Shinboners

Another place to consider is the Magaret River region over in Western Australia (I think it's a couple of hours to the south of Perth). They have a strong wine and food culture and the surfing is supposed to be excellent.

Somewhere along the coast might also work. The areas around Newcastle would be good. He could work in the Hunter Valley and be close enough to the beaches in the Port Stephens area. That entire area is stunning.

I think you'll like Melbourne. We've got a very healthy food culture with plenty of restaurants that cover many different styles and price ranges, you're a couple of hours drive from Bells Beach for surfing, there are some good beaches away from the city, and there are plenty of cycling tracks around Melbourne - we even have bicycle lanes. I don't know about kayaking though. If you search for an eGullet member who has the username "The Chefs Office", and get in touch with him, he may be able to link you up with a job. He's based in Sydney, but he'll probably have some good contacts in Melbourne.

For those who are interested, there is a cheese tasting in Melbourne this weekend. It's the Australian Specialist Cheese Show and it's being held at the Palladium at Crown. For information on the show, here's a link to the Australian Cheese website, and follow the links. http://www.australiancheese.org/default.aspx

I don't know the address yet, but I think it's due to open in the next week or two. In terms of which location he'll be working at, Chef Stephane told me that he'll probably do the lunch service in Richmond, and the dinner service in North Fitzroy. He has already got a new chef working in Fitzroy. I had dinner there a few weeks ago and said that Stephane was in fine form. However, the waiter told me that Stephane wasn't working that night and that it was the new chef. I think the new guy is a local boy too. I'll post more news as I find out.

Another wonderful dinner at Aux Batifolles last night. I won't go into the details, but it was a very special night because baby Jade had her first taste of French food. She enjoyed her tastes of boeuf bourginon, mashed potatoes, and she had her first French fries. Needless to say, she rather enjoyed it. In other news, an Aux Batifolles will be opening up in Richmond.

Which describes what I cooked for my dinner last night. Two 5mm thick slices of calves liver. Grill for 30 seconds on one side on a hot cast iron grill, turn over for another 30 seconds, another turn 30 seconds later, and one final turn (not forgetting to get that cool criss cross pattern on the livers). Sprinkle ome salt over it and served with some roasted vegetables. The recipe was from Pignolet's "French" cookbook (and he got the recipe from Anne Taylor).

Yep. And as one of my Italian buddies pointed out, "The Florentino - they give you proper serves, not a plate with nothing on it. If they tried to skimp on the portions, the Italians would riot". When you get back into town, give me a call. We still have to catch up. Longrain, Shira Nui....whereever.

Whilst I was a resident of North Melbourne, that was back in my toddler days.

Camy isn't a chain so far as I know, certainly doesn't look like one... just that great, old-school red-plastic backed chairs and torn, stained vinyl tablecovering. ← I had lunch in Box Hill today, and the two restaurants on Station Street are both called, "David and Camy's Noodle and Dumplings". So it seems they've got at least three shops around town.

Pacific Seafood House in Richmond is my pick for cheap Chinese food. Their roasts are excellent. Is Camy's Noodles and Dumplings a small chain? I went to a place with a similar name in Box Hill. The food was cheap and tasty, although the spring rolls were rubbish. Also, Dumpling King in Box Hill isn't bad either. Since Box Hill is only a ten minute drive from where I live, I'll be doing a bit more exploring in the area.

Thanks for that bit of info. I'll give it a try the next time I'm up in Sydney. Just going off topic for a little bit, there was a Japanese place that was also near the Carlton Crest - I would have loved to given it a try, but it was so damn busy. It was on a corner, a tiny place, but packed. On Sussex Street, there was another Japanese place....it had a very cool interior. I don't know the name of the place, but most of the dining room was to the left of the door, there was the front desk, and a few tables on the right hand side. Again, it was cheap, the place was full, and the one time I ate there, the food was very good.

I've just spent a few days in Sydney, and I went to BBQ King for lunch. I just ordered one of those mixed roasts with rice. The roast duck was dreadful with the meat having a floury texture and the flavour wasn't that great. The sweet roast pork was okay, but a little bit too sweet. Nonetheless, Sydney's Chinatown craps all over Melbourne's. I stayed at the Carlton Crest, and , I found this little group of 3 or 4 Chinese food shops just a couple of minutes walk from the hotel (apologies for not remembering the street names). The food looked great, but I only managed to get to one of them. IIRC, it was called Tai Pei Food or Tai Wan food or something like that. It was packed full, it was very cheap, and it was delicious.

The Age has released a cookbook called "Winter" which is a collection of the recipies that Brigitte Hafner, Stephanie Alexander, and Jill Dupleix have had published in Epicure. There's going to be another devoted to chocolate, and I assume they'll do one for summer (and probably autumn and spring). When Luke Mangan had his recipe column with the Age, they did put them together in a magazine and gave it away as an insert with the Sunday Age. And I think the recipe writer for the Hun (or the Herald Sun for those who don't live in Melbourne) has a book with her newspaper recipes in it.

You've posted three times on this forum, and each of those times was about Vue de Monde. Do you have a connection with the restaurant? So what? If that's his opinion of Vue de Monde, then so be it. Most people like McDonalds, but I don't. Does that make me wrong? London may be relevant to those who can travel, but for most of us, our reference point is Melbourne prices. And on that scale, Vue de Monde is expensive. Oh, and in many threads, PCL has made many of positive comments about the Melbourne food scene. Of course we should celebrate and talk up the successful aspects of Melbourne's food scene, but if a restaurant is bad, then the issues of why it is bad should also be discussed. Without people pointing out what's bad about a restaurant, how can the restaurant know what they should be working on to improve? It's hard to believe that Stephen Downes started at RRR all those years ago. He was one of the best presenters on the station. But since those years, he seems to have become more pompous. Still, it's funny what you said about the reviews though. One of my friends was at the old Guerinica, and Downes and Lethlean were dining on the same evening. She kept a close eye on proceedings, and said they ordered the same dishes, but when their reviews got printed, they came to opposite conclusions!

Thanks for that review of_corset. I've made a booking in a few months time, and I can't wait.

At the very end of the book, in the acknowledgements section, he has the contact details for the suppliers that are written about in the essays. And strawberries. I remember you weren't too impressed with Australian strawberries.

A review of Lotus by Teage Ezard: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=88591 Also, Karen Martini, the chef behind The Melbourne Wine Room, Mr. Wolf, and Icebergs Dining Room has released a cookbook titled, "Where The Heart Is". It's a collection of recipes from her column in the Sunday Age newspaper, and the food is mainly homely Italian food. Later this year or early next year, she'll be releasing a book with her recipes from the Melbourne Wine Room.

Karen Martini's cookbook, "Where The Heart Is" is now out. It's $59.95 and it has all the recipes from her column in the Sunday Age in it. With the same publisher as Kylie Kwong, it looks like it's a companion piece to "Simple Chinese Cooking".

And here's my review of the Becasse cookbook: Justin North is a New Zealand born chef who trained under Raymond Blanc, and who now runs Sydney’s Becasse restaurant. North’s cookbook isn’t as much about his food as it is a tribute to those who supply him with his key ingredients. You can see this in the format of the book. Instead of the more traditional chapters used in most other cookbooks, his fourteen chapters are separated by the ingredients he sources from his suppliers. They are salt, mushrooms, truffles, goats cheese, shellfish, crustaceans, tuna/mulloway/kingfish, ocean trout/salt water char, squab pigeon, pork, lamb, Wagyu beef, blood orange, and basics. Each chapter opens with an essay about the ingredient and the supplier who provides him with it. To me, these essays are the highlights of the book. In the same way that it’s easy to feel the love and respect that North has for his ingredients and suppliers, you can’t help but experience a feeling of deep respect for the dedication that these suppliers have in trying to provide the best ingredients possible. There are some familiar names here such as Murray River Gourmet Salt, Glenloth Game, and Bungalow Sweet Pork, and it was truly satisfying to learn the story behind some of the ingredients that I have used in my own kitchen. But perhaps the most fascinating story was about his mushroom supplier and how he converted a disused railway tunnel into a place where mushrooms are grown in controlled conditions. After each essay, about half a dozen recipes featuring the key ingredient are given. The recipes are not simple, so it would be fair to assume that this is a record of how North and his staff cook and assemble his food. The photography was interesting. I found the photographs that matched the essays to be inspiring. They were earthy and honest, you got a feel for the food and the people involved. By contrast, the photography of the food was bright, colourful, and technically great, they did lack the warmth of the essay photos. I don’t think too many home cooks will attempt the recipes in the Becasse cookbook. However, as a source of inspiration and as a tribute to those who dedicate their lives to good food, this is a superb book.

From Australia: Lotus by Teage Ezard - covers Chinese and South East Asian food with the main focus on street food. Becasse by Justin North - French food with an Australian focus. Discussion here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=85780 Simple Chinese Cooking by Kylie Kwong - the title says it all Danks Street Depot Cookbook by Jared Ingersoll - English, French, and Spanish food in an Australian context. Review and discussion here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=85503

I had a quick flick through the Pignolet book last night and I couldn't find a recipe for the relish.

Went to Aux Batifolles last night and Stephane was in fine form with his sauces. We had a wonderful dinner, and I'll write up a report later.

I saw a copy of Becasse in a bookshop today. It is a stunning cookbook, but it will set you back $69.95. What the heck....I'll pick up a copy soon enough.

If it's fusion that you want, then go no further than the cookbook, "Ezard" by Teague Ezard. You will not be disappointed. He's got a new cookbook out. It's titled "Lotus", but it's more pure Asian than fusion. There's also Christine Manfield with her books Paramount Cooking, Paramount Desserts, Spice, and Stir and she has no problem with East/West fusion. I believe that she'll have a new cookbook out next year. Whilst he's a New Zealander rather than an Australian, Peter Gordon is another chef/author that's worth checking out for fusion.