Memories of Melbourne
Seeing Nigella up close revealed her warm generous personality (and beautiful skin); the spice skills of London chef Atul Kochhar opened a new world of flavour and Spanish molecular gastronomy chef Elena Arzak were just three highlights. Not to forget Roy Choi the hip LA Chef who uses social media for his travelling food truck, and Thorsten Schmidt the Danish chef with a foraging theme.
The bonus is that Melbourne is such a foodie city (a lot like Wellington in so many ways) it's always a culinary adventure to just be there.
So here are my random memories from my mid March visit
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Attica and chef Ben Shewry's wonderful, tasty and clever food was my eating highlight. He's got a book coming out soon which is high on my must-have list. He's a New Zealander, apprenticed with Mark Limacher at Roxburgh Bistro and is The Melbourne Age's Chef of the Year 2011. His presentation is outstandingly creative (see
http://www.attica.com.au/) and the taste even better. I'll never forget his amazing ‘pukeko nest' dessert: chocolate marbled with colour and moulded to look like pukeko eggs, with a divine salted caramel interior. It was served with a watercolour of pukeko painted by his artist father, and an explanation of the New Zealand swamp hen for Australians
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As a dedicated cookbook collector, Books for Cooks in foodie Fitzroy was a treasure trove for me. They have over 30,000 books new and old and an indefatigable "we'll find it for you' service, and I never have enough time there. I found two really good vegan books that will be very handy for catering, and left happy
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Charcoal Lane is a great concept – a casual restaurant in Fitzroy with very good beautifully presented food. Its twist is the connection with Mission Australia, and the not for profit restaurant trains young and disadvantaged people to work in the hospitality sector
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Maze, Cutler and Co and Flower Drum all lived up to their excellent reputations and I would go back to any of them, any time
- My chef friend Tony Tan hosted a ‘food of the world' cooking class and dinner at his home for my group, featuring a range of delicacies from China, Spain and Vietnam – countries he takes tours to and whose cuisines he understands well Although I know him well, I was blown away by his food. His company is called Unlimited Cuisine, see http://www.tonytan.com.au/.