Innholdsfortegnelse for Feburary 2016 i Gourmet Traveller

CHINESE NEW YEAR GATHERING Sizzling cumin lamb (RECIPE P127) Fried rice with crab, egg and cucumber (PICTURED; RECIPE P119) Stir-fried black fungus with ginger, garlic stems and snow peas (RECIPE P120) Mango and papaya with coconut tapioca and lime syrup (RECIPE P106) A celebration calls for sparkling wine – foaming purple sparkling shiraz would be great with that sizzling lamb. Then offer the best, most venerable bottle-aged Hunter sémillon you can find with the rice and fungus. And finish with a glass of golden sweet botrytis sémillon. SUMMER BARBECUE Vietnamese noodle salad (RECIPE P48) Pork skewers with young coconut and pineapple salad (RECIPE P47) Melon and frozen yoghurt sundae with lime-vanilla caramel (PICTURED; RECIPE P47) This barbecue is all about freshness, so make sure all the wines on offer are…

LIVER, FAVA BEANS, CHIANTI A recent cinematic celebration at Melbourne institution Gerald’s Bar manifested not only in the staff (manager Daniel Docherty as a blood-spattered John McClane; founder Gerald Diffey in Ray Winston’s Sexy Beast get-up, gold knickers and all), but also the menu. The standout? A Silence of the Lambs tribute rendered in chicken liver parfait topped with a nice Chianti jelly. Gerald’s Bar, 386 Rathdowne St, Carlton North, Vic, (03) 9349 4748 PAT NOURSE MORETON BAY BUG, GRAPEFRUIT, SAMBAL MAYO Tempura-battered bug comes to the table topped with green papaya and chunks of pink grapefruit. Do we dunk it in the nicely spicy sambal mayo? Or opt for the peppery rice vinegar dipping sauce? There are no wrong decisions here, people. Kiyomi, Jupiters Hotel, Casino Dr, Broadbeach, Qld,…

Tell us about the new digs, Christian. It’s one of the most amazing spaces in Hobart. Aløft is Old Norse for attic and that’s exactly what the space is. Lots of wood and grey, which gives it a Nordic feel. How would you describe the food? It’s Tasmanian food with an Asian infusion. Glenn’s passion is Asian flavours and he knows a lot more about them than I do. Is great produce easy to come by, Glenn? There’s an expectation that the produce in Tasmania is abundant, but it’s a lot harder to get your hands on than in the big cities. We forage and work really hard to maintain our relationships with producers. We don’t have the luxury of calling a supplier to get something in that day. Also,…

Subtle prints, organic forms and colour are all part of the Takeawei story. Chela Edmunds began her career in textile design, working for labels such as Donna Karan and Vera Wang in New York. Now back in Australia and living by the beach in Victoria’s Torquay, Edmunds has spent the last three years channelling her training in print design and her love of colour into Takeawei – a summery line of high-fired mugs, cups and platters awash with sunset tones and patterns. How has your training in textile design influenced the Takeawei aesthetic? Unlike with textiles I don’t have to think about how wearable a pattern is so this offers some freedom in design. I’m inspired by textile techniques like tie-dye and batik. I try to leave something white and…

1 Kitchen Objects linen tea towel, $29, from Me and Amber. 2 Aura by Tracie Ellis Double Dip cotton flax tea towel in Mint, $12.95, from Myer. 3 Harlequin Hobart cotton tea towel, $22, from Dish Pig. 4 Summer Floral Green linen tea towel, $35, from Bonnie and Neil. 5 Fog Linen plaid tea towel in black and cream, $16.95, from Saison. 6 Tekla cotton tea towel, $0.79, from Ikea. 7 Big Major Pink linen tea towel, $35, from Bonnie and Neil. 8 Lotte Fynboe for Oyoy organic cotton Dot tea towel, $30 for a set of two, from Top 3 By Design. 9 Palette Fluoro Pink linen tea towel, $35, from Bonnie and Neil. 10 Marimekko Kompotti cotton-linen tea towel in black and white, $24.50, from Nordic Fusion. Stockists…

Danny Bowien likes to play with fire – the slow-burning kind that sets your tongue tingling when you tuck into his chilli and Sichuan pepper-powered Chongqing chicken wings. The chef-turned-author – he has just released The Mission Chinese Food Cookbook, a taste of his wildly popular restaurants in San Francisco and New York – is one of the hottest young talents in the world of food right now and we’re excited to host Bowien at Attica in March for a night of loosened ties and tear-jerking, highly individual Chinese food. (See our extract of Bowien’s new cookbook on page 124.) “It’s near impossible to pin down his style,” says Attica’s Ben Shewry, “but I’d define it by using the word that maybe sums Danny up the best to me in…

1 Quinoa pilaf with beetroot, egg and tahini yoghurt 2 Tomato and ricotta tart 3 Matcha rice with smoked trout, cucumber and pickled ginger 4 Barbecued T-bones with rough rocket salsa verde and crushed potato salad 5 Lamb salad with peas, zucchini and olives 6 Pork skewers with young coconut and pineapple salad 7 Spiced chicken with carrot, chickpea and green chilli salad 8 White bean dip with pita crisps 9 Melon and frozen yoghurt sundae with lime-vanilla caramel 1 Quinoa pilaf with beetroot, egg and tahini yoghurt Serves 4 (pictured p43) 2 tbsp olive oil ½ Spanish onion, finely diced 1 garlic clove, finely chopped Finely grated rind and juice of 1 lemon 180 gm quinoa 400 ml hot vegetable or chicken stock 8 eggs, at room temperature 2…

To say that a strawberry is a fruit is to call Jimi Hendrix a guitar player. Sure, it’s true, but it also misses the point entirely. The strawberry is the ace of the garden, an object of desire. But it’s not just Daiquiri-makers that covet its sweet flesh – rats, slugs, birds and bats are similarly enamoured. Like looking at a campfire, the sight of a strawberry stirs some primal longing within us. Although we’re all used to seeing the standard plump red strawberry in the supermarket, few people realise there are many more weird and wonderful varieties you can grow. As is often the case, what we see on the shelves has been selected for commercially friendly characteristics such as size, yield and disease resistance, often at the expense…

Rule number one at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal: don’t forgo a predinner cocktail. Even if, like me, you discover the only booking available is at 10pm on a Friday (which possibly means you’re having supper rather than dinner at Dinner), there’s something so perfectly “golden age of hotel restaurants” about the whole set-up that to refuse a cocktail in such a setting could be read as an act of pitiable self-sabotage. The bar at the Melbourne outpost of Heston Blumenthal’s two Michelin-starred London restaurant is the only bar in his repertoire so far. It’s intimate, glamorous and adult, with mirrored surfaces, a low-slung banquette and immensely comfortable upholstered armchair bar stools that offer a cinematic vista over the main dining room with its curved leather booths, moss-green armchairs and dramatic…

Baptism of fire Combine the talents of Wes Griffiths and Anton Hughes, the blokes you’d have seen behind the barbecue counter at Vic’s Meat Market, with partner Tim Chillingworth of the Faster Pussycat boutique and you get some inner west-flavoured barbecue good times at Bovine & Swine. Carolina pork shoulder and plenty of beef in brisket and rib forms are the order of the day. Bovine & Swine Barbecue Co, 92 Enmore Rd, Enmore, (02) 9517 1243 Turkish delight What’s the Turkish word for déjà vu? Fans of the Continental might find Stanbuli, the latest offering from the Porteño family, curiously familiar, being both very close and very similar in layout. But former Porteño chef Ibrahim Kasif’s menu is firmly of the East, and impressively so. The pan-fried mackerel, pickled…

You might not remember your first gelato, but you never forget your favourite. Perhaps it was that first hit of mango and chocolate as a kid at the beach with salty hair and sandy feet, or the brioche buns filled with velvety hazelnut gelato sold by an old man from his cart in the backstreets of Palermo. Ask people to name their gelato favourites in Sydney and they’re likely to mention Bar Italia in Leichhardt, Cremeria de Luca in Five Dock, Pompei’s in Bondi and, without fail, Gelato Messina. These are gelaterie of repute. The Palumbo family opened Messina on Victoria Street in Darlinghurst in 2002, and the brand has grown at a rate they could never have imagined: 11 shops around the country and one in Las Vegas, and…

“It’s time to let the yeast do the talking,” says brewer Costa Nikias as he opens a bottle of his La Sirène Saison, one of the best new beers to appear on the Australian craft scene over the last few years. “So many brewers and drinkers go crazy over hops, looking for beers with the most extreme hop flavour and bitterness,” he says. “For me, the yeast is much more important: that’s where most of the really interesting characters in beer come from.” He pours the saison into a big goblet: it’s glowing gold, with a thick, creamy head, bursting with fruity, yeasty aroma, medium-bodied, not particularly bitter, tartly refreshing. He’s right: that delicious perfume comes from the esters – aromatic volatile compounds – produced primarily by yeasts during fermentation.…

The pelican regarded us with a hungry mien. A bird with an ever-ready shopping bag, like Margaret Thatcher or the Queen. Their Dior beaks resting on a nautical bosom, furious porthole eyes, constantly ruffled feathers. The pelican was the original symbol for the RAF flying school. Absurdly gimpy on the ground, they become mesmerisingly agile aerial acrobats once aloft. They take off and their wings seem to sag under the weight of their improbable beaks and rotund busts, but everything tucks in and they fly with a bewildering ease – an ability to change direction, height, speed and purpose with a sleight of feather that is magical. They are birds that make meteorology and gravity appear optional. They fly in an atmosphere all their own in the silver dawn light.…

Watermelon, lychee and berries with strawberry and black pepper granita This pretty pink salad is perfect at any time of the day. Try it at your next weekend breakfast. Prep time 15 mins, cook 5 mins (plus cooling, freezing) Serves 6 400 gm watermelon 300 gm strawberries, hulled and halved 125 gm raspberries 16 lychees Strawberry and black pepper granita 220 gm (1 cup) caster sugar 500 gm strawberries, hulled Juice of 1 lemon 1 tsp finely crushed black peppercorns 1 For the granita, place sugar and 250ml water in a small saucepan, bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve sugar, then refrigerate to cool. Process sugar syrup, strawberries and lemon juice in a blender or food processor, then strain through a fine sieve. Stir in peppercorns, pour into a…

Spend enough time talking to chefs and you’ll notice a few tropes getting repeated. “I just want to cook food that I like to eat”, being chief among them. The trouble is – and this will sound very obvious, but bear with me – cooking is a matter of not just skill but taste. Not every chef has great taste, just as not every chef has the skill to cook great food. Danny Bowien is a chef of both impeccable taste and innate skill. He’s one of the fastest and brightest rising stars in America, the face of three booming restaurants in San Francisco and New York. But when I met him, he was a journeyman cook, neck-deep in student-loan debt, uncertain of whether or not he even wanted to…

Our eyes meet through the carriage windows. He’s by his back door, a villager haloed beneath a porch light, wide-eyed at the passing spectacle. I’m gazing into the gloaming from my well-lit suite, fastening a bow tie around the neck of a pleated dinner shirt. I must look like a bizarre peepshow being flashed from the fast-moving train. Culture clashes are an everyday affair aboard the Eastern & Oriental Express. During a three-night crossing of the Kra Peninsula from Bangkok to Singapore, we are cocooned in a genteel life of privilege in the tropics. We dress for formal meals, take cocktails in the balmy night air of the observation car, and sleep on the finest linen – all while barrelling through the jungles. There can’t be a more glamorous way…

In a city with hotel occupancy at a 20-year high, the opening in inner-city Sydney of five new hotels and another three following dramatic makeovers in the past year is cause for surprise and celebration. The flurry started with the $30 million renovation of The Langham Sydney, followed by the long-awaited opening of The Old Clare in Chippendale, a four-year transformation of the old County Clare pub and the Carlton & United Breweries administration building by Singapore boutique hotelier Loh Lik Peng (featured in GT’s November issue). And then, in the space of three months, another six hotels have opened, with good bones, a sense of place and real character. PRIMUS HOTEL SYDNEY There’s nothing glamorous about drainage, and yet the good citizens of Sydney once would enter one of…

Sydney Boulevard, the first stage of the Sydney T1 international airport’s new food and dining precinct will open next month. Benny Burger is its first tenant, a casual yet refined burger joint from Vue de Monde chef Shannon Bennett. Drawing on the chef’s little black book of producers, the patties are made from organic grass-fed Angus, the bacon is organic and the barramundi (for the “barra burger”) is Mark Eather’s sustainable catch. Have that burger with Melbourne’s 5 Senses coffee and a smart list of Australian beers and wine. Also moving in are Kitchen by Mike and The Kitchen by Wolfgang Puck.…

MEASURES & EQUIPMENT * All cup and spoon measures are level and based on Australian metric measures. * Eggs have an average weight of 59gm unless otherwise specified. * Fruit and vegetables are washed, peeled and medium-sized unless otherwise specified. * Oven temperatures are for conventional ovens and need to be adjusted for fan-forced ovens. * Pans are medium-sized and heavy-based; cake tins are stainless steel, unless otherwise specified. COOKING TIPS * When seasoning food to taste, we use sea salt and freshly ground pepper unless otherwise specified. * To blanch an ingredient, cook it briefly in boiling water, then drain it. To refresh it, plunge it in plenty of iced water (this stops the cooking process), then drain it. * We recommend using free-range eggs, chicken and pork. We…

Lychee and mango with lime-coconut syrup and lemon gelato Fresh fruit at the peak of the season needs little embellishment. We’ve kept this tropical mix simple, just adding a light syrup. We’ve used lemon gelato here, but coconut gelato would also work well. Prep time 20 mins, cook 5 mins (plus cooling) Serves 4-6 18 fresh lychees, peeled and pitted 1 young coconut, cracked open, juice reserved for syrup and flesh cut into small pieces 1 large mango, cheeks removed and thinly sliced 500 ml lemon gelato (see note) Lime-coconut syrup 140 ml coconut water (reserved from coconut) 140 gm white sugar Juice and finely grated rind of 1 juicy lime 1 For lime-coconut syrup, bring coconut water and sugar to the boil in a saucepan, stirring to dissolve sugar…

Ballantyne The spreadable premium dairy range of butter from Australian-made, family-owned company Ballantyne comes with added olive oil or avocado oil to enhance the creamy texture and flavour. ballantyne.com.au Décor Cook, serve, store and reheat food all in one Décor Thermostone dish with an airtight, leak-proof lid. Pop open the air-release vent in the lid for reheating in the microwave and pop it closed for an airtight seal. decor.com.au Winning Appliances Introducing the SousVide cooking system from AEG. Prepare, seal, cook and serve dishes with the ultimate control and perfect results every time. Available at winningappliances.com.au, priced $5,999 (oven sold separately). Harvey Norman The Beautyrest Black Boston medium queen ensemble combines the Pocketed Coil body support system with a luxuriously soft Cloud Top layer. Priced $3,999.harveynorman.com.au Kailis These “Eclipse” earrings…

Suddenly the days seem short? And while you’re rested and relaxed from the summer break, it may be time to shift a few kilos, too? (Yes, we’re looking at you mince pies.) Thank goodness, then, that it’s time for this Fast and Fresh issue – it’s designed to usher you into the new year with clean and quick food ideas that are short on time but big on flavour. It might be one of Michael Bacash’s fabulous fish recipes – Melbourne’s seafood master shares tips and tricks on page 108 (his Lebanese-style pan-fried snapper is at the top of my to-cook list.) Ben Devlin of Cabarita Beach’s Halcyon House brings his creative flair to quick eats (page 92), Lisa Featherby fires up her wok for new-look stir-fries on page 116…

From bottles and casks to juice-boxes, cold-brew coffee is on the move. Gone are the days when grabbing an iced-coffee meant ducking into the servo. Today, a cold coffee is more likely to mean a house-made honeycomb-infused single origin in a hip flask (à la Single Origin Roasters), or a long-neck of triple-filtered grounds, steeped for 24 hours until the juice turns a clear crimson red (as at Canberra’s Two Before Ten). Around Australia, cafés and roasters are turning to refreshing cold drip for its smooth finish and clean taste – not to mention the convenience and longer shelf life. “Cold coffee is more stable over time than, say, a long black or a latte,” says Lee Safar, creator and founder of Elixir Specialty Coffee in Sydney. “This gives people…

Oh no! Turns out there’s people coming around for dinner in a halfa. What should we do? So long as you’ve got chicken stock and chitarra in the freezer you’re assured of a quality feed in a flash. Chitarra spaghetti is so versatile in the way it copes with both European and Asian preparations. We always have a freezer drawerful. For my stock, I use whole birds, roasted and aromatic before they’re added to the pot. (If I’m using frames, I add a kilo of chicken feet to compensate for the lack of skin.) Add onion, garlic, ginger, white wine and the greens from a bunch of spring onions for a classic stock, then freeze it in small containers for fast and easy use. Within these two simple staples resides…

MELBOURNE Chef Paul Wilson (Lady Carolina) is opening a restaurant at Prahran Market. Designed by Kestie Lane Studio (The Kettle Black), the yet-to-be-named venue will source seasonal ingredients from the market, and will feature a couple of outdoor areas, two open kitchens, a wood-fire rôtisserie and a raw bar. Wilson expects to begin trading in June. SYDNEY Former 10 William St chef Daniel Pepperell has swapped sardine katsu sandos for mud crab rémoulade at Restaurant Hubert, a new brasserie on Bligh Street in Sydney’s CBD. Jason Scott and Anton Forte (of Shady Pines Saloon, The Baxter Inn and Frankie’s fame) are behind the basement restaurant, which seats around 150. Dishes such as whole roast duck with blood sauce and pickled cherries provide a nice counterpoint to the cocktails and substantial…

It’s time to brush up on your culinary history – Dinner by Heston Blumenthal has landed at Melbourne’s Crown complex to give Australians a tasty crash course in British food through the ages. “Heston and I discovered that there was a plethora of gastronomic history that looked untouched,” says Ashley Palmer-Watts, executive chef of both Dinner Melbourne and London, and The Fat Duck Group. “We were inspired by the flavour combinations and Old English explanations for putting dishes together.” At Dinner’s new digs on the Yarra (see our review on page 59), the team delivers all the magic of the historically inspired dishes of the London original with an Australian accent. In place of calf’s tail in the Rice & Flesh (circa 1390), for instance, is spiced kangaroo in a…

LADY CAROLINA Lima-style ceviche PENFOLDS MAGILL ESTATE Grains, greens, citrus and goat’s curd CONTINENTAL Razor clams with Lillet Blanc and Tio Pepe SMOLT Hot ricotta fritters, blueberry-lime compote and ricotta cream “I just got back from a holiday in Peru where I ate tonnes of ceviche. Paul Wilson at Lady Carolina does a lovely version. Would he be happy to share the recipe?” Emma Huckley, Northcote, Vic Lima-style ceviche “This dish is a favourite,” says chef Paul Wilson. “It was inspired by a recent trip to Lima. People in Peru simply adore ceviche – it’s the national dish. In Lima, ceviche has been influenced by Japanese, Chinese, Inca and Spanish cultures. The unique preparation here uses cancha and choclo styles of corn.” Wilson uses fresh aji amarillo chillies that he…

Hall mark The latest venture of Chris Lucas (Chin Chin, Kong, Baby) is Hawker Hall, an cavernous ode to the street food of Malaysia and Singapore. The menu covers dumplings, roti, curries, coconut-grilled meats, fried chicken, noodles and satay and mostly hits its crowd-pleasing goals, though spice levels will be too polite for aficionados. As with his other venues, the bar side is clever, with original cocktails and craft beers on tap. Hawker Hall, 98 Chapel St, Windsor, (03) 8560 0090 Wrap star If there was one thing Collingwood was missing it was a hip hop-themed kebab shop and Maha’s Shane Delia has filled the gap. Biggie Smalls blends classic diner with old-school takeaway and pulls it together with a suitably raucous soundtrack. The kebabs are good – big-flavoured, not…

When it comes to entertaining, the kitchen is the new dining room and a relaxed style is the new black. Guests enjoy nothing more than pulling up a stool at the island bench to chat while you cook, making this the ideal way to serve a series of shared plates and drinks. For a Japanese-style cocktail party, for instance, kick things off with a large platter of super-fresh sashimi, mixing it up with salmon and tuna, say, served with julienned daikon (unless you have the knife skills of a Japanese chef, use a Japanese mandolin for this, and place the daikon briefly in iced water to crisp it up). Of course, it’s no party without drinks. Sake is always a sympathetic partner to seafood, and you can glam it up…

Match of the moment? Our twist on Bolognese with wild boar, porcini, tomatoes, herbs and spices, with a 2004 Vietti Perbacco nebbiolo. They’re both unassuming so don’t compete. Inspiration? I like what Alan Hunter did at E’cco and now he’s at London Fields, it’s a different ball game; I like how his style has adapted. Winemakers to watch? The guys at Unico Zelo. They’re planting nebbiolo in the Adelaide Hills and doing experimental limoncello. Your next trip to wine country? Tasmania – the pinot noir is amazing. What’s in your home cellar? A bottle of everything we have at Bucci. I find different dimensions when I taste them at home. Bucci, 15 James St, Fortitude Valley, Qld, (07) 3252 7848, buccirestaurant.com.au…

New wave With light, bright, locally focused fare, Ben Devlin nails the barefoot-luxe brief at Paper Daisy. Fruit salad reboot Glam up fruit for the summer table with fresh twists of chilli, tamarind, herbs and spice. Big fish Melbourne’s fish whisperer, Michael Bacash, hauls in savvy diners with his signature simple seafood elegance. Wok stars What could be snappier than a stir-fry? The likes of rice, eggplant, pipis and more become speedy favourites in moments. Fire it up. Mission statement Danny Bowien is one of America’s hottest chefs right now. Get your taste of his sizzling Mission Chinese Food magic right here.…

“When people ask me what they should look for when they’re buying fresh fish, I tell them to go to their nearest pet shop, take a live goldfish out of a tank, lay it on the bench and look at it – it will be plump and shiny, its skin will glisten and its eyes will be bulging,” says Michael Bacash. “That’s what you should be looking for – something that looks as close to alive as possible.” Though Bacash is joking about traumatising goldfish and pet-shop owners with his fresh-fish test, he never jokes about shopping around for the best seafood. It’s something he’s been deeply serious about since he opened his first Melbourne seafood restaurant, Toofey’s, in Carlton in 1989, and it’s what has kept his current South…

1 Jacob’s Creek Double Barrel is a range of premium red wines aged in French oak wine casks and finished in used whisky barrels, a technique that adds additional layers of complexity with a smooth finish. Priced $24.99. jacobscreek.com.au 2 Robert Gordon Australia Add some opulence to your dining table with the Robert Gordon Glow side plate. With either a gold or silver trim, these stylish, versatile plates can be matched with your existing crockery. Priced $22.95. domayne.com.au 3 Vitamix Superior engineering meets compact design in the Vitamix S30. It powers through ice and the toughest ingredients to prepare soups, frozen desserts, sauces, dips and smoothies, fast and easy. Priced from $845. vitamix.com.au/s30 4 Vintec Cellar and serve your favourite wines and beers with the new Vintec “Noir” built-in wine…

Among a puzzle of bumpy farm tracks between Villes-sur-Auzon and Méthamis stands La Ferme du Pezet, a stone-built mas where balmy evenings unfold beneath a giant horse chestnut strung with lightbulbs. Before chef-patron Pascal Morin took over the restaurant 21 years ago, the tables were virtually in the vineyards. Now there’s a smart paved terrace with a little wall to stop you falling into Château Pesquié’s grenache, but the feeling of being surrounded by wine country is still thrilling. The vines extend in leafy lines towards the west and, 29 kilometres to the north, mighty Mont Ventoux loses its shape gradually as dinner heads towards nougat glacé. When Marc Valentini, an organic winemaker and fruit grower based a couple of kilometres away at Saint-Estève, looks out towards the setting sun…

ULURU AND PETRA MARTIN GRANT Fashion designer “One of the bonuses of working with Qantas is each time I come home to Australia I add a side trip to a place I’ve never been. In 2012, I visited Uluru for the first time. I’d always understood it was a spiritual place, particularly for Aboriginal communities. For me it was pure magnetism – when I saw the rock my first impulse was to walk towards it. “We spent the best part of a day walking around it, and for much of that time we were alone. Images of the rock make it look monolithic, so I was surprised by how varied the landscape is. I wasn’t aware of the waterholes and ravines, the valleys and caves. “I’ve got a collection of…

1 Chanel Classic flap bag in tweed embroidered by Lesage, $6,690. 2 Victoria Beckham culottes, $1,799, from Forward. 3 Pomellato Nudo rose and white gold ring set with prasiolite and diamonds, $9,206, from Net-a-Porter. 4 Erica Brooke Saviour Salve, $25, from Orli. 5 Sensi Studio Toquilla straw Panama hat, $226, from Net-a-Porter. 6 Tiffany & Co Tiffany Cocktail watch in rose gold with diamonds, $20,000. 7 Aquazzura Alexa leather wedges, $729, from My Theresa. 8 Isabel Marant Étoile Karon linen T-shirt, $245, from Parlour X. 9 Rattan basket shopper, $78, from Connected Artisans. 10 Byredo Parfums La Tulipe oil, $85, from Mecca Cosmetica. 11 Valentino leather sandals, $836, from Net-A-Porter. 12 Louis Vuitton Monogram Forever earrings in white gold with diamonds, $17,100. 13 Saint Laurent silk georgette scarf, $428, from…

SOPHIE DENING Writer Sophie Dening is a native Londoner and a lifelong lover of Provence and its hidden Vaucluse region. “It’s a thrill simply to drive out to market in the morning, or look for a winery up a farm track,” she says. “There’s a secretive, protected feel to the terrain and, in summer and autumn, it’s almost cartoonishly fruitful – loaded cherry and fig trees, lavender and vines as far as the eye can see.” Dening’s tour of unspoilt Provence starts on page 144. AMY CHANTA Chef and restaurateur Amy Chanta is the founder of Chat Thai, one of the most respected Thai restaurant brands outside Thailand. It comprises five branches of Chat Thai around Sydney, plus Assámm diner, the Samosorn food hall, and Jarenchai, a Thaitown grocery housing…

WHEY ABOVE GT’s resident cheese expert Will Studd shares his expertise for a masterclass at Melbourne’s Eureka 89 on 8 February. In collaboration with Essendon cheese shop Harper & Blohm, the evening includes wine matches and views over the city. Tickets cost $120. eureka89.com.au *TACO EMOJI* As part of the Perth Writers Festival, From Paddock To Print on 20 February explores great food writing and how it has been influenced by social media across a feast of workshops, tastings and exhibitions. Tickets from $10.50. perthfestival.com.au GIN & JUICE You have until 14 February to team a visit to the Grayson Perry exhibition My Pretty Little Art Career with an Archie Rose gin cocktail at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s pop-up Gin Garden. The exhibition continues until 1 May. mca.com.au GO…

A summery cherry-powered treat that’ll leave you feeling as fresh as it tastes. “You can put away three or four of these in an afternoon and not need a nap,” says Tim Philips, co-owner of Sydney cocktail bars Bulletin Place and Dead Ringer. The latter, which opened in the spring, is responsible for this simple highball that balances sweet, tart and tang, using umeshu (plum liqueur), the last of the season’s cherries, and a hit of citrus. “It’s a good introduction for those who have never tried Japanese liquor,” he says. Dead Ringer, 413 Bourke St, Surry Hills, NSW, (02) 9331 3560, deadringer.wtf > Press four pitted black cherries with 1 tbsp caster sugar in a highball glass. Add crushed ice. Pour in 10ml lime juice with 50ml…

Whether you choose to spell it larp, larb or laab, done right, this greatest of Thailand’s salads can be a real show-stopper. The word “salad” doesn’t really do it justice, though. Sure, it’s served with raw vegetables and includes soft green herbs, but few Thais would eat a larb on its own as a Westerner eats salad – it’s just too spicy. It typically comes with rice or sticky rice, and a side of lettuce and long beans – perfect to temper the chilli and make for a complete meal. For Thais, meat was special and never an everyday food. Perhaps this explains the name: “larb” in Thai means “good luck and prosperity”. The word now also describes a method of cooking – always with minced meat (often offal), seafood…

“Think of Luke Skywalker trying to blow up the Death Star. He hears Obi Wan Kenobi telling him to put away his sight and feel the Force.” At the risk of sounding perverse, this being the fast issue, I find my thoughts drifting instead to food that is slow. “Slow food” can mean a number of things. For some it’s a worthy group of Italian gentlemen, immaculately turned out in their tweed jackets, who run a food movement called by that name. Then there’s the slow-cooked egg, which sits in warm water for five hours so it never really cooks, ending up the texture of phlegm. I’m happy to report that these eggs seem to blight menus less now than they did a few years ago. I wonder what happened.…

Chicken drinks. There really aren’t many. In Mexico they make a style of mescal called pechuga. Pechuga, you’ll quickly find if you Google image-search it, is the Mexican word for breast. In a distilling context it refers to the poultry bunged in when they’re fermenting the agave. Can you really taste it? I don’t think so, but I love the idea. At The Paddington, not one but two of the cocktails contain chicken fat. There’s the Fog Horn Leg Horn, an Old Pal-ish number with Scotch, Punt e Mes and Campari (and chicken), and the House Mary, an attractively spicy number powered by sriracha and Averna (and chicken). Can you really taste it? I don’t think so, but I love the idea. The schmaltz flavouring the booze is a by-product…

Cuttlefish. Wallaby. Kimchi. Rose petals. Salted shrimp. Yuzu. Kelp salt. And even the occasional poached egg. Welcome to breakfast in Melbourne circa 2016 – a thing of wonder and excitement. “There’s seriously nothing in the world like breakfast in Melbourne,” says Nathan Toleman, co-owner of two of Melbourne’s most popular and forward-thinking breakfast joints, Top Paddock and The Kettle Black. “In other places you might go out for a really good coffee or go out for a really good breakfast but find it hard to get both in the same spot,” he says. Add the fact that there’s so many cafés serving restaurant-quality food at breakfast in places with great service and really innovative design, and I think you’ve got something that’s unique.” Melbourne has been serious about breakfast for…

The last time Piero Gesualdi dipped his toes into the Melbourne hospitality pool it was with the game-changing Rosati. The cavernous restaurant-café he opened on Flinders Lane in 1986 with Ronnie Di Stasio not only redefined the concept of Melbourne’s Italian dining, by locating the gleamingly modern restaurant in then-insalubrious Flinders Lane, it was also instrumental in the renaissance of the city’s laneways. Over the past 40 years Gesualdi has worked in architecture, interior design, homewares and fashion. His shops, Masons, in Sydney and Melbourne, were among the first to introduce Australians to the likes of Gaultier, Armani and Comme des Garçons. Now he’s back in the hospitality business after a long hiatus, transforming a warehouse-sized former tile showroom on Fitzroy’s Brunswick Street into an emporium-design wonderlandgallery-apericena bar-café called Mondopiero,…

1 GO WITH THE FLOW 2014 Flowstone Shiraz Grenache, Margaret River, WA, $25 Confound your wine nerd mates with this bold, spicy red: who’d have thought shiraz-grenache – a blend usually associated with South Australian regions like McLaren Vale – would work so well in cabernetcentric Margaret River? flowstonewines.com.au 2 WICKED BLEND 2012 Eloquesta Shiraz Petit Verdot, Mudgee, NSW, $32 This unusual blend of gutsy shiraz and perfumed petit verdot from Mudgee is a wine of two halves: lovely spicy purple fruits with a deep undertow of typically regional meaty richness. eloquesta.com.au 3 SUMMERY DROP 2014 Blind Corner Cremant, Margaret River, WA, $45 Imagine biting into a cold, crisp Granny Smith apple at the end of a hot day, then taking a mouthful of chilled elderflower cordial mixed with soda…

Talk to some chefs about their food philosophy and the results can often be troublingly dry and indigestible. Chat to Ben Devlin, head chef at Paper Daisy, the breezily chic restaurant attached to Halcyon House hotel on Cabarita Beach, and it’s refreshingly straightforward. “I want to feel happiness when I look into the dining room,” he says. “I want to see people who are happy.” Devlin, a Noma alumnus, started to blip on the Australian dining radar during his tenure as chef de cuisine at Brisbane’s top-rated Esquire. Mid-2015 he crossed state borders to head the kitchen at the newly opened boutique hotel in sleepy Cabarita Beach. Under his stewardship, Paper Daisy, still shy of its first birthday, has become one of the country’s most talked-about destination dining spots. Devlin…

Fried rice with crab, egg and cucumber When you’re cooking rice, It’s always handy to make extra to use for fried rice the following day. It’s one of the quickest and easiest of meals. Cooked rice will keep in the fridge for two days. Prep time 10 mins, cook 10 mins Serves 4 80 ml ( 1/3 cup) vegetable oil 3 eggs, lightly beaten 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 600 gm cooked jasmine rice (380gm uncooked) 2 tbsp light soy sauce (preferably Healthy Boy; see note) 1 tbsp fish sauce, or to taste Large pinch of caster sugar 30 gm dried shrimp (see note), soaked in cold water for 5 minutes, drained 150 gm picked crab meat 3 spring onions, thinly sliced Ground roasted chilli flakes, thinly sliced cucumber and…

Jungle express There’s glamour, polished cuisine and a dash of the unexpected aboard the Eastern & Oriental Express. Secret Provence Vaucluse is an untouched region of rustic market villages, rugged mountains and spectacular produce. Surf and turf A combined sailing-hiking tour of Tasmania’s Freycinet Peninsula delivers onshore exertion and offshore thrills. Guest stars Sydney is enjoying a hotel renaissance with a spate of new properties – harbour city digs have never looked so good.…

There’s a glass-like clarity to the ocean off Tasmania’s east coast that’s matched in shock value only by its astonishing frigidity. We’re slicing through these clear, cold waters aboard the 23-metre Lady Eugenie, sails filled by a similarly bracing breeze and buoyed by a keen sense of our isolation. There’s nothing here but ocean, thick bush fringing Promise Bay, off the Freycinet Peninsula, and the muscular Hazards looming behind. Our handsome Scorpio ketch is sailing her second season in Tasmania. From a production line of just 25 by American yacht builder Robert Perry, Lady Eugenie was bought by the Tasmanian Walking Company soon after entrepreneurs Brett Godfrey and Rob Sherrard – co-founders of Virgin Australia – acquired the company two years ago. The Tasmanian Walking Company has been at the…

With a focus this month on the toybox and the toolbox, a brains trust of creative thinkers will gather at Hotel Hotel in Canberra for its Fix and Make line-up of workshops and discussions. Swing by to plumb the contemporary obsession with stuff at The Love of Things (10 February, 6pm), a panel hosted by product designers Sasha Titchkosky and Russel Koskela of Sydney’s Koskela, environmentalist Tim Silverwood and psychologist Professor Mike Kyrios. At Something from Nothing (26 February, 6pm), scientist, inventor and Ted talker Arvind Gupta shows adults how to make captivating toys from found materials. He returns to lead children in a similar workshop, Toys from Trash (27-28 February, 2pm). Or drop into the hotel’s Mosaic lounge to Meet the Toymaker (27 February, 9am-midday). The Fix and Make…

DOOR TO DOOR Pressed for time? Step fresh from a night aboard Etihad’s A380 Residence into a private jet to, well, anywhere after booking the entire jaunt via the Victor app, thanks to a partnership between Etihad and Victor, a private charter company. JETSTAR’S NEW TERMINAL Jetstar promises to “all but eliminate queues” at its new home in Melbourne Airport’s Terminal 4, said to be the first fully self-service terminal in the Asia-Pacific region. Jetstar has access to 12 gates, compared with four at Terminal 1, 36 check-in kiosks and a larger departure lounge with 1,200 seats. Tigerair and Rex operate from T4. CHAMPAGNE CLASS Emirates is offering exclusive and rare Dom Pérignon vintages to its First Class passengers. A glass of its Vintage 2005 or Vintage Rosé 2003 can…

Adairs adairs.com.au, 1300 783 005 Aura by Tracie Ellis (03) 9552 6090, aurahome.com.au Batch Ceramics batchceramics.com.au Bonnie and Neil (03) 9384 2234, bonnieandneil.com.au Bridge Road Brewers bridgeroadbrewers.com.au Chanel 1300 242 635, chanel.com Chef and the Cook (02) 8004 6085, chefandthecook.com.au Citta Design 1800 256 723, cittadesign.com Connected Artisans connectedgoods.com Country Road 1800 801 911, countryroad.com.au The DEA Store (02) 9698 8150, thedeastore.com De De Ce (02) 9360 2722, dedece.com Dish Pig dishpig.com.au The Fortynine Studio thefortynine.com.au Forward fwrd.com GlobeWest globewest.com.au Ikea ikea.com.au Koskela (02) 9280 0999, koskela.com.au La Sirene lasirene.com.au Loft (02) 9326 6588, loftfurniture.com.au Louis Vuitton 1300 883 880, louisvuitton.com.au Made by Tait madebytait.com.au Matches Fashion matchesfashion.com Me and Amber meandamber.com Mecca Cosmetica 1800 007 844, meccacosmetica.com.au The Mod Collective themodcollective.com.au Mud Australia (02) 9569 8181, mudaustralia.com Myer myer.com.au…

FOOD It’s choctacular What’s better than a story dedicated to the joys of chocolate desserts? A huge double-length, maximum-strength choctacular. Brace yourself. Easter brunching There is, of course, more to Easter than chocolate. This ultra-glam brunch, for starters. Coastal service Get a taste of the beach lifestyle at the Three Blue Ducks’ Byron Bay outpost as Darren Robertson and Mark LaBrooy fire up the grill. Best practice In his new book, Mark Best, one of the nation’s edgiest chefs, turns his fierce intellect (and dry wit) on home cooking, with mighty tasty results. TRAVEL San Sebastián inside out Gerald Diffey of Gerald’s Bar shares the remarkable San Sebastián gems he unearthed when he opened a Basque branch of his Melbourne hospitality landmark. Tuscan dream Like Puccini, John Irving finds inspiration…