Thinking of something a little different to do? What about Grape Stomping? You have a chance to make some wine, have a bite to eat on the spit roast, listen to some live music & take in some wine tasting. There is even a jumping castle, face painting & colouring competition for the kids.

What: Grape Stomping at Yarra Ranges Estate
Where: 39 Coulson Rd, Monbulk, VIC
When: Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd April 2011 11am to 5pm both days
Contact: bookings are essential
Cost: $10.00

East Newcastle has an irresistible pull. It’s basically Bondi… 70 years ago.   Wide and sleepy streets are sunlit by blue unclouded weather, bikini babes and muscle cars, melting ice-cream and the perfect little beachside cafe.

A block back from the beach is Scotties, Two Flat White’s tip for breakfast or dinner if you find yourself anywhere near Newcastle Beach. With its palm-shaded courtyard nook off Scott street, Scotties has come a long way from the battered sav & scallop style of fish and chippery it once was. Professionals on their laptops sipping frothy cappuccinos in the dappled shade seem just as at home as kids in boardies with their parents lugging sandy towels and negotiating bulky strollers.

Chef Jeramie Heywood’s menu spans the spectrum of accessible comfort food to hoity toity (Hiramasa kingfish, anyone?) with a focus on seasonal produce. Our tip would be to stick to the familiar fare. The fish and chips are still great despite the raging internet review debate which asserts the batter used to be better. The breakfasts are hearty (hash browns, avocado , sourdough, bacon, poached eggs etc) and the takeaway section on the side is replete with hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fishburgers, steakburgers and lentil burgers ($7-$9.50). Plus, they make a pretty decent coffee (Two Flat Whites writers need their caffeine.)

The service is a bit docile, but if you’re not in any great hurry the location compensates, and a pleasant morning/afternoon drying out from the surf can be had munching away. Dinner is a fairy-light lit affair and the restaurant is quite popular so consider booking to secure your table.   Being seasonal, there is an element of changeability to the menu though keep an eye out for Gumbo prawns in ginger sauce or snapper salad with green mango and sweet chilli dressing.  Seafood Sunday at $25 a head is rather tempting, and a good excuse to get into their interesting wine list.

36 Scott Street
Newcastle East, 2300

Article written by Estelle Pigot.

This is the ultimate national awards program for young hospitality professionals. The Awards have garnered firm support from Australia’s culinary heavyweights with a highly acclaimed panel of judges, supporters and mentors including Guy Grossi, Chris Taylor, Peter Gilmore, Mark Best, Christine Manfield, Philip Johnson and Luke Mangan.

Searching Australia for emerging talent within the restaurant and catering industry, the Awards are more than a competition. They aim to inspire and support future industry leaders through unique educational elements, career opportunities and enviable prizes.

Application forms and further details are available online at www.appetiteforexcellence.com

Lucrative Prizes for Young Talent:

The Electrolux Young Chef and Electrolux Young Waiter Winner prize package includes:

• Sanpellegrino offers the Electrolux Young Chef National winner a once in a lifetime experience to represent Australia and compete in the famous S.Pellegrino Cooking Cup in Venice.  This is followed by a visit to the source of two of the world’s most renowned mineral waters – S.Pellegrino located in the Italian Alps and Acqua Panna positioned in the hills of Tuscany, where both the Electrolux Young Chef and Electrolux Young Waiter National Winners will experience the rich heritage, lifestyle and culture of each of the waters.
• Return overseas flights to attend the S.Pellegrino Cooking Cup and participate in two weeks work experience at a world leading restaurant overseas
• $3,000 cash to assist with travel & overseas work experience expenses
• The highly-acclaimed title and an accompanying trophy
• Media opportunities

The Electrolux Young Restaurateur Winner prize package offers:

• A unique opportunity from Sanpellegrino with an all expenses paid trip to London to attend “The S.Pellegrino Worlds 50 Best Restaurants Awards”
• Return overseas flights to attend the S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants event
• $8,000 cash to be invested in their business under the guidance of the judging panel
• Media opportunities

KEY DATES

Entries open:  21 February 2011
Applications close:  01 May 2011
National Finalist Judging (chefs & waiters):  27 June 2011
Final Judging (chefs & waiters):  28 June 2011
National finalists’ produce tour:  01 August – 07 August 2011
Young Restaurateur Judging:  08 August 2011
Winners’ announcement event:  08 August 2011

Top Awards

Vittoria Coffee Restaurant of the Year: Marque

Emirates Chef of the Year: Martin Benn (Sepia)

Plumm Wine Glasses Best New Restaurant: Manly Pavilion

Navman Best Regional Restaurant: Lochiel House, Kurrajong Heights

Star City Professional Excellence Award: Peter Doyle (est.)

The Sydney Morning Herald Silver Service Award: Alon Sharman (Arras)

Louis Roederer Sommelier of the Year: Matthew Dunne (Aria)

Brown Brothers Wine List of the Year: Rockpool Bar & Grill

Small wine list of the year: Spice Temple

Regional Wine List of the Year: Margan (Broke)

The Josephine Pignolet Best Young Chef: Jason Saxby (Quay)

Vittoria Legend Award: Michael McMahon (Catalina)

Sydney Fish Market Best Seafood Restaurant: Fish Face

Dan Murphy’s Best BYO Restaurant: Il Perugino

Coopers Sustainability Award: Margan (Broke)

iPhone App People’s Choice Award: Tetsuya’s

(more…)

There’s a little place you need to know about.

La Boheme, in Grote St, Adelaide, was once a tobacconist and is now a perfect little salon replete with cabaret shows, gentle live music and a witty cocktail selection to make you cry ooh-la-la.

Cheeky burlesque on school nights, funk tunes spun from decks perched on piano tops on the weekend and local artists hang their work on the damask papered walls. Yes, it’s nothing if it’s not bohemian.

This intimate little, shabby chic distraction is Adelaide’s slice of gay Paris. While the clever staff shake up an American Beauty or an Absolut Hulk ($15), they will banter and flirt you into giddy smiles.

With a wear-worn chesterfield that stretches the length of the room, a rockabilly barman who hands you your receipt complete with a rose for the lady and a French-singing guitarist, there’s nowhere else you would rather sip absinthe in the city of churches.

36 Grote Street
Adelaide SA 5000

Article written by Estelle Pigot

StreetSmart tackles homelessness at the grassroots. They are a unique bridge between the community and small, ‘hard to reach’ agencies and projects that assist people experiencing homelessness or at risk. They support critical services and emergency aid as well as projects that promote social inclusion, empowerment and sustainable change for people who are homeless. When money is raised from the public through our ‘dine out …help out’ fundraising events, 100 per cent of donations are distributed in the form of grants. To date they have raised and distributed over $1,180,000 to 272 grassroots projects.

When you dine at a participating restaurant they add an extra $2 to your bill. It’s not much but it’s a simple idea that adds up to a big impact on the lives of people who are homeless. This campaign runs until the 24th December so whether you’re planning a business meeting, an early Christmas dinner or just a catch up with good friends, we ask that you think about choosing one of the participating restaurants.

To find a full list of restaurants & to find out more about the great causes your money helps support, visit streetsmartaustralia.org

Chocolate is not something normally associated with an ethical stance. It has long been the guilty pleasure snuck late at night in darkened kitchens, or secretly indulged in from a stash in the office drawers. It’s a food steeped in sin for being decadent, delicious and often the subject of glutinous greed.

But Rebecca Kerswell, owner of Coco Chocolate, is an artist who works in the medium of chocolate and she is championing ethical production and good taste with her strictly regulated standards of production.   From her boutique shops in Kirribilli, Mosman and Edinburgh, Rebecca produces organic, GM free, gluten free, vegan, and fair-trade chocolate. You practically become a better person just by eating it! Read the rest of Estelles article about Coco Chocolate»

In the 1920s, a new Sydneysider was born. She smoked, she drank and she danced at the Strawberry Hills Hotel, then called the Southern Cross and newly refurbished in Art Deco style – and listened to the ‘new’ jazz.

It is only appropriate that a little of the glamour of that flapper era is retained in the newly restored Strawberry Hills Hotel, which has now re-opened. You can see it in the art deco windows, the twenties style pub tiles and the State Theatre carpet which takes you upstairs to the hotel’s bistro and decked garden.

It’s six million dollar renovation of its nineteenth century premises in Sydney’s Surry Hills  is the hotel’s first major restoration since it was redesigned in 1921 by then renowned hotel architect, Sidney Warden. According to the hotel’s general manager, Brenden Lawless, the refurbished hotel is ‘deliberately a classic pub, not a bar with an identity crisis’.

The restoration has transformed one of the inner city’s largest pubs into a mixture of 1920s glamour and modern ease, with a stunning second floor beer garden, an outrageously glitzy ‘original Vegas’ gaming room and an atrium of large glass windows for light and air flow.  And the hotel, which has a 24 hour licence, will open its doors with a refreshing attitude, serving gourmet cuisine at bistro prices

What: Strawberry Hills Hotel
Where: 453 Elizabeth St (on the corner of Devonshire St), Surry Hills NSW
When: Open now
How: or

How do you experience the esteemed Yarra Valley wineries if you’re broke and don’t drive?  Now there’s a dilemma many students philosophise over as they recline into their second-hand couches sipping three-dollar merlot.  Most decide that it’s not possible, that it’s an experience reserved for the wealthy, and recline further – resigning to live vicariously through an episode of Getaway .  I am one of those broke students with no car.  Luckily (?!) for me I have one of those darling girlfriends who just loooves an adventure; the more ambitious, the better.  Now throw in a couple of recently purchased second hand push-bikes to the mix and I was faced with the recipe for a beautiful disaster; its bittersweet taste not easily forgotten.

The toasty interior of the Flinders to Lilydale train allowed a temporary escape from the harsh reality of Melbourne’s furious winds outside.  At bang on midday we sat down at Danielle’s Cafe (conveniently located directly opposite Lilydale train station) with a map marking the wineries around the region.  With well over 50 estates within a 30 kilometre radius, we sought the advice of the friendly blokes at Yarra Valley Cycles (conveniently located two doors down from the cafe).  They drew a few squiggles and wished us luck.  A quick gulp of Danielle’s enlivening latte, a cautious glance at the brooding weather clouds overhead and we were off:  pedalling down the B300 highway at the steady pace of 11 km/h, alongside the thunderous cavalcade of hurtling trucks and semi-trailers blowing their warm welcome of horns and jeers.  Viva la adventure!

Read more about the Yarra Valley»

Do you remember the floury golden goodness of the pastry treats of your youth? You know… when you used to eat carbs.

Fingers of gooey dough, studded with raisins and lashings of pink icing. Custardy slices, strawberry and mock cream-stuffed neenish tarts, what next is the question… rich gentlemen have it, boys, in-di-gestion!

Sorry, Oliver aside, we do want more but then there seems to be a drought in Sydney. We will now refer to it as The Great Cake Shop Drought and, I’m afraid, it ushered in the canary-yellow, crumbly, hardened pastry that has permeated suburbia.  I’m sure I don’t need to remind you this has been followed by heavy, too-floury cupcakes, soggy pastry, thin icing, sickly-sweet aerated cream-substitute and a general reduction of apple filling all round. Read all about The Great Aussie Cake Shop»