Snack Man – Introduction On our first visit to Brisbane in a number of years, one of the highlights of our visit was discovering Snack Man in Fortitude Valley and the story of the people behind this exciting, busy venue. First the setting. You reach Snack Man from East Street […]
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Deep in Marseille – Introduction In our story about coffee called The Fascinating Story of Coffee we wrote about how France has been very slow to embrace premium coffee. We proposed a couple of reasons that included their colonial history where many of the countries they occupied grew the less […]
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Sushi-Ya, Tokyo – Introduction Sushi-Ya is one of our favourite sushi restaurants in the city of Tokyo. Finding it is not too hard, but the entrance can be a bit difficult to detect. The chef at Sushi-Ya, Takao Ishiyama, is an expert in choosing the very freshest seafood and his […]
Antiche Carampane – Introduction Travelling to Venice is not without doubts and questioning. Should we add to the problems this beautiful city is having with the ravages of tourism? Can we “tread lightly” in the city and not add to the many problems that it is currently experiencing? These days, […]
Winestand Waltz – Introduction Winestand Waltz is a tiny natural wine bar in Shibuya run by talented Yasuhiro Ooyama who has a deep knowledge of French and Japanese natural wines. You will find it quite close to Ebisu station. You cross to a side street, walk along for a few […]
Butagumi Tokyo – Introduction We never cease to be amazed about the power of a good restaurant to help enliven you and make you want to eat, no matter what the circumstances. We had been looking forward to our lunch at Butugami for some time, but a trip to one […]
Agnes Brisbane – Introduction Agnes in Brisbane is an exciting Brisbane restaurant. In retrospect we should have made more than one booking. Hidden away at the CBD end of Fortitude Valley this restaurant is hidden away in a quiet street out of the main action. The space is relatively large […]
Automata – Introduction Automata is a sleek yet charming restaurant in the inner Sydney suburb of Chippendale serving absolutely delicious food overseen by talented chef Clayton Wells. Clayton has assembled talented staff for both the kitchen and the front-of-house. Clayton and his team turn out the beautiful food, the dining […]
Gauge Brisbane – Introduction Gauge is a very good restaurant in South Brisbane that we have enjoyed on a number of occasions including a quite recent trip prior to the latest lockdown. On this recent trip we were looking forward to our weekend lunch booking as we were meeting up […]
Miller + Baker – Introduction Miller + Baker is the first time we have written a story about a place that is both a flour mill and an excellent café and coffee house. Miller + Baker is a place that exudes a friendly atmosphere while, at the same time, being […]
Brisbane – An Introduction to Eating and Drinking Over the past decades we have made many trips to Brisbane to sample the food and drinks without being too excited about many of the venues. We have also noticed the continuous encroachment on the CBD and surrounding areas of ugly, too-high […]
Longjing tea – Introduction Our quest for finding great tea has been an ongoing obsession for many years. Whenever we have been in Asia we have sought out the best tea merchants to explore their offerings whether it be white tea, green tea, yellow tea, black tea, oolong tea or […]
Introducing the most challenging test of our warehouse business processes yet. All these wonderful wines made by @octavin.alice.bouvot are different but the labels are almost identical. Some Jura producers use the colour of the wax at the top of the bottle to provide a clue from a distance about what grape variety the wine is made from. Alice uses a similar approach but the clue is the colour of the gnome’s pants. There are also tiny hints with slightly different colours in other parts of the label. The only thing easily separating them is the lot number on the back label (the contre-étiquette in French, although technically because they have all the information about the wines and who made them, these back labels are étiquettes not contre-étiquettes).
And while the colour denotes the variety or blend it doesn’t necessarily denote the colour. The two wines with red pants are made with poulsard but one is white (direct pressed) and the other is red.
When fulfilling the offers we will be sending out soon we promise never to pick the orders with even the hint of a hangover.
If you are interested; over the next couple of weeks we will be putting the details for each wine on our website. Some are already there.
Some things are so glorious they need a permanent post. @kobi_ruz’s strawberry crepe cake is one of them. @lucindawinebar / @analiesegregory Friday lunches (the only place we know where you need to reserve ahead what you eat but can’t reserve your seat – a unique form of walk-in) is one of the very good things to have emerged from the last 20 months of upheaval.
Strawberries from @littlewoodberryfarm and elderflowers from @arundel_farm (because in this town we like knowing and sharing who grew what we eat!)
And another chance for a little public lobbying for a patisserie add-on to Lucinda.
The @agrariankitcheneatery is one of Tasmania’s must visit dining experiences. It’s essential for anyone truly interested in a local eating experience and because of that it is quite different depending on the season. That’s our excuse for trying to eat here several times a year, over and above our weekly visits to its kiosk for bread, butter and other provisions.
This meal is peak spring – so many delicious green things. Artichokes, broad beans, and asparagus were highlights, all served with sauces rich in umami from previously fermented garums, misos and other preserves. Cotechino from an aged Agrarian Kitchen pig (8 years old?) served with polenta made with corn from the same place was extraordinary. (Yes we know – if you follow this account we rave about the polenta each time we visit here but it is a benchmark. If you enjoy the glory of great polenta you need this in your life. It is its cornness that blows you away every time.) Three quite different cheeses, all made in house with tiny biscuits made with The Grain Family’s oats. Three sweet things – meyer lemon tart, blackcurrant leaf infused cream with blackcurrant granita and hazelnut and coffee biscuits.
There is a menu at the end of this sequence of photos to help describe most of what we missed but few photos to capture @__keene’s truly inspiring non alcoholic drinks we matched with this meal. One veered into something sake-like, one almost had the texture and colour that channelled Alice Bouvot’s Potion Magique (except it had bubbles) and others to blow your mind in different ways.
As always thanks to the entire team for a completely satisfying afternoon.
How good are greens?
Very good at @tmchugos.
Rocky Top Growers’ Collective (under the stewardship of @heirloomtony) with smoked pork
Lambs’ tongue in broth with laksa leaf, chives, radishes and erba stella.
Thank you to the growers and the cooks.
Despite all these photos it feels like we only captured about half of the dishes and condiments at @roughrice and @lukeburgess77’s collaboration at @the_seven_and_a_half_floor last night. The calamari and guanciale is missing, the nutty aged rice is not given due prominence, there’s nothing to document the sake and wines. But hopefully there’s enough to tempt you to try to get a seat if they do it again. That’s not easy but truly an extraordinary night if you get the chance. Thanks Luke and Adam (for the food, drinks and your insights) and our dining companions at our shared table for 10 for a unique and delicious evening.
Photos from a visit just after it opened a couple of weeks ago, @poolishandco is yet another addition to the reasons why Cygnet may be the best small town in Tasmania for the availability of good food. With Cygnet Garden Larder a few steps away, a local butcher, and @theearlybirdmarketgarden just up the road, before you even start looking further afield, it’s easy to buy good ingredients and eat well. If you’re thinking of holidaying in #Tasmania and have a romantic vision of shopping for local produce and cooking each day in this area the romance can be matched by reality.
