PCL

can't say much about sydney, but in my humble opinion, Cutler & Co could very well be the best place to eat in Melbourne at the moment... Nice blog Chris... ambitious, and with decent photography...

This punter shows up in Ann Arbor, visiting friends, and was initially scoffing up anything and everything IHOP could offer, being the good foreigner enamoured with diner style eating that I am. Then came Zingerman's... Apparently the President ate here. Tony Bourdain also ate here. It's good. They purport to be purveyors of good American food, with a bbq oven out front, and oyster shells strewn liberally amongst the snow covered planters. The menu looked great, being a daily-printed affair. It looked like a diner or more to the point, a roadhouse, and it felt warm and wholesome. As a non-beefeater, my entree selections were either chicken or pork, and the bbq pork sandwich with a south carolina vinegar sauce was a no-brainer. For appetizers we had a selection of Malpeque oysters, Hudson Valley foie gras, sweet potato fries (which went well with the horseradish jacked cocktail sauce) and some paddlefish caviar served on crip toast with sour cream. Everything sounded too good to be true, with detailed recitations from our server, Marcus, and the appetite was suitably prepped. A whiskey/rum cocktail to begin with, and the ride began. The oysters couldn't do much wrong, and the caviar was suitably briny and minerally, which made for the perfect duo. The foie was a little disappointing, being paired with a mushroom roulade of sorts and rice. It really needed some sweetness and acid to lift the rich unctuousness of the just seared goodness (some sea salt flakes would have been great, failing which table salt worked just fine). Soups were wholesome and hearty, with chunks of potatoes and strings of leek doing battle with the creamy chicken broth. One shall return for breakfast and lunch this week to make some headway into the various plates involving smoked bacon and perhaps a little fish. A genuine surprise for a jaded diner.

Cutler & Co.... miss it at your peril. there's a thread in here somewhere... i'd personally avoid anything at the Crown Casino, but others might beg to differ. in the City, Kenzan for their omakase sushi. also the French Brasserie for a great bistro meal and fine wine.

I'm in town, and I wanna go check out this place. Anyone up for spin? Dan? Amarantha? Monday onwards all good. Tuesday??

Wow!! See what happens when one is absent from the board? One misses out on a most fruitful and exciting discussion. I was recently in Penang, a week ago actually, and I'm still working off the food. Big contrast right now, as I'm over in Borneo, anticipating a dinner tomorrow night by ex-French Laundryman, Damon Campbell. Mind boggling away as I type.

Where is this Libertine?

A very telling state of affairs, my dear friend. You're alone for the weekend. So you go for a meat fest. Cassoulet. And then 3 steaks in succession. I'm impressed. I'm going for steak tonight. Thanks for the inspiration.

Can't wait for Day 2!!

Can't wait for the report Dan.

The new Michelin Guide for Hong Kong is quite laughable. Check out that thread over in the China Dining forum of eG.

The title of this thread should be reviewed. It seems to invite 'reactions' as well as 'analysis'. I simply chose to provide a reaction, along with some of people not posting on a forum. Analysis seems to be the choice of others and that's fine, but at the same time, some of you decided to analyse my reaction, and that's fine too. It just seems that dissenting voices are not welcome, and established status quos have to be defended at all costs, which in turn reminds me of how the farcical HK Michelin guide came into being in the first place. I sat down to a nice New Year's dinner last night in KL with some friends visiting from HK, and believe me, we did spend quite a bit of time being outraged over various things, the Guide being one of them. But I'm sure as far as most of you are concerned, they are only irrelevant and anonymous strangers who's opinion don't matter. Much like how I feel about board huggers.

Should check out the furor I started on the thread on the Hong Kong Michelin guide over in the China Dining forum...

Good for you Sher. You can sure piss higher up the wall than anyone else with your substantiated positions. And they are very elegant positions too. I just can't see why by the same token you can't accept someone else's position without coming back demanding satisfaction that they prove why they do not agree with you. In terms of listing places I have a modest but very dear to me compilation of restaurants and stalls that I frequent, though not always of the fine dining category. So I defer to you and will continue to monitor your eloquently stated defences of the Michelin guide with great interest.

But yeah, candles, decanters, the unsolicited swirling of glasses... what else? Leave my wine alone I say.

Happy New Year dudes. Julian, the song and dance really isn't worth going into. I had a second dinner at Lafite recently, and man, we should do a night there. Next time you're in KL, let me know. I'll tee up something with Damian and we can go to town in the kitchen and dining room. Would be good man. Seriously. Menu revamp is on it's way.