ozmouse

i have just been reminded i am going to the regent theatre in 2 weeks time (kd lang concert), and will be doing dinner that night! ezards is nice and close, being one street over. but alas, i dont think combining dinner and show will not do the restaurant justice. should i just go early enjoy 2 courses (one of them the hock) and 2 glasses of wine and shoot thru? or save the meal as the evening attraction in itself? if not ezard, any other suggestions for before show dinner. im also thinking, arjinti @ fed square. others that come to mind, verge, european and punch lane, are all theoritically a bit far away. summer in melbourne... great time of the year! ps for those interested ezard's website

FiFi .... how can you do that... leave us hanging.... WHAT IS THE WINERY/LABEL!! Of course, i am assuming you cant remember, hence the exclusion of the name! LOL

once the domestic artisan salt producers were available i have stopped buying imported salt. (but i do love the grey Sel de Gurende, and have not found the local equivalent for that.) my palate is not that refined to tell alot of difference, so for me the decision is more to buy australian. but i am not unhappy with the product i currently have in the house horizon salt flakes Horizon Salt Dry flaky like maldon. I notice on the box it says it is organic! doG i hope so. pretty hard to screw up good salt is'nt. what next GM salt? i have tried pyramid and murray pink. and another one that does not come to mind. all very acceptable imo. Cheetham salt (makers of saxa) have also put out a premium pure (no additives) salt flake. And tried it and it was good. but from memory it was similar price to these other mobs, so i when for the small company instead of corporate. but if it is the only flakes on the shelf at safeway, that will be the salt of choice.

i must do this restaurant!! yes is'nt it good when a sommelier actually does his job. I too have had some very good experiences with sommeliers, and will rely on there recommendations. but good ones are far and few between. as for the paringa... dont know what the 2001 tastes like, but you cant go wrong with that!! one of my favourite pinots in victoria (or oz for that matter)

food might be a adventuresome as tetusaya's. but is the restaurant/service that formal or refined? i was considering ezard's for a private dinner, but passed on atmosphere and the food would be to way out for some of my guests. ( i had to keep reminding myself the dinner was not for me, but someone else's birthday!) yes i keep hearing about this pork hock!!! and i noticed the pork belly on the tasting menu.. YUM. i love pork. and the modern asian treatments are the best. after having some good old fashion organic pork in bali, and kindling the memory bank about what pork is meant to taste like, i have been on a pork craving ever since. the white meat at safeway does'nt do it for me. pork produced by artisanal growers and handled by our good chefs do the trick. the best dish of recent memory was a refried pork hock dish at longrain in sydney. ...yes ezards is on my list

So are we better - who knows - who cares - but you might want to try a good handcrafted or even better handpulled beer next time you are down under - and they won't be like Fosters or Moosehead - you might have to search for it but they seem to be here to stay. ← i agree with Tim, there has been a recent surge in new beer labels, that are quite niche marketed. not by the marketing dept, but good brewers. I know alot of them always faced supply demand problems when one of the labels takes off becuase of a trend. In addition to the labels listed by Tim, I will add the seasonal range of beers by cascade (1 per season) as well as Boags. Boags, cascade (not the heavy) and coopers are usually in my fridge. I usually try a new label everytime im at the store. Coopers has an vinage extra strong ale out now 7.5% alcohol! not one to slam down quickly. I did not know the coopers/jackson connection. (learn something new on egullet everyday!) When i first arrived in the country, the majority of beer avail was not like a canadian pilsner. alot of bitter ales - vic, melb, xxx et al. I know i was'nt drinking many of those. but they have fallen by the wayside abit for more pilsners. What is the top selling/ beer in aus?? good question? or top ten.... anybody know? Tim mentioned the imported labels. yes when they arrived on the market, eveyone was putting there nose up at the expensive snobby beers. alot of parocial talk around the barbies!! They too have taken a big junk of the market (globalization again). Is'nt heineken a sponsor of the australian open? So that is a question i have? Why are the 'premium' imported beers cheaper than our domestic premuims? oh yeah... caffery's (sp?) on tap at the irish pubs is DELISH!

Indeed it was only last week in epicure. The Age Epicure - jan 18th and the same story is repeated in the saturday australian page 3

Now that is a great question, and perfect foil to balance the to and fro we are trying to communicate. I agree with you 100%! Tim for Minister of Food portfolio i say! diplomat and food raconteur! yes i do have the book tim. and yes i am well aware of the culinary desert -bonbeach- i am living in. the food shops are woeful. (note to self: remember you are 5 houses from the beach!) i used to live in mentone (sunbeam bakery & turkish shops for bread) , and while that was not the best, i was just closer to the suburbs i usually shopped in. sigh i remember the days FOODCHAIN was in church street Brighton. I could walk into there, and they had almost everything you wanted (albeit expensive). And if they did not, talk to dept mgr and special order 24/48 hours! I knew they would be not last within 2 months of opening. I was just too good!!!

i had friends from california visit me in melbourne australia. They lovingly carried a merlot all the way with them from home.... .... only to proceed to drop it on the front door steps!! the nose was beautiful! another time we packed 2 cases of wine with us when travelling from melbourne to vancouver. they survived 2 change of planes in sydney and hawaii... ... only for us to watch it come out at the vancouver airport special baggage chute and slide and hit precisely on the corner. one broken bottle of barossa shiraz!!! it just slowly oozed out into a nice puddle, and we proceeded to leave a trail all the way to the parking lot! sigh......

i think you make some valid points cns. (most certainly about the east coast! oops!) I laughed when i read about your limes. Yes that is true, why are limes so expensive here? Well i dont know. 10 years ago, you could hardly by them! I was thinking of starting a lime farm when i first immigrated. that was right beside my blueberry farm as well! lol i went shopping for my limes at an asian market here in melbourne on sat. bought in bulk ie 20 large limes and they were 40cents each. marked price was 80c each. i spoke with the store owner and swung the deal. but yes they are more expensive elsewhere and seasonal. when they are... i dont buy! simple. also your point about beef is very true. canada has beautiful beef, so it will always be a tough comparison! (similar to the point i made re seafood in sydney) As someone said before earlier, alot of the good stuff gets exported. indeed some of the 'export quality' stuff sitting in stryofoam trays at safeway is better than the stuff at the butchers. i travel to specific butchers for beef. I suggest you source a similar butcher in adelaide! I also travelled to a different market to buy my chorizo on the weekend. did you want it fresh or dried? as for wine how is this for parochial.. i only try to buy victorian!! but that is only because i am trying to educate my palate as much as i can on these regions, vintage to vintage. of course i taste lots of other wines along the way for comparison, but i have to start somewhere with regards to education. but chiliean friends of mine only buy chilean! so everyone can find their niche. CNS, you have pointed out some of the best and worst both australia and canada has to offer. As a general comment, I like to think the produce here is better. but is has improved 500% in the last 10 years. but as you point out, there is alot, and i mean alot, of very average or below average produce around. i dont buy it. i dont frequent those shops. I travel to buy the best i can. As you point out, it is more expensive than the rest, but i think the crime is paying for the price for the average stuff. would like to write more, but time is against me. last saturday's shopping list claringbolds seafood - prahan market - sashimi Michael Mow's- prahan market - dutch cream and kipfler potatoes,tasmanian onions, organic garlic cleo's deli - prahan market - chorizo sausage franks bakery - elsternwick - sourdough rye springvale market- limes, produce and fruit (case of mangoes $14!), BBQ duck balkan butchers - springvale - sausages, cold cuts. last sunday afternoon Cafe Taglio - st kilda - thin crust pizza - broccoli, pine nut & lemon and a ricotta, roast eggplant & pancetta Cacao - st kilda - choclatier ps anybody with leads to good providores bayside/frankston area i'm ready to here about them! i spend too much time on the road....

stovetop, some good points about seafood. why is that? i dont have the answers im afraid. but i did'nt think they exported pike?! I at so much of it growing up in Manitoba.... who would have it!! similar paradoxes re fish marketing exist here - While praising the quality of seafood in sydneytown, here in melbourne it is woeful (imo). so even though the 2 cities are both on the water, why the difference in the quality of the produce? like you say, you have to work hard in any city to find good produce and provediores. i put 55 kms on the car last saturday travelling to my suppliers of choice here in melb. and yes, seattle's pike market is one nice market.

what did u mean by that statement plc? are you saying melbourne and vancouvers food cultures are so similar they could be sister cities? from what i remember melbourne and vancouver keep vying for top spot as the 'most liveable' city in the world. i have to agree, both cities are easy to live in. (but we win on food!!!! )

tough words fifi. i dont think the situation is that bad in vancouver. every city has its pluses and minuses when granville first opened it was a unique marketing experience, and indeed it did have some endearing food & wine features. but i think we should remember it is probably more a tourist attraction now than it is food market. so as such, i dont expect the best produce from it. nor do i judge the city produce by that market alone. From my experience, sydney is unique in the world, and enjoys some of the best seafood in the world. So any city will come up short. So count your blessing there! I laughed out loud at your comments on the liquour stores!! yes there are a unique experience are'nt they. There is alot of room for wine education in Canada. It is the only place I know where you buy wine categorized by a number representing sugar levels. But from what i hear, it is recent history here in Oz that wine education was limited to sweet white and flagon port.

hi folks. chased you down on the vancouver board steve!! i posted to the aussie board. here is the link my diatribe will have to try and reply to here. more lively discussion going on here. cheers ozmouse

I say on the day trip to Bondi, stop in to Icebergs for a drink. Stunning location! I have only nibbled and drank in the bar, but from all accounts the restaurant delivers food that matches the location icebergs dining room and bar

And i waive the Crown factor for Cecconini's as well. Not cheap, but enjoyable dining imo.

hmmm interesting question stephen. it will be interesting to see the responses you get. my only qualification for commenting is that I used to live in Vancouver. but that was 20 years ago, but have visited more than a couple times during that time. now living in Melbourne. Interested in the topic as a general foodie/cook. generally your comments about sharing the common points is valid. but I also noticed you also restricted the comparison to the 'great restaurants'. that being the case, I would agree the cuisines between the 2 cultures are similar because they are also driven by international food trends. This would apply to most of the 'great restaurants of the world' - a result of globalization. . (i.e. good Thai food can be made anyway in the world now, not just Thailand) The differences would come from the chef's vision, or indigenous ingredients only. I also note you are comparing 'our cuisine' to 'modern Australian'. I am assuming you are making a general reference to 'pacific rim' cuisine here. yes/no? the point I would like to make here is you are comparing east coast Canada to all of Australia. you did not compare modern Canadian to modern Australian. that being said, Australia is a big place (similar size to continental USA), albeit with a smaller population, and the cuisine of tropical Australia is quite different to Sydney and Melbourne for example. similar to differences between Vancouver and Montreal I assume. So I guess all i'm saying Australia does have regional cuisines, some of it modern, and not necessarily all pacific rim. but I still think there are great differences between the 2 countries with regards to general restaurant industry or dining out. Quite different industry structure with the distinct absence of chain restaurants here in Oz. (only a recent phenomenon at the fast food end of the scale). As tough as the industry is, we have a healthy industry of independent restaurants. We also have very vibrant ethnic communities (new and not so new) that impact strongly on everyday eating in Australia. Not just dining out, but cooking in the home has changed dramatically in the past 20-30 years. And while Vancouver/Canada’s ethnic communities have impacted there, the biggest impact would be from America imo. And we have avoided that (in the past). One of the biggest differences I see, is we still have great access to fresh raw materials outside of the corporate grocery store chain. And I am not just taking about trendy farmer’s markets for foodies in the major cities. Every small town or suburb of oz has an independent butcher, fishmonger, poultry shop, and fruit & veggie shop. I am not saying it is the best or cheapest produce, but it is from independent shops. Albeit I recognize this is changing in our modern world. We also import very little to this country (again that is changing… I hear Philippine bananas is the latest imported commodity!). So that being said, we enjoy great seasonal variety in our produce, from our small enterprising primary producers. In Vancouver you can get pineapple from Hawaii, grapes from Chile, oranges from Florida everyday of the week etc. This difference would impact on our cuisines greatly. My apologizies, I have deviated greatly from the initial question about our great restaurants. Our greatest similarities exist in our ‘great restaurants;. Our greatest differences are outside of those establishments. So for every similarity, there are many differences. What I do recognize Australia is one of the luckiest countries in the world with regards to clean, high quality and reasonably priced produce, with a healthy independent restaurant industry. And yes, I would say, luckier than Canada. cheers ozmouse

all those restuarants above are a great snap shot of melbourne! i would add a trip to the Victoria or Prahan Markets, or one of the ethnic areas (footscray or springvale) for a close up view of all our markets and ethnic neighborhoods. (fish markets in sydney) While i am not a asian/chinese expert, i find melbourne's chinatown delivers some of the best yum cha around (including some experiences in hong kong!). a unique experience for thouse not use to it. and concur with brent's comment's as well. i take all my international visitors to the 'bush', and it always has a food destination. chris's@skene's creek comes to mind - brown brothers winery, Simone's in bright, de bortoli's in Yarra Valley. (and of course....sigh.... sunnybrae@birreugerra ... when it was still running!) regardless... you will be blown away at the style of australian cuisine (not to mention the value) and i too concur, melbourne will deliver your best overall food experiences. (but im biased!) enjoy your trip

yes that is true. i have seen those books. thought it was a good idea at the time, as they first came out awhile back (before any of the donna hay/ maire claire et al). i thought they were valid for new cooks looking for quick easy recipes. not too mention they were healthy. funny comments about the other cookbook! LOL i guess we have to remember people do pick up cookbooks for many reasons. it sounds like that one was written for theoritical dogma as opposed to advancing the cuisine!? And more to the point, many readers do not know how to cook, and pick books up like text books.

i concur with your comments. i have no idea how good the recipes are. and indeed, they are in the same vein as many of the other fashionable cookbooks available today. in this case, he adds his spin of travel tales and the sporting angle. so he is just as credible putting out a cookbook as many of the others out there imo. times are a changin eh.... cricketers publishing cookbooks....

mau and pan you have reminded me of 2 more.... yes the fried rice from legian snacks opposite the logi grocery store in legian. we would leave the pool deck of the Padma walk all thru the property and order nasi goreng and bring it back for afternoon snacks, instead of pool service. our poolside neighbours were so envious! i also think that mystery ingredient is what they call the 'breath of the wok' (or is is whisper!?). they can get their commerical cookers much hotter than our domestic gas stoves. that and the carmalization of that sweet soya as you say. that it the secret to the perfect fried rice i think, because i cant do it at home. and mangosteens! i had never had them before. and since the local varieties here in oz are obvviously picked to early, because they do not have the lushiness of the ones i tasted in bali. i missed out on the suckling pig pan. it was on my list, but just never got to try it. next time!! also the bananas were great!!! yummmm

I would like to organize a special lunch in Sydney in January. I'm flying up a special friend for the day for her 40th birthday. Combination of special birthday, good food and wine with spectacular location is what i am visualizing. I guess my short list is including Icebergs Bather's Pavillion Aria The order is probably my percieved order of choice. I dont necessairly want it to be that formal. Is aria not the most formal of the 3? Any others to consider for water side dining? Maybe something as relaxed as rent a boat and have prawn and champagne on garden island?? I guess i would love to go to Tetsusya's as well. but you will have to convince me to give up the daytime view as well. Anything thoughts folks?

i did'nt get any cookbooks for xmas for the first time in many years. but my situation has changed at home, so that has more to do with it than anything. out of the current releases i flipped thru, i certainly fell in love with Cloudberries as well. also Plenty by Gay Bilson. Lately im getting away from cookbooks, and going for food literature. I just finished reading Advanced Australian Fare by Stephen Downes. Great read on the history of restauranting in the past 30 years in oz. It was so interesting reading all the big names and in most cases, very humble beginnings. shows how far we've come in a very short time. Also read Celebrazione! by michael harden. it is the history of the debortoli family. Again, I enjoyed reading all about the recent history of the oz wine industry revolvin around one ethnic family. i also have the 'grossi Florentino' book. have not read it yet, it is sitting there next.... as for the comments about Matthem Hayden's new book. I scoffed at it when i first saw it. Just another rip off book. But then when you flip thru it, it would appear he is a bit of a foodie and whenever he travels he maximizes his experiences around food. (lucky bugger!) Like someone else said, if it gets someone into the kitchen.....

I am a new member, but quickly reading thru some of the forum, i was surprised not to find a topic on bali. I am also a new visitor to Bali. But i was so blown away by my food experiences on this enchanted island, it made my trip even more enjoyable. I just was not expecting it. Some of my highlights: a beautiful evening of dining at 'Ku De Ta'. Beautiful setting on the ocean, superb service and the food i had was also above the mark. BBQ seafood was extravagant for 1 diner and the rice noodle salad was perfect for the tropical climate. i also remember the music wafting out of the speaker thru the warm night air. another beautiful evening of dining at 'The Dining Room'. while the food was not that memorable, the garden setting in the open air paviliion with hundreds of candles burning around you was unforgettable. a potato salad with feta cheese at Tekor on the beach. i also seem to have prawn cocktails with chili/tomatoe sauce every second night. at approx $2/3 a go, it was fun to compare the different restaurants efforts at this retro classic. going on a market tour and seeing the fresh pork still warm from slaughter. no white farmed meat here... red coloured organic flesh with at least an inch of fat on it. after seeing it and cooking it at the cooking class following, i end up eating pork for the rest of the week. good ol fashion pork taste i can remember from the farm. still living on tha memory 6 months later. and of course the ice cold bintangs.... anybody else have some great food memories from bali?

i have to add Frank's bakery, glenhuntly rd glenhuntly. sourdough rye at its finest!