Restaurant list for Qld

All Time Coffee Co, Mermaid Beach
Anise, New Farm
Anouk, Paddington
Artichoke Restaurant and Bar, Paradise Point
Artie and Mai, Albion
Asana by Pete Evans, Brisbane
Bam Bam Bakehouse, Mermaid Beach
Billy Kart Kitchen, Annerley
Bin 72 Bar and Dining, Coolangatta
Blendlove, Southport
Bounty, Rosalia
Bourbon Street, South Bank
Butter Rhythm, Biggera Waters
Campos Coffee, Fortitude Valley
Cicchetti, Isle of Capri
Cliffords Grill and Lounge - Surfers Pareadise
Cocotte Dining, Robina
Corbett and Claude, Indooroopilly
Corner Store Cafe, Toowong
Cucina Vivo, Broadbeach
De Vito Waterfront, Southport
Delfina's, Fortitude Valley
E'cco, Brisbane CBD
Easy Street Diner, Mermaid Beach
Esquire, Brisbane
Etsu Izakaya, Mermaid Beach
Farrier Bar & Supper Club, New Farm
Gaslight Bistro, New Farm
Gauge, South Brisbane
Gerard's Bistro, Fortitude Valley
Glass Dining and Lounge Bar, Main Beach
Goodness Gracias, Palm Beach
Hawkes and Crosby, Anstead
Hidden, Tugun
Hop and Pickle, South Brisbane
Jamie's Italian, Brisbane
JaMm, Broadbeach
Jimmy's on the Mall, Brisbane CBD
Kiyomi, Broadbeach
Lake Front Bistro, Carrara
Lambert's Restaurant, Kangaroo Point
Le Vintage Boutique Cafe, Worongary
Lennons Brisbane
Les Bubbles, Fortitude Valley
Lester & Earl, Palm Beach
Live Fire Steak Bar, South Bank
London Fields, West End
Longtime, Fortitude Valley
Madame Hedges, Fortitude Valley
Mamasan Kitchen and Bar, Broadbeach
Melbourne St Wine and Tapas Bar, South Brisbane
Mondo Organics, West End
Moo Moo The Restaurant + Grill, Brisbane
Moo Moo The Restaurant + Grill, Broadbeach
Lutece Bistro and Wine Bar, Bardon
Merriweather, South Brisbane
Montrachet, Paddington
New Farmer's Kitchen and Watt Bar, New Farm
NOLA Portside, Hamilton
Nu Nu, Palm Cove
Pablo, New Farm
Pawpaw Cafe, Woolloongabba
Pearl, Wooloongabba
Pigs and Pints, Surfers Paradise
Plenty, West End
Rambutan, Townsville
Ribs and Rumps, Main Beach
Rick Shores, Burleigh Heads
Ristorante Tartufo, Fortitude Valley
Saucy Buns, Varsity Lakes
Seaduction, Surfers Paradise
Shouk, Paddington
Sin Vida, Fortitude Valley
Smoked Paprika, Bardon
Sol Natural Foods Fortitude Valley
Songbirds, North Tamborine
Sourced Grocer, Teneriffde
Sparrow Eating House, Nobby Beach
Spirit House, Yandina
Stokehouse Q, South Bank
The Apo, Fortitude Valley
The Balfour Kitchen, New Farm
The Cardamom Pot, Broadbeach
The Defiant Duck, Newstead
The Flying Cock, Fortitude Valley
The Glenelg Public House, Mermaid Beach
The Gunshop Cafe, West End
The Institution, Gold Coast
The Jam Factory, Greenslopes
The Outcider, Kirra
The Palms Mediterranean Bar & Grill, Mount Gravatt
The Spaghetti House Trattoria, South Brisbane
The Stables Craft Bar & Kitchen, Ascot
The Wine Barrel, Mudgeeraba
The Yard Cafe, Nobby Beach
Tribeca NYC. Chevron Island
Urbane, Brisbane
Via Italia, Mooloolaba
Wasabi, Noosa

The Art Of Food: Museum Celebrates Iconic Catalan Chef's Cuisine : The Salt : NPR

The Art Of Food: Museum Celebrates Iconic Catalan Chef's Cuisine : The Salt : NPR:



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The rise and rise of McDonalds and friends in France

Mon Dieu! Fast Food Now Rules In France : The Salt : NPR:
"When it comes to culinary matters, France, in many minds, is synonymous with fine dining. So it might surprise you that, for the first time, sales at fast food chains have overtaken those at traditional restaurants in the country that gave us the word gastronomie.

That's according to an annual survey of consumer spending, traffic and other restaurant data conducted by Gira Conseil, a food consultancy firm. The latest survey, to be released in May, found that fast food chains now account for 54 percent of all restaurant sales in France."

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Melbourne restaurant Attica makes impressive debut on world's best restaurant list

Melbourne restaurant Attica is described as the best in Australasia and number 21 in the world by the World’s Best Restaurants Awards, sponsored by S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna. Along with the award for Australasia's best, Attica was rewarded as the best new entry in the elite list of restaurants around the world.
Describing it as chef "Ben Shewry’s innovative but nature-led Melbourne masterpiece" the judges commented:

There are dedicated chefs, and then there’s Ben Shewry. The New Zealand-born 35-year-old often rises before dawn to forage on the shore near his family home in Victoria, before starting the long commute into Melbourne. He’ll stop by local parks and even alleyways, as well as Attica’s own gardens, to pick up more raw materials to prepare meticulously for the restaurant that day. His commitment pays off: the cuisine is both uniquely imaginative and outstandingly good.

The style of food is called "Natural Antipodean" with the standout dish being "Potato, cooked in the earth in which it was grown."

• 74 Glen Eira Road
  Ripponlea, Victoria 3185
  +61 3 9530 0111
• attica.com.au

An instant noodle meal a month for every person on Earth

Instant noodle sales top 100 billion a year - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):

Five decades after the easy-to-cook food's launch, sales climbed again last year with China, Indonesia and Japan rounding out the world's top three consumers, according to the Japan-based World Instant Noodles Association.

"The results show that instant noodles have become a global standard dish," said Norio Sakurai, an official with the Osaka-based association."

Instant success

1	China	44 billion
2	Indonesia	14.1 billion
3	Japan	5.41 billion
4	Vietnam	5.06 billion
5	India	4.36 billion
19	Australia	350 million

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A coffee custom to copy from Naples

EU Embraces 'Suspended Coffee': Pay It Forward With A Cup Of Joe : The Salt : NPR: 


"Tough economic times and growing poverty in much of Europe are reviving a humble tradition that began some one-hundred years ago in the Italian city of Naples. It's called caffè sospeso — "suspended coffee": A customer pays in advance for a person who cannot afford a cup of coffee. ... It's an elegant way to show generosity: an act of charity in which donors and recipients never meet each other, the donor doesn't show off and the recipient doesn't have to show gratitude."




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What those certification stickers on coffee mean

Coffee For A Cause: What Do Those Feel-Good Labels Deliver? : The Salt : NPR:

"What does it take to find guilt-free coffee?

Much of our coffee comes from places where the environment is endangered and workers earn very little — sometimes, just a few dollars for a whole day's work. Coffee farmers have helped cut down tropical forests, and most of them use pesticides.

It doesn't take much effort, though, to find bags of coffee with labels that promise social and environmental improvements. Among the best-known are Fairtrade or Rain Forest Alliance Certified."

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Walking off the calories

BBC News - Walk-to-burn-calorie menu 'diet aid':

"Menus displaying the exercise needed to burn calories in meals can help people consume less, a US study suggests.

Diners given this extra information ordered and ate less calorific food than other customers, a team at Texas Christian University found.

Knowing it takes two hours of brisk walking to burn off a cheeseburger may be more of a warning than being told how many calories it contains, the researchers say.

They now plan larger trials."

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Eating animal heads makes a comeback in China

Eating animal heads is making a comeback in the cuisine of Beijing. The New York Times reports that serving heads, preferably heavily spiced, is the latest repast to enjoy a growth in popularity. 

This isn’t novelty food; rather, it’s much-loved local street food with deep cultural roots, which has spread from the provinces into China’s biggest cities.

Reporting from Beijing, the paper's Craig S. Smith tells how, thanks to China’s decades-long economic boom, the increasingly cosmopolitan, educated and urban-bred young are drifting away from their rustic culinary roots. But that same boom is driving a culinary revival, with chefs rediscovering dishes that hadn’t been seen for decades.

While pig heads, goat heads and even dog heads are eaten in China, the reigning triumvirate is fish, duck and rabbit, each of which has restaurants devoted to its preparation.

Wine prices - Latour quits the merchant sales system

The peculiarly Bordeaux tradition of selling wines en primeur is underway with the normal haggling between producers and negotiants over the prices for the 2012 having one extra ingredient. Chateau Latour is not taking part with the first growth having decided to hold its wine back until it is considered ready to drink.

The risks of auction wine buying

Yet another cautionary tale about the foolishness of buying so-called "old wines" at auction.

NY jury awards damages to billionaire William Koch in wine fraud | Reuters:

" A federal jury in New York on Thursday handed a legal victory to U.S. billionaire William Koch and awarded him damages in his dispute over the alleged misrepresentation of 24 bottles of wine he bought at auction, one of the attorneys said.

Koch, 72, the founder of Oxbow Group energy company, accused tech entrepreneur Eric Greenberg of knowingly selling him counterfeit bottles of wine at a 2005 Zachys auction."

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Chia Seeds - a taste of South America

Five Ways to Cook With Chia Seeds | Food & Think:

"Chia, a flowering plant in the mint family known as Salvia hispanica, is native to central and southern Mexico and Guatemala. Domesticated in 2,600 B.C., the seed is said to have been a staple of the Aztec and Mayan diet. The Tarahumara of Mexico, famous for their incredible endurance running, consume a blend of maize and chia seeds while pounding the desert sand.

At just 65 calories per tablespoon, chia seeds are rich in protein, fiber, antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids. The seeds transform water into a gooey, gelatin-like mixture one can drink (slowly) straight out of the glass. Their unassuming mild, nutty flavor can disappear into countless different dishes, from pancakes and mashed potatoes to barbecue sauce and Jell-O. Here are five ways to cook with chia seeds that go beyond breading and salad garnishes."

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Eating and drinking Japanese style

These read like my kind of place!
Now that sushi is sold in supermarkets and ramen has come to food courts, what next?

At Izakayas, Japanese Food Gets Informal - NYTimes.com: "Easy: izakayas. These informal Japanese restaurants have been opening at a rapid pace around the country, but most Americans haven’t figured them out yet. Where’s the sushi bar? What’s with the tiny portions? Is this Asian fusion tapas or what?

That’s the izakaya: easy to love, but hard to nail down. It’s friendlier than a French bar à vins, has more food choices than a Spanish tapeo, and takes itself less seriously than a British gastro pub.

But it makes the same point: drinking is primary; food is secondary; and if you’re doing it right, there will be hangovers."

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French fight against industrial cooking in restaurants

French chefs launch elite 'quality restaurant' grade - The Local: 

"Worried by the declining standards of France's famed restaurants, top chefs including Alain Ducasse and Joel Robuchon on Monday launched a new label for establishments that prepare their own food and give diners a proper welcome."

The "quality restaurant" label will be granted to eateries in any price range that meet the standards set by the College Culinaire de France, a 15-member industry group founded by the country's leading chefs."Of the 150,000 French restaurants, three quarters of them do only industrial cooking. The others fight to cook using fresh products and those are the ones we are looking to," said Ducasse, who operates restaurants in eight countries, including three-starred eateries at the Plaza Athenee hotel in Paris and the Dorchester in London.Ducasse told AFP the label would be granted to restaurants that provide information on the origins of their products, prepare their own food and offer a warm welcome.

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Real news Chocolate with tiny vodka jellies replacing half the far

BBC News - Chocolate and agar recipe can halve the fat:

"Chemists have determined a new way to halve the fat of chocolate while maintaining its typical "mouthfeel", using any liquid - even alcohol.

Low-fat preparations of chocolate are well known, but their textures tend not to match the real thing.

A report at an American Chemical Society meeting described a method using the popular gelling agent agar to make tiny "sponges" that displace fat.

When used with alcohol, Stefan Bon said they were like "tiny vodka jellies".

But the University of Warwick researcher said that up to half the fat in chocolate can be replaced with fruit juices or even plain water."

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A you kill it you grill it law

Montana legalises cooking and eating roadkill - Telegraph:

"Montana has become the first US state to allow drivers to cook and serve carrion picked up from road accidents under a 'you kill it, you grill it' law."

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Healthy fast food - not yet in Australia perhaps, but coming?

Yes, Healthful Fast Food Is Possible. But Edible? - NYTimes.com:
"Twelve years after the publication of “Fast Food Nation” and nearly as long since Morgan Spurlock almost ate himself to death, our relationship with fast food has changed. We’ve gone from the whistle-blowing stage to the higher-expectations stage, and some of those expectations are being met. Various states have passed measures to limit the confinement of farm animals. In-N-Out Burger has demonstrated that you don’t have to underpay your employees to be profitable. There are dozens of plant-based alternatives to meat, with more on the way; increasingly, they’re pretty good."

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Official recognition for beer's mighty microbe

Craft-Beer-Crazy Oregon Poised To Name Official State Microbe : The Salt : NPR:

A humble creature that has long toiled in obscurity for the benefit of humankind is poised to win a small measure of the distinction it deserves: designation as Oregon's official state microbe.It looks to be the first microbe to gain official state recognition.The microbe in question, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, plays a key role in the state's economy. Without it, sugar would not become alcohol, and Oregon would not have a craft beer industry worth $2.4 billion.That's a lot of yeast.The man behind the yeast's pending glamour moment is Mark Johnson, a Republican state legislator from Hood River, Ore. The idea, he says, came from a home-brewing constituent, who suggested that the Legislature — which has already designated a state nut (hazelnut) and a state fruit (pear) — do the right thing by another living embodiment of Oregon's contribution to quality foodstuffs.

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Pork gets a name change

Hello, My Name Is Porterhouse Chop. I Used To Be 'Pork Chop' : The Salt : NPR:

"Pork's most popular cuts don't have snazzy names. At least, not until now.

Coming soon to a grocery store near you are the New York chop, the porterhouse chop and the sirloin chop. Yes, pork is borrowing some of the nomenclature of beef cuts. Why?

"Names have the power to transform the 'everyday' into the 'extraordinary,' " according to a pork industry website aimed at retailers."

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Edible Spray Paint: Give Your Foods The Midas Touch

Edible Spray Paint: Give Your Foods The Midas Touch : The Salt : NPR:

"Ess Lack, or Food Finish, is an edible spray paint that turns your meals into metallic bites of luxury. Lobster not decadent enough for you? Why not turn that crustacean golden?

The product was inspired by the famed golden goose that has adorned European holiday feasting tables (or at least European imaginations) for centuries, says Arne Taegen of The Deli Garage, the German food company behind Food Finish.

It works like a basic spray can, making it practically foolproof, even if you're not a professional chef. "Just spray it on whatever you wish to decorate, give it some time to dry, and there you go!" Taegen says"

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Forget Fish Fridays: In Louisiana, Gator Is On The Lenten Menu

Forget Fish Fridays: In Louisiana, Gator Is On The Lenten Menu : The Salt : NPR:

"Is it OK to eat alligator on Fridays during Lent? That question isn't just rhetorical in Louisiana, which has large populations of both Catholics and gators.

"Alligator's such a natural for New Orleans," says Jay Nix, owner of Parkway Bakery, which serves a mean alligator sausage po boy sandwich. "Alligator gumbo, jambalaya. I mean, it's a wonder that alligator isn't our mascot, you know?"

Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays during the time between Ash Wednesday and Easter, but seafood is allowed. Three years ago, when Jim Piculas was trying to settle a debate among his friends about whether gator qualified as seafood, he wrote a letter to the archbishop of New Orleans to ask.

His letter must have been pretty zealous, because not long after he wrote it, he got a response from Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond saying: "Yes, the alligator's considered in the fish family, and I agree with you — God has created a magnificent creature that is important to the state of Louisiana, and it is considered seafood.""



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A St Patrick's Day warning about Guinness

Hey Vegans! There May Be Fish Bladder in Your Guinness 

"Guinness sells about 10 million pints a day across 100 countries. On St. Patrick’s Day, that number hops to 13 million. When Arthur Guinness set up shop in Dublin back in 1759, he never would’ve guessed that his stout would become the unofficial beer of the Irish and the go-to beverage to shout to the bartender come March 17 (besides Jameson). Even Obama honored his Irish lineage with a highly-publicized Guinness at a pub in Ireland last year. But the classic brew isn’t for everyone. For the hardline vegetarians and vegans out celebrating this St. Paddy’s Day: there could be traces of fish bladder in your Guinness."

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Is nothing sacred? No salt on the chips!

Chippies told to hold the salt in drive to beat heart disease - Telegraph:

"Fish and chip shops will be told to cut the amount of salt they add to food under a new government strategy to improve the nation’s diet."

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Hidden salt 'present in popular restaurant meals'

BBC News - Hidden salt 'present in popular restaurant meals':

"A survey of nearly 700 popular meals served in celebrity chef and High Street restaurants found half were high in salt - equivalent to a red traffic light label on a supermarket product.

From their research, Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) discovered that the 13 saltiest main meals contained more than the maximum recommended daily intake of 6g of salt."

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Food poisoning can happen at the best of restaurants

BBC News - Dinner at 'world's top' restaurant in Denmark sickens dozens:

"More than 60 people had food poisoning at a Danish restaurant dubbed the world's best eatery, it has emerged.

Health officials said diners at Copenhagen's Noma restaurant fell sick over a five-day period in February, suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea.

It was not clear what caused the outbreak, but reports say the source may have been a sick kitchen employee.

Noma, which topped Restaurant Magazine's list of the world's 50 Best Restaurants in 2010-12, has apologised."

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Eating Eyeballs: Taboo, Or Tasty?

Eating Eyeballs: Taboo, Or Tasty? : The Salt : NPR:

 "When it comes to Americans, "people in our culture are disgusted by eating any non-muscle part of edible animals, says Paul Rozin, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania who studies human food choice and disgust. "Eyes may be special because it is so clear that they are an animal part, and they have some special significance for many people."

Maybe the eyes of other mammals are just a bit too close to home for most people. Fish eyes seem the most acceptable form of ocular cuisine, my fastidious soup-eating friend excluded. As our well-traveled readers pointed out, small fish are eaten whole in many cultures, from British whitebait to the dried fish snacks ubiquitous at Asian groceries. Elvers, tiny eels that resemble spaghetti, are popular not just in Europe but also in Asia."

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French diners feast on Indonesian frogs

French diners feast on Indonesian frogs - The Local:

 "Though diners in white table-clothed French brasseries may not know it, their frogs legs are most likely caught by hunters in the dead of the night in the murky swamps of tropical Indonesia and sold at local markets."



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Enough to drive you to drink

BBC News - Thousands of litres of whisky flushed down drain in Dumbarton:

"Thousands of litres of whisky have been flushed down the drain by accident at a bottling plant in Dumbarton.
It is understood the mix-up happened at Chivas Brothers during the night shift on Tuesday while equipment was being cleaned.
Instead of draining away waste water, the workers on duty somehow flushed out thousands of litres of bulk whisky.
The smell was so strong that sewage workers reported it."

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Welcome to merroir - Oysters Rebound In Popularity With Man-Made Bounty

Oysters Rebound In Popularity With Man-Made Bounty : NPR:

"When wild oysters were plentiful and cheap, they were a poor man's food. Modern, farm-raised oysters are for upscale eaters. They have catchy names and clever marketing. Consumers discuss the "merroir" of different oysters, the water conditions that determine an oyster's flavor. Like wine connoisseurs, oyster enthusiasts talk about an oyster's mild finish, hints of copper, pleasant melon flavor. What happened to "briny"?"

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