newsletter five October 2008
Welcome to our October newsletter (just barely we know) but sometimes our conventional print media obligations hold things up because that print version must be published first.
Most of us are wondering just what the world economic situation will bring and those of us in the industry know we must be more vigilant than ever to deliver our promise, maintain standards of excellence and especially value our loyal local clientele. Add to that we are praying that business travel and tourism will continue because all good restaurants rely to a degree on that business.
This month sees a slightly different newsletter format with our first sponsorships; to show the style. We have given friends who share our passions and our food morals three months entry as a little reward for being the best at what they do. Rates for sponsorship on our monthly newsletter will be published next month and will start in January. As is obvious places are very limited. We remain determined that restaurants will never be able to advertise on Galaxy Guides and will never be able to pay for their inclusion on our site.
Book reviews as usual the fab new book from Phaidon and the ElBulli team and we’ve also reviewed Shannon Bennett’s My French Vue Bistro cooking at home. We like the fact that Bennett doesn't do what most chefs writing books theses days seem to. he doesn’t dumb down his restaurant recipes but instead presents a raft of recipes with techniques that the home–cook can easily achieve without insulting the home cook.
We haven’t been out of South Australia this month but have a couple of great new reviews Aquacaf now taken on by Adelaide’s favourite young chef Jordan Theodoros. Aquacaf is just what a beach café ought to be a step back from the world at his feet but Aquacaf is just fabulous! We’ve been back to Appellation at the Louise where owner Jim Carreker and his executive chef Mark McNamara are delivering a class experience in both food and accommodation and you’ll be pleased to know they have waived the two–night deal and put their luxury within the reach of all of us.
Adelaide’s Melting Pot closes its doors at the end of October to return a couple of weeks later as a less formal dining experience with the same attention to wine and food; we’ll keep you posted, but remember with very rare exceptions Galaxy Guides does not review until the establishment/chef or both have been ensconced for three months. Penfolds Magill Estate Restaurant has a new chef and his menus are turning heads, young, and we are told very talented we are looking forward to eating there soon.
We’ve resisted conventional awards; we do have obsessed awards, but how do you compare Movida to for instance Vue De Monde, both are fabulous but should never be compared. We are thinking to stick with the obsessed awards but adding a couple of small indicators to reviews ’gastro tourist’ meaning must do if you are in a city and yes, we’re adding a doggie symbol to reviews over the next twelve months to indicate dog friendly establishments. Do I have a dog? No! But, we give in! And, to rest my case the only argument my London friend and I have had in 50 years was because her dog was refused entry to my then restaurant Mistress Augustine’s; “My dog has eaten in better restaurants than yours” — I rest my case!

Essay
The recent World Food Exchange, Adelaide Australia 2008, putting tourism on your menu was sponsored by the South Australian Tourism Commission and government. Chaired by the chairman of the World Food Exchange Dun Gifford noted guests were American food and wine journalist David Rosengarten who is a contributor to the New York Times, The Wine Spectator, Bon Appetit and Harper’s Bazaar to name just a few of the prestigious magazines in his brief. South African Jo Sinfield who is reputed to have bought the tiny South African community of Franschhoek to international acclaim in the gastro tourism area. They were followed by the very noteworthy Alla Wolf–Tasker of Victoria’s lake House, American Jim Carreker, now in business in the Barossa with the acclaimed Louise luxury accommodation and their multi–award winning restaurant Appellation. Professor Barbara Santich a noted observer and all the more valued for her refusal to succumb to what people want to hear. The South Australian Tourism Commission also made presentations as did regional sectors.
This essay is based on attendance of the Barossa segment and parts of the symposium day complicated by the need to collect an estage chef from Shanghai. This simple task of collecting a guest to Adelaide from the newish Adelaide airport proved to be a seriously awful experience; welcome to South Australia just a 15–minute walk in the heat to our car because the terminal car park is full and we are actually parked in the old terminal car park. A missed connecting flight and the ghastly experience was repeated in the same day. Who is responsible for our appalling new airport???? The experience with tourism starts there!
A huge and important subject to tackle the World Food Exchange Adelaide 08 certainly opened the conversation, a conversation which we hope has only just begun. The need to improve the regional South Australian tourism experience is fundamental to the state’s economy, not just now in complicated financial times but always. Wealth may shift in the current climate but there are always rich people with money to spend and we need to attract those people. The tyranny of distance is Australia’s /South Australia’s greatest burden because these cashed up culinary travelers in the main have money but not time. We add our comments to the event and hopefully widen the conversation……read more

Marian Clarkin interviews Ferran Adrià for Galaxy Guides in Melbourne
the full interview

books the most important book this year
A day at elBulli
An insight into the ideas, methods and creativity of Ferran Adrià Ferran Adrià — Juli Soler — Albert Adrià
Published by Phaidon Press Ltd, H/B $75 AUD

Our other elBulli book 2005 (not that we are complaining) cost almost $200. Published by elBulli it is a glorious publication in every respect but one, they list ingredients but not actual recipes. The images are utterly titillating culinary pornography. It didn’t spoil our appreciation of the food at elBulli, the art on the plate but the food remained mysterious, daunting and challenging. This book, A day at elBulli opens the restaurant, the philosophy and some recipes to a group of people who may never be lucky enough to eat in their restaurant or work in their kitchen. The tiny $75 price tag will mean this book will fly off of the shelves, so if you want a copy and not have to wait for the second print run you had better buy one this week, this very day! Most importantly the small price tag puts the book within the reach of the lowliest apprentice with a dream of being famous, being as good, as innovative as Ferran Adrià.
read the full review

Restaurants
It is a long way from being the caterer for South Australia’s Kooyonga Golf Course to being a chef owner of a one Michelin Star in France, but William Page is proof that the beginning is not necessarily to ending, that with a burning passion for food and its complexities can lead to almost anywhere read more and see some of Page’s food

Shanghai continues to refine and improve the offering
The development of food in Shanghai is a steady progression. As the supply chain has become easier and ingredients are being specifically grown for the lucrative high-end of the Shanghai restaurant trade Laris Shanghai is a great example of that continuing progress that see’s a steady improvement not just in the food, but the total dining experience. Better wine knowledge and better trained local staff taking on senior management positions. Laris Shanghai is a great example of this progression read more and see the food read more

Laris Shanghai Shanghai is one of those cities that makes a lie of the fact that restaurants with views rarely deliver their promise in terms of food and wine and service. Many wondered when long–term head chef Gerhard Passrugger (now back in Shanghai) decided to move on and take a position in Hong Kong where Laris would find a replacement. David Laris is driven with multitudinous projects on the go at any one time, so the relationship between himself and his head chef is more important than in most restaurants where the executive chef might be more single mindedly focused on just one business. New head chef Jason Oakley clearly grasps Laris’ food and concepts and it has been a very smooth transition from one excellent head chef to another. A new collaboration has brought about new dishes and we appreciate the pared back clean lines and the produce driven food. On the ground contacts in Shanghai assure us there is a steady progression with the food and service at Laris Shanghai. Remember when travelling lunch can often stretch the budget far further and lunches in Shanghai’s better restaurants are a bit of a bargain — read their daily delusion menu with match wines make a reservation and visit their web site

Community
The Barons of Barossa led by Stephen Henschke, have launched the Barons of Barossa Foundation and the Bruce Thiele memorial Trust.
The group was founded in 1974 to promote the barossa and to preserve and maintain its heritage, lifestyle and traditions. The launch of this important foundation ensures that their important work will continue
read the full press release

Toying with opening a business in Shanghai or Beijing
If you are looking to establish a business in the food and wine industry in Shanghai or Beijing you need to connect to established businesses, with Chinese language and a relationship with people on the ground, people with a long–term on the ground experience, a massive contact base and a respected position. We know and trust these people to deliver their promise and all have essential market knowledge and between them cover all aspects.

Campbell Thompson, The Wine Republic
David Laris, Laris Creates
Simon Tan, The Wine Centre
Walter Zahner, walternative

CHINA CEO
Voices of Experience
From 20 International Business Leaders
Juan Antonio Fernandez and Laurie Underwood
John Wiley & Sons (ASIA) PTE LTD paperback $30.95

Le Lièvre Gourmand 14 Grande Rue, 18260 Vailly sur Sauldre, France t (33) 02.48.73.80.23 – reservations questions to William Page or the restaurant generally w www.lelievregourmand.com It is a very strange thing that the achievement of a Michelin star in France (and holding on to it) by an Australian chef has drawn so little interest from the Australian media. William Page came to cooking by a circuitous route that started with the option to be a professional golfer, the beginning of a law degree that ended with an illness that saw him take a year off and live in Greece. Page has a gift for languages and he returned to Australia speaking perfect Greek and very little idea of what lay ahead. More or less tumbling into the hospitality industry, the food he cooked as resident caterer at Adelaide, South Australia’s Kooyonga Golf Course is a very long distance from his present culinary skills and appreciation of the art of cooking. After completing the Advanced Patisserie Course at Regency College, Page and his then partner left in the late 80s for a working holiday in Europe where they worked the traps of Scotland and ended in a French ski resort. In the early 90s with a new French wife Page started putting his dream into a reality with the purchase of a tiny bankrupt restaurant in Vailly. A town that at the time was really not noted for anything more than its beautiful countryside, peace and quiet real estate was relatively cheap and it was then Page’s obsession with cooking really started. It was his gift for languages that allowed him to slide into the community of the tiny village in France that he has grown to love. Page’s partner Celine Lefebvre comes from the kitchens of France with a deep understanding of food and the restaurant front. They have recently modernised and improved their dining room by paring back the room embellishments and upgrading the environment to an elegance it did not formerly possess. For such a tiny restaurant Page’s indulgently equipped kitchen is the dream of every chef owner, but it has to be remembered the competition for coveted stars in France (and elsewhere) is intense. The dream of a second and third star is ever present, and we suspect the driving force (excuse to indulge) behind some of these superbly equipped kitchens. We haven’t eaten at the restaurant but have had multitudinous recommendations from those who have, and we know that whilst Page sometimes pretends he can no longer speak English he does secretly love to have guests from home!

art in China so very very exciting!

Ang Sang, Colourful Buddha, 2008, mixed media on canvas, 160 x 160 cm
Tibetan contemporary art show, Return to Lhasa visit the Redgate Beijing web site for full details

from left to right, top to bottom: blanc manger aux truffles d'ete beaten egg whites piped in a ramekin, egg yolk in the centre, 70° then turned out summer truffles on top — kangaroo gastrovac 45 mins at 45° in a olive oil/black rice vinegar/oyster sauce/ eucalyptus oil vinaigrette, pink radish green onions/ sesame seeds fleur de sel — tartare de lieu (yellow fin tuna), daikon radish/lieu diced in small cubes with pink ginger and lime zest, wasabe / mirin dressing radish sprouts— sardine/tomato tomato gelly (tomatoes/ centrifuge/ agar), tomatoes confites (olive oil/oven at 120°), pesto classic/freezer/pacojet, sardines gastrovac 12 mins at 30° in a rapeseed oil/balsamic vinaigrette — Chocolat/cassis marzipan/cocoa/cassis biscuit, dark chocolat/cassis ganache, coulis cassis, deco chocolat noir feuillitine — redcurrants in a raspberry gelly dried raspberry grains, thai basil/mint cream (basil and mint in a 30° syrup/ freezer/pacojet/ beaten with cream

new this month South Australia Aquacaf great casual beach eating just an hour from the city

essay continued
American David Rosengarten is a polished performer, well travelled he has had, and continues to have ample opportunity almost on a daily basis to observe quality culinary tourism experiences. He is amusing, erudite and informed about food and wine. Rosengarten was enthralling until he mentioned a “fabulous Alaskan event” where some of America’s top chefs come to the event to shop in a supermarket and then go off to cook and what a fabulous time everyone has attending the cook–offs etc. There is a very good reason why Australians haven’t followed world trends into pre–packaged foods especially salads — we know what fresh food is; we have a history of it we have always had a big enough back yard to grow stuff. Our history of migration has embellished and enhanced that way of life. It would be hard to imagine The Manse’s Ayhan Erok or Appellation’s Mark McNamara agreeing to go to Coles or Woolworths to shop and then off to cook. It would be even harder to imagine that it would interest anyone that fits the gastro tourist category. The coveted cashed up culinary tourist does not rush to the supermarket, they rush to the nearest real market! Markets like our own Adelaide Central Market, The Wayville Showground's Farmers’ Market, the weekly Willunga or Barossa markets. What 90% of average Americans eat and what real ’culinary tourists’ eat is a long way apart. Importantly Rosengarten ignored the distance and expense required to get to Australia – there has to be a reason to go there to attract this market. This is also why he takes groups to America and Europe's most prestigious wine and food regions. More than two restaurants in the world’s top 50 restaurants would be a good start and a couple in South Australia would be brilliant. Currently in Australia we have two restaurants in that prestigious little group, Tetsuya in Sydney and Vue de Monde in Melbourne. South Australia sadly currently has no such accolades. read on

essay continued
One of the disappointments of the international presenters was their lack of ready information about their budgets, demographics and statistics. The money they have to work with on their projects is relevant to the outcomes they have achieved.
South African Jo Sinfield had a more relevant message but played the same promo twice and was also not prepared with financial statistics, demographics and all of the tools that make his experience relevant to South Australia. More Events???? You have to be kidding! What South Australia really needs to take stock of is that there are too many individual events. There is a brilliant Australian example in the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, Australia’s most successful food and wine and gastronomy event with international acclaim. They started tiny and look at them now. Their management have stalwartly stuck to quality events and always brought in current internationals and very rarely repeated presenters. Wait till you see their 2009 line–up; unbelievable and there will undoubtedly be a mass migration of South Australian and Australian foodies to attend their events. There is so much we could learn from their experience. Thomas Keller (French Laundry) up front and personal is very much more attractive than a multimedia presentation which might have cost more to produce anyway.
We need more clever regional events, like for instance Coriole Vineyards. Always booked out, they are well priced arts focus theatre and music. Galaxy Guides recommends about 2% of country/regional South Australian restaurants. Regional restaurants are grim in South fabulous and Australia and in the majority offer nothing that would attract a ’culinary tourist’. Most of them fail to attract column centimetres in the Adelaide city press, let alone national and global food and wine press, so necessary to bring food focused tourists to their region.
At the moment with very few exceptions it is the wine and the personality that brings ’gastro tourists’ to a region in South Australia. Whilst we should always welcome the international experience that might well be appropriately applied to our own experience there are some excellent South Australian examples of successful promotion of small regions. Maggie Beer, the brand and the TV chef is an example of a formula that works. We can lament that her current eating establishment is a long way from its former self, but the truth is she is such an internationally well known South Australian/Barossan brand that every tourist with an interest in food wants to go there. What we need to do is invest some money in advertising a new generation. Take the McLaren Vale region as an example and let’s think about turning chefs like Fino’s David Swaine and The Kitchen Door’s Ben Somariva into national and international stars. Add their farmers market, the quirky Russell’s Pizza, the cellar door D’Arry’s Verandah restaurant. Pristine beaches close at hand and you have an experience that is starting to shape into a real gastro tourism experience. The region has some quality accommodation like for instance Chapel Hill Retreat.
It is high time we older chefs and food people of the 80s stood to one side and let a new generation have their day. If we are ever to attract cashed up young people we have to appear contemporary. Bocuse may be in his 80s, still working, and he remains highly regarded by chefs, but how often have you read about him or his restaurant in the past 10 years???
Angela Heuzenroeder’s brilliant book Barossan Food could have been the bible for the progress of Barossan food but 10 years after it was first published it remains a book only known by serious South Australian foodies and a very few internationals who seek out the history of the Barossan food. Some restaurants of the Barossa Valley might have taken this history of food and made it their own, but finding a traditional Barossan meal in the Barossa remains elusive.
Jo Sinfield’s experience is really worthwhile looking at closely. Thirty six restaurants, in Franschhoek eight in the top 25 in South Africa is remarkable and small wonder culinary tourists flock there. You need more than one decent restaurant to bring the ’culinary tourist’ to a region for more than a day or two, but what Sinfield honestly pointed out was their regions proximity to Europe. Just 10–12 hours and about $1560 AUD return against about $2600 AUD and a minimum of 20 hours from Heathrow to Adelaide. The difference is of course obvious. Two overnight flights against what is a minimum of two days travelling loaded with a big dose of debilitating jet lag. It is not just the money, which is in many ways irrelevant to these travelers who are frequently cashed up but time poor. They most likely travel business class and can step of the plane in Cape Town and be in the lap of luxury at Le Quartier Francais in Franschhoek 45 minutes later having their first glass of Krug. A point worth noting about a recent Adelaide Airport near death experience it took 30 minutes from arriving at the airport to actually getting into the terminal. These 30 minutes included a 10–minute walk on a hot day from the staff car park. Come to Adelaide 24 hours later you are in Adelaide and another two hours later you may have reached one of the nearer regions and three days of your week off have vanished. The tyranny of distance is obvious. finish the essay and visit the Franschhoek region with links provided by Jo Sinfield

 

NEXT MONTH
We are taking a look at Australia᾿s most successful food and wine event, The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. There is a lot to be learned from its very small start to where it is today and its ability to attract the world’s most important food and wine people. There is plenty to be learned about content, excellence and price and that is before you start thinking about the side benefits of tourism accommodation, restaurant reservations and shopping.

We’ve been playing with the hottest new piece of kitchen equipment — the Thermomix. Putting it though it’s paces we are still temper chocolate but have to say, so far it is pretty amazing and mixing in alginates for molecular gastronomy quite fabulous. By the time we send out our next newsletter we will know much, much more!

 

January 2009 will see the start of archived food and recipes. There has been a lot of pressure for food and recipes and we have heaps of new material, like Raspberries and cream — sorbet mandarin pictured right. If you would like to take a look at food on www.annoliver.com please click here

Cooks Club events have had to be postponed until 2009 and will start in January with ice creams and sorbets new recipes and techniques and the 09 program will be available in November. If you are not familiar with our classes
click here