Food photography tips - how to take better food blog photos

It's no secret. One of the driving reasons why people visit food blogs is to look at mouthwatering food photos. I see you now - coffee cup in one hand, mouse in the other. Oh yes, I know you read every single word. Pore over it. Sure you do! But nothing arrests the attention of a fickle surfer like a striking visual image.

I look back now on the photos I took eight years ago and wince. But

Dos Senoritas, Gladesville

Truck on down to Gladesville and join the fiesta at Dos Senoritas, a poky restaurant that’s packed to the rafters almost every night. Sky-blue walls, sombreros and rainbow ponchos set the scene – the only thing missing is a mariachi band.

It’s a popular spot for groups and kids on weekends, so dismiss any thoughts of a quiet, intimate dinner. Seating is also tight, so expect to make friends

Kam Fook, Bondi Junction

Everything happens in threes, right? It was a hattrick of back-to-back dinners for Chinese New Year feasting recently, culiminating in a ten-course banquet for media at Kam Fook in Bondi Junction. It sits on the top floor at Westfield, above the food court, with large windows letting in plenty of natural light.


Suckling pig and jellyfish cold meats platter

The cold meat platter is a

Chinese New Year Dinner with Suckling Pig

Why hello. An invitation to a Chinese New Year dinner is always exciting, but when Veruca Salt told me that a suckling pig was also on the guest list, I could barely keep the grin of anticipation off my face.

Chinese New Year is all about getting together with family and friends. It's a time to cherish loved ones, be thankful for what you have, and to clear the slate for a New Year filled with

The Eight, Haymarket

Happy New Year!

It's the first day of the Lunar New Year and 2012 is the Year of the Dragon. We celebrated with a dinner at The Eight at the top of Market City, buzzing with families and friends who had come together to eat.


The Eight


Yee sang sashimi salad $42.80 (specials menu)

After a complimentary house soup - sweet with pork bones and filled with lotus roots and strands of lucky fat

Macleay St Bistro, Potts Point

Pate is one of those magical foods that arise from otherwise ordinary ingredients. A handful of panfried livers blitzed with butter and cream yields a smooth and elegant paste that demands to be slathered on thin crisp shards of toast.

And yet it's the pickled red grapes on our chicken liver pate starter ($12) that steals the spotlight during our dinner at Macleay St Bistro. Plump and juicy,

Albee's Kitchen, Campsie

How could you possibly improve on the juicy fattiness of a pork rib? You deep-fry it, of course. We stumble upon these nam yue pork ribs ($14.80) at Albee's Kitchen in Campsie, marinated in red fermented bean curd, then dipped in flour and deep-fried to a golden crunch. There's a sweet saltiness to this dish, underlined by the flavour of fermented tofu - slightly alcoholic and yeasty - but in

Gnome Espresso and Wine Bar, Surry Hills

You don't really notice the gnome flipping the bird at you in the corner, but even when you do, it's hard not to laugh. It's an irreverent cheekiness that sums up this tiny cafe, perched on the corner of Crown and Davies Street in coffee-loving Surry Hills.


Bloody Mary $11

Sure it's barely midday but it's easy to justify a cocktail when we're talking about a Bloody Mary. Gnome boasts an

Pho Tau Bay, Cabramatta

Soul restorer. Reviver. Curer of all ills. A steaming bowl of Vietnamese pho is guaranteed to make everything better. There's something quite magical about this dish, an elixir that is more than just a bowl of beef noodle soup. It's hours of patient simmering of beef bones and secret spices to create a fragrant stock. It's the last-minute assembly of steaming broth splashed over glistening rice