at Attica three times this year (including for the Martini Monster’s birthday) and I think four last year, including for my own birthday. Available to anyone who can make the worthwhile trip to Melbourne.

AP08: Skin Saviour - his and hers worth A$219.90

Skin Saviour is skin care specially formulated by a Melbourne-based naturopath from natural plant extracts and oils for the sensitive skin-wise and planet-wise. This prize comprises a set of the woman’s products worth A$109.95 and the men’s worth the same - a total of nearly $220. It contains no animal products whatsoever and no ingredients are tested on animals. It contains, no GM products, petrochemicals, harsh soaps, hormones or known irritants. It’s softening the skin of all-sorts from upmarket builders to budding internet entrepreneurs. A must try. I’m hosting this prize and it can be delivered anywhere. Hosted by me.

AP11: 1 nights accommodation and a 3 course meal for 2 at the Provenance Restaurant in Beechworth.

Michael Ryan, ex Range in Myrtleford, has taken over the Bank in Beechworth which he has renamed Provenance Restaurant and Luxury Suites. In last year’s Good Food Guide Ryan scored two hats which means we can expect some pretty special cooking at his new place. The whole site, including the four suites at the rear of the property in the old stables, have just had an extensive refit. He is offering one night’s accommodation worth $295 and a three course meal for two worth $140.

AP20: A degustation meal for two at Libertine with matching wines worth $270.

Libertine is a charming romantic French restaurant without the beret in North Melbourne and is offering a degustation for two of eight courses, focusing on seasonal produce available on the day, including highlights from Libertine’s a la carte menu, with matching wines, valued at $270. I’ve eaten there myself this year and had a great meal but ran out of time to blog about it. The food is good but what is exceptional is the list of carefully chosen wines mainly from small French producers. Unlike some large restaurants connected to a certain casino you won’t find yourself here being charged through the nose for wines that you could by off the shelf from your local bottle shop.

Tagged as: Menu for hope, Menu for Hope V

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Gossip is a dangerous thing but my source on this one is pretty good.

John Lethlean has quit as joint editor of the Good Food Guide and The Age. His co-editor on The Good Food Guide, Necia Wilden, I can confirm has quit Fairfax Books and The Age.
He was escorted from The Age’s Spencer Street headquarters yesterday afternoon as is usual in these cases, especially if you are going to join the competition.

Most of what I’ve heard is gossip and unsubstantiated but if it is true this is the biggest shake-up in food writing in Melbourne ever. It would have have far ranging ramifications.
Lethlean as we know is prolific. Each Tuesday in Epicure restaurateurs, chefs and just f–dies turn to his Page 3 gossip column “espresso” and his review. He also writes a column for the high circulating Saturday Age section A2 and for The Age Melbourne Magazine.
It leaves Neil’s prize for Menu for Hope uncertain and perhaps why earlier this week Lethlean said to me in an email when I asked if he’s offer the prize for Neil to host:

“yes, sure, of course. Provided I still have a reviewing gig when the prize matures, that is… strange times we live in.”

I’ve emailed John to ask if we need to withdraw the prize.

The first rumours said one of them may be going to Gourmet Traveller, where he is Melbourne correspondent, full time or to the Herald Sun. Then the Herald Sun firmed-up in the rumour stakes.
It’s been a big year for rumours. One doing the rounds was that Jill Dupleix and Terry Durack were to return to Melbourne to take over the recipe and reviewing gig on the Herald Sun.
They were also recently rumoured to have been offered Matt Preston’s old job as creative director of Melbourne Food and Wine Festival - candidates are being interviewed this week and next.
These are crazy times. People all around me are losing their jobs including my own partner as well as those of other bloggers.
Stay tuned for more Lethlean news as it emerges.

I’ve edited this post as news has come in.

Tagged as: Herald Sun, John Lethlean, the Age

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I‘m being offered lots of prizes and would like to share the love.

What I’m proposing is a blog/prize matchmaking service.

If you have a blog - doesn’t have to be just food - and you want to offer a prize I can pass one over rather than be greedy and hold them all for myself.

Then all you have to do is sruik the prize a bit.

Let me know: edcharles@me.com

Tagged as: charity, Menu for hope

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List updated 20.12.08 10.30am

Menu for Hope has launched. By joining in you can help in a small way to help end hunger in the third world and win prizes at the same time.

After raising nearly $100,000 last year food blogger Pim Tchamuanvivit has again chosen to support the UN World Food Programme school lunch program in Lesotho.

How can you help?

All you need to do is buy a US$10 raffle ticket for prizes at First Giving or arrange for a prize to be donated and blog about it or ask the help of a friendly blogger to blog about it (I’m happy to help out). You can read more about offering prizes here. Logos to use are here.

Donation Instructions:
1. Choose a prize or prizes of your choice from the Menu for Hope masterlist at Chez Pim or the Asia Pacific List below.
2. Go to the donation site at First Giving and make a donation.
3. Each US$10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. Please specify which prize you’d like in the ‘Personal Message’ section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code.
For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for AP01 and 3 tickets for AP02. Please write 2xAP01, 3xAP02
4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.
5. Please allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

The prizes

AP01 Pie: A global history

This is a terrific prize from Janet at The Old Foodie who will send a copy of her book Pie: A global history to the end of the earth. If you are not familiar with The Old Foody it is well worth a visit and packed full of quirky stories and facts from food through history. And congratulations to Janet as another blogger who is entering into print. Post anywhere.

AP02: A half-pound bag of Shan State green tea

It’s a striking land, Shan State. Just across the northern border of Thailand lies a different world; a landscape steeped in beauty, a people with histories worth reading.
And tea. Fine, sweet, glorious green tea. When my Burmese students took journalist and blogger Karen Coates from Rambling Spoon to dinner last month and she asked the origin of the tea on the table. One blurted out: “Shan State. The best tea comes from Shan State.” People around here know this as truth.
This year, Karen is offering half a pound of green tea from Loi Mwe, an old British hill station nearly 5,000 feet up a Shan mountain. These are whole tea leaves, which produce a mild, smokey, flowery drink without the slightest hint of bitterness. It is the drink of the Shan world, served with every meal, offered to every guest. It warms the heart on cold winter mornings. I purchased this tea myself in Shan State, with profits going directly into local hands. Post anywhere.

AP03: 6 weeks of personal food and nutrition planning

Sydney-based blogger Kathryn Elliott of Limes and Lycopene is offering everything you want to start the new year fresh and healthy. That’s 6 weeks of online personal food and nutrition planning and coaching worth A$290. Available anywhere - online.

AP04: Mugaritz down under: A tasting menu with matched wines for 2 people worth $460 at the Royal Mail Hotel, Dunkeld

When I uploaded a photo of Mugaritz’s head ex-chef Dan Hunter to Flickr somebody tagged him as cute. I don’t know whether that alone makes a visit to the Royal Mail Hotel at Dunkeld in Victoria’s southern Grampians worthwhile but his food does. His food showcases the herbs, vegetables and leaves from the hotel’s extensive kitchen gardens matched with the wines selected by sommelier Lok Thornton from one of the best wine cellars in the state.
I’ve eaten there twice and both times impressed. On my last visit I ate one the of the best most aromatic truffle dishes I have ever had made with the Tasmanian Perigord variety. His flavours are pure; squid tastes of squid, for instance. And his presentation, as you’d expect, is art.
A tasting menu with matched wines for 2 people is worth $460. Available to anybody who can make the 3 hour trip from Melbourne. I’m hosting this one.

AP05: Degustation dinner for 2 with matching wines at Melbourne’s Restaurant of the Year Attica.

Attica is running hot this year having won Restaurant of the Year and Dish of the Year in The Age Good Food Guide Awards. New Zealand-born chef Ben Shewry brings real passion and innovation to this tiny kitchen that somehow consistently serves up amazing food. Much of the inspiration is drawn on Shewry’s experience, for instance a near drowning as a child or the earth. He also dives in the bay to forage for unusual ingredients which you will find nowhere else. Ben tells me that he’s stopping eating at at other restaurants and deliberately not ready the Ferran Adria books so he can forge his own way with food which is pretty cool. I’m hosting this prize. I’ve eaten at Attica three times this year (including for the Martini Monster’s birthday) and I think four last year, including for my own birthday. Available to anyone who can make the worthwhile trip to Melbourne.

AP06: SYDNEY: A day behind the scenes on a food styling shoot with Australian Gourmet Traveller

This is something money can’t buy and you can read how Jackie at Eating with Jack got on last year. Available to anyone who can make the trip.( Hey Gourmet guys, share some link love)

AP07: Coffee heaven and training

They drink so much Java (just so we don’t have to) that I don’t know quite how the buzzed-up bods at the Melbourne Coffee Review ever sit down to write a post. But they do and regularly. Steve Agi from the MCR is offering: 1 x Espresso Quest book by INSTAURATOR A$60. 1 x Entertainment Book (MELB) A$65. 6 x Cafe Workshop Tix (Cafe COACH) valued @ A$79 each worth a total of $474. 1 x Melbourne Coffee Review cap, limited edition PRICELESS.

AP08: Skin Saviour - his and hers worth A$219.90

Skin Saviour is skin care specially formulated by a Melbourne-based naturopath from natural plant extracts and oils for the sensitive skin-wise and planet-wise. This prize comprises a set of the woman’s products worth A$109.95 and the men’s worth the same - a total of nearly $220. It contains no animal products whatsoever and no ingredients are tested on animals. It contains, no GM products, petrochemicals, harsh soaps, hormones or known irritants. It’s softening the skin of all-sorts from upmarket builders to budding internet entrepreneurs. A must try. I’m hosting this prize and it can be delivered anywhere. Hosted by me.

AP09: A years supply mineral water from spa country

Here is a great prize for thirsty locavores hosted by Rigo at the guerrilla gardening site IPlant and IGlean. A years supply of mineral water with minimum food miles from Daylesford and Hepburn Mineral Springs Co. The prize is 7 cases of 18 X500ml or 12 X 750ml Hepburn sparkling or still mineral water delivered in Melbourne (retail $440). Ongoing, the winning bid can buy mineral water at the wholesale price and have it delivered to their door.
The water is bottled in spa country for restaurants and cafes in inner city Melbourne including Pearl, Verge, Cicciollina, Baker D.Chirico, Cafe Racer, Carlisle St Wine Bar, Arintje, St Judes Cellars, Gertrude Street Enoteca, Cafe e Torta, Gills Diner, Benitos, Von Haus, Dench Bakers, Joes Garage, Babka, Alementari, Ladro, Panama Dinning Room, North, Small Block, Gingerlee, Rumi, Journal… Being conscious of food miles and the carbon footprint all of our packaging - bottles, boxes, and labels are manufactured within a 100 kilometre radius, and wherever possible we use recycled materials. Delivery to Melbourne only.

AP10: A year’s supply of Tim Tams

Jules at the gorgeous Stone Soup and her employer Arnott’s are donating offering three delicious cases of Australia’s favourite chocolate biscuit Tim Tams. That’s 72 packets of Tim Tams over a year - way more than one pack a week. The way I eat Tim Tams that will last about two months.

AP11: 1 nights accommodation and a 3 course meal for 2 at the Provenance Restaurant in Beechworth.

Michael Ryan, ex Range in Myrtleford, has taken over the Bank in Beechworth which he has renamed Provenance Restaurant and Luxury Suites. In last year’s Good Food Guide Ryan scored two hats which means we can expect some pretty special cooking at his new place. The whole site, including the four suites at the rear of the property in the old stables, have just had an extensive refit. He is offering one night’s accommodation worth $295 and a three course meal for two worth $140. Hosted by me.

AP12: Accompany Age restaurant reviewer John Lethlean on a reviewNB: hold off on buying tickets for a day on this as something has changed!

Neil from At My Table is offering an amazing prize a review with John Lethlean, Australia’s premier food critic and food writer for The Age and Gourmet Traveller. This will give invaluable insights into what he looks for in a restaurant experience.

AP13 Get your health back on track in 2009

Another great prize from Kathryn Elliott of Limes and Lycopene. She works at The Balance2health clinic in Gladesville NSW which is offering a $220 package to get your health back on track:
* 30 minutes of personal training
* Diet evaluation session to maximise your health and energy levels
* 30 minute Remedial Massage
* a Hot Stone Massage
Valid until 30 June 2009.

AP14 Barista training and gourmet coffee hamper

Matt at Abstract Gourmet has got Fiori Coffee in WA to donate this juicy java.The coffee lover’s prize includes a 2.5 hour professional barista training course for 1 person and a hamper comprising 6 x 250 gram bags of fresh roasted coffee, 1 bag of chai, 1 bag of hot chocolate and a stovetop espresso maker (moka pot) which are worth in total $250.

AP15 A RM200 cooking class voucher at The Cooking House in Desa Sri Hartamas.

Babe in the City from Kuala Lumpur is offering A RM200 cooking class voucher at The Cooking House in Desa Sri Hartamas. The hands-on learning, step-by-step demonstration and menu preparation are easy and enjoyable for novices as well as chefs. This offer is valid to KLite or anyone willing to travel to Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia for some cooking action.

AP16: 2 nights accomodation for 2 people in Dromana

The Purple Goddess from A Goddess in the Kitchen has donated a weekend for 2 at Chez Fur. She says: “As you will know, dear reader, this is our beloved holiday house, down at Dromana on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula. The prize consists of 2 nights for 2 people. You will have access to our famous wood-fired outdoor oven! The house itself, is walking distance from Dromana beach.”

AP17: $100 Voucher The Prince Wine Store

The Prince Wine Store isn’t the cheapest but it is definitely one of the best wine shops in Melbourne and is donating a $100 voucher which is being hosted by the ever so splendid Neil from At My Table. Its South Melbourne store has a superb range of local and imported wines to choose from making this a really worthwhile bid.

AP18: Cooking class with Tony Tan

Jeff at Thermomixer has organized for 2 tickets to an evening class of the winner’s choice (subject to availability) for Tony Tan’s Unlimited Cuisine Company in Toorak to be taken at any time in 2009. Tony Tan is a great fun and a charismatic host of cooking classes featuring Asian, Indian, Spanish or Australian cuisine. In 2008 he cooked with guest chefs, who have included Chui Lee Luk, Dan Hunter, Ben Shewry, Andrew McConnell, Justin North, Brent Savage and Philippe Mouchel.

AP19: An almost priceless meal for two at Sunnybrae from local seasonal ingredients and good aged local wines

Visiting George Biron’s Sunnybrae Restaurant and Cooking School blog is almost as much of a joy as visiting the restaurant itself, a 2 hour drive out of Melbourne. Now you can buy a ticket to visit this wonderful restaurant where George barters local produce and produces absolutely sensational food. He is donating a table for 2 for any available date with some of the best wines that he has including museum stocks of Bannockburn wines and good champagne. Sticky and myself went there earlier this year and you can see how wonderful we thought it was here. I want to go back and she returned for more.

AP20: A degustation meal for two at Libertine with matching wines worth $270.

Libertine is a charming romantic French restaurant without the beret in North Melbourne and is offering a degustation for two of eight courses, focusing on seasonal produce available on the day, including highlights from Libertine’s a la carte menu, with matching wines, valued at $270. I’ve eaten there myself this year and had a great meal but ran out of time to blog about it. The food is good but what is exceptional is the list of carefully chosen wines mainly from small French producers. Unlike some large restaurants connected to a certain casino you won’t find yourself here being charged through the nose for wines that you could by off the shelf from your local bottle shop.

AP21: A day With amazing gateaux chef Sunny Yaw in Kuala Lumpur

Big Boys Oven brings you “A Day With Chef Sunny Yaw”. The raffle winner will spend a day close up and personal behind the scene with Sunny Yaw the resident chef of Big Boys Oven, an incredible gateaux chef with 15 years of baking experience behind him. He is famously known for his lovely macaroons.

Please join in. Please link. Please buy tickets from First Giving which is here.

Tagged as: charity, Menu for hope

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The fifth annual Menu for Hope food bloggers charity fund raising begins again on Monday 15 December. I’m the host for Asia Pacific, Australia and New Zealand.

If you haven’t heard of the event it started five years ago when food blogger Pim Tchamuanvivit was inspired to raise funds to help after the devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia. Menu for Hope was born. The campaign has since become annual and in 2007 raised nearly $100K to help the UN World Food Programme school lunch program in Lesotho. This year we will support to the same program.

How can you help?

If you are a blogger:

Participate in Menu for Hope V by hosting a raffle prize or by promoting Menu for Hope on your blog. The prize you offer need not be expensive, but it should appeal to your readership or perhaps even be something that money cannot buy. To make it manageable Pim has suggested that each prize offered should have the potential to raise at least US$200. That means, don’t offer a prize unless you are pretty sure you could get at least twenty of your readers to donate US$10 for a raffle ticket toward that prize (although in smaller markets including Australia and New Zealand I will give some leeway on this.)

Please think before soliciting prizes from restaurants or producers whom you do not know. A big part of our success in prior years came from the personal connections between bloggers, food producers/restaurateurs/authors, and the readers who donate to the campaign.

Each blogger is also responsible for shipping their prize to the winning donor. Make sure you have enough in your budget to cover shipping. It’s important that you specify where your shipping area will cover when you offer the prize. Frankly, we prefer that you don’t restrict shipping area, but if you must, then please be very clear in your blog post so as not to confuse our donors.

Forward this post to all other bloggers you know so they can participate too.

Here are the local hosts for this year’s Menu for Hope:

Europe and the UK
Sara of Ms.Adventures in Italy (sara.rosso@gmail.com)

US: West Coast (If you are closer to SF than you are to NY then you belong here.)
Matt Armendariz of Matt Bites (matt.armendariz@gmail.com)

US: East Coast
Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen (jaden@steamykitchen.com)

Canada
Meena Agarwal of Hooked on Heat (meena@hookedonheat.com)

Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand
Ed Charles of Tomato (edcharles@mac.com)

and, last but not least, our special Wine Blog Host
Alder of Vinography (alder@vinography.com)

If you’d like to participate, please send your prize information (plus two images 75×75 thumbnail and 200×200px which I can help with if you are not sure) to your local host so that they can give you a prize code (important!) and more instructions on what to do for Monday.

If you are a restaurateur, winemaker, author or food producers/sellers:
Consider offering your products and services as raffle prizes. If you have a corportate blog, you can host the prize yourself. If you don’t, find a food blogger to host your prize. If you don’t know any, contact me, I’ll see what I can do.

If you are a food or wine/drink blog reader or a food and wine lover:
Check back on Chez Pim on Monday December 15 when the campaign goes online. You can browse our amazing array of prizes by type, or find a prize near you by searching by region. Bid on as many prizes as you’d like. Buy raffle tickets as holiday gifts to your loved ones.

Help us help the WFP end world hunger.

Check out Pim’s launch post here.

Tagged as: Menu of Hope, World Food Programme

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Ingredients: serves two

2 eggs
4 slices of pancetta (he says thin but the only stuff I could find was round)

Herby stuff
100g butter
1/2 an onion. Diced finely.
i garlic clove. Diced finely.
One cup each watercress and flat leave parsley leaves.
One and a half cups baby spinach
25g grated parmesan
Salt and pepper to season

It’s just cooking not molecular gastronomy. But it is very precise cooking with the help of my new-fangled device, an Auber-WS PID Temperature Controller rigged up to a slow cooker.
What it allows me to do is cook at precision temperatures and sous vide.
Today I’m trying out an egg cooked at 65 C (149F) in the shell which is gives it an amazing gelatinous texture. It also makes the egg look a bit like a giant eyeball.
The recipe is for slow-cooked eggs with herb and parmesan purée and crisp pancetta from Justin North’s book French Lessons. The outrageous thing is that he suggests the home cook achieves the result by holding a thermometer in a pan of water. This is completely impractical. You’ll need a kettle an cold water at hand as I did to help maintain the correct temperature.
Even with my controller it is difficult to maintain at steady 65C. It kept dropping to 64C but as egg whites to begin to thicken at 63C and set at 65C it doesn’t matter that much.
I cooked mine for 85 minutes and the recipe recommends between one and one and a half hours.
If you can get a result with the egg you’ve done the hard bit.
I hope you can tell from the ingredients that this has that savoury glutamate thing happening. I though it would taste good.

What I didn’t realise quite how good it would be and it’s on the menu again tonight.

Method

1. Cook the egg in the shell as above.
2. Make the puree:
   • Heat 60g butter until it browns. Cool and strain.
   • heat the remaining butter in a pan. Soften the onion and garlic and then add the greens. Cook until wilted.
   • Strain to remove liquid
   • Whizz-up in a processor (Magimix here) leaving fairly course. Add the grated parmesan. Add the browned, strained butter.

   Add lemon and season to taste.

3. Crisp up the pancetta in’t oven
4. Assemble: green purée, egg, pancetta

Tagged as: 65 egg, Egg, French lessons, Juston North, low temperature

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The advert says it all really.
The meet and greet was good. But then the laminated (always a worry) menus and drinks lists were placed upright on the table, the sort of thing you may see at one of those themed family restaurants.
It’s shame because the food is a cut above the run-of-the-mill Mexican and much of the uninspired gloop served around Acland and Barkly Streets.

At least there are specials boards on the walls but I’d still like to see a fresh paper menu which would considerably improve the vibe.

The food shows innovation and the vegetarian dishes are really good - as are the cocktails. But there are signs that the kitchen is slipping. The wine list is short and good value but too focused on Sauvignon Blanc which perhaps says more about the age of the audience Bluecorn caters to.

The service is all over the place but well meaning with the waiters spending more time chatting among themselves and fighting fires than really offering service. The first starter that arrived was wrong. Meanwhile, somebody complained that their dish was cold. And I had to get up and retrieve the wine we had ordered - the waitress was allowing the stemmed glasses to cool down - half way through our main course. But I was happy to drink out of a cheap Duralit glass (which could help cut costs).

What did annoy me is the 2 per cent charged for Eftpos or credit cards (something about it costing $40,000 a year in bank fees which means they take $2 million on cards), the chipped base of one of the cocktail glasses which makes the place seem like it is running on empty.

The food and the wine are good value so maybe it is tough to make a profit and keep the costs low. But perhaps if they got the orders right a little more often it would help. So if you are an experienced waiter and you’re reading this, please please apply to Bluecorn.

Tagged as: Bluecorn, Mexican, service, St Kilda, waiter

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The spanking clean new urinals at The Melbourne Wine Room.

It’s taken a long time and it is only now that I can account or my fascination for lavatories, WCs or bogs - anything but toilets. It goes back to junior school where the teacher punished me for using the word lavatory. Back home I was scolded for using the word toilet because it was common.
There I was a small child left like a turd squashed between a fresh pink bottom and hard wooden school chair, a victim of the class system.
I spent most of my time hiding on the roof of the school until the police found me, simply because my teacher decided to torture rather than teach me.
Eventually they decided to expel me from the state system and leave me on the special school scrap heap all because of a few ill-timed turds. It’s no wonder that I’ve taken a dislike to authority.
Luckily my mother persuaded a good Catholic brotherhood to take me in and set me right. (although I still am dealing with the rejection issues from having never been fiddled with and the carpal tunnel syndrome from doing my own dirty work).

And now to the real point of this story. The bog - for despite the fact it contained no rare orchids it can only be describe this way - at The Melbourne Wine Room on Fitzroy St has long been on my mind. The floor was usually soaked in urine and trampled with long celebratory ribbons of lavatory paper. The stainless steel lavatory itself was a lottery, the button hidden inside the cistern perhaps with or without a junky’s needle to pierce my pink figure.
Now everything has changed with a fantastic new refurbishment. Everything is new apart from the hard nuts of prostates of the Wine Room’s clientele. The lavatory, as it shall now be called, is pristine, white and home I’d like to think to a better class of knobs, which incidentally are still dripping on the floor.

Over the years while judging regional restaurant awards the restaurant lavatory was an item on the score street. It is now a habit to pop in and check the loo’s hygene credentials and for the odd pubic hair on the lavatory seat.

Here are six disappointing restaurant and bar bogs in Australia. More suggestions in comments please:

My six most disappointing loos in Australia

1. White Bar body corporate loos, Fitzroy St, St Kilda
A sibling of the Melbourne Wine Room but unrefurbished these stinking holes are the refuge of the se maniac, incontinent and the drug addicted. They stink too.

2. The European, Spring St
“You now what this place really reminds me of Europe. The loos stink just like in France,” a friend said on his first visit. And he’s right. My nose doesn’t have the sensitivity to identify the cleaning detergent but I call it “Pissoire chic”.

3. The Eureka Tower
Brand new and with a fantastic view this loo is badly designed and poorly maintained. On my visit I found knobs missing from taps and knobs missing the urinal altogether. The problem is that the tiny urinal bowls are hung on a wall at a 45 degree angle to the view. As you crane your neck to see the view you inevitably pee down somebody else’s leg, over your freshly polished shoes and onto the now knee deep floor.

4. Forty-One Sydney
These urinals are simply terrifying with a view 41 floors below. Although they don’t have The Eureka’s problems how the hell is anybody meant to go in these conditions?

5. Nobu, ground floor
Oh yes, they are very smart but have one big flaw. A cheap hook and eye device is being used on the ground floor to make up for the fact the lock on the door doesn’t work properly. Please fix.

6. Di Stasio, Fitzroy St
Each urinal is in an alcove so tight that if I brace my shoulders I can lift my feet off the floor. It’s too tight. On the plus side there’s no peeking.

Tagged as: Australia, Lavatory, Restaurant, Toilet

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