Food fight as News puts bite on Fairfax
A newspaper food fight is set to erupt on Tuesdays as News Limited (publisher of The Australian) prepares to launch a weekly Taste supplement in its metropolitan mastheads in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. In Sydney and Melbourne, the section will go head-to-head with Fairfax Media's two long-running Tuesday food supplements, Good Living in The Sydney Morning Herald and Epicure in The Age. The new section will start in coming months, according to News national features editor Alan Oakley. ``We think the timing is right for this initiative. The huge success of (reality TV series) MasterChef has shown that if you get it right, the audience will be engaged,'' he said. ``If you'll excuse the puns, food is hot and we're confident of getting a bigger slice of the audience.'' Fairfax is also revamping its coverage, with the foodie world simmering with rumours the Herald will officially announce the arrival of renowned restaurant critic Terry Durack in the next month. Durack and his wife, food writer Jill Dupleix, recently returned to Sydney after some years in London, with Durack tipped to take over as Good Living's chief restaurant reviewer. The Australian, August 17.
Plan to upgrade migrant skills list
The federal government is considering cutting back in migration that is of little value to the economy by imposing a minimum salary level below which permanent skilled migrants cannot enter Australia and putting a cap on the number of workers in some occupations. But industry groups fear that by adopting the proposal the Rudd government may lock in a preference for high-pay, high skill workers irrespective of the labour needs of the economy. An issues paper from the federal departments if Employment and Immigration sets out the options as part of reforms to the way the government decides which skilled migrants business needs, known as the migration occupations in demand list or MODL. Restaurant and Catering Australia CEO John Hart said while the issues paper seemed to express a preference for higher skilled occupations to be on the MODL, he wasn’t sure that reflected the current skill needs in the economy. “If this is to be a truly a MODL, it should reflect demand for occupations not simply an analysis of what we want to have in Australia,” he said. “So the driver should be skill shortages, not an analysis if what occupations are of greatest benefit.” The Australian Financial Review, August 17.
Setting the trend in pubs
When Julian Gerner went on his first trip to London, he took careful stock of the city's ``club pubs'' with their cool blend of traditional and trendy. Melbourne could do with a new style of pub, the young commerce graduate decided. His food-based efforts, including the award-winning Public House in Richmond, proved stunningly successful. Now with his latest acquisitions coming on line just as London's recession-plagued pubs are folding at a rate of knots, the dynamic publican who employs top chefs is riding high. ``Over the past 12 months we've spent about $10m on our current projects,'' he said. Last month Mr Gerner, 36, took over Middle Park's Gunn Island Hotel -- the fourth pub he and his business partners have acquired over the past three years on leases ranging from 21 to 30 years and, like the others, a historic building in a prime upmarket location. Herald Sun (Melbourne), August 17.
The pubs with no buyer: hotel values in the cellar
The slump in the value of NSW pubs in the past six months has outpaced the fall two decades ago, the average price of hotels being almost half of what they were at their previous highs. After the 1987 crash NSW pub prices fell by an average of 40 per cent: this time around they are down at least 45 per cent. Of nine sales in the past six months examined by the Herald, the average decline was 45 per cent, off either the peak in 2006-07, or their previous sale. Industry experts say the slump is steeper this time because the boom was inflated by the introduction of poker machines to pubs, which boosted profits with little ongoing costs. In a sign of industry woes, some hotels in receivership are even failing to sell at auction. The largest fall is set to be recorded at the historic Alexandra Hotel in Leura, which has been in receivership for 18 months. It is set to sell for $2.3 million 64 per cent less than the previous sale price. The National Australia Bank will be able to claw back less than half of its $4.9m loan to the publicans, Sam Tannous and his son Michael Tannous. Sydney Morning Herald, August 17.
La Luna's chef plans meat for Big Apple
ADRIAN Richardson, chef and owner of famous North Carlton restaurant La Luna, is headed for New York city where he will be part of the Taste of Tennis event at the W Hotel. The charity cooking event on August 27 features a host of well-known American chefs and tennis players, all in town for the US Open. Organisers asked Richardson to take part in the event after he impressed them at the Australian NAB Taste of Tennis event earlier this year. ``I love New York, it's such a great city,'' he said. Richardson will cook a spicy lamb pie, made from Aussie lamb. He will also launch his book Meat in New York City and cook a dinner for the prestigious culinary organisation the James Beard Foundation. Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne), August 16.
It's Donna Hay vs Don Burke
Gardening guru Don Burke and master chef Donna Hay have gone to war—over the humble parsnip. Burke fired the first shot last week when he used his radio program to slam Hay and this newspaper for publishing parsnip recipes in The Sunday Telegraph's Sunday Magazine. Burke described Hay as ``wretched'' for serving parsnips to people as they were not fit for pigs. ``I'm outraged, I'm angry, I'm upset, I'm crushed. I'm all of those things and a lot more,'' he said on air. ``If you get that appalling newspaper today, The Sunday Telegraph, and get out Sunday Magazine ... that wretched Donna Hay has got two pages of parsnip recipes. ``I respect pigs, I like pigs, but I wouldn't give my pet pig parsnips.'' But Burke may have bitten off more than he can chew, with Hay and the parsnip industry rising up to defend this worthy vegetable. Sunday Telegraph (Sydney), August 16.
Maccas to use free-range eggs
The world's largest fast-food chain has declared it will move its Australian operation towards using free-range eggs in its food. McDonald's has already started using only free-range eggs in other countries, particularly in Britain, and its Australian arm has confirmed it will happen here. ``It's definitely something we are hoping to move toward,'' a spokeswoman said. ``We can't give an undertaking of timing. ``For a business of our size, changing anything is a huge undertaking.'' That move would create a massive change in Australia's egg production industry with the hamburger chain buying 70 million eggs a year. The Advertiser (Adelaide), August 15.
Watch and learn
John Lethlean
The guy behind the bar has a theory. And this being Coda, almost certainly the hottest restaurant in Melbourne, he explains it over dessert. Mine, not his. It runs like this: restaurants with proper eating bars - where you can spread out and dine on a stool - are particularly attractive propositions to women. I eat my tapioca, all ears. They're places, he says, where women can sit, check out guys - cooks, waiters, barmen (although not him, he stresses) - and have a glass of wine without fear of harassment. The environment gives women licence to do, more or less, what men have been doing in pubs for donkey's. Or so the theory goes. Whether the guy behind the bar is right, who knows (although there do always seem to be glamorous women at Coda's bar), but you can't say he hasn't done the fieldwork. Mykal Bartholomew (pictured) has been the guy behind the bar this past five years at two of the city's most important eating places: MoVida and MoVida Next Door, the former a restaurant with a great bar, the latter a more pure version of the Spanish tapas concept. The Australian Magazine, August 15.
Chaos in run-up to fine-diner launch
If you can't stand the heat in the kitchen, don't open a restaurant. The past few weeks have been chaotic for Queensland's newest fine diner -- Aria Brisbane. In the run-up to Monday's launch, chefs have been battling everything from a flood in the kitchen to a ``cool'' room spiking at 20°C and a computer crash, which blocked access to vital recipes. Tonight, the 25-strong kitchen team faces a practice run with 140 guests, many flying up from Sydney specially to attend. Celebrity chef Matt Moran, who has opened four other restaurants with business partner Peter O'Sullivan, admits the lead-up has been challenging. ``I've said after every one -- never again. I suppose a lot of it is adrenaline, the stress, but it seems harder this time 'round,'' he said. But Moran's close mate, controversial UK chef Gordon Ramsay, has already given the old Pier Nine site a thumbs up. The Courier Mail (Brisbane), August 15.
Pubs prove irresistible, financially
Former publican of The Brewery Queens Wharf, Ian Burford and his family, are believed to be the buyers of Merewether's Burwood Inn from long-time owner Barry Bradley. The sale is believed to have been negotiated privately last month in the early $2m. The hotel was marketed for sale last June with Newcastle Hotel Brokers agents Ray Bailey and Michael Leis for expressions around $3m. Mr Bradley said he was selling his pub of the past 271/2 years to spend more time at his Nambucca Heads farm. The circa-1920s 77 Berner Street pub has a rear section that was renovated seven years ago. It has 12 poker machines and a private residence upstairs. Mr Burford sold The Brewery for about $8m mid-last year to former Goldbergs cafe owner Michael Hogg. Newcastle Herald, August 15.
Otto chef Kidman in the frame as National Gallery brushes up on cuisine
Sydney’s loss is Canberra's gain, with Otto Ristorante chef James Kidman confirming he is leaving the celebrity hangout at Woolloomooloo Wharf to help overhaul the food offer at the National Gallery of Australia. Kidman, who has served modern Italian fare to international luminaries during the past eight years, has called it a day to join Canberra caterer Fiona Wright in her bid to spruce up the restaurants and cafes at Australia's leading art gallery. ``The National Gallery is going through a substantial refurb and I'll be looking at the food at the cafe and members' gallery, a new function centre and the Sculpture Garden Restaurant,'' Kidman tells Food Detective, adding that he and Wright aim to have everything up and running by the middle of next year. ``It's a matter of bringing in a really great energy and having free rein to take everything up a notch,'' he says. Weekend Australian, August 15.