Niall

Charles Melton from the Barossa makes a Pinot Meunier varietal.. I have two bottles but have yet to try them.

Lychee icecream. It's what I eat when the little lady is eating her durian icecream on the balcony. puree lychees (As much as they will) and add to favourite plain or mango icecream recipe. And after Mr Balic's suggestion of Coconut custard; I might try using coconut cream in an icecream recipe and throw the lychees in there.

If you can you should get to the GPO Cheese room in the city; its downstairs in 1 Martin place; they should have a good selection, although I haven't been there since 4 months ago. And I agree with you about wolfies; it's gone downhill a lot in the last few years. If you feel up for some pub grub, you should visit The Lord Nelson in the rocks; the food there is pretty good, and they make their own beers; I'm quite fond of the Old Admiral, a nice ale.

Lillipilli on King does some good bush tucker type stuff. They have also opened a more touristy version of lillipilli in the centre of Sydney. Apparently a lillipilly and riberry are the same thing. I ate at lillipilli on king about two years and I enjoyed it (but can't remember what I had). I haven't eaten at the rocks one. I've had a look at my restaurant guides and the phone books, and can't find any mention of riberries though.

Proof of this can be seen in the alcohol %. In Ireland it is 4.1% alc if memory serves correctly. In Australia in is 4.8%, cos over here less than that is a girls beer.. or something like that. And there is a definite taste difference in Guinness internationally; A large part of that is the way the pubs keep the taps, lines and gas. Its not too hard to get a crap pint in Ireland. A lot of it is local breweries. Cold guinness is okay, but not as good as a regular pint poured by my mum.

For Chinese seafod, try East Ocean and Golden Century in Chinatown, or Yings on the Lower North Shore. Or if you have self catering accomodation, head down to the fish markets and pick up a couple of live mud crabs. I had a very feisty one for Christmas dinner; He was still active after over an hour in the freezer! As for what else is good; see the anniversary vacation in Sydney thread. Add Buon Riccordo to the Italian list; I was there just before Christmas and the food was fantastic. All of those lists could just keep going. When you touch down grab a copy of the Good Food Guide.

I make mine by hand; using just plain flour; I was lucky enough to get to a class run by Steve Manfredi, who is one of sydney's best italian chefs ( He used to own Bel mondo), and since then I've never had any problems. I use an atlas pasta machine. when I'm keeping it I just let it air dry over a towel rack, and I've kept it for up to 2 months without any probs.

Wrapped in tinfoil in a sandwich press works for me. Same result as putting it in a pan, except the top and bottom get done at the same time, and the tinfoil minimises the cleaning up.

You could try the Seppelt Original Sparkling Shiraz for a typical aussie bubbly shiraz, The Rockford Black or Jenke Kalte Ente for best of type. Or the D'Arenberg Peppermint Paddock Sparkling Chambourcin for the one of the best non shiraz sparkling reds.

I'm with the heating the milk/cream and butter before mashing. And baking the potatoes rather than steaming leves even more starch and less moisture.. all the better to get as much cream and butter absorbed as possible.. And sometime I skip the cream and butter an just add a really good olive oil and some finely sliced garlic. Yum Yum. Other times I use milk, butter and a raw egg to mix it all up. also delish. And I use a hand blender/ wand thingy to do the mashing.

And of course Quay was this years Sydney Morning Herald restaurant of the year. If you have difficulty getting a booking there try Guillaume at Bennelong. It's in the small "sail" on the opera house and is very good. All of the other recommendations made so far are great... but just a couple of places to avoid are Cafe Sydney, the Summit and the restaurants in Centrepoint tower.

They do sound like good pairings. The fox creek is a particularily good wine. Despite what baphie said, although it is a different sparkling red from the normal sparkling shiraz. The Chateau reynella does make a fantastic pairing with chocolate and nuts, and most cheeses would be overpowered by it. It does go well with strong cheddars, edams etc. I usually just drink my tawnies with a shot of espresso, machiato or ristretto..

That is a pretty good wine; But at USD$46 its a bit pricey; Its normally about AU$32. I don't buy that much of their reds; their eden valley Sauv Blanc and Clare valley riesling are amazing. I had some of the 2000 cabernet about 6 months ago; I didn't keep any tasting notes, but from what I remember its a fairly typical coonawarra cabernet; its a completely new world wine. It was drinking quite well then, but will probably be better in about 4-5 years. Here is their website.

Chocolate. Icecream. Both.

Apparently the fosters in Engerland is nothing like the shit drink here. Back home (Ireland), there was a shop own brand beer; Yellow Label Lager. Disgusting. Slightly cheaper than fosters. the Uni students in Maynooth used to buy it by the trolley load for parties. I had better parties; I went for the sparkling cider. A cheaper faster brand of pissed.

About a week ago ordered the Howard park Riesling with screwcap in a restaurant. The waitress had difficulty opening the screwcap.

Thanks Guys; We have a self catering apartment for the time we are down there, so we will do our best to get to the markets for at least one night; we were planning on getting to the MvLaren Vale, so Star of Greece for lunch will probably be happening. Unfortunately we've just bought a new car; so the budget might not extend to Grange this time. Ta Niall

HI, I'll be in the city of the churches from next wednesday to sunday and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for eating places; We'll be staying in the city centre, but will hopefully be visiting the Adelaide hills, Mclaren vale and either the Clare valley or the Barossa. Ta Niall

A couple here: An aussie brew called Carlton Black; a stout that tasted like a mix of Bad stout, bad coffee and sugar. The obvoius Budweiser. No taste, but a disgusting aftertaste. I used to drink it when I was little.

I've been using an Icel 10" for about two years now; I like the feel and weight of it. My other half has a 4 year old Mundial 10", and the Icel holds it's edge for much longer, although both get the same treatment. The Mundial will need to be replaced soon; the rivets are starting to protrude from the handle; maybe time to get a Wusthoff.

Winepool is an aussie site that has basic descriptions of what food would go with the wines; the wine range is appalling though; but it may help.

I make my own boards aswell... Usually out of an Australian Hardwood called Jarrah or American Myrtle. Although I do have a couple of plastic boards. The last one I made was about 50cm by 25cm by 3cm; it cost me about AU$15 (about US$8). As far as hygiene goes, there is no reason to not use wood; I just scrub mine with very hot water and steel wool. About once a year I sand them down and re-oil them. And I haven't poisoned anyone yet.

We also keep Asparagus and fresh herbs with their ends in a glass of water and wrapped in a plastic bag. They seem to last longer and be fresher.

This is the Fox Creek Cab Shiraz blend. Very yummy.

Sparkling Shiraz and Chambourcin are both fantastic. Sparkling Merlot is a bit so-so. There are quite a few bubbly reds on the Aussie market at the moment; some are very good; my favourite Shirazes are Pattersons and Majella. Fox Creek do a good Cab Shiraz. Seppelt and Yellowglen do some drinkable cheap shirazes. D'Arenberg and Petersons both do a good bubly chambourcin Nicks is an Aussie website that will dleiver to the US, but it's prices aren't competitive locally.