editor’s note

Where did July and August go? Possibly we lost quite a bit of it happily working our butts off for Wynns at Penola in the Coonawarra! Cabernet Sauvignon country. With the brief to only use local and two trips prior to the job we unearthed some fabulous regional producers and their stories, found fantastic suppliers and met dozens of terrific locals with a passion for the Coonawarra region and surrounds. Wynns have a stunning new cellar door that is as educational as it is beautiful. One of the things that impressed me most about the Coonawarra (apart from the great wines) was the genuine welcome that our Shanghainese estage, Rose Lu from T8 Shanghai received. Two free days and no one with time enough to drive her around, on our reassurance that it was completely safe, Rose hitched up and down the Riddoch highway to be greeted with genuine friendliness even to the point of Penley Estate driving her back to the Penola Memorial Hall kitchen at the close of day Saturday (possibly, we teased Rose to get her out of their cellar door). A bunch of great local gals worked with our small team and proved they know how to do the hard yards! The Coonawarra is surprising in so many ways to read more CLICK HERE

A passion for Champagne is just is just one of the many reasons for signing on to chef and match the Champagnes to food for the Australian Champagne Bureau’s annual Champagne dinner in South Australia. As a restaurant reviewer who has been highly critical of Champagne dinners in South Australia I am mindful of the element of risk if I cannot get it right. Working at Windy Point with owner manager Justin Miles, who incidentally did his chef apprenticeship at Mistress Augustine’s and our own Galaxy Guides front of house supervisor Viveka Dayal responsible for ensuring the Champagnes are sound and orchestrating the wine service we are both excited and scared. With the help of Champagne experts Kaaren Palmer and James Smith the wine matches are getting closer. As any educated diner would understand a Champagne dinner for just $190 pp food and Champagne it is necessary to drive some hard bargains to deliver stunning wines. As a restaurant reviewer, I am always mindful that I am still a practicing chef and given that in my old age I mainly work for the wine industry the challenges are obvious.
Basically it seems if one is going to criticise other people’s food and dining offering from time to time one should prove that I have earned the right to offer knowledgeable synopsis of an establishment. Most importantly my argument about having a guest chef is that the kitchen with which they participate actually benefits and learns from the experience rather than what happens in most instances where the chef hands over their recipes and turns up on the night, mid afternoon if you are lucky! Basically is it take the money and run and i t is small wonder that these dinners are unfavourably compared with dining in the guest chef’s actual restaurant.
The menu has been written using premium South Australian seasonal ingredients and careful pairing with some iconic Champagne houses and some less well know brilliant houses is an on going process. Incredible value for money at just $190 AUD Champagne and food reservations can be made by calling +61 8 8278 8255 or emailing Windy Point Restaurant by CLICKING HERE

This dinner has barely been publicised and is already 25% booked numbers are genuinely limited and reservations can only be held by payment in full. Exceptional value, the dinners are sponsored nationally by VOGUE LIVING and WATERFORD CRYSTAL to see details for dinners in other states please scroll down to bottom right.

In the spirit of Mistress Augustine's dinners there will be special art menus and the original will be a spot prize on the night.

Sunday October 16, 2011 a second biodynamic and organic lunch at Paxton Vineyards with participating biodynamic producer the recently accredited Gemtree Vineyards CLICK HERE to read more

Celebrate Matthew Evan’s and mates new series of Gourmet Farmer! Yes we know it is a TV show and we are smart enough to know that a lot of it is carefully staged, but Jesus wept at least it is about real food with people who care. Makes Tassie look so idyllic for a few seconds I was almost tempted to up stumps and move there! To watch episodes CLICK HERE

We are delighted to announce that 12 Chairs the venue for sauchin 2011 has just won best fine dining in Shanghai David Laris must certainly have best restaurant in China in his sights and after pioneering fine dining in Shanghai and twice been best restaurant in China, we are certain that there are plans for a new Laris in the pipe line.

Ann Oliver
food editor and publisher, Galaxy Guides

September what’s hot! a pile of new Australian reviews, lots of great content from
Paris from Kaaren Palmer and whatever else comes along!

You can help by sending this to like minded friends and asking them to subscribe. The more traffic we have the better it looks for the future of Galaxy Guides.

what’s hot, who’s hot……Vue de Monde

a new Vue a new venue, fab new graphics a complete reinvention for Shannon Bennett’s first love Melbourne’s Vue de Monde…so very exciting can’t wait to eat there! and…if you’re up for a little extravagant decadence the Vue’s annual Domaine de la Romané–Conti dinner might be just the thing CLICK HERE to go to the details. “In June 2011 Shannon Bennett’s Vue de Monde relocated to the 55th floor of Melbourne’s iconic Rialto tower. Designed in conjunction with architects Elenberg Fraser and comprising over 1000 square metres the space has been laid out to maximise the sectacular 360 degree views over Melbourne. The Vue de monde dining room faces West. A striking neon art piece by seminal conceptual artist Joseph Kosuth: ’An Interpretation of This Title’, Nietzsche, Darwin and the Paradox of Content explores the contrast in positions of Charles Darwin and Frederich Neitsche. Kosuth is the progenitor of Conceptual art and the great exponent of art as idea. His work is in many of the world’s great museum collections. This forms the back drop for the dining room together with clusters of ’fire fly’ lights by local artist Emma Lashmar. Large tables clad in kangaroo leather sit on dark Herringbone parquetry floor and are dressed simply with miniature landscapes of Tom Samek’s hand carved rocks and blackened Grange vines all of which come in to play as the dining experience unfolds. The addition of The Lui Bar and Vue de monde Events at Rialto complete the Vue de monde experience in a way not possible in previous locations. Named for Luigi Grollo (who started building owners the Grollo family in construction), The Lui Bar is a separate yet complementary experience to Vue de monde. Facing south, the view focuses on the bay stretching out to the horizon with intimate clusters of furniture catering to both restaurant guests and discerning drinkers stopping by for a martini and elegant snacks. Suspended over the central bluestone bar Mikala Dwyer’s ’chandelier’ of transparent clouds is a special commission from her series ’Empty Sculptures’. Fabricated from industrial residual plastic, these forms play with the definition of sculpture. Cocktails are divided into ’yesterday’ and ’today’ charting the evolution of Melbourne’s drinking culture.” Text published with kind permission Vue de Monde — copyright text © Vue de Monde 2011 …Stunning Vue images copyright © Dianna Snape 2011

you are invited to attend the second McLaren Vale certified biodynamic producers lunch at Paxton Vineyards Cellar Door participating producers Gemtree Vineyards and Paxton Wines Chef Ann Oliver Sunday October 16, 2011 12.30 pm at the Paxton Cellar Door $90 AUD per person food and wine please…CLICK HERE to go to full event details including booking form and menu It’s all in the soil and the harmonious balance between nature and the environment…top Gemtree Vineyards’s Mike Brown shows the perfect condition of the soils in their vineyards and below…the Paxton Vineyards and their resident kangaroos who seem to thoroughly approve!

Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers Market Zannie Flanagan who has recently resigned as CEO of the Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers Market has left a magical legacy for a new generation to carry on. She didn’t just develop this amazingly successful market but she also started the equally successful Willunga Farmers’ Market. The success of farmers’ markets worldwide is an indication of a sector of the market who are keen to buy seasonal local produce and prefer not to shop at supermarkets. A point clearly noted by the marketing departments of Australia’s major supermarket chains who are attempting to convince the general public with their advertising campaigns that they deliver the same experience…not! At the Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers Market it is cause for hope to see so many young people shopping and working in their own stands. Special favourites Eddy Peoples and Johnny Pisanelli, From Scratch Patisserie who sell all manner of delicious treats but their sfogliatelle has been honed to perfection. Paul Polacco, Polacco Enterprises who sustainably fishes scallops and sea urchins on Kangaroo Island, brings them to market and even shows the live scallop and sea urchin virgin how to clean and cook them. There are flowers and fruit and vegetables in abundance, meat fish and poultry, in fact one could easily do one’s entire shopping. CLICK HERE to see what’s happening at the Adelaide Showgrounds market!

Chef Sarah Turner has over the years received as much praise as she has criticism for her food but she is one of those rare individuals who can stand a bollicking and come back fighting and we have surely missed her wonderful cooking in the last 18 months. Back in the stunning location of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens Restaurant for a very short while she is delivering to goods. To read a brand new review for the Botanic Gardens Restaurant please CLICK HERE from the left… at the Botanic Gardens Restaurant Eden Valley beef eye fillet with buttered corn bread crouton, turnip puree and roasted garlic butter and Italian meringue and lemon curd short bread biscuit, sugar blueberries and raspberry sauce Paris…heavenly Paris! letter from Paris from Champagne editor Kaaren Palmer Have just sorted my email dramas with the kind help of a gallant French Apple techie. And yes, we are having fun! Even our little Hotel de Charme, the St. Jacques near the Sorbonne, has champagne by the half bottle in the bar. The restaurant next door has Bolly (10 euro) or Duval Leroy rosé (6 euro). The food, of course, is on average just very good, but yesterday lunch, we met a friend at Café Constant, which is where the amazing veal offal came from, tongue, sweetbreads and brains with waxy, buttery little potatoes, a sauce gribiche (just perfect) and a salad lovingly dressed with a hazelnut oil vinaigrette. They don't take reservations, you just queue up, and it's worth it. The lobster jelly entrée was divine, too. My girlfriend had pike quenelles which were also utterly divine! K&K below left…at Café Constant Veal offal, tongue, sweetbreads and brains with waxy, buttery little potatoes, sauce gribiche, salad dressed with a hazelnut oil vinaigrette… right Oeuf mollet with ratatouille and pancetta images copyright © Kaaren Palmer 2011 PRESS joins a greatly reinvigorated Waymouth Street dining strip Too soon for a review but we think it is stroke of genius for Simon Kardachi to team up with chef Andrew Davies as part of the partnership. The opening was pumping and what a bitch those steep stairs are for the service staff. A bit hard to tell what the decor really is just too many people jammed in the space. We love Andrew’s cooking and will be in shortly to give this new location a go!!! below…left looking towards the back and open kitchen…and right the packed opening!

Rockford Stonewall Table
When your favourite chefs and gardeners suddenly up stumps and move to New Zealand it is something of a traumatic experience and although I cooked the lunches until chefs Loren Remkes and Sandor Palmai took over the kitchen, it took me some time to return to the Stonewall Table as a diner. Knowing that it could never be quite the same again as no one in my acquaintance has the same depth and breadth of knowledge as Ali Cribb and Michael Voumard the first visit was tinged with a mixture of sadness and excitement. Sadness for the loss of Cribb and Voumard’s outstanding cooking, but excitement to see what the new team could do.
It has to be added that shortly after they took over, the new gardeners experienced some of the worst weather we have had in years. My rush to see the garden before lunch was also filled with some trepidation but the garden is flourishing against all the trauma nature has thrown at it. Of course everyone who works there still has Voumard mysteriously whispering in their ears “Don’t do it like that!” and must be wondering if they will ever really be in charge of the garden. The truth is anyone lucky enough to have worked with Voumard will always hear those words it was just one of the reasons we loved those two they always had a better way, more knowledge and never held back from sharing it.

Champagne editor Kaaren Palmer and I both attended lunch in July and, well, the verdict is yes, it’s different but the food still has incredible flavours, the menu remains defined by the garden and the season and our only complaint…too much food! And…if that’s all we could find to whinge about anything else would be pure nit picking. AO
A new review from the front of Galaxy Guides next week…below the Rockford Krondorf Garden!

a……is for asparagus and yes, it is really the South Australian asparagus season! CLICK HERE	c…is for cavalo nero otherwise known as black cabbage a delicious and versatile vegetable is has been more commonly found this season for tips and recipes…CLICK HERE

the Coonawarra
Great produce, friendly people committed to their region and their wines and so many great stories. Like for instance Kate Spencer, herself a most accomplished cook who now, in her retirement spends joyous days working in the Penola National Trust community garden…CLICK HERE to go to the revamped Coonawarra content and please note we have split off the Limestone Coast, Robe and Kingston into a separate section CLICK HERE

…just to tease you some images below which as you will guess show surprise after surprise in this wonderful region!

	top to bottom, left to right…Portuguese tarts at Divine main street Penola, community dinner last Friday of the month Penola Memorial Community Hall, Jill’s Vintage Penola an absolute treasure trove, Kate Spencer at the Penola National Trust community garden, Stella the cat beautiful but dangerous, the gorgeous Rowena Fennell in the community garden
top to bottom, left to right…happy chickens at Kalangadoo Organic garden, Burmese Organic under the umbrella of Kalangadoo organic and lastly shopping Penola!

to read more up–to–the minute
dining, drinking and cooking news and see forthcoming diary dates come back to Galaxy Guides every week. Content always updated by end of Friday (restaurant end of day) with direct links from the front of the site www.galaxyguides.com to news, new recipes and events or click here

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August 28, 2011
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what’s hot index!

this issue

• Sarah Turner back in the city at the Botanic Gardens Restaurant…READ MORE
• The Coonawarra a South Australian treasure, packed with great wines represented b friendly people, fabulous produce, history and much more… READ MORE
• A fabulous spring lunch with Paxton and Gemtree Vineyards…CLICK HERE
• The Adelaide Showgrounds market goes from strength to strength…READ MORE
• Champagne editor, Kaaren Palmer and her partner Kevin (K&K) are currently travelling in Europe and generously finding the time to share their experience…READ MORE
• Another fab letter from food and wine obsessed friend, a rollicking romp of a review from Thorn Park’s David Hay…It was just “ducky” darlings!…READ MORE
• Full venue and chef details for the 2011 Champagne Bureau Annual Champagne dinners jump to… THE LIST
• Opened last Wednesday in Adelaide, PRESS…READ MORE
• A new vue for Shannon Bennett… READ MORE
• Galaxy Guides food editor Ann Oliver guest chef for the South Australian Champagne Bureau annual dinner…CLICK HERE
• rip off…say no! Is a new what’s hot section and pictures tell a thousand words…CLICK HERE

www.adelaideluxebeachhouse.com.au absolute beach front luxury Boardroom facilities Catering available wireless internet complete privacy in an elegant classy modern environment with stunning beach views Perfect for small private VIP tastings where guests can also be accommodated on site

new recipes

not new…but delicious!
Cavalo nero and pumpkin fritters with caulibroc — fabulously vegetarian and Spaghetti with mussels click on the images to go straight to the recipes!

Ann Oliver’s COOKS’ CLUB July to November program 2011 PLEASE CLICK HERE if you want to learn about food and cooking, have a sense of adventure and don’t mind being challenged, even love taking a look at food in history! CLICK HERE to see the full class details and download the booking form.

It was just “ducky” darlings!
Well know South Australian accommodation owner and chef David Hay of Thorn Park shares his lunch at Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck…CLICK HERE to go to this joyous romp of a review!

above…the author David Hay — www.thornpark.com.au

food editor and publisher
Ann Oliver — email

Champagne editor
Kaaren Palmer — email
Kaaren also does international restaurant reviewing

wine contributors
Dr Alexandra Burridge
Duane Coates

regular contributors
Marian Clarkin — melbourne, victoria

restaurant review policy

privacy

unless otherwise stated
copyright © text, recipes and images Ann Oliver 2010

what’s hot!! next time round…exclusively Sydney and Shanghai!
New reviews for Joshi, Spice Temple, Tetsuya and Marque

And …we’ll be making significant updates to our Shanghai guide…the cool, the funky and the downright naughty. We are delighted that our friends continue to stand out from the crowd and deliver some of Shanghai’s best dining experiences!

and yes…I know it’s been promised for a while but September we promise! AO

Champagne Bureau Annual Australian Champagne Dinners unless otherwise stated all dinners are $190 AUD food and Champagne New South Wales 7pm, Monday 26th September, 2011 Quarter Twenty One Supported by De Costi Seafood Level 5, Westfield Sydney, Cnr Pitt Street, Mall and Market St, Sydney t +61 2 8064 7900 www.quartertwentyone.com.au New South Wales — REGIONAL 7pm, Friday 23rd September Byron at Byron Guest Chef Warren Turnbull Supported by De Costi Seafood 77–97 Broken Head Road, Suffolk Park via Byron Bay t +61 2 6639 2000 www.thebyronatbyron.com.au for weekend packages Victoria – REGIONAL 7pm, Saturday 29th October 2011 Ten Minutes by Tractor Supported by De Costi Seafood 1333 Mornington Flinders Road, Main Ridge, Mornington Peninsula t +61 3 5989 6080 www.tenminutesbytractor.com.au/The-Restaurant Queensland 7pm, Thursday 13th October 2011 Urbane 181 Mary Street, Brisbane t +61 7 3229 2271 www.urbanerestaurant.com Western Australia 7pm, Wednesday 12th October 2011 Restaurant Amusé 64 Bronte Street, East Perth t +61 8 9325 4900 www.urbanerestaurant.com South Australia 7pm, Thursday 6th October 2011 Windy Point Restaurant Guest Chef Ann Oliver Windy Point Lookout, Belair Road, Belair t +61 8 8278 8255 www.windypoint.com.au Tasmania Friday 21 October — Saturday 22 October, 2011 Saffire Freycinet Coles Bay Road, Freycinet Peninsula t free call Australia 1800 723 347 The Champagne weekend experience includes two nights accommodation, chauffeur driven airport transfers, a Champagne cruise, oyster farm visit, cooking class and dinner. $1750 per person package saffire-freycinet.com.au