Magill Estate can be found at the home of Penfolds – only a short cab ride from Adelaide city. As we taxi up the long vine-bordered driveway, the excitement is building. It’s not the sort of place you go every week, or even every month for that matter – the last time I’d been was just after it re-opened in its current form.
The occasion is my friend’s Read more
I’ve had quite a few degustations in my gastronomic travels, and most of them have been excellent, but there’s excellent and then there’s memorable. And in the truly memorable category, there’s only a small number – and this is one of those. Up there with Brae, Momofuku Seiobo, Orana Read more
Given that the Australian Gourmet Traveller 2016 Top 100 list was released last week, I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on my Top 100 Quest for 2015. And what a year it was – a year of travelling and dining that culminated in my story being published in the current (September) edition of the Gourmet Traveller magazine, and an invitation to the Gourmet Traveller National Restaurant Awards night where Read more
When you walk into the ground floor atrium area of Print Hall, you can’t help but be impressed with the sheer size of the place, the feeling of spaciousness, and the long, long bar that stretches down the middle. Set back from St Georges Terrace this old Newspaper House is a heritage listed building. It’s simply huge, with four levels Read more
Restaurant Amusé opened in 2007 and it’s remained on the Gourmet Traveller Top 100 list for some years now so it was time I finally went. As you pull up outside, you wonder if you’re in the right place. It looks like a suburban house, and it’s only when you look closer that you see the ‘Restaurant Amusé’ wording to the left of the front door. And yes, it is ‘homey’ – owners Hadleigh and Carolynne Troy used to actually live on the premises and they wanted a restaurant where people felt like they were a guest Read more
Some months ago, a friend and I embarked on a Top 100 tour of regional Victoria. After going to four fantastic restaurants in a row and having some of the best dining experiences I’ve ever had, I was wondering how good Lake House could possibly be – it was the last destination of the trip, and maybe I’d had too much good food within too short a time (is there such a problem?). I thought Read more
As you’re walking up the stairs to an unmarked door, you start to wonder if you’re in the right place. With its lack of door signage and flaking paint, it’s not the usual entrance to a restaurant that’s made the Gourmet Traveller Top 100 list. Walking in, you find yourself in a sparse, industrial space featuring grey, grey and more grey. There’s an impressive feature Read more
Firedoor is the hottest new place in Sydney, and not just because all of their food is cooked over hot wood charcoal or in the flaming furnace. Firedoor boasts 10 different woods that they use for their cooking, including ironbark, mallee root, pecan, pear, and grapevine. Different woods are matched to particular ingredients based on their unique properties. For example, grapevine burns a rich Read more
What do ice plant, sea blight, kutjera, lemon aspen, gubinge, codium, karkalla and sea purslane have in common? Give up? OK, I’ll tell you – they’re all Australian ingredients and you’ll find them all, and many more, on Orana’s current menu. The mastermind behind bringing all of these things (that mostly grow out in the wild) to our tables is Jock Zonfrillo, formerly of Magill Estate.
Orana is an Aboriginal word that means Read more
There are two places that have opened up in Hobart relatively recently – there’s ‘Frank’ and there’s ‘Franklin’. With similar names and a short walking distance between, for the less informed, it’s easy to get the two confused – but they are very different places. Frank Restaurant, on Franklin Wharf, touts South American influenced dining (I can’t make comment on the food as I’ve only been in for a drink), but here, I’m talking about Franklin Read more
Jacqui's Food Fetish 