Tomato: the inside guide to eating and drinking in Melbourne

The Gobbler is gone

by Ed

Where is he? The Gobbler and his previous blog The Garrulous Gourmet have been taken down. All that content gone. It’s funny how bloggers come and go. Some people fade away and The Gobbler has gone out with a bang simply because he has other priorities in life. It’s a brave thing to give up [...]

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Wake-n-bacon, a gourmet mystery and my insects

by Ed

This really beats the Teasmade. The Wake n’ Bacon alarm clock. Via Wired. Actually I think I want both. A mystery worthy of Sherlock Holmes from The Independent: “Pascal Henry, 46, a Swiss motorbike courier, set out in May to eat in every Michelin three-starred restaurant in the world – 68 restaurants in nine countries [...]

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Act quickly for Ferran Adria tickets

by Ed

Sorry to repeat myself, but a few Age readers come to this blog and it is a big story that Ferran Adria is coming to Melbourne in October courtesy of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and his publisher Phaidon. He is here as part of his world tour, which includes Sydney, to promote his [...]

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Truffle hunters come home victorious

by Ed

Spice finds a giant Perigord truffle. The whole of Australia is Perigord truffle crazy right now. In the past few weeks alone I’ve eaten some of the best and most aromatic truffle dishes that I have ever come across. Chefs report they have never seen so many from Australia and summer ones imported from France. [...]

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First glimpse at Andrew McConnell’s Cumulus Inc in Flinders Lane

by Ed

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt writing about the opening of restaurants is that it rarely goes to plan. As a writer it is easy to be caught out. Openings can be delayed by months or even years. And so it was that on Thursday the 26th I rocked up to Cumulus Inc (45 Flinders [...]

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Eating vegetarian on the range

by Ed

Crispy anchovy bones “We’re in the country. What do we do now?” I needed advice but, of course, text didn’t even work on my increasingly dodgy Sony-Ericsson. There I was stuck, not knowing what to do with my trousers falling down. I still haven’t worked out why this keeps happening. I am wearing a belt [...]

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iPhoners of the world unite at Gills Diner

by Ed

For somewhere that is so difficult to find, Gills Diner is awfully busy. Blink or become distracted for even a moment and you’ll have missed the skinny Gills Alley. And two of the three people I have met there did just that, arriving late after circling the Elizabeth St end of Little Collins St. Perhaps [...]

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Pay the price at the Flower Drum (or eat cheaper down the road)

by Ed

Nice Sydney friends who speak Mandarin and have fairly decent cleavage. I’ve always like dictatorships. Communism and fascism both share an idealism that when I was younger could have switched me either way. Of course, now grown-up physically at least I abhor the human rights abuses in China although I wouldn’t be able to ejaculate [...]

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Very Cheap annoucement

by Ed

This is, as Joe Strummer said, a public service announcement and it may “Rock the Casbah” a bit. The idea of Very Cheap Eats (Email me as gastrotomATgmailDOTcom if you’d like to become a reviewer) is to provide a guide to the best cheap food in Australian in the sort of places you’d actually choose [...]

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First night at Bistro Guillaume, a restaurant by any other name

by Ed

The Gordon Ramsay deal is still in it’s early days. At least that’s the Crown Casino corporate line. For the moment Bistro Guillaume is the final jewel in the crown up with (in reverse order of opening) Giuseppe, Arnaldo & Sons, Nobu and Rockpool Bar and Grill. Inevitably Ramsay stomping into Melbourne means that somebody, [...]

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It’s Giuseppe, Arnaldo & Sons and not Damien Hirst

by Ed

There are no sharks in bondage kit. But there is something very Damien Hirst about the salumi (that’s Italian for cured meat) counter. It’s about chopped-up (and cured) bits of animal in a display case. Perhaps it is the backdrop of the curtain drawn across one of the five tiled dining areas in Giuseppe, Arnaldo [...]

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Bloggers’ Banquet v2.0 Q&A

by Ed

Smile, you’re on bloggers’ camera: (l to r) Purple Goddess, Vida and Stickyfingers. What is the Bloggers’ Banquet? Just an opportunity to meet up, eat and chat. That’s not to forget take photos, blog, post to flickr and all that other social stuff. Nothing hard. V1.0 was back in November. V2.0 will be held Saturday [...]

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Anada tapas restaurant on Gertrude St

by Ed

I want crispy rabbit with alioli The English want to watch football. The Spanish bullfighting. They scream and shout at each other. Hair is pulled. Somebody spits in another’s face. The police arrive wearing their funny hats and, worrringly, with machine guns. Such are the memories of some pretty dreadful tapas and raciones in Spain, [...]

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To bury or praise Stephanie?

by Ed

This is why journalists and restaurateurs hate bloggers. All that unregulated opinion that’s happening just now because of Monday’s Out of the Frying Pan chatfest. It was my first exposure to the loathing. First, I’m going to praise blogging. Foodfest creative director Matt Preston tonight told me that as a result of the publicity blogs [...]