Chef relied on sight and taste test
A chef whose asparagus sauce is believed to have killed a diner said yesterday he had little training or knowledge that toxic bacteria could form in the preparation of some vegetables. Tables restaurant former sous chef Douglas Gunn took to the stand for a second day at the inquest into the death of Pymble man William Hodgins, 81. He told the inquest he had little knowledge of vegetable bacteria. ``Not a huge amount [of knowledge] -- no,'' he said. Mr Gunn said he had received basic training in bacteria during his TAFE training in 1991. Barrister for the NSW Food Authority Patrick Saidi pointed out that aspect of the TAFE training course had not been introduced until 2000-2001. Mr Gunn, 33, admitted he relied on the sight and taste test to ascertain whether food was spoilt. The cream-based asparagus sauce had passed his taste test the morning after Mr Hodgins' death. Tests done on the sauce revealed that it had bacillus cerus at almost 10 times the level at which it becomes toxic. The Daily Telegraph, March 29.
Melbourne makes our darkest hour perfectly clear with 10% cut;
Melbourne has made a clear statement about climate change. The city centre recorded a 10.1% drop in energy use during Earth Hour, and organisers estimate almost 2 million residents heeded the call to switch off. City landmarks such as the Arts Centre spire and Federation Square joined international landmarks such as Sydney's Harbour Bridge, the Colosseum in Rome and San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge in extinguishing their lights. Citipower reported a 10.1% drop in energy demand in Melbourne's CBD. Sydney's energy use dropped by 8.4%. A crowd of more than 1000 turned out at Federation Square for a concert and to watch lights dim. Earth Hour was celebrated at street parties, regional centres, and more than 40 candle-lit restaurants and bars in the CBD. According to estimates by AGL Energy, the energy saved slashed almost 30 tonnes of carbon emissions - equal to taking 61,320 cars off the road for the hour. The Age (Melbourne), March 31.
Family meals fall foul of time
Families are rarely sitting down together for a meal and when they do it's usually later than ever before as longer working hours and other commitments battle for our time. Experts on social change said it is becoming increasingly difficult for dual-income families to co-ordinate their schedules. A survey of more than 1000 Australian families found almost a quarter don't regularly eat together, while almost half of parents said they find it hard to make time for family meals. The survey, commissioned by food manufacturer Continental, found that just 22 per cent of families shared a meal four times a week or less, while teenagers were also less likely to eat with their families. KPMG demographer Bernard Salt said the nature of family meals had changed in a generation. He said people eat later not only because of work commitments, but also because we are now more European and more likely to adopt their eating and social habits. Mr Salt said that in most households both parents now work which meant the ``Sunday roast and family at home dinners have migrated out of the home and into the local restaurant''. The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), March 31.
If you can’t stand the heat…
It's hard to believe Gordon Ramsay is only 41 years old. The foul-mouthed chef's face is so craggy and beaten it could be mistaken for that of a 60-year-old and his success is such it could have taken several very successful lifetimes to accumulate. Worth an estimated $130m, with 16 restaurants, 10 Michelin stars and four hit television shows to his name, Ramsay has eclipsed his culinary competitors. If Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson were the biggest chefs on the planet 10 years ago, Ramsay's moment is now. "He is an absolute superstar," says Nine CEO David Gyngell, a friend of the chef, who has enjoyed a surprise ratings hit in Australia this year with Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA. While it would be tempting to dismiss him as just another celebrity chef, the man with the foulest mouth on television - in one recent Kitchen Nightmares episode he swore 81 times in an hour - is an exceptionally gifted gourmet. His restaurants have spread from England to Tokyo, Prague, New York, Dubai, Paris and, soon, Melbourne, and are among the world's. “"I've got 10 (restaurant) openings in the next 12 months," he says. One will be at Melbourne's Crown complex where he will make a reality program about the search for a head chef. “It's very, very exciting - I'm thrilled," he says. "I'm coming down—we're looking at November-December (for the opening)." Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne), March 30.
Hell's kitchen chef on menu
TV's angriest chef, Gordon Ramsay, is coming to Australia to make a reality series about opening a restaurant. Channel 9 chief executive David Gyngell has confirmed Ramsay will open a signature restaurant at the James Packer-owned Crown Complex in Melbourne by December. The search for a chef to run the venue for Ramsay, who is amassing an international empire, will form the basis of the show, which will air on Nine later this year. The new show will feature top-flight chefs competing for the mantle of head chef. Many of Ramsay's proteges in Britain have become household names there. Sunday Times (Perth).
Alfie hangs on to cafe
It's back to the deep fryer for rugby league legend Allan ``Alfie'' Langer (pictured), after abandoning plans to sell his takeaway shop on the Sunshine Coast. Last month Langer announced Alfie's Cafe and Alfie's Fish and Chips were for sale, after selling his restaurant, Alfie's Fine Dining. The 41-year-old, who tried his hand at the restaurant game after retiring from league in 2002, told The Sunday Mail last week he had decided to hold on to the two eateries at Bulcock Beach, Caloundra. ``I've decided to spend a few dollars to separate the two (the fish and chip store and the cafe) and put in new menus,'' Langer said. “I thought about (selling) but think that down the track, with a little bit of work, they could do well.'' Langer said the decision to sell had been made after a slow Christmas period, when heavy rain affected tourist numbers in the area.
The Sunday Mail (Brisbane), March 30
Sacrifices required for start-up success
As the former chief executive officer of Watt Modern Dining in New Farm, 30-year-old Matt Kesby knows full well the importance of filling casual work shifts at short notice. With the launch of his new online employment agency, PloyMe, Kesby aims to provide a solution to the chronic problem of staff vacancies holding back growing businesses. Combining his restaurant nous and entrepreneurial flair with the IT and recruitment expertise of co-directors Robert Wibaux and Fiona Roberts, PloyMe has essential elements in place. “For me, one of the greatest rewards is working with a very creative and dedicated team of people who have all been extremely successful in their respective fields,”' Mr Kesby said. He understands the sacrifices required to make start-ups work. ``This is my fourth start-up venture and they all come with their own challenges and sacrifices,'' he said. Kesby is one of the youngest members of the Queensland branch of the Entrepreneurs Organisation, a global business community of directors whose companies exceed $US1 million in revenue annually. The Sunday Mail, March 30.
World to join as one in marking our finest hour;
Last night, during Earth Hour, Mother Earth hosted a candlelight supper for a few million close friends. At Sydney's official launch, at the Fleet Steps on Farm Cove, Lord Mayor Clover Moore described Earth Hour as a call to action. "One inspired idea that began in Sydney just 12 months ago has now become a world movement," Cr Moore said. Across Sydney, lights blinked out on the city's landmarks - the Harbour Bridge and Anzac Bridge, Opera House and Centrepoint Tower. Commercial towers and apartment buildings were plunged into darkness. City hotels, bars and restaurants dimmed down. At Bondi, staff at upmarket Sean's Panaroma wore solar-powered caps invented by New Zealander Simon Dyer and launched at Christchurch's Earth Hour celebrations. The Sun Herald (Sydney), March 30.
Support for booze levy; Funds badly needed to inform drinkers
A survey of 1000 Australians found more than half would support a levy on alcohol sales to fund alcohol treatment and prevention services. And three-quarters of those questioned about attitudes to drinking said there was not enough public education about the dangers of alcohol, despite the Rudd Government's promise of a multimillion-dollar binge-drinking strategy. The survey was undertaken by Galaxy Research for the April issue of the Federal Government-funded publication Of Substance. Australian National Council on Drugs executive officer Gino Vumbaca said a small levy of five or 10 cents per drink would go a long way towards financing education campaigns and treatment services. The Sun Herald, March 30.
Cheese among the trees
One of the great things about this state is its seemingly endless capacity in so many ways to surprise and delight you with the unexpected. For instance, on a quiet drive round Bruny, Nick Haddow's cheese factory and cafe flourishing in the middle of the bush; the ambulance that rather disconcertingly welcomes you at the entrance (Haddow turns out to be one the island's volunteer ambulance drivers); and then the guy clearing your plates being Matt Preston, until recently one of the country's most influential food writers and restaurant critics. Then there's the chef, Ross O'Meara, who tasted Haddow's Oen cheese years ago while chef at Cullens Vineyard at Margaret River, made a mental note to check it out if ever he came to Tasmania, came to Tasmania with his partner Emma Harley last December, tasted the cheese again, asked Nick for a job, got it, stayed and is now buying a house with Emma, the smiling eyes behind the “cellar door'' cheese counter. Preston, with more than 5000 meals under his (still slim) belt after a stint as cafe critic for Melbourne's Age, five years as restaurant critic at the Sydney Morning Herald, editor of that paper's make-or-break restaurant bible, the SMH Good Food Guide, two books on restaurants and food and countless articles for national food and travel magazines, says it was time to get out, time for a new voice to be heard on the Sydney scene and time for him to get a better understanding and hands-on experience of produce rather than just eating it. Sunday Tasmanian, March 30.
Demand the best
A front page Mercury article last week reported a survey in which tourists to Tasmania complained that the food was old-fashioned and hit-and-miss, some of their eating experiences had been terrible and our restaurants were very expensive. Not surprisingly, Brand Tasmania executive director Robert Heazlewood jumped to the state's defence, saying that Tasmania's food and beverages had a strong presence nationally and internationally, quoting as evidence internationally acclaimed chef Michel Roux's recent rating of Tasmanian produce as world-class. (Roux also recommended that our chef skills be lifted.)
Within limits, everyone in the article was right. Eat your way around the state and the experience would certainly be hit and miss. But, no more so, I suggest, than if you were to eat your way around New South Wales, or country Victoria, South Australia or anywhere else in regional Australia. Our very best would hold their own in any of our capital cities and our next best fit fairly comfortably into most regional city and country areas, while our worst are no worse than—or just as bad as— you'd easily find lining the main streets of Cobar, Oodnadatta, Townsville, Katherine or Albany. The problem for Tasmania is that, unlike tourists to other states who, for example, hit Adelaide and the Barossa and say they've done SA, most visitors here tour the whole island and so get a disproportionate share of our hits and misses or, if they're unlucky or misdirected, mostly our misses. Sunday Tasmanian, March 30.
Shark fin hunters
Fishermen caught more than 300 tonnes of shark meat in NSW last year, five times the usual amount, according to confidential government papers obtained by The Daily Telegraph. Rapidly rising demand across Asia for for the delicacy shark fin soup is believed to be behind the leap. A confidential Department of Primary Industries document shows the total shark take in the NSW Ocean Trap and Line Fishery up from 60 tonnes. The DPI wants to set a lower yearly limit, but has failed to agree on a quota of 90 tonnes. Although most fins from sharks in NSW are sold overseas, many Sydney restaurants have shark fin soup on the menu. Star City's Lotus Pond Chinese restaurant, Kam Fook Seafood Restaurant at Bondi Junction and one of the Gold Coast's Conrad Jupiter restaurants, Zen, all advertise shark fin soup. Prices range from $126.80 to $181.60 per person. Less than half a kilogram of dried shark fin can fetch more than $300, and a single fin from a basking shark -- the second-largest fish species in the world -- can sell for $62,000. The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), March 29.
Star chef finds the perfect home
Imagine you are sitting in a plush restaurant. Crystal glasses, crystal chandeliers, a sublime meal cooked by a Michelin starred chef is being washed down with a fine shiraz served by a gorgeous handmaiden. Are you in Paris? No-it's Monty's Restaurant at the Powerhouse in Tamworth, where British chef Ben Davies has moved to raise his family as far from Europe as you can get and still be in the same solar system. Ben moved to clean bush town and country music capital Tamworth to raise his family with his Tamworth-born wife and is executive chef at the five-star quality Hotel Powerhouse. “You couldn't pay me to go back,” says the man who counts Prince Charles and U2 among his former customers. ``Tamworth is my home now.'' Although not yet well-known at present, Tamworth and its environs is a burgeoning wine region as well. Back at Monty's, the locally grown and killed spring lamb is washed down with a rich silky Melville local shiraz. Davies' uses a lot of local produce, including line-caught local trout. The meal ends with a tasting plate that includes a rich dark mousse. The meal included pot roasted Peel Valley lamb shank with a creamed red pepper and thyme polenta finished with a light lamb sauce and grilled fillet of red snapper and lightly roasted Mediterranean vegetables, basil, local olive oil and roast cous cous. The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), March 29.
Watch this face—Sara-Jane Quadara
She survived Gordon Ramsay in London. Now chef Sara-Jane Quadara hopes to wow the critics at Melbourne's most hyped new restaurant. If it weren't for a series of sporting injuries, Sara-Jane Quadara might have spent her career in tracksuits rather than chefs' whites. "Cooking was never going to be my career," she says. "I always wanted to be a phys-ed teacher." Then fate intervened. Quadara had deferred her studies and returned to her parents' Avenel home to recover from leg injuries sustained on netball and basketball courts. A friend, recalling Quadara's experience flipping burgers at a roadhouse during high school, mentioned that a nearby restaurant needed an apprentice chef. "I ummed and ah-ed and said, 'No, no, I'm just deferring for a year. I'm going back to uni,'' says Quadara. "More out of curiosity than anything else, I did a two-week trial and loved it.'' The Age, March 28.
The great pub sell-off
The Munday Group has sold out of all its Queensland hotels and three South Australian assets in a deal that has netted the group $65m. It is understood the Independent Pub Group has bought the properties. The Munday Group has sold the leasehold of the Kondari Hotel at Urgangan in Hervey Bay and the Elephant and Wheelbarrow Hotel on Wickham Street in Fortitude Valley. It also has offloaded the freehold of the Club Hotel and Commercial Hotel in Currie Street, Nambour. Terry Board of TJ Board and Company acted as agent for the vendors in the latest sale. Mr Board believes the market for good pub assets in Australia is still strong. “I think that A-grade market is going to hold up very well—by that I mean these sort of pubs,'' he said. “They were all good pubs (the Queensland ones),'' he said. “Same with the ones in South Australia. They all have gaming and they are all strong.'' The Munday Group paid $8m for the Elephant and Wheelbarrow Hotel in September 2006. The property has undergone extensive refurbishment in recent years. It is a Heritage-listed building in the heart of Brisbane's Fortitude Valley with accommodation for backpackers on the upstairs levels, at the Prince Consort Backpackers. The Courier Mail (Brisbane), March 28.
Smaller firms fail to act on new laws
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says it is disappointing so few small businesses are taking advantage of the new collective bargaining amendments. ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said he expected hundreds of small businesses to jump at the new opportunity, which allows smaller businesses with a common interest to band together to enhance their power. Under the Trade Practices Act amendments, inspired by the Dawson Report, competition law has changed. There are now higher maximum penalties, increased sanctions for individuals, new merger clearance processes, a joint venture defence for price-fixing and boycotts and a streamlined process for allowing small business collective bargaining, according to commercial law firm Freehills. Small businesses can now voluntarily group together to negotiate, providing the ACCC accepts there is a public benefit. A group of wine growers from the Alpine and King Valleys in the Victorian Alps region have won permission to band together as the North East Valleys Wine Group to negotiate the sale of their fruit. The Advertiser (Adelaide), March 31.
Murray winegrowers feel the squeeze as water supply dwindles
The Murray River winegrape industry would shrink because of the water crisis, the executive director of the Wine Grape Growers of Australian, Mark McKenzie, warned yesterday. “We understand now our footprint is probably too big in some areas,'' Mr McKenzie said. This means wine grape production will never again reach the peak of 2005. Mr McKenzie estimated that 60 per cent of the industry depended on the Murray and the Murrumbidgee, with Murray water being piped into South Australia's Barossa and Clare Valleys. Irrigation water for growers along the Murray has been drastically reduced, and the next season, which starts in July, is not looking any better. ``It doesn't matter whether you think the current pattern is seasonal variation or whether it is the leading edge of climate change, the longer-term effect is, we are going to have a lot less (water) to work with,'' Mr McKenzie said. In 2005, the winegrape harvest was 1.98 million tonnes. The numbers are not yet in for this vintage, but Mr McKenzie suspects it could be around 1.5 million tonnes, higher than early season estimates of 1.22 million tonnes. The Australian, March 31.
Chemist's breakthrough helped to save Grange
Max Schubert was on a plane heading home from Europe when inspiration struck. Penfolds had sent him to research Spanish methods of making sherry, which in 1950 was the only drink to be seen with at an Australian social gathering. “The amount of table wine that was produced back then, you and I could drink in a good weekend—all of it,'' says Don Ditter, Schubert's successor as chief winemaker at Penfolds. But Schubert's personal interest in table wine—the stuff we generally mean when we say “wine” today—compelled him to tack on a side-trip to the French wine region of Bordeaux, where he was stunned at the quality of reds produced up to 50 years earlier yet still presenting sensational flavour. By the time he landed in Adelaide, Schubert had formed the blueprint of an Australian wine to rival those he had seen in France, one that would last for at least 20 years and stand among the world's greatest. The product of his inspiration was Grange —Australia's most famous and arguably greatest wine, and the only local drop to be regularly listed among the best the world has to offer. Selling for $500 a bottle when released each May, some vintages go at auction for more than $10,000. The Australian, March 31.
'Tanked up' girls good for business
Pubs and clubs are targeting women with happy hour campaigns, Sunday Canberra Times research has found. "Ladies' nights" are common in establishments across the city, where women are offered everything from discounted drinks to free cocktails and champagne. Australian Bartender's Guild president Alex Beaumont said it was common practice to target female drinkers.
"Ladies' nights work tremendously for bars when you give ladies free champagne or some incentive to drink, a lot of guys hear that there's 'tanked up' girls in there, so they swarm like moths around a light at night. The bar's full, the men have the money and they buy the drinks so the proprietors do well." Curtin University National Drug Research Institute senior research fellow Tanya Chikritzhs said alcohol consumption in women did not need to be encouraged. "The average of alcohol consumed by women rose 30.75 per cent from 1995 to 2001 and that trend seems to have continued," she said. "When you think about it from a business point of view, ladies' nights and cheap drinks make money, and while a lot of the practice is not sanctioned by the responsible service of alcohol laws, the chances of getting caught are pretty slim. But it's irresponsible it encourages people to drink more than they should and there are consequences to that." Canberra Times, March 30.
Another blessed year for grapes
There's one time of year the beautiful Barossa Valley is at odds with the rest of Australia; when the last thing South Australia's premier wine-making region wants is rain. When I was in the Barossa for a weekend last month, the plump little grapes were ready for picking, and the vignerons and vintners were praying for no rain clouds: a soaking would cause the fruit to burst and bring on all sorts of mould mayhem. The grape gods came good that weekend: it was 36C and there was not a cloud in the sky. I was there for the annual Blessing of the Grapes and Declaration of the Vintage ceremony, joining the throng around a rotunda at Tanunda, a small town in the heart of the valley. In a flourish of long gold-and-red gowns and funny little caps, the Barons of the Barossa -- a local fraternity of leading winemakers and some of Australia's best-known names in the wine business -- emerged from a Lutheran church built in 1849 and paraded down the main street to the rotunda. Sunday Telegraph,
March 30.
Tears, not cheers, for bingers
What typically defines Australian culture? If the picture in your head is similar to mine you are probably envisaging people with a can of beer or a glass of wine in their hand. Now all of a sudden it seems that we, the younger generation, have a binge drinking problem. Recent studies show one in 10 young Australians between 12 and 17 regularly binge drink. It is a worrying statistic, particularly as the age range includes young people who are not yet teenagers. Why do why people so young feel they need to drink? Is it because they are bored? Is it peer group pressure, so they look cool or mature? Whatever the reasons, the problem is there and it's not going away. Drinking has always been a way of life in Australia, regardless of where your roots lie. I grew up in a big Greek family at a dinner table which was never without a bottle of homemade wine. I wasn't allowed to drink the wine, but it sat there in front of me for years as I watched the adults in my family drink in moderation. Many families have similar experiences, where the adults in the family home are being responsible role models. But what about where there are no role models? Sunday Mail, March 30.
On the market
The latest data on Australian wine volumes show rising imports are now affecting the sales of local blends. Historically, Australian wines have been shielded from the threat of imports, say Citi Smith Barney equity analysts. "The abundance of high-quality and a wide variety of wine has limited the demand for imports. However, as the Australian wine drinker's level of sophistication has increased (along with the Australian dollar), so to has the demand for imports," they say. Imports are now growing at 40 per cent each year. They already make up 9 per cent of the total domestic wine volumes. New Zealand wine is the drink of choice, with growing consumption of Kiwi blends the main contributor to the surge in imports, making up 50 per cent. Citigroup says the strengthening Australian currency and a more international focus on the wine industry will be the key drivers of domestic versus overseas sales. "The increasing focus internationally on the domestic Australia wine market and the willingness of retailers and ontrade establishments to list and support new imported brands will continue to increase the level of competition in the Australian wine market," the analysts say. The Australian, March 28.
Packer takes a Break
James Packer has splurged $150m on a stake in Welcome Break, Britain's second- largest motorway services company. Mr Packer's investment fund, Challenger Life, will own 14 per cent of the firm once the $1.08bn deal is finalised. British reports say Welcome Break, which operates 21 hotels, as well as food and petrol outlets, has been sold by Bahrain-based private equity firm Investcorp. Mr Packer joined Dutch and Canadian infrastructure investors to clinch the buyout. The motorway sector in Britain can be lucrative, because of government restrictions on the development of service stations there. Operators are therefore able to charge premium prices, offering steady cash flows.Welcome Break operates three hotel brands: Welcome Lodge, Days Inn and Days Hotel. The Daily Telegraph, March 31.
Give birth and you get a gift - Trend for new fathers to splash out on `push presents'
New fathers are spoiling their wives with ``push presents'' and ``babymoons'', pushing their credit cards to the limit to thank them for enduring the pain of childbirth. Hollywood's celebrity couples have been blamed for this expensive trend. Pierce Brosnan reportedly gave his wife, Keely Shaye-Smith, a diamond bracelet and a babymoon at Bora Bora to celebrate the birth of their first child. A recent US survey found 37 per cent of affluent Americans recognise push presents as a tradition. According to Nader jewellery store owner David Nader, Australians do, too. The demand for push presents in Australia had accelerated in the past five years, Mr Nader said. Babymoons—holidays taken by parents before or after the birth of a child— are also being added to the list of pamper packages offered by high-end Sydney hotels such as The Observatory and out-of-town retreats such as Lilianfels Blue Mountains Resort and Spa. Lilianfels publicity manager Kim Salt said the resort's Babymoon Package, introduced last month, had already proved extremely popular. The package offers a “crave no more'' menu for pregnant mothers featuring peanut butter sandwiches and chicken laksa, a mini bathrobe for the baby, and an assortment of pampering services. Sunday Telegraph, March 30.
New chef welcome
Australia's best hotel, the Story Bridge Hotel, Kangaroo Point, has nailed a new executive chef. His name is Brendon Hull and his culinary skills have copped raves from obsessive foodies in Britain, Europe and the South Pacific. Now that the Story Bridge’s brother-sister owners Richard and Jane Deery have collared him, he's poised to turn their prize pub into top tucker central. Chef Brendon was the centre of attention at a rowdy cocktail party thrown to prove just how important the Deery tycoons think he is. Story Bridge Hotel, Kangaroo Point. The Sunday Mail, March 30.