Let's take some chances with menus

We are very lucky here in Australia to have such a wide range of restaurants available to us. These days just about every suburban shopping strip will have a Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese and Italian restaurant, with Mexican, Spanish (Tapas) and Japanese establishments also common. All in all, you could say that the Australian dining scene is a United Nations of interesting cuisines vying for our attention.

What a shame though that just about every restaurant representing each particular cuisine has virtually the same menu. With a population of 1.7 billion (give or take a few hundred million) I refuse to believe that Indian food for example consists of only the two dozen or so staples that make it on the menu of my local Indian restaurant. And my sister's. And my parents' in Mudgee. And yours too, probably.

I was reminded of this last night when I grabbed a quick bite at Haiphong Harbour Vietnamese restaurant in Glebe before a show at the Seymour Centre. Haiphong Harbour is great value, with speedy, friendly service and a menu I could have pretty much recited without looking at it, even though I've never set foot in the place before. I'm not knocking at all but I know, from travelling in Vietnam apart from anything else, that there is much more to this wonderful cuisine than fried spring rolls, summer rolls, pho, sugar cane prawns, paw paw salad, lemon grass beef/pork/chicken etc...

There are of course exceptions to every rule - restaurants looking beyond the accepted "standards" of their cuisine to serve more interesting, authentic, regional dishes. Red Lantern (Vietnamese) and Spice I Am (Thai) are two personal favourites that spring to mind but I've found that these more innovative restaurants tend to position themselves at the higher end of the market. Certainly, Spice I Am didn't start off that way but it's second, Darlinghurst venue is decidedly more upmarket - and expensive - than the hole-in-the-wall Wentworth Avenue address.

So why aren't more restaurants serving more interesting, challenging national fare? Is it that, despite our obvious interest in trying international cuisines, Aussies aren't actually that adventurous when it comes to moving beyond the standards? Or is it that restaurateurs don't want to risk alienating punters by offering more adventurous dishes?

The answer is probably a little of both but isn't it time to try something different? Literally. I know that if a restaurant wants to throw out the challenge, I'll accept it happily.

Food for thought

"After an exhaustive review of the research literature, here's the final word on nutrition and health: 1. Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us; 2. Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us; 3. Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us; 4. Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us; 5. Germans drink beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than us. Conclusion: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you."

Anonymous

My kind of diet

I received a piece of email spam this morning advising me that if I only eat "Negative Calorie Foods" I can "drop up to 14 POUNDS in only 7 DAYS" and that to find out more I need supply my credit card details "NOW".

This lovely piece of marketing (for want of a better word) reminded me of a "diet" which Sydney University student paper Honi Soit, rechristening itself Dolly Soit for the occasion, published way back when I was studying there.

Having finally found a diet I liked the sound of, I pinned it to the fridge for many years. I want to share it with you now for inspiration.

Rules for this diet

1. If you eat something and no one sees you eat it, it has no calories.

2. If you drink a diet soft drink while eating chocolate, the diet soft drink cancels out any calories in the chocolate.

3. When eating with someone else, your calories don't count if you eat less than they do.

4. Calories in food used for medicinla purpose NEVER count, eg. hot chocolate, brandy, cough lollies.

5. Movie related foods do not add calories because they are part of an entire entertainment package, eg. Jaffas, hot buttered popcorn, Minties.

6. Biscuit pieces contain no calories because the process of breakages causes leakage.

7. Things licked off spoons and knives have no calories if you are in the process of preparing something because calories only become part of the completed food, eg. icing off a knife, cake mixture of a beater.

8. Foods that are the same colour have the same number of calories. Examples are: spinach and pistachio ice cream, mushrooms and white chocolate. Note: since brown is a universal colour, chocolate may be substituted for any other food colour.

Happy dieting!

Book project update #4

This has been a busy couple of weeks for me, settling into my new job at Open House, and I confess I haven’t had as much time for reading as I usually do. Here are the books I’ve read over the last fortnight.


The legacy by Kirsten Tranter

This is an Aussie thriller set in Sydney and New York in the aftermath of September 11. I read a preview copy at the suggestion of a friend who knew Kirsten growing up and then dropped by the book launch at Shearer’s Books here in Leichhardt. The book is good; the awkward “do I know you from somewhere?” conversations less so. Apparently I am simultaneously very memorable and very bad at remembering people from my past...

The girl who kicked the hornet’s nest by Steig Larsson

I started this third book in the Millennium trilogy after discussing the first two novels with a friend who is reading The girl who played with fire, but put it down because it doesn't fit in my bag for the bus. I’ve been reading the odd page here and there over breakfast but I really need a rainy weekend with no plans to finish this.

Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs

This on the other hand is a perfect bus book – small format, not too thick and not too mentally demanding. I'd thought I’d read all the Kathy Reichs books, about forensic bone expert (the correct name for this field escapes me, sorry!) Temperance Brennan, aka “Bones”, so was pleased to find this one in a friend’s discard pile. Like all of Kathy’s books, this one is typically intriguing and gripping.

Parky: an autobiography by Michael Parkinson

I love Michael Parkinson. What a career. What a life. What a man. ‘nough said!

A refreshing drop from First Drop Wines

There's a lot of "wankery" in the world of wine appreciation (yes, I know, who'd have thought it?), which is why is was so refreshing, no pun intended, to come across winemaker Matt Grant from First Drop Wines, a "virtual" winery based in South Australia's Adelaide Hills, at a tasting last week.

Matt is no light weight when it comes to winemaking (he was Young Winemaker of the Year in '04 and the inaugural Young Gun of the Year in '07) but his approach to running a wine "masterclass" was light-hearted to say the least. In between tastings of some lovely wines from First Drop and other South Australian producers, tasters were invited to join in activities such as a blind "sniffing" to identify some common fruit and veggie "flavours" found in wine, complete with blindfold; a contest inspired by The Price is Right to identify the combined total of the wines tasted (for the record my guess was out by over $100 - I did not become a journalist because I'm good at maths!) and a wine spitting contest to see who could spit their red wine the furthest. While I'm not a fan of spitting under any circumstances - even into a spitoon at a wine tasting - the roars of laughter from guests during the last game suggested that not everyone is so squeamish.

At the end of the evening everyone walked away not only having learnt something (did you know, for example, that Michia  is slang for both the male and female sex organs in some parts of Italy?), but having had some fun, and isn't that what drinking wine should be about?

Some thoughts on the ethics of blogging...

There's been a lot of discussion in recent months amongst food bloggers and in the mainstream media about the ethics of bloggers accepting free meals from restaurants, the argument being that freebies make the recipient beholden to the host and less likely to be objective in their review. Commentators go on to state that regular reviewers (that is, those from the major newspapers) book and dine anonymously, paying for their own meals.

Well, yes, some do but a lot of the smaller (budget-restricted) publications including community newpapers and food magazines do accept hospitality from restaurants, cooking schools and the like.

Does accepting a free meal mean you have to give a positive review? I guess that depends on how you handle it. On the occasions in the past where, working for consumer food magazines, I've accepted something for nothing, I've always made it clear that any review or feature was at my discretion (or my editor's) and there were no guarantees of a positive write-up. If worst came to worst and we couldn't say anything nice at all then we wouldn't say anything at all.

I think for bloggers, like all journalists, the key lies in disclosure. If a restaurant hosts a blogger for a meal they shouldn't be afraid to say so - readers will draw their own conclusion, for good or for bad, but at least the blogger can feel confident that they're not deceiving anyone.

It would be naive to think that restaurants don't realise the potential of bloggers as a "marketing tool". At a food industry "tweet-up" last week at the MuMu Grill in Sydney chef Craig Macindoe, speaking about his online media and marketing strategy, revealed that hosting bloggers such as Not Quite Nigella has had a positive and measurable impact on his business.

From a blogger's perspective there are some invitations that are just too good to pass up, as became clear today when Melbourne blogger Tomatom tweeted about an invite he'd received to a bloggers' dinner at Tetsuya's. "Oooh, yes, please" was the general response in the twittersphere.

For the record I haven't been invited to the Tetsuya's dinner but you know what? I don't mind. I've been to Tetsuya's three times now and each time it has been for work. Tetsuya's is an amazing culinary experience but at four plus hours for the degustation menu it's what I call "endurance dining" - you really have to enjoy the company of the people you're there with. Next time I go to Tetsuya's, and I hope there is a next time if only for the sublime Ocean Trout Confit, I'd like to share the experience with the people I enjoy sharing much humbler meals with - my friends and family.

Book project 2010: update #3

For those who’ve missed my earlier posts on Book Project 2010, here, here and here , I’ve decided to be a more conscious reader and keep a list of all the books I read in 2010 in the hope of gaining some insights into my reading habits. While I’ve been trying to every “commercial” book with a more “literary” pick, several days in bed with a nasty lergie and an early obsession with the Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood novels and vampire fiction in general, has skewed the list a little lower than I’d hoped! Here’s what I’ve read in the last two weeks.


Living Oprah by Robyn Okrant

Based on her blog of the same name, Okrant set out in 2008 to do everything that talk show host and cultural phenomenon Oprah recommends for a year. I’ve already talked about this book in an earlier post but I’ve got to say I’m impressed with anyone who’s prepared to turn their life so completely upside down for a project. As much as I love blogging I don’t think I would be prepared to do anything drastic!

Hourglass by Claudia Gray

I was asked to proofread the Australian edition of this young adult novel about six months ago and as a result was sent the first two books in the series by the publisher. Aimed fair and square at the Twilight demographic, this gothic-horror series deals with teenage romance, vampires, vampire hunters and icy wraiths. For one reason or another I didn’t end up working on this book, so I came at this volume fresh on Australia Day. Great fun!

A song in the daylight by Paullina Simons

Whatever happened to quality over quantity? This book is an exasperating 767 pages long. Somewhere around page 350 I questioned if it was worth finishing, and yet, at the same time, I’d come so far... I didn’t predict the ending but then, I didn’t really care by that stage. Use it as a doorstop instead.

Transgressions by Sarah Dunant

This disturbing novel about a single, 30-something freelancer being stalked made this single, 30-something freelancer want to deadbolt the front door. Scary.

Out of the silence by Wendy James
I mostly picked up this novel about three Australian women from different social situations in early 1900s Victoria because I needed something relatively brainless to read on the train to work (sad but true) but I'm finding it surprisingly engrossing.

Day three and feeling great!

Is it just me or does anyone else think it's ironic that Victoria Beckham - aka Posh Spice - "loves" helping out in her sons' school tuck shop? She doesn't eat! Well, maybe she inhales the odd lettuce leaf but seriously, I don't believe you can be a size zero or a size minus four or whatever she is and have a decent appetite. Nup. No way.

So, yes, it's 7pm and I've only just managed to skim the headlines on the SMH website, usually one of the first things I do every day. What a difference a week - or should I say a full-time job? - makes.

After three days in my new job editing Open House I have to say I am really enjoying it. I have been bombarded with information, asked a zillion questions, have a things-to-do list the length of the Harbour Bridge and still haven't worked out where the best place to get coffee is but I feel really confident that once I get my head around everything (especially the where-to-buy-coffee dilemma) the job's going to be a great fit for me. Phew!