Tim White

We'd also recommend the CIA's The Professional Chef. Its in metric, well organised, follows the standard Escoffier style classical training but with contemporary information and recipes. Similar texts are available for the UK, Australia etc. Wayne Gisslen's Professional Cooking is good but perhaps not as well designed. Others include Cracknell & Kaufman Practical Professional Cookery. Non text books - probably the best is The Cook's Book edited by Jill Norman published by Dorling Kindersley - great step by step instructions, each chapter written by a headline chef....

Donati's Meats in Lygon St Carlton makes great guanciale regards

There definitely is....Simple Chinese Cooking $59.95 due for release 6/3/06 hardcover 320pp published by Penguin/Viking/Lantern more detailshttp://www.penguin.com.au/default.cfm?SBN=1920989331

No sorry - he is taller, older and thirstier - check out his webpage

As a bibliophile/cookbook seller I can't fault any of the above but if Ihad to choose one it would be a dead heat between Patience Gray's Honey from a Weed and Elizabeth David's An Omelette & A Glass of wine Some suggestions from down under.... Plenty: digressions with food by Gaye Bilson persnal ruminations from one of Australia's great restaurateurs that won several book of the year non fiction category awards down here One Continuous Picnic by Michael Symons a history of Australian gastronomy now out of print A History of Cooks & Cooking by Michael Symons originally published as The Pudding that took 1000 chefs Can't believe you haven't included Michael Ruhlman's The Making of a Chef and The Soul of a Chef!

Oddly enough we were there the next night - courtesy of our staff christmas party - Ozmouse did leave us enough Pork Hock!! Overall, a casual but fine dining experience with first class food and a very good wine list. Over dinner we argued the toss over the perfect size table for Longrain - and we think 5-7 people is just about right (just as well as there were only 5 of us). This means you get enough of a taste of a dish without not getting enough.... It also means you can share a couple of bottles of wine from the wine list. Its not cheap by ordinary standards but given that everything is done from scratch - they make their own coconut products etc - its remarkably well priced 5 meant that we were seated on the end of one of the long benches - at the street end - with the window open, a perfect place - just the buzz of the kitchen and the buzz of chinatown in the background. 7 would have been perfect for one of the tables with the built in marble lazy susan (who was she and why did she make one??) Opening cocktails were devoured and as for what we ate... Betel leaf topped with smoked trout chilli garlic galangal & trout roe Betel leaf topped with prawn peanuts roasted coconut & ginger Eggnet with pork prawns peanuts & sweet vinegar Braised beefshin with a mint coriander & chilli salad Soft shell crab with pomelo green chilli & a caramelised peanut nahm jim Caramelised pork hock with five spice & chilli vinegar Salt & pepper silken tofu with stir fried Chinese broccoli & snow peas Rice washed down with Gruner Veltliner The Dessert Sample plate (including sago pudding, black rice, palm sugar, etc) washed down with tea and Muscat Beaumes de Venise For me the winner was the tofu. Large cubes of silky tofu dusted in rice flour, salt and white pepper and deep fried - absolute magic; rich unctuous yet with a warm bite of white pepper to start We'll be back - probably far too often Highly recommended Check out Longrain Website for sample menus, winelists and directions

Yeah, that's a fair point with the low volume leading to a high price on books. It is a hard decision on where to buy books. Generally, I'll buy locally if there isn't a great price gap. But I've found that in the past few years, I've bought most of my overseas produced books from Amazon. For me, the pricing difference is too great to ignore. For instance, the other week, I received a package containing "Charcuterie", "Mangoes and Currey Leaves", and "The Cooking of South West France". All up, it'll cost me around $135. I think Charcuterie will retail here for around $50, the 2nd book is for sale at $100, and I saw the re-issued Wolfert book for $57.....$207 vs $135. On UK books, it's a bit of a mixed bag. The new River Cottage book is retailing here for $65. I know I can get it from Amazon UK (including postage) for around $50. But I bought the "Roast Chicken And Other Stories" book here for $35, which was slightly cheaper than buying it from Amazon UK. CDs are another tricky one for me. Most of the stuff I buy doesn't get a general release here. Many are "imports" only....or if they ever get released, there's sometimes a 6 month gap between an overseas release and a local one. In terms of general music, there wouldn't be that much difference, especially if you shop at places like JB Hi-Fi. ← This is all very nice - but lets bear in mind a couple of things, putting aside any nationalistic debate about retaining sales in Australia - First - Amazon has only just turned a 'profit' after 10 years in circumstances where they continue to annually çhange'the accounting rules to redefine profit. Equally Borders are yet to establish a profit of any significance after almost 10 years of their presence here. Second, in an amazingly unfair situation, Amazon don't pay local taxes on sales to Australia - although every other US book retailer and wholesaler I know of does - yet Amazon pay local state taxes in the US Third, if you continue to spend direct - you may save money in the short term but what are the options in the long term? - no local resellers of books, no local knowledge, no local culture, a market dominated by one or two players who may no longer offer the 'deep discounts' they used to buy your market share - because they don't have to. The whole point of dominating a market is to enable you to set the price.... Finally, what price the discount on the author's royalties or the incentive for a publisher? Deep discounting is neither respectful of artistic input nor capable of sustaining artistic or publishing commitment. The increasing commoditisation of intellectual creativity is fundamentally unsustainable Yes I've got a barrow to push - but a book like SAHA is not worth an hour's labour - its worth more - equally it should be worth more than the price of a meal - it sustains you longer.... What you pay for - you tend to value...like all things in life

Last night we cracked open a bottle of something a little from left field Sparkling Marsanne 2001! Friends have a vineyard near Nagambie and make some very nice limited release Hermitage style shiraz and Bourgogne style chardonnay Given that Nagambie is the home in the antipodes for Marsanne, and its ageing potential is well known, this was a very interesting wine. 2+ years on lees, this was a crisp, slightly citrus sparkler with a lot of potential - would love to see this with some real bottle age Goulburn Terrace - available from the Gertrude St Enoteca Has anyone heard of a marsanne - methode champenoise?

You will be able to buy wine just about anywhere The trick will be to find the really interesting stuff Whatever you do - don't buy it at the airport! www.winepros.com will give you a good indication of what is hot etc and an entree into what variety there is... There are a number of very good retailers around Sydney - if you are in town on a Tuesday the Sydney Morning Herald supplement Good Living will have ads for most of the specialist cellars - and most have tastings In relation to cabernet - the best cabernets for the current vintage release (2001-2002) are (according to Halliday) to be found from: Margaret River (WA) Coonawarra (SA) Yarra Valley (Vic) Barossa (SA) From personal experience I can say that the Yarra Yarra Reserve (yarra valley) 2002 is fantastic Halliday rated it 96/100 If you are looking for aged wines, try some of the auction houses (they'll be in the ads section also) and they do sell older wines direct Have fun

Now that Roquefort's back!!!!! Its worth talking about cheese again... French Cheese - yep The French Shop at Queen Vic Market is one of the best - Julie is a star; Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder has changed hands but the cheese room soldiers on - probably the best retail cheese set up around Melbourne and a great range Italian Cheese - you'll have to hunt these out. Apart from Taleggio, Parmesan, Grana Padano & Dolce Latte - hard to find. Try Maria's in Nth Carlton, Mediterranean Wholesalers (esp Sthn Italian cheese) Oz Cheeses - frustratingly sold in lots of places but rarely looked after -what is it with the ubiquitous gladwrap! Probably the best place is Curds & Whey at the Queen Vic Market. Milawa Cheese also have an outlet on Nicholson St in Nth Carlton which stocks a lot of different local cheeses. I think the owner David Brown is the president of the Australian Specialty Cheese association. Yarra Valley Dairy (in the Yarra Valley) has a good range (Persian Fetta??) and farm shops at Tarago, Milawa are pretty good British Cheeses - oddly enough the French Shop again! Spanish Cheese - Casa Iberica - but they only have a few. To get the really good stuff you'll probably have to ring the embassy Other European cheeses - hit & miss There are whispers of new cheese vendors setting up in Melbourne but regardless of that.. Will Studd seems to bring it in - Calendar Cheese Co & Fromagent My favourite local cheese at the moment is Holy Goat (from Bendigo whey...sorry couldn't help myself). A great range of goat cheeses ranging from crottins to fresh curd; lots of lovely flavour, plenty of pong and some great affinage often described as ooze Another benchmark cheese for me is Pyengana Cheddar (Tasmania) which when fully aged is divine. Real cloth matured cheddar with the whiff of barnyard and the crumble in the mouth. Can't wait for Xmas - cognac fruit cake & Pyengana Cheddar!

Just guessing - but I'm fairly sure Felton Rd is Otago Sth Island NZ Pinot and pretty damn good from memory - certainly the price suggests so. Did anyone attend the Bledislow Cup at the Point Restaurant earlier this year. Apparently NZ wines went head to head with Oz wines....

Having lived in both cities in the past decade I would say Melbourne wins hands down... Just compare on a few limited fronts: Fresh Food Markets - Sydney Flemington or Haymarket Fresh Markets vs Queen Vic (not to mention Preston, Prahran, Sth Melbourne, Footscray, Springvale and others) Winner Queen Vic hands down Fresh Fish -Sydney Fish Market vs Queen Vic - winner Sydney but only on points Wine - Melbourne has 5 distinct wine regions within 1 hrs drive and another 8 within 2 - Sydney has 1 a fair drive north Price - Quite simply Melbourne's cost of living is heaps cheaper Accesible fine & good casual dining - again Melbourne is cheaper and more accesible Sydney wins on Extreme fine dining - but as Marie Antoinette found out you can't live on cake everyday... Both cities have DJ's, SJs & Essential Ingredient; there are equivalents for Accountrement etc One big issue is accesibility - living in inner Melbourne is much more fun than living in inner Sydney if you want to go to all the best food places because you can get around in a morning and do all your shopping. Melbourne particularly north of the Yarra (say Nth Melb to Richmond) is redolent with food places Overall our experience in Sydney was - when you were entertained you ate out at a flash place. In Melbourne you either were taken somewhere where the food was good or you were invited home for a home cooked meal So if you had to choose - I'd say Melbourne. Still the other advice generally is sound - stay close to the city preferably in suburbs that have recently gentrified so that there is some residue of a migrant culture attached and the food is generally better.

We have been slowly working our way through Yum Cha in Melbourne. With two little children, too many food friends & usually the need to dine/entertain midday and often midweek we've found this to be our best option. We would go at least once a fortnight (sometimes more often). For what it's worth - given that we quite clearly have no asian heritage - here are our august thoughts: Shark Fin Inn - despite an almost overwhelming reputation for dumplings we were slightly underwhelmed - at the more expensive end of the range; well executed but ultimately just a'faintly damning nice Minh Tan II Victoria St Richmond - cheap & cheerful; sometimes a bit quiet, but when the kitchen is busy very good food. An unsual Chinese/Vietnamese BBQ restaurant that also seems to do some wholesale & yum cha daily. Particularly good now the the old chef is back. Also it is fairly easy to park here. If it is quiet you will have to order a la carte - which takes the fun out of it Dragon Boat (back of the Village Complex) Burke St - consistently good and a good variety of dishes. Dumplings are good and reasonably light. Because of its size it has a fairly good turn over (don't go to the one at Flinders St) and the food is usually fresh (ie making only one turn around the floor) Dragon Boat (Lonsdale St - different owners I think) - seemed a bit northern in influence - acceptable Bamboo Terrace (Bulleen) - blah... generally large/slightly crude servings. Haven't tried the City and probably won't. Davids - (Prahran) never been - want to go - the chef scuttlebutt is that it is Cheong Liew's favourite Red Emperor (Southbank) - excellent food, a bit expensive - but pretty damn good. Plumes (Doncaster & Highpoint) - we've only ever been to Highpoint. This is one huge barn and the bustle is quite staggering. Good but not the best value for money. We've been to Purple Sands and a few others along Doncaster Rd - not too much fun.... We also enjoy Northern Chinese Dumpling Restaurants which serve what the yanks call Potstickers. Probably the best of these is in Springvale but am struggling with the name - its over the back of the shopping centre and unbelievably cheap Keen to try it at home, we've been considering making an expedition to Emma's Seafood Yong Tofu - which sells fresh yum cha to take home and steam, fry etc. Anyone been there? As for Sydney, for general dining, BBQ King & Golden Century always were our first choices. Yum Cha was only good at the Silver Spring Am looking forward to some good new suggestions. PS Anyone read Mr Zee's Swallowing Clouds??

Must compliment you on your wine list PCL... Charlie Melton is a longstanding favourite - Matteo's and Rathdowne Cellars often have Charlie Melton dinners - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED As for the wine....some of the more idiosyncratic, interesting, personal wines from the Barossa floor. It seems Krondorf Rd breeds quirky winemakers - neighbours include Bob McLean @ St Hallets & Bob OÇallaghan at Rockford. A great supporter of old vine wine particularly grenache. Favourites of mine include: Sotto di Ferro - a vin santo style wine - hard to get but worthe the wait Nine Popes - Rhonesque (if that's a word) - great Rose of Virginia - a grenache rose - very like Tavel - can drink all summer Now that I think of it - apart from the sweet white (in halves) I haven't tried a Charles Melton white wine..... Perhaps now that Shinboners is a dad - he'll get the Dad's pack....

Thankyou one and all for your sensitivity!!!! Glenn is on a very good wicket I suspect! As for Masterfoods - recently Franz Scheuer at Australian Gourmet Pages (check it out on the web) posed the question what was the major ingredient in Masterfoods Sichuan Pepper - check out the ingredient list on their website!