Restaurant & Catering National Awards 2009

Melbourne's Vue de monde has won the award by its industry peers as Australia's restaurant of the year. The Savour Australia National Awards for Excellence were presented by Restaurant & Catering Australia at a dinner in Canberra in October.
The winners were:
RESTAURANTS

Restaurant of the Year: Vue de monde, Melbourne, Victoria

Fine Dining Restaurant: Vue de monde, Melbourne, Victoria

Cafe Restaurant: Two Buoys, Dromana, Victoria

European Restaurant: the brasserie by Philippe Mouchel, Southbank, Victoria – Tied with Becasse, Sydney, NSW

Modern Australian Restaurant: Eleonore's Restaurant at Chateau Yering, Yarra Valley, Victoria

New Restaurant: Embrasse Restaurant, Carlton, Victoria

Specialty Cuisine Restaurant: Maha Bar & Grill, Melbourne, Victoria

Steak Restaurant: The new Spanish Bar & Grill, Mildura, Victoria

Winery Restaurant: Pettavel Winery & Restaurant, Waurn Ponds, Victoria

Asian Restaurant: China Doll, Woolloomooloo, NSW

Breakfast Restaurant: Fresh Espresso and Food Bar, Katoomba, NSW

Family Establishment: Blue Water Bar & Restaurant, Port Macquarie, NSW

Informal Dining: Shakey Tables, North Rothbury, NSW

Pizza Restaurant: Hugo’s Bar Pizza, Kings Cross, NSW

Seafood Restaurant: Boathouse on Black Bottle Bay, The, Glebe, NSW

BYO Restaurant: Mons Ban Sabai Thai Garden Restaurant, Camp Hill, Qld

Coffee Shop / Tea Room: High Societea, Clayfield, Qld

Chinese Restaurant: Aquarium Seafood Chinese Restaurant, Ascot, WA

Entertainment Restaurant: Friends Restaurant, East Perth, WA

Thai Restaurant: Nahm Thai, Perth, WA

Themed Restaurant: Casellas Wine Tapas Grill, Bunbury, WA

Tourism Restaurant: Matilda Bay Restaurant, Crawley, WA

Indian Restaurant: The Spice Kitchen, Leabrook, SA

Italian Restaurant: Auge Ristorante, Adelaide, SA

HOTELS

Pub/Club/Tavern Restaurant: The Grand Hotel, Richmond, Victoria

Hotel/Motel Restaurant: Bannisters Restaurant, Bannisters Point Lodge, Mollymook, NSW

CATERING

Caterer of the Year: The Atlantic Group [V], Docklands, Victoria

Function Centre Caterer: Crown Events, South Bank, Victoria

Venue Caterer: Delaware North - Melbourne and Olympic Parks, North Melbourne, Victoria

Wedding Caterer: The Atlantic Group [V], Docklands, Victoria

Industrial/Institutional Caterer: QR Catering Unit, Brisbane, Qld

Site Caterer: Alliance Catering - Pfizer Australia, Gladesville, NSW

Event Caterer: Rosehill Gardens Event Centre, Rosehill

Corporate Caterer: Icon Event Catering, Narrabeen, NSW

Excellence in Environmental Sustainability: Compass Group, Rose Bay, NSW

George Mure Memorial Award for Excellence in Professional Development: Hilton Adelaide, Adelaide, SA

First write the review then taste the wine

Perhaps it's really no more than  a storm in a wine glass but prominent wine book publisher Mitchell Beazley is getting some off flavours in reviews of the latest edition of "The Juice 2010" written by Matt Skinner, an influential wine writer who oversees wine operations for Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant group around the world. The cause of the criticism is the admission that Mr Skinner has put in tasting notes for wines he had not tasted, because they were not even bottled, when he finished writing. Apparently the publisher put the author under bit of pressure to take this unusual course because, as Hilary Lumsden, Mitchell Beazley commissioning editor, told Decanter.com: "For our first edition, in 2006, the feedback we got was that by the time people went out and bought the book, the wines were already off the shelves, so the book was effectively out of date."
And as for Mr Skinner, in a statement to London's Daily Telegraph, he defended not tasting some of the vintages, arguing that he had tasted previous vintages of the same wine. "It is imperative that I taste all the wines that I recommend," he said. "However there are some releases that are consistent from year to year, and as popular, good value and accessible wines I want to include them because I know that my readers will appreciate them. "In order to do so I include non-specific tasting notes based on the current and previous year's vintage, focusing more on basic flavours and compatibility with food."
The Telegraph gave an example of one of these "non-specific tasting notes" - that for the Vasse Felix Sémillon Sauvignon Blanc from Margaret River, priced at £11.99. It reads: "The palate is fresh as a daisy and punctuated by the kind of lip-smacking acidity that makes this wine almost impossible to put down." Not a bad wrap for an untasted wine.

British praise for the Royal Mail

The Observer newspaper in London has joined those heaping praise on dining at the Royal Mail Hotel in Victoria's Grampians. "Winner of a fistful of foodie awards, this hotel is home to quite simply one of Australia's best restaurants," said a review on Sunday. "It's headed by Dan Hunter (former head chef at two-Michelin-starred Mugaritz in San Sebastian), and fuses fresh, local and seasonal ingredients with essence-enhancing technology to create tummy-tickling flavours: this is molecular gastronomy with an Australian accent. Make sure you don't settle for anything except the aptly named Mountain View rooms, where full-width, floor-to-ceiling glass sliding doors frame postcard-perfect aspects of Mount Sturgeon and the Southern Grampian Ranges."
Cape Lodge at Margaret River, Western Australia is another to receive high praise. "Come to Cape Lodge to celebrate all that's wonderful about Western Australia's famed Margaret River wine region – especially at the lakeside restaurant. Under chef Tony Howell it has become a world-class dining destination. And did we mention the 14,000 bottles in the wine cellar?"

The grand father of restaurant critics

Tony Perrottet goes wandering around Paris for the New York Times armed with the Almanachs des Gourmands written by Alexandre-Balthazar-Laurent Grimod de la Reynière in the early 1800s.

The article headed Liberty, Equality, Gastronomy: Paris via a 19th-Century Guide provides some delightful insights into French cuisine ancient and modern.

Ten out of 100 for Australia

Dinner at the Great Hall

Nothing too exotic when President Barack Obama sat down for dinner in Beijing's Great Hall with President Hu Jintao.

The power of gold

You only have to glance along the shelves at your local wine merchant to see the importance of wine show medals for the wine company marketing people. Those little gold, silver and bronze circles festoon all kinds of labels announcing performance at all kind of shows from the capital city agricultural society main events to little regional efforts. Goodness knows how much the industry invests in entering these competitions but must run into the millions when the entry fees, effort and energy are taken into account. As such wine shows are major part of wine's promotional budget.

But, alas, I have to report yet another piece of evidence to suggest that for consumers the medals are nothing more than a misleading nonsense. Robert T.Hodgson, professor emeritus, Department of Oceanography, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California and now proprietor of the Fieldbrook Winery has sat down and analysed the results of over 4000 wines entered in 13 U.S. wine competitions. In a paper published by The Journal of Wine Economics Prof Hodgson's analysis shows little concordance among the venues in awarding Gold medals. Of the 2,440 wines entered in more than three competitions, 47 percent received Gold medals, but 84 percent of these same wines also received no award in another competition. 

It is clear that many wines that are viewed as extraordinarily good at some competitions are viewed as below average at others. An analysis of the number of Gold medals received in multiple competitions indicates that the probability of winning a Gold medal at one competition is stochastically independent of the probability of receiving a Gold at another competition, indicating that winning a Gold medal is greatly influenced by chance alone.

When he takes off his professorial hat and becomes wine maker Bob, the attitude to gold, silver and bronze takes on the marketing man's viewpoint. As he says on his website, Fieldbrook "enters some of the most competitive wine tastings in the state. Because of the relatively small size of the winery, we feel this is our best opportunity to promote the quality of our wines."