Freebie Friday: Win tickets to see Gordon Ramsay at the Good Food & Wine Show, Sydney

It's a Happy Friday to you because Grab Your Fork has another competition giveaway!Thanks to Johanna from Stellar* Concepts, Grab Your Fork has a swag of prizes for the upcoming Good Food & Wine Show in Sydney. This ever-popular event runs over three glorious days, enticing visitors to eat, drink, taste and purchase a huge range of food, drink, wine, cooking and entertainment products.Good Food &

Eat, Drink, Live Italian food festa, Martin Place

Eat, Drink and Live Italian.This is the theme of the two-day food festival currently on at Martin Place as part of the Sydney Italian Festival. Unfortunately an open-air trattoria doesn't have quite the same appeal when it's cold and drizzling although that didn't stop curious city workers stopping in for a look and a quick feed.Orecchiette on the stoveMass platingThe tented mobile kitchen is a

RockSalt Restaurant, Menai

Before Kids. And After Kids.These are the milestones by which many of my friends now define their social lives.I remember the days I could buzz people and within an hour we'd be doing the car pool and on our way to an impromptu dinner. These days it's a minefield of nap-times, bed-times, fevers and sniffles to negotiate.And it's not until you have kids, or hang out with kids, that you notice the

Adriano Zumbo, Balmain

There was a definite spring in my step this morning. After a week of wind and rain, Sydney woke to a surprise burst of morning sunshine. Today was the launch of the latest collection of seasonal desserts by Adriano Zumbo, an event that appeared to give even Mother Nature something to smile about.A newly revamped website details Zumbo's recent return from a two-month stay in France where he

Stomach's Eleven: A French feast

Savoy cabbageLet me set the scene.Only forty minutes before, I'd been eating six different desserts at the conclusion of chocolatesuze's flavour tripping party. Before that we'd been sucking on lemons, eating citric acid and drinking vinegar. Because we could. And prior to that, we'd gorged on a late lunch of roti canai, sticky glazed ribs, fried seafood dumplings, mushrooms, pumpkin salad,

Etch Dining, Sydney

Lolly tray. It's these two words that make my heart skip a beat, as we make arrangements for lunch at Justin and Georgia North's latest restaurant, Etch.CockerelHoused in the InterContintental Hotel, on the former site of Mint Bar & Dining, we enter to find a dining room that is large and airy, a sea of dark wooden tables bathed in natural light. Overhead are several enormous drum lightshades

Moroccan lamb pizza

Pizza. The simplest and quickest way to turn dough into a meal.I love its appeal from kids through to teens through to hungry adults. It's more than just party food, or home delivery for a night in front of the telly. Once you get in the kitchen and start making your own version, good pizza knows no bounds.Homemade pizza is the perfect menu for a casual weekend meal with friends. Prep the

Super Bowl, Chinatown Haymarket, Sydney

Yes. We did just have a roast dinner.Yes. My stomach does have a very short memory.Which is why, after some aimless and protracted meandering of the streets after dinner, Chocolatesuze and I inexplicably find ourselves heading towards Chinatown.In search of roti."Rotiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii" trills Suze, with a crazed look in her eye.Except we arrive at Mamak to find the floor being swept and the

Chophouse, Sydney

Don't you just love a novelty plate too?


Dining table

Tonight we're at the Chophouse, sister restaurant to Kingsleys Steakhouse, and one that continues the theme of protein within testosterone-friendly environs.

A modern version of the typical New York steahouse, there's a manly sense of charm about the place. The tables are all dark wood colours, surrounded by maroon leather banquettes,

Miracle fruit, flavour tripping and a wig party

Miracle fruit. It's the latest craze to hit foodlovers' tables, if recent media coverage is anything to go by.The reason for this interest? The berry, originally found in West Africa, contains miraculin, a molecule that disables the tastebuds that detect sourness. This alters the brain into thinking that sour or tart foods taste much sweeter. Lemons will apparently taste like lemonade and

Freebie Friday: 50 free $10 delivery vouchers

Thank God it's Friday. Has your week felt as long as mine?Well perk on up because it's Freebie Friday, a new feature at Grab Your Fork that will appear sporadically on, you guessed it, Fridays!Menulog is offering Grab Your Fork readers around Australia a free $10 voucher for home deliveries in May. This offer is available to the first 50 redemptions so make sure you get in quick!How to receive

Coca-Cola cupcakes

The idea of a coca-cola cupcake seems to send everyone I tell into flabbergasted fits of wonder."Coca-Cola? In a cupcake?" It's as though the concept is both horrifying and too-good-to-be-true.But when you consider the ingredients in cola: sugar, caramel colour and acid, its addition to baking and general cooking starts to make more sense. Nigella Lawson is probably one of its more well-known

A Taste of Sweden, IKEA Restaurant and Sweden Shop, Rhodes

Care for a meatball?Has anyone ever managed to leave IKEA a) in under an hour, and b) without buying anything?Huh, me neither.The great big escalator at the entrance takes you up to IKEA Land, straight into the oh-so-organised, 'wouldn't this look great, honey?' modern-looking demonstration rooms. Oh the efficient functionality. Oh the cleanness of design. Oh the quirky cheerfulness of 1970s

Good Living Growers' Market, Pyrmont

SteakaliciousAs if on cue, Mother Nature turned on a dazzling day of sunshine for shoppers at the Good Living Growers' Markets on Saturday. Despite the luxury of the weekly Farmers' Market at Eveleigh, Sydneysiders still flock to the markets at Pyrmont, held on the first Saturday of every month.It's hard to believe it's been over six months since I last visited. Oh the lure of the Saturday