Inner-city hotels go on the market
Two elegant hotels have hit the market to usher in the new year. The prominent Railway Hotel in West Melbourne has been listed for auction, while the Hotel Formule 1 in the heart of the city is for sale. The Railway, which has featured as a popular location for filming a variety of productions in recent times, including Underbelly, is a classic Victorian-era hotel. It occupies a prime site at 118 Ireland Street, on the corner of Stawell Street and alongside the recently upgraded North Melbourne railway station. The freehold interest in the hotel is being offered with vacant possession through CBRE Hotels. The public auction will be held on site on February 23 at noon. CBRE Hotels senior director Scott Callow said West Melbourne was being transformed. Residential developments had replaced light industrial properties. The Age (Melbourne), February 6.

Sweetness to be savoured
Matt Moran
The first time I tasted a lychee it came from a can. White, slippery textured and bobbing about in a sweet syrup, it was not the best of introductions. So you can imagine that the first time I sampled a fresh lychee it was something of a revelation. Sweet, yes, but also fragrant and full of beautiful juices. Lychees are just one of a few rare tropical fruits such as carambola, custard apples and mangosteen that are now taken for granted as being available at almost every greengrocer, but this was not always so. Although Chinese miners introduced this luscious scarlet-skinned fruit to Australia in the 1800s, it is only relatively recently that they have been available in their fresh state. Lychees are at their best from November through to March, so now is the time to make the most of them. They are sometimes sold attached to a twiggy stem, which prolongs the shelf-life of this highly perishable fruit. Sunday Telegraph (Sydney), February 5.

Naked admiration
He's one of the world's most recognised chefs. At just 36, he's had countless cooking shows, released 16 cookbooks, opened restaurants that employ people down on their luck and started a food revolution to bring back healthy eating. Jamie Oliver may always look like an unmade bed, but don't let his casual appearance and thick accent fool you - this is a man who has changed the way people think about food. Urban Bistro owner and chef Bethany Finn says Oliver has "demystified" cooking. "The thing about Jamie Oliver's dishes and recipes is they're only two or three ingredients. It's not complicated to cook. It's just marrying a few terrific ingredients together to have some lovely flavours," Finn, 47, says. "I think that's the beauty of his dishes. He sort of demystifies cooking and he makes it fun and simple and I think that makes it very accessible to a lot of people." Which is exactly why she selected cinnamon and lemon crumpets with a raspberry and ricotta topping as her favourite Jamie Oliver dish. Sunday Mail (Adelaide), February 5.

Sidekick just around corner
One of Tasmania's best restaurants is expanding to a second venue. The owners of award-winning Garagistes are opening a wine bar, called Sidecar, because their eatery is proving too popular. The ``tiny'' new venue in Bathurst St is only about 150m from the award-winning Murray St restaurant. Co-owner Katrina Birchmeier said the Garagistes team wanted to give people a place to sit, snack and drink while they waited to be seated at the restaurant. Garagistes has a no-bookings policy and guests often have to queue. ``[The restaurant] has taken off more than we expected [and] more than we'd planned,'' Ms Birchmeier said. ``It's continue to surprise us how consistently busy we are. Even over winter, when it's traditionally quiet, we had consistently busy nights.” Sidecar is expected to open next month and will seat up to 20 people. Sunday Tasmanian, February 5.

Spare restaurant change feeds community need
I was told recently of a village in northern Italy where, instead of a tip, diners at the village trattoria add the price of a pizza or a couple of coffees to their bill when paying. The money is put aside by the owner who, in a subtle and quite beautiful way of community support, uses the money to provide free or cut-price breakfasts, coffees and meals to the village's less fortunate families. In a somewhat similar initiative, local restaurants Da Angelos, Smolt, Ethos, The Battery Point Steakhouse, Segretto and Mud in Launceston have joined with Colony 47 in a program called $2 for Change whereby patrons are invited to contribute $2 of their change towards Colony 47's program. As Angelo says: ``When the staff explain what $2 for Change is about, they are really keen to help and support the community. Sunday Tasmanian (Hobart), February 5.

Cool climate wines star in hot showcase
With about 250 delegates from 12 different countries in town for the Eighth International Cool Climate Wine Symposium, it's been a very busy week for the local wine industry and restaurants. Opening the symposium, author, TV presenter and the doyen of international wine commentators, Jancis Robinson from the UK, proclaimed that “`Cool climate wines are hot”. And, as relief from the technical talks, seminars and workshops, delegates had plenty of opportunities to taste the hottest of our cool climate wines in field trips to vineyards, a tasting of trophy and gold medal-winning wines from the Tasmanian Wine Show and at dinners at Smolt, Ethos and Monty's on Montpellier before the gala dinner in the Grand Ballroom at Wrest Point on Thursday. Hosted by the Tamar Valley Wine Route, Smolt put on a delicious range of canapes around the theme of ``Pinot and Truffles'', with Tamar Valley winemakers showcasing an array of their vintage pinots, including an amazing 1988 pinot from Marion's Vineyard. Sunday Tasmanian (Hobart), February 5.

Supermarkets lift sustainable seafood range; Products have doubled in past year
The number of sustainable fish and seafood products on Australian supermarket shelves has more than doubled in the past year, as consumers increasingly demand to know where and how their seafood has been caught. The Marine Stewardship Council, the international non-profit organisation that manages the distinctive blue labelling system that identifies sustainable fish, says there are now more than 120 sustainable seafood products in Australia. Last year there were fewer than 60 products available in Australia. The council's Australian manager, Patrick Caleo, said retailers were increasingly keen to sell sustainable seafood products. He said Coles and Woolworths last year committed to a sustainable seafood sourcing policy to increase the number of council products on their shelves, while Aldi already sells 30 council-certified products. Mr Caleo said interest in sustainable products had grown rapidly in the past 18 months in Australia, Europe and the United States. There are now about 13,000 products that use the council's blue eco-label being sold in 80 countries, Mr Caleo said. Canberra Times, February 4.

Rate cut helps boost services sector
Acitivity in the Australian services sector has expanded for the first time in four months, a private survey shows. The Australian Industry Group/Commonwealth Bank Australian Performance of Services Index rose 2.9 points to 51.9 points in January. A reading above 50 indicates an increase in activity. Australian Industry Group director of pubic policy Peter Burn said the index suggested the Reserve Bank of Australia's decision to cut interest rates in November and December may have boosted consumer confidence. "The return of key sectors directly exposed to household spending to positive territory provides a tentative sign that the easing of interest rates towards the end of 2011 may have lifted consumer confidence despite the dampening stream of news coming from Europe," he said. Commonwealth Bank senior economist John Peters said it was heartening to see the index back in positive territory after a weak December quarter. He said a third 25-basis-point cut in the official interest rate in February, which would take the cash rate to 4 per cent, would provide further support for the services sector in 2012. He said a third 25-basispoint cut in the official interest rate in February, which would take the cash rate to 4 per cent, would provide further support for the services sector in 2012. Strong growth in the accommodation, cafes and restaurants, finance and insurance, and personal and recreational services sub-sectors fuelled the expansion in the sector. Hobart Mercury, February 4.

Turning passion into a career in cooking
A fine meal is expected but Australia's top restaurants are struggling to plate up because of an inherent skills shortage. Leading Australian chef David Pugh says it is hard to find apprentices at all. ``A lot of restaurants have either cut apprentices severely or cut them out completely,'' Pugh says. ``Not a lot of young kids are going into the trade but there's the ability now, once qualified, to earn extremely good money.'' Budding Australian chefs are being encouraged on to the scene by hospitality industry super fund HostPlus through its Cook for Your Career competition. Last year's inaugural winner, Monty Eilola, 17, won an apprenticeship with Pugh's highly regarded Restaurant Two in Edward St in Brisbane and he begins work this month after finishing Year 12. ``I was working at Twin Towns while finishing school last year and my boss there said he wouldn't employ anyone who hadn't finished Year 12, so I stuck with it. Northern Territory News, February 4.