Saturday, February 28, 2015

2KW


Adelaide CBD 5000 Mediterranean - roof top dining comes to downtown Adelaide

Restaurant2KW
Street addressLevel8, 2 King William Street
SuburbAdelaide CBD
StateSA
Postcode5000
Phone08 8212 5511
Websitehttps://www.facebook.com/2kwbar
StyleMediterranean
Awards Fairfax Good Food Guides
Awards Gourmet Guide
The Australian Top 50
Restaurant & Catering Awards2015 Winner SA Best New Restaurant
Other Awards
Reviews & Notes"Flavours are bold and sunny, driven by a surprising amount of spice, and fit perfectly with the setting."
ReviewerSimon Wilkinson - The Advertiser 28/2/15
Reviews & Notes"The restaurant menu also offers diversity. Its elegance is masked by casual presentation."
ReviewerMary Taylor - InDaily
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Longtime


Fortitude Valley QLD 4006 Thai - A certain pop-culture irreverence about the whole thing

RestaurantLongtime
Street address610 Ann Streeet
SuburbFortitude Valley
StateQLD
Postcode4006
Phone07 3160 3123
Websitehttp://longtime.com.au/
StyleThai
Awards 2014 Fairfax Good Food Guides
Awards Gourmet Guide
The Australian Top 50
Restaurant & Catering Awards
Other Awards
Reviews & Notes"The menu is a nice balance of tradition and innovation."
ReviewerJohn Lethlean - The Australian 26/2/15 3.5 maps
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Thursday, February 26, 2015

Dear Liza


St Kilda VIC 3182 - Well made and tasty food, says TheAge

RestaurantDear Liza
Street address G10, 181 St Kilda Road (corner Alma and St Kilda roads),
SuburbSt Kilda
StateVIC
Postcode3182
Phone03 9534 5492
WebsiteTibs/seafood/calad
Style
Awards 2014 Fairfax Good Food Guides
Awards Gourmet Guide
The Australian Top 50
Restaurant & Catering Awards
Other Awards
Reviews & Notes"... food well madw ans rasrt"
ReviewerSimont Egger -The Age 17/2/15
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Highline at the Railway Hotel


Windsor, VIC 3181 - Flying the nose to tail flag hard ...Its sadism meets sustainability with often delicious results - The Age

RestaurantHighline at the Railway Hotel
Street address29 Chapel Styreet
SuburbWindsor
StateVIC
Postcode3181
Phone03 9510 4050
Websitetherailway.com.au/venue/highline-restaurant
StyleContemporary
Awards 2014 Fairfax Good Food Guides
Awards Gourmet Guide
The Australian Top 50
Restaurant & Catering Awards
Other Awards
Reviews & Notes"Highline is all about what's on the plate, and that's some elegant cooking from a young chef with eyes locked tight on the future... Take the ride."
ReviewerGemima Cody - The Age 24/2/15 14/20
Reviews & NotesLaudable farm-to-plate philosophy gets lost during delivery."
ReviewerDan Stock - Herald Sun 14/4/15 13/20
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Heartattack and vine




Carlton VIC 3053 Italian cafe/bar - more gold in the Carlton triangle says The Age.

RestaurantHeartattack and Vine
Street address329 Lygon Street
SuburbCarlton
StateVIC
Postcode3053
Phone03 9005 8624
Websiteheartattackandvine.com.au
StyleItalian Cafe/bar
Awards 2014 Fairfax Good Food Guides
Awards Gourmet Guide
The Australian Top 50
Restaurant & Catering Awards
Other Awards
Reviews & Notes"Heartattack takes its name from a Tom Waits song and its inspiration ... from neighbourhood bars in Italy - places that open all day for coffee and drinks, breakfast, lunch and evening snacks."
ReviewerMatt Holden - The Age 24/2/15
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Nigel Hopkins restaurant reviews for InDaily

2015
6 March 2015 Fino Seppeltsfield - "The waiting staff and kitchen cope happily with diners wanting a fast, purposeful meal as they tour the Barossa, or obliging customers who plan to settle in for the afternoon and try to drink Seppelsfield dry." Our summary HERE
10 April 2015 Africola - "It’s a small menu with lots of things you’ve never heard of (morogo sauce, boom chakalakka and so on) but no need to panic. The easy way out is to let them feed you with the kitchen menu ($65) and let the super friendly waiting staff lead you through it. Vegetarians and vegans, perhaps surprisingly, are very welcome." Our summary HERE

Wine drinkers spend more on food

An interesting finding from Nielsen on what it describes as a "wine retailing revolution taking place across America." As supermarkets rapidly increase their wine sales the market researcher notes that not only are they thriving as wine vendors, they’re enticing bigger basket sales in the process.
For example, the average consumer spends $47 per trip to the supermarket when they don’t make a wine purchase. That amount, however, jumps to $75 when the shopper buys wine. Interestingly, the additional $28 isn’t just for vino. In fact, the wine accounts for only about $15. The consumer spends the rest on items that typically pair well with wine, suggesting that selling wine not only diversifies supermarket offerings but goes hand-in-hand with additional sales in the process.

Drunkatarian provides the tweet of the day

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

With teabags, the bigger the better

A guide to drinking tea English style - Tea Tuesdays: The Chemis-Tea Of Pouring The Perfect English-Style Cuppa - has this tip about tea bags:
If it's bagged, make sure it's big. According to research by physical chemist Deo Jaganyi at the University of Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa, the shape of the bag doesn't matter, but larger bags will allow more flavor from the tea to infuse the water.
In particular, he says, those pyramid-shaped bags aren't any better than your average rectangle. "The shape of the pyramidal tea bag alone cannot increase the rate of infusion," he and his coauthor wrote in a 2001 study in the journal Food Chemistry.
And another tip.
If it's a very thick cup, a ceramic cup, you're going to cool down the tea very fast," says Miodownik. 
When tea first made its way from China to England, it was accompanied by very fine porcelain, which didn't bleed the heat away so quickly, he says. A thick mug might feel nice in your hands, but the thinner the cup, the longer the tea will stay hot. 

Make a cuppa with George Orwell

Stumbled across this gem when looking at a modern article on the same subject.
If you look up 'tea' in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned; or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling on several of the most important points.
This is curious, not only because tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.
When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than eleven outstanding points. On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial. Here are my own eleven rules, every one of which I regard as golden:

  • First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays — it is economical, and one can drink it without milk — but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase 'a nice cup of tea' invariably means Indian tea.
  • Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities — that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron, tastes of grease and whitewash. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britanniaware teapots produce inferior tea and enamel pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad.
  • Thirdly, the pot should be warmed beforehand. This is better done by placing it on the hob than by the usual method of swilling it out with hot water.
  • Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart, if you are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped teaspoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realized on every day of the week, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes — a fact which is recognized in the extra ration issued to old-age pensioners.
  • Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers, muslin bags or other devices to imprison the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling baskets under the spout to catch the stray leaves, which are supposed to be harmful. Actually one can swallow tea-leaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses properly.
  • Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about. The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact, which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil, but I have never noticed that it makes any difference.
  • Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better, give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle.
  • Eighthly, one should drink out of a good breakfast cup — that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one's tea is always half cold before one has well started on it.
  • Ninthly, one should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste.
  • Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.
  • Lastly, tea — unless one is drinking it in the Russian style — should be drunk without sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tealover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.

    Some people would answer that they don't like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again.
These are not the only controversial points to arise in connexion with tea drinking, but they are sufficient to show how subtilized the whole business has become. There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot (why is it considered vulgar to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet. It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing out of one's ration the twenty good, strong cups of that two ounces, properly handled, ought to represent.

(taken from The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, Volume 3, 1943-45, Penguin ISBN, 0-14-00-3153-7)

Cheating the skinny latte drinkers

Canberran coffee lovers consuming more fat than they bargained for: study - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):

"Canberra coffee lovers opting for a skinny latte are consuming more fat than they had bargained for, with new data suggesting most ACT cafes do not use skim milk in their coffees.

 A survey of 30 Canberra cafes by the Heart Foundation's LivingLighter project found about 57 per cent of cafes used low-fat milk in their coffees when skim milk was ordered.

And of the coffee shops surveyed, 37 per cent did not make skim milk available to their customers.

 Heart Foundation ACT chief executive Tony Stubbs said while the issue was admittedly a "first world problem", for people trying to improve their health and monitor their fat intake, the type of milk used in their daily coffee could make a big difference."



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Tuesday, February 24, 2015

How does your mushroom grow?


A Wet And Wild Look Inside The 'Mushroom Houses' Of A Fungi Farm

While mushroom farming may not be as thrilling as fungi hunting, a 2014 video from the Web series "How Does It Grow?" shows that it's still an interesting sight. In it, journalist Nicole Cotroneo Jolly takes her viewers to Phillips Mushroom Farm, one of the largest producers of button and exotic mushrooms found in Chester County, Pa.
The U.S. produces 900 million pounds of the savory fungi a year, including both button and exotic species. And it's a billion-dollar industry. 

Legalising raw milk sales

Why Some States Want To Legalize Raw Milk Sales : The Salt : NPR:

"The federal government banned the sale of raw milk across state lines nearly three decades ago because it poses a threat to public health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association all strongly advise people not to drink it.

But individual states still control raw milk sales within their borders. And despite the health warnings, some Midwestern states have recently proposed legalizing raw milk sales to impose strict regulations on the risky — and growing — market.

Raw milk has become popular in recent years as part of the local food movement: An estimated 3 percent of the population drinks at least one glass a week. Many of its fans are fiercely passionate about what they see as its benefits. They say they buy raw milk because it doesn't contain the growth hormone rGBH, they like the taste, and they enjoy having a direct connection to the food they eat."



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Syria's bittersweet taste of home

Lamb Dumplings, Lentils And A Bittersweet Taste Of Home : The Salt : NPR:

"Iraq has taken in about a quarter-million people fleeing Syria's civil war. In the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, one of Syria's most famous restaurants is re-creating the tastes of Damascus.

Naranj restaurant keeps a list of the world leaders who have dined at its branch back in Syria. The list is at least 25 names long, and that's not counting the movie stars. Rumor has it Syrian President Bashar Assad eats at the Damascus location twice a week.

Bassam Awwad, food and beverage manager for Naranj Irbil, says the rumor is nearly true.

He comes "when he needs," Awwad says. "Not exactly twice. Maybe ... monthly.""



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Friday, February 20, 2015

Goodbye to onion tears?

BBC News - The onion that doesn't make you cry:

"A British farmer claims to have developed a new variety of red onion which does not cause people to cry when it is chopped.
The "No Tears" variety took more than 20 years to perfect before its recent launch in a UK supermarket chain.
Farmer Alastair Findlay had to sample several hundred different bulbs each season in order to find the right taste.
BBC News joined Mr Findlay on his farm in Bedfordshire to see what went into finding his perfect onion."



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Thursday, February 19, 2015

Sweet, salt, sour, bitter and umami and fat?

Salty, Sweet, Sour. Is It Time To Make Fat The Sixth Taste? : The Salt : NPR:

"Some scientists are now making the case that we should also think of fat as the sixth primary taste, along with sweet, salt, sour, bitter and umami.

Early in February, researchers from Deakin University in Australia published a paper in the journal Flavour arguing that "the next 5 to 10 years should reveal, conclusively, whether fat can be classified as the sixth taste.""



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A different kind of Oxbridge boat race

A Sophisticated Version Of Guess The Grape — But Is It A Sport?

Oxford and Cambridge have academic awards to see which school is smarter, and boat races to determine which is stronger. And for the past half-century, their blind wine tasting societies have held competitions. It's all part of an epic rivalry that dates back to the 13th century.
Now, these tasting teams are hoping to be recognized as an official sport.
As practice gets underway, wine is the only topic of conversation. Students list the regions they've visited: Bordeaux, Champagne, Alsace. ...
Oxford's ultimate goal is, of course, beating Cambridge. Historically, Oxford has the edge, but Cambridge is the defending champion. 
"It's very tense. People get jolly nervous. We go to the Oxford and Cambridge Club in London, so it's on neutral territory," Wilson says. "And the match happens in total silence." 

Who could take only a sip or two of a Tom Bullock mint julep?

Tom Bullock’s ‘The Ideal Bartender’ Offers Words of Advice - NYTimes.com:

"In 1913, former President Theodore Roosevelt, countering a report that he was frequently drunk, testified in a libel suit that one of the few drinks he had had since leaving the White House was a mint julep at the St. Louis Country Club. And, he said, he took only a sip or two.

 The St. Louis Post-Dispatch found this claim outrageous enough that it printed an editorial basically calling Roosevelt a liar. “Who was ever known to drink just a part of one of Tom’s” juleps, the newspaper asked incredulously.

“Tom” was Tom Bullock, the longtime bartender at the St. Louis Country Club and the first African-American bartender to publish a cocktail manual.


That 1917 book, “The Ideal Bartender,” has just been republished in an exact facsimile of its original form by Cocktail Kingdom, a Manhattan publisher that has turned resuscitating old cocktail books into a cottage industry."



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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Chocolate without artificial flavours and colourings - Nestle makes the change

BBC News - Nestle to remove artificial flavours in US chocolate:

Swiss food giant Nestle will be removing all artificial flavours and colours from its chocolate products in the US, the firm said on Tuesday.
Its US unit has promised to get rid of artificial flavours and government certified colours in more than 250 chocolates by the end of this year.
The move was prompted by its market research, which showed that US consumers wanted the additives gone.
Nestle will replace the flavours and colours with natural ingredients.


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One Little Sister


Normanville, SA 5204 - A relaxed and practical sort of eating spot that should keep visitors happy

RestaurantOne Little Sister
Street addressShop 4, 48 Main Street
SuburbNormanville
StateSA
Postcode5204
Phone08 8558 3759
Websiteonelittlesister.com.au
StylePizza and seafood
Awards 2014 Fairfax Good Food Guides
Awards Gourmet Guide
The Australian Top 50
Restaurant & Catering Awards
Other Awards
Reviews & Notes"The pizzas .. will make a diehard misty-eyed. The base is a cracker"
ReviewerSimon Wilkinson - The Advertiser 10/1/15
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Cliche Exhibition


North Adelaide SA 5006 Bistro - French themes celebrated in food and art at a bistro The Advertiser describes as having a humorous twist.

RestaurantCliche Exhibition
Street address26 O'Connell Street
SuburbNorth Adelaide
StateSA
Postcode5006
Phone08 8267 4083
Websiteclicheexhibition.com
StyleBistro, bar, gallery
Awards 2014 Fairfax Good Food Guides
Awards Gourmet Guide
The Australian Top 50
Restaurant & Catering Awards
Other Awards
Reviews & Notes"... delivers decent bistro eating in a lively atmosphere at a reasonable price."
ReviewerSimon Wilkinson - Adelaide Advertiser 17/1/15
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Will bug-burgers be the new sirloin steak?

Edible insects: grub pioneers aim to make bugs palatable - FT.com:

"Could insects be the next sushi and bug-burgers the new sirloin steak? Pat Crowley, founder of Chapul, which makes energy bars from finely milled crickets, hopes so. ...

"Other bug-based food producers are emerging, encouraged by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation’s champ­ioning of insects − mini-livestock − as a sustainable alternative to conventional herds. But are western consumers ready to see bugs, more typically associated with spreading disease, as dinner?

In 2014, research by Mintel, the market researcher, found that among consumers who had not eaten in­sect-sourced protein, some would be interested in trying it: in Germany, the figure was 21 per cent; 26 per cent in the US and 27 per cent in the UK, rising to 52 per cent in China."

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