A round-up of stories from the weekend's newspapers affecting the hospitality industry.

Michelin star for cheap-eat canteen

A Hole-in-the-wall canteen in Hong Kong that offers dishes for less than $1.50 has become the world's cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant.

Tim Ho Wan, which means Add Good Luck, can seat only 20 people in its steamy dining room where battered bamboo baskets of dim sum sell for as little as $1.42.

In other Michelin-ranked restaurants a meal can cost more than $400.

Michelin guide director Jean-Luc Naret said it was the "most affordable starred restaurant in the world".

The star ratings, which range from one star to three, are a rare honour in the restaurant trade, with only a few hundred in the world deemed good enough.

Tim Ho Wan is headed by Mak Pui Gor, the former dim sum chef at Hong Kong's Four Seasons Hotel, where he worked at its three-starred restaurant Lung King Heen.

During the economic crisis, Mr Mak branched out on his own to offer his dishes at bargain prices.

His most expensive dish, a plate of noodles, costs the equivalent of about $5.40, and he sells about 750 of his signature crispy pork buns each day. The Sydney Morning Herald, November 28.

Push on to ban beer barns-

MELBOURNE'S beer barns are destined to go the way of indoor smoking in bars and restaurants and be regulated away, according to Lord Mayor Robert Doyle.

Cr Doyle says creeping regulation would reduce the numbers of patrons and the hours of operation at some of Melbourne's biggest licensed venues and get rid of others altogether.

"We have got places that now operate until very late at night with huge numbers of patrons and they tend to be places where we know we are going to have trouble," Cr Doyle said.

The Lord Mayor was particularly critical of the decision to award a liquor licence to the 1500-patron Neverland nightclub in South Melbourne.

"Despite that fact that the local government authority was against it, the police were against it, liquor licensing were against it, VCAT [the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal] granted them hours and numbers of patrons — any system working like that is actually not working," he said.

The head of the Rudd Government's preventive health taskforce, Professor Rob Moodie, said he supported a roll-back of large drinking venues. "Victoria has unfortunately led the way in deregulating liquor licensing," he said.

The Age, November 28.

Chef's Big Mac attack

Masterchef judge George Calombaris has panned the show's biggest advertiser, McDonald's, describing the burger chain as ``the devil''.

The outspoken chef forbids his nieces and nephews from eating ``foul processed food'' from Macca's. If they are invited to children's birthday parties at the chain, they take lunch boxes filled with fresh food.

``McDonald's is the devil,'' Calombaris said.

``My nieces and nephews don't know what a burger tastes like at McDonald's because we don't let them eat there.''

The burger giant spent hundreds of thousands of dollars each week on advertising during Channel 10's Celebrity MasterChef, won by Olympic swimmer Eamon Sullivan last week.

But advertising dollars for his show meant nothing to the candid Calombaris, who has started filming next year's MasterChef series.

``I despise all of those fast-food chains,'' he said.

``Why would you eat that stuff when it's so easy to make good hamburgers at home?

``My family won't eat there and we won't let the kids eat there.

``If they're invited to birthday parties at McDonald's, my sister packs the kids a little lunch box with fresh stuff. The kids know they're not allowed to eat the food.''

McDonald's spokeswoman Amy Lawrence said the company was proud of its food and would continue advertising on MasterChef, regardless of Calombaris's outburst.

``MasterChef is a great property for us,'' she said.

``Like our brand, the popular show is about food bringing families together.

``In the main, the produce used in our restaurants is the same as what people can purchase at the supermarket to cook a meal at home.'' Sunday Herald Sun, November 29.

`Fawlty' hotelier loses case

A former manager of the heritage-listed Jenolan Caves House has lost a four-year legal battle with The Sunday Telegraph over claims he was defamed by stories likening the hotel to Fawlty Towers.

Archer Field was ordered to pay legal costs, expected to be more than $1 million, in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday after a judge ruled The Sunday Telegraph had established a defence of truth and was entitled to publish the stories based on statutory qualified privilege.

The long-running court battle was sparked by reports published on page 11 on November 20, 2005, headlined ``A holiday to forget'' and ``Basil would be proud of them'' in which The Sunday Telegraph reported on complaints about the hotel and observations made by a reporter who stayed there.

The stories followed comments made under parliamentary privilege by then NSW Environment Minister Bob Debus in which he read out a series of complaints from hotel visitors and spoke about the Government's plan to break the company's 99-year lease.

Mr Field claimed the story made eight defamatory imputations against him. These included that he was ``unfit'' to manage the hotel, ``incompetent'' in his management of the hotel and had managed the hotel so badly that rooms were filthy, the floors watery and the carpet stained, and there was no hot water for a guest to have a shower. He claimed he was further defamed because the story imputed that his staff were rude to customers, the games room contained hazardous electrical cords, and that a hungry guest could not get a meal after 7pm.

But Judge Peter Johnson found that each of the eight imputations were substantially true and were protected under the statutory defence of qualified privilege as the conduct of The Sunday Telegraph was reasonable in the circumstances. The judge also found that between 1997 and 2005, Mr Field failed to remove asbestos, comply with warnings about fire standards, properly maintain the hot water system and did not always provide clean facilities or good service. Sunday Telegraph, November 29

Party season back on menu

The famine is over and it's time for a Christmas feast with many Queensland businesses returning to the table for festive break-ups.

In a sign of renewed confidence, function centres and restaurants are reporting strong bookings for December's party season.

Brisbane's newest entertainment venue, Cloudland in Fortitude Valley, has been inundated with Christmas function bookings.

``The response has been amazing. We have found the bookings are really strong, especially for the weekends, and we are filling up on weeknights as well,'' said spokeswoman Rebecca Eather.

``Some companies are going all out this year and booking half the venue, so that's a celebration of several hundred.''

Ms Eather said the biggest party was for 800 people in the gas industry, but businesses of all sizes were having their festive celebrations at the venue.

``Spends can climb to $80,000 for a corporate Christmas party, but the average is more like $15,000 to $20,000.''

Conrad Treasury in Brisbane City also found there was no sign of last year's Scrooge behaviour.

``We are experiencing an increased number of bookings for Christmas functions in comparison to last year,'' a spokeswoman said. ``Last-minute bookings have been quite strong.

``We have also seen an increase in dinner functions, in comparison to cocktail events. Many events in 2008 converted to cocktail as a result of the GFC and we are seeing these convert back this year.''

Corporate Christmas party bookings at Fortitude Valley's Emporium Hotel started off slow, but have undergone a last-minute surge as the economy begins to recover.

Brisbane City fine diner Aria was also looking forward to a strong Christmas, with corporate lunch bookings almost full and dinner bookings increasing.The Sunday Mail, November 29

Cafe a family affair

The Saade family has a long and successful history in the restaurant game, having opened more than 60 cafes and restaurants.

Now the next generation is branching out.

Following in their parents' footsteps, sisters Michelle and Nicole have opened Phamish in St Kilda. The fabulous food and wine bar has an outdoor area looking straight into the mouth of Luna Park.

Herald Sun, November 28

New dining precinct for Perth

A giant town square featuring dozens of new cafes, shops and restaurants is the centrepiece of a $500 million plan to transform the Perth city centre into a Venetian-style piazza.

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett yesterday likened Perth to ``Chicago central in the 1930s'' and described the area as a ``wasteland'', as he promised to build a massive 1.1ha town square -- 25 per cent bigger than Melbourne's Federation Square.

Mr Barnett said the town square would be built on new land to be created by finally sinking the city's railway underground, after decades of governments talking about it.

Preliminary site works would start within months and ``serious'' construction would begin by the second half of next year. Mr Barnett said the project would connect the city centre with the adjoining entertainment precinct of Northbridge in a desperately needed revitalisation.

He said the town square would include terraced gardens, grass embankments, water features and light shows with a modern ``funky'' glass and steel structure to be used for entertainment.

Up to 8000 people would be able to gather in the square for entertainment and shows, creating a vibrant new heart for the city.

In all, 13.5ha of land would be transformed under the bold plan, with private developers expected to pump up to $2 billion into associated developments once the transformation began.

The project is expected to cause massive congestion in the city during its four-year construction period, but the Premier said he had no doubt it would be worth the inconvenience.

He said sinking the rail line would create big areas of prime real estate, which would be sold to developers for hotels, offices, shops and housing. The Australian, November 30.