Brooks of Melbourne

Ignoring the increasingly casual dining scene in Melbourne and the city's penchant for no bookings Nicholas Poelaert has opened a proper, old school restaurant complete with white linen tablecloths.  Brooks is located in the heart of the city in the glamorous basement restaurant which once housed Greg Malouf's MoMo and Jamie Oliver's Fifteen.  

Chicken parfait at Brooks

Ladro

Most Thursday nights I spend collapsed on the couch with a glass of wine watching reruns of Modern Family.  But last night I had a very active Thursday and spent my evening at Ladro checking out their new menu by new chef Niko Pizzimenti before heading off to see Mumford and Sons' Melbourne gig.

The entrance to Ladro in Greville Street

Best brunches in Albert Park

I spend most of my Saturdays driving around Melbourne looking at houses at the moment as we want to buy a place.  Any novelty in house hunting wore off after the first month and MTV and I both regard it as a torturous activity now.  I told MTV that I couldn't wait to finally get a place so we could spend our Saturday mornings at the local farmers market instead.  He snorted and mumbled something about spending the morning at home with the sports section of the paper.

Corn fritters at Mart

Arts Centre Melbourne

The thing about art centres in general, including Arts Centre Melbourne, is that food and drink is not their main thing.  So the best you really hope for  is something not ridiculously expensive that might take the form of a box of Maltesers or an ice-cream.

Pressed watermelon and duck prosciutto at Arts Centre Melbourne

Summer in Sydney

Admittedly we haven't actually hit Summer yet but I was up in Sydney for work last week and it was feeling pretty Summery.  I got to pull out my Summer clothes and even when it rained one day it was that warm tropical rain which makes it very clear you are in Sydney not Melbourne.  It was a bit of a flying visit but while there I managed to eat at one of Sydney's latest openings not once but twice and also to check out the noodle markets which are currently running in Sydney as part of the Crave Food Festival.

Night Noodle markets at Crave Food Festival

Eat Your Books - Gourmet Giveaway

Have you heard of Eat Your Books?  If you are like me and slightly (!) addicted to buying cook books then it is one of the best websites out there.  The people behind Eat Your Books have indexed hundreds and thousands of cook books, magazines and blogs including the majority of the ones I own from my back issues of Gourmet Traveller to my dog eared copy of Stephanie Alexander's Cooks Companion.  Joining Eat My Books means an end to dilemmas like "I bought a heap of broccoli but what can I cook" or "I'm sure there was a recipe for chocolate cake made with olive oil in one of my cook books but I can't remember which one".  You just type broccoli or chocolate and olive oil into Eat Your Books and it will give you recipe suggestions along with identifying the cook book in your collection you are looking for.

The Eat Your Books homepage featuring Gourmet Chick and the other new blogs added

Seoul Soul

I was pretty excited when Seoul Soul opened its doors on Victoria street.  What could be better than a decent Korean barbecue restaurant in Melbourne? Bring on the kimchi and bibimbap.  My first impressions were also good with the slick interior design immediately setting Seoul Soul apart from its neighbours. Architect turned owner Insu Kim has given the tiny restaurant an industrial feel, with white tiled walls, raw concrete floors, wire light fittings and table top grills dominating the restaurant.  

Kimchi at Seoul Soul

Hong Kong Street Food: Gourmet Chick in Hong Kong

Sadly Hong Kong's street food is an endangered species.  One of my favourite things when I visited the city was exploring the tiny street side food stores known as dai pai dongs with local food writer and blogger Janice.  Dai pai dongs first appeared in Hong Kong at the end of World War II and used to be plentiful but only 28 remain today.  The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department in Hong Kong does not issue new dai pai dong licenses anymore and so with every dai pai dong licence holder who decides to shut up shop another dai pai dong is lost (the only exception is that dai pai dong licence holders can pass the licence on to their children).  It will be a real shame for Hong Kong for these little stores to disappear as they add a bit of grittiness and colour to what is an increasingly homogenous city.  Plus they're a great place to get a cheap eat.

Locals eating at a dai pai dong in Hong Kong

Horn Please

The chaotic roads in India are strictly organised according to a hierarchy of size (cyclo, tuk tuk, car, bus, truck then cow) and of horn.  A reminder of the hierarchy is painted on the back of every truck and bus - a cheery "Horn Please!" - which makes it the perfect name for an Indian restaurant.

It's a fun fit out at Horn Please

How to make chicken and cranberry parfait

In the latest batch of new cook books to hit the shops there's one in particular that caught my eye.  Billy Law's first cookbook Have You Eaten? would probably have interested me anyway because I'm a big fan of Billy's blog A Table For Two.  What's more the book certainly looks great with interesting recipes like black pudding scotch quail egg sliders and vegemite cheesecake, great photos and typography.  But I was particularly interested to check it out because I helped with some recipe testing for the book.  After all the most important thing about a cook book is that the recipes work and I know from the small role I played that Billy was meticulous in making sure each recipe in the book is easy to understand and to follow while producing perfect results.

My version of the Have You Eaten? chicken and cranberry parfait for testing

Virginia Plain

It's funny how your experience paying the bill can make such a difference at a restaurant. I've been to Virginia Plains, the latest restaurant to open in Melbourne's Flinders Lane dining hot spot, twice now.  I came away with a bit of a different take on the place both times mainly because on my first visit to celebrate the launch of the new website and TV show Love To Share, the kind people at Love To Share shouted the bill (check out the show on Saturdays if you haven't already), while on my second visit with a group of my girlfriends I paid for myself.

Scallops and black pudding at Virginia Plain