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23.01.2022 RESTAURANT CARD SURCHARGES There’s been much comment & discussion recently about weekend surcharges. The parliamentary debate, and onflow forums on social media has at least made the general public more aware of the extra costs of weekends and I think few begrudge Sunday surcharges, whatever the final outcome. But ...Continue reading

18.01.2022 WELL, THIS CRITIC IS IN THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY Backed them, owned them, cooked in them, and consulted on them. But I have also reviewed them and for thirty years now. But as food writer Cherry Ripe once said after a long lunch when I was in discussion with visiting Italian chefs you’re not even a fucking journalist! No, I’m not. I came to reviewing restaurants from the other side with a track record that, with my small command of the English language, allowed me the ...indulgence of writing about it. John Lethlean, you validly claim that you are a journalist. But your field of journalistic expertise has been hospitality, and particularly restaurants, for the last twenty years. You are one of the very few critics that I truly respect, but your enviable job does exist because of the restaurant industry. So does this entail a moral responsibility to promote and support? Surely that’s for PR and marketing people? A critic’s role is just that to critique! And by critiquing properly, the industry gains. Surely any business owner would like to know what’s really happening in their business and do something about it if needed. If your restaurant is pumping out great food and front of house lets it down, you want to know. If hospitality is warm and friendly but the food is crap, you want to know. Not long back I reviewed a hatted country restaurant that showed distinct lack of focus in the kitchen complacency, if not laziness, was evident at both the restaurant and, arguably, at the allocator of said hats. It created a small social media squall and I’d be very surprised if the owners were not aware of the fuss and the review. I take reviewing very seriously, and I never want to hurt someone’s business. I’d happily respond if owners contacted me and asked me about the experience. Very few do. When somebody with John’s (or my) experience - and usually constructive approach to reviewing - writes of bad experiences, it’s not being smart or bitchy, it’s telling it like it is. The snarky feedback quoted in John's article varies from ignorant to asinine. Now I don’t agree when John states I have no interest in supporting it (the restaurant industry) as every good review he has written (and there are many over twenty years) does exactly that. And, if the restaurateur really cares about the longevity of their business and takes on board critical comment from reviewers who actually know what they’re talking about, and corrects their failings, every negative review supports it too. It’s not only free consulting, it’s consulting that the critic/consultant actually had to pay for. http://www.theaustralian.com.au//story-e6frg8jo-1227372945

16.01.2022 The Curious Bartenders GIN PALACE by Tristan Stephenson I did a GIN tasting of most of the gins then available in Australia a few years ago, with the intention of creating an app. for the industry. Various things intervened, not the least significant being the exploding range of gins becoming available. It’s no secret that gin has been the boom spirit over the last five years, and even longer. It’s a worldwide phenomenon with countries around the world all getting in on the p...roduction act. Writing a book about it was a moving playing field as new distilleries keep popping up to get in on the craze. The first book I read that tried to cover the field was 300 GINS. Although it gave a great history of gin it carried too much advertorial with distilleries obviously paying for a photo spread rather than earning the exposure on quality. Tristan Stephenson’s GIN PALACE, written by the author of previous The Curious Bartender’s books, focusses mostly on England and Europe with an eye on quality, and how each distillery was part of the historical or current gin story. The reviews are openly critical, the author not afraid to state his case. GIN PALACE is a damned good read as well as giving large amounts of information about the history of gin distilling and how the current burgeoning market has developed. If you love your gin, GIN PALACE should be on your shelves.

15.01.2022 ANOTHER SENSELESS LIST OK, I’m a list person. It gives me focus on what needs to be done, what needs to be remembered, what needs priority. But the lists have a valid reason and logic to their existence and they don’t claim or infer to be something they’re not. Top of my list today is to get this off my chest! I’ve bottled it up since Monday night. The world loves a list of bests, even if the list has no real meaning. World’s best guitarist ... what’s that mean? World...’s best shiraz who decided that, and did they taste them all every one? This week we have another senseless list the Australia’s Top 100 Restaurants released by the Australian Financial Review. Now I have no complaint about 500 selected chefs and restaurateurs choosing where they dine (or would like to dine), even if it is from among the 500 themselves. Even to select the 100 most popular among these chefs and restaurateurs. This could give some aspirational selections, and would always throw up some late night places that working chefs can actually get to, and some quirky eateries that are fun with decent uncomplicated, but not necessarily exciting, food. But to rank these and call it The Australian Financial Review Top 100 Restaurants would seem to claim this as some definitive ranking list. A list that could dupe the general public in this belief as they mostly have been by the San Pellegrino World Top 50 Restaurants. It is a very sad thing that the San Pellegrino list has gained such acceptance as the voting system for it is so inherently flawed that it is not much better than a self-perpetuating popularity contest, but that’s not the subject here. I love, and frequent, some of the restaurants in, say the top 20, that I would never think deserve to be one of the top 20 in Australia as the list would infer. This goes for an increasing number as the list progresses. The concept is perhaps fun, and enlightening if the public wants to know where chefs and restaurateurs like to nosh down away from their own places. Claiming it as Australia’s Top 100 restaurants is simply wrong.

08.01.2022 RETURN TO SMART-ARSE REVIEWING I’m no slouch at tilting at the restaurant windmills that fail to blow with the winds of change, and comment on people’s favourite restaurants when they don’t live up to their supposed fame. For years when Flower Drum reigned supreme as Melbourne’s only three-hatted restaurant I said that Melbourne must be a sad place to fine-dine. It was good, and often very good, but not at a level that would place it on that lonely pinnacle. Before and after ...Gilbert Lau left the building it vacillated somewhat and I must admit that I’ve only dined there when an out-of-towner insisted. But the Herald-Sun’s Dan Stock took it way too far when he opened both barrels at this institution this week with what appears to be a major attempt to gain some reviewing fame, or simply get someone to read the food pages of his tabloid (it was rather hard to find a copy). Yes, the lift is crochety but a quirky, and renowned method of entry to this old classic restaurant. As to waitstaff, I’d prefer a bit of subtle silver service to the modern trend of waiters interrupting your meal to announce and explain each dish (give me a menu - I can read, and I can ask questions if I want). And yes, well-appointed and well-kept loos are a must in any restaurant aiming at a high rating. Good glassware and smart menus and wine list presenters are also a must, especially at the price charged here. But, of the dishes explained, there seemed to be an equal four hits and four misses from the article. I find it hard to find any journalistic merit in describing any foodstuff, no matter how unpleasant, as a springtime sneeze; and how jarring tangerine peel can be less likable than snot is way beyond my approach to reviewing food. Perhaps trying to counter the excellent and very good before giving the restaurant the unfathomable score of 10/20. Have we returned to the glory days of Stephen Downes’ shut-em-downs nonsensicle point scoring that the Herald-Sun couldn’t control even with a structured system, and SMH Matthew Evans’ sue-able snide and nasty remarks for no other reason other than to make a name or prove their power? The article has a nasty slant. Yes, Flower Drum may not now deserve a place among our best restaurants but, after 40 years of serving some good to very good food, and much of that time being an exemplar for Chinese restaurants in Australia, it deserves some respect.