Share my favourite restaurants, chefs, dishes, ingredients, provedores, recipes and cooking hacks, in these Top 5 food lists.
Top 5 English Cheeses With ample rolling green hills perfect for grazing livestock, England had a rich tradition of farmhouse cheesemaking from Roman times until WWII. Over 90% of traditional cheesemaking ceased with the centralized food production introduced during the war years, but thankfully England’s most famous cheeses survived and many more have been resurrected […]
Top 5 Persian Food & Culture Persian is one of the world’s oldest and most sophisticated cultures and cuisines. Aqueducts built around 3,000 years ago are still used to grow produce in the arid interior of modern-day Iran, and 2,000-year-old buildings, used to keep ice frozen through summer for drinks and desserts, are still standing. […]
Top 5Country Pubs Pubs are a great part of Australian culture, egalitarian spaces where tradies and CEOs drink side-by-side and everyone feels at home. In the old days there was a public bar for the blokes and a ladies’ lounge for the gals, with no cross-pollination. Today’s public bars welcome anyone who enjoys gaming and […]
Given how ubiquitous they are today, it’s hard to believe it was the late ‘70s before Sydney’s first Thai restaurants opened. Now suburbs are awash with cheap-and-cheerful spots churning out repetitive menus of fish cakes, red and green curries, and pad Thai. However, thanks to legends like Amy Chanta and David Thompson who pioneered authentic […]
Sometimes (OK, often) what I drink is as important as what I eat – and sometimes it’s more important. The eats still have to be good of course (and inclusion on this list is in no way an indictment of the food at these establishments), but sometimes I just feel like grazing my way through […]
The inner western suburb of Petersham is Sydney’s ‘Little Portugal’ – with everything you need for a vicarious Portuguese gourmet tour in a short strip of New Canterbury Road. There’s a butcher, a baker, a deli, liquor store and authentic Portuguese chicken shop. Here’s where to stock up on Sydney’s best Portuguese food and drink. […]
Before refrigeration and modern transport, especially in remote mountain regions like the Alps, butter-making and cheesemaking were important ways of preserving milk. Large, cooked, well-pressed wheels, with as much whey as possible extracted, had a long shelf life and could survive the journey to distant markets. Some of Italy’s best known cow’s milk cheeses are […]
Sometimes half the fun of cooking can be exploring specialty stores full of exotic Ingredients – it’s like a mini holiday to a distant land. Apart from the dizzying array of spices, Indian food shops are a wonderful place to discover the vast array of rice (and rice products), legumes and condiments used in […]
Top 5 Vegetarian Menus Have you noticed how ‘plant-based menus’ have replaced ‘vegetarian menus’? It makes sense; while vegetarian smacks of mung beans and anaemic-looking hippies – plant-based speaks to concern for the planet’s limited resources and our own well-being. Vegetarian is a lifestyle but plant-based is just a menu option. Far from being fringe, […]
Top 5 Vegetarian Recipes I was vegetarian for many years … until I married the world’s biggest carnivore and started writing restaurant reviews and news. I guess it just became easier to eat meat (especially as Franz did a lot of the cooking) and I do enjoy some meat dishes now. But I also still […]
