Top 5 Glen Innes In February 2023 I had the honour of being the guest cook at the Gourmet Fiesta at the Glen Innes Show on the Northern Tablelands of NSW. The fiesta has been the food-lovers section of the Glen Innes Show, dubbed ‘the Royal of the North’, for over 20 years, with past […]
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 […]
Top 5 Australian Fortified Wines Before modern bottling methods, wines were often fortified with grape spirit to protect them from spoiling. The different flavours this produced caught on and, by the time it was no longer necessary, there was a continuing market for these higher alcohol wines. Australian fortified wines were international stars long before […]
How do you like your pinot: black, grey, white or speckled? Sparkling, still, red, white or rosé? Perhaps a serious Burgundy or a cheeky little blanc de noir? Confused? Don’t be, here’s everything you need to know about one of the world’s most versatile (and delicious) grapes. Pinot is a very old grape variety, which […]
Forget cabernet sauvignon, shiraz and even pinot noir just for a moment. As fine as they are, there’s a whole world of grape varieties out there to explore, and many of the most widely available in Australia hail from Italy. Hardly surprising given our enduring love affair with Italian food and culture. Every region of […]
Top 5 Barossa (regional guide) Australian wine areas don’t get much more iconic than the Barossa. Without getting into too much detail, the Barossa ‘wine zone’ is divided into two official ‘wine regions’: the cooler, higher Eden Valley in the east and the warmer Barossa Valley in the west; plus a small stretch further west […]
While I’m a Sydney girl born and bred, Adelaide is my other favourite Australian city – I’ve always loved its more human scale. Perhaps it’s the diverse and picturesque wine regions on its doorstep that has led to such a serious food and wine culture. Home of the Australian Wine Research Institute, one of the […]
Forget man-made boundaries, the mighty Murray River is a natural boundary that connects Australia’s three south-eastern states. From its source in the NSW Snowy Mountains it forms much of the border with Victoria before flowing into the sea at Goolwa in South Australia. Each state has its own Murray Region, but Murray River Region guide […]
In the early ‘90s, Cheong Liew, Phillip Searle, Christine Manfield and Tim Pak Poy took the great produce on Adelaide’s doorstep and laid the foundation for the innovative restaurant scene Australia enjoys today. Then all except Cheong moved east to continue the adventure and the local scene dwindled to excellent yum cha, great coffee and […]
Top 5 Melbourne (city guide) There’s a lot to love in Melbourne – edgy modern architecture, a culture of permanent food markets, plus the likes of Attica, Vue de Monde, Andrew McConnell’s varied offerings and the MoVidas … just for starters! So how to narrow it down to just five things? Well – if I’m […]
