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newsletter four September
2008
we are just mad about melbourne
A city of absolute style, making the best of the bounty
of Australian food and wine without a tinge of cultural
cringe their wine lists scour the world to bring the
diner the best of everything. Melbourne flaunts its independence
from flunky restaurant reviewers and glossy magazines
as a new generation of young restaurateurs show just
what the word ’hospitality’ really means.
It means ’welcome’,
come in, have a good time, eat fabulous food, drink wonderful
wine, give me your money, and I’ll give you such
a good time you’ll
be back tomorrow begging for more!And we were! Our favourites
are now fully reviewed click
here to read the reviews.
We have to say that if
we lived in Melbourne Movida
Bar De Tapas would
be our local and their créme caramel our daily
breakfast.
What’s not to love about shopping in Melbourne;
the best shoes in Australia, good vintage (but not as
good as Adelaide) and great emerging designer studios
for art, clothes, jewelery, furniture, ceramics and much,
much more. There is a business about the city that is
reassurance of the prosperity and vibrancy that is found
in everything from the arts and theatre to dining, that
is so wonderfully embellished with beach side venues
within minutes of the city centre.
We travel a lot as singles and have found special event
dinners and regular tables are a great way to have some
fun and get closer to the heart of a city. For some really
interesting special events in Melbourne check out the web
sites of the restaurants reviewed in our new Melbourne
section
We are yet to tackle the cheap end of Melbourne mainly
because there is just so much exceptional, value for money
dining in Melbourne at the middle and top end.
Vue
de Monde where
food and art are a fabulous and exciting combination
Duane Coates, our senior wine editor has
just passed the second stage of his Masters of Wine studies. With saying just,
do you know just how difficult just really
is? To understand the commitment, emotional
and financial, intelligence and palate memory that is required to successfully
finish these studies click
here
With the dissertation to complete, we look forward to celebrating
the completion of Duane’s Masters of Wine studies
in December 2009 with one hell of a party. www.coateswines.com
We are very excited that our friend and fellow traveller
Tenis Immurs has agreed to be our contributor for San
Francisco. Tenis and his partner Norma (a San Franciscan)
do business between America and Melbourne and are avid eaters/diners
who love to explore the unexpected as much as they do the
lavish. Tenis’ contributions will start with our October
newsletter.
Our reviews
are published every Friday in the conventional print media
in Adelaide’s
Independent Weekly.
New Adelaide reviews this month The
Manse Restaurant & Bar and the Botanic
Gardens
Restaurant.
The October Independent Weekly COOKS’S
CLUB class will be Soufflé Savvy Sunday
October 5, 2008 and November 2, 2008 Chocolate — a
new and intimate venue, classes are limited to 15 pax
and a maximum of 5 apprentices.
To
see the details for the Alexandrina Cheese Company, Lunch
and Conversation Sunday October
19, please click
here
Lastly The Adealide Repertory Theatre celebrates it’s
100th birthday with a gala prentation of Inherit The Wind 19th – 27th
September
From
the top, flowering magnolias signify spring in Melbourne
Shag Vintage two fabulous shops one on Brunswick Street
and another on Chapel Street. Chapel Street Bazaar for
everything from vintage and 60s lace died in the most amazing
colours and then everything from early Australian to retro
and deco some; very good pickings.
Venice; the patron Do Mori and Café Florian
The waterways of Venice
Fabulous soufflés in the class Soufflé Savvy
The best ever chocolate cake Cloud Cake, a derivative of La
Stupenda all
in the Chocolate class
Images in this issue Ann Oliver unless otherwise
stated
Next
Month — October 2008
The 2008 judging of the extra virgins will be complete and
we’ll be letting
you know the results and giving you some insider information about our favourite
oils.
We’re adding a small Venice guide to
our site, little treasures like Do Mori, Venice’s oldest
wine bar where stunning anti pasti is there till it runs out
and 20 year–old Barolos are
available by the glass. Another treasure Il Paradiso Perduto
where in Sundays there is a riotous and fabulous food performance
with music. Senior wine editor Dr Alexandra Burridge is in
France to eat and taste and clearly having lots of fun because
she hasn’t filed even a phone pic since she left.
We still plan a critical look at the South Australian inclusions
in the Australian Gourmet Traveller annual Australian restaurant awards. Got
an opinion
please email us we will publish the most interesting and constructive
emails. All correspondence must be properly identified and sources will be checked.
We’ll be over in South Australia’s fabulous Kangaroo Island in October and
November and compiling a comprehensive guide to the island for our
November newsletter. Could be the best way of eating on the
island is to cook yourself, but we’ll
be telling you exactly where to go to find the great Southern
Rocklobster, sea urchin and much, much more!
There may be a lesson given that their island is South Australia’s
most loved tourism experience, maybe we don’t need fabulous restaurants
after all.
We’ll also be summing up after South Australian Tourism’s World Food Exchange September
21 – 26, various locations — click here for full event details
The Independent Weekly COOKS CLUB
After the genuine exchange of knowledge that was achieved with
our last class Sous–Vide, a lot of slow and no foam the
decision has been made to keep our cooking classes intimate,
maximum 15 pax per class, maximum 5 apprentices per class — please
note classes are demonstration only
October COOKS’ CLUB —Soufflé Savvy — Sunday
October 5, 2008 at 2.30 pm to 5.00 pm
It is easy to make a high soufflé, simple add more egg white, but it’s
hard to make a soufflé with a perfect texture that is also full of flavour.
This class will explore a range of savoury and dessert soufflés and unravel
the simple techniques that make for a perfectly textured soufflé. Dessert
soufflés are all gluten free and will include, The Mistress’ Own
Chocolate soufflé, Grand Marnier Soufflé and Passion fruit, Mandarin
and Lemon using butter and egg based curd as a base. Precise weights for base
and egg white brings the soufflé into context, but most importantly it makes
it idiot proof…we like that!
Price $75 pp gst inclusive, apprentices $50 pp gst inclusive (max 5 apprentices
per class) — download the booking form
November COOKS’ CLUB — Chocolate — Sunday
November 2, 2008 at 2.30 pm
The best of Chocolate including tempering and decorative garnishes
and hand made chocolates. We have been lucky enough to borrow
a Thermomix (not from Thermomix, but through our friend and colleague
Yazan Akeel at L’Hotelier
and ecotel) and we
have been able to experiment. Thermomix boasted a tempering ability
and we did wonder if this machine could do everything it promised.
It is no small coincidence that nearly every great restaurant
in Australia has purchased one the machine is quite amazing.
We are still working out exactly what it will do, but it certainly
makes chocolate a breeze; a tempering machine with hundreds
of other applications. … we
love it!
— price $75 pp gst inclusive, apprentices $50 pp gst inclusive
(max 5 apprentices per class) — download
the booking form
January COOKS’ CLUB — Ice Creams and
Sorbets — date to be decided
Ice creams and sorbets, so when do you stop learning…the answer of course,
is never! New recipes using inverted sugar and great new recipes for fruit ice
creams and sorbets in readiness for the summer months. We love inverted sugar
because we can maintain full fruit flavour and egg based ice creams without the
slick and flavour loss of straight glucose. A top of the range–domestic
juicer (Breville) and inverted sugar we have made ices that range
from Beetroot
and horseradish to Mandarin
and green ginger gelato with chocolate mandarin sticks.
Even our Vanilla Ice Cream which we thought was just about
perfect has been slightly improved. — price $75
pp gst inclusive, apprentices $50 pp gst inclusive (max 5 apprentices
per class)
In 2009 we will be able to offer corporate hands–on cooking classes
for small groups tailored precisely to the clients requirements — Sichuan,
classic 18th century Hapsburg Empire, contemporary Australia, Malaysian, French,
Italian or Middle Eastern, even Greek or Spanish our travels have given us
an intimate knowledge of many cuisines — please either
telephone 0403 117 739 or email
Ann for
a quote.
JOIN the Independent Weekly COOKS’ CLUB by clicking here
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