Steel Bar & Grill, Sydney

It quickly becomes obvious why Damien Head's latest retaurant is called Steel. It's everywhere.The open kitchen dominates the room, the chefs penned in by a floor-to-ceiling steel framework. There's a futuristic feel to the decor, with a molten mercury-look light fitting hanging over several tables. An illuminated all-glass elevator behind our table slowly and ominously descends back and forth

Hippopotamus Restaurant at the Museum Hotel, Wellington, New Zealand

Have you ever dined alone at dinner?It always feels a little disarming dining without company, and often the biggest barrier is the self-conscious worry about what other people will think about you, the Nigel No Mates in the corner.Presumably this is why room service exists, so business travellers (and yes, cooped-in couples) can order food to be eaten in bed in front of a flickering television.

Schoc Chocolates at Ciocco Chocolaterie, Wellington, New Zealand

"I'm going to Wellington!" I told Divemummy."So you're going to Schoc?" she'd replied at once.The last time I'd visited Wellington, my Schoc Chocolate tablet souvenirs had been a huge hit. It's not just the pleasant bitter cocoa of the dark chocolate, or the smooth sweetness of the milk, but the fact that the tablets comes in 60 different flavour varieties sends the mind boggling and excites the

The Weta Cave and Cafe Polo, Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand

Precioussss...... my precioussss

It's hard to think about New Zealand without remembering the dramatic scenery from The Lord of the Rings. And whilst downtown Wellington is perfectly compact and flat for the tourist on foot, you will need wheels to take in the more dramatic ocean views and ascend the steep hills around the city.


The Plate-mobile

Enter the Plate-mobile. After completing the

Floriditas, Wellington, New Zealand

Rolling out chocolate pastry

"See, it's really easy."

Emily Keshav, head baker at Floriditas Bakery, is rolling out chocolate pastry with the casual confidence of a kid with play-doh.

"The trick is to make sure you always work with it when its cold," she says, folding over her perfect circle onto the rolling pin and transferring it to the waiting fluted tin.

We cluster around the stainless

Dixon St Deli, Wellington, New Zealand

You had me at bacon.

Because my trip to Wellington was organised so quickly, I didn't have much time to do research. Yes, food research. I usually like to spend days or weeks looking online for recommendations, checking out restaurant websites, food blogs and reviews for the best eats in the area.

As I'd walked past Dixon St Deli on my first afternoon in Wellington, I doubled back once I

The Ambeli, Wellington, New Zealand

Pan-fried haloumi $17.00
with roasted choggia beet salad and mint dressing

Do you have anything on the menu that's local?

It's a question I often ask when travelling overseas, a chance to sample fresh fare from the area in which it was caught or grown.

Co-owner and maitre'd of The Ambeli, Shaebodine Moleta, can only smile. He then launches into a detailed description of almost every item on

Wellington on a Plate food festival 2009

Have stomach. Will travel.

This is the descriptor on my current blogger profile. Those two sentences could not have been apt for my weekend adventure.

How so? I was hosted over the weekend for the first ever Wellington on a Plate food festival.



That's right. Positively Wellington Tourism flew me across the ditch to eat my around their beautiful city. Oh yes, even my jaw dropped a little at

Adora Handmade Chocolates, Earlwood

Gia truffles - soft hazelnut centre with a milk waferIt's the last place you'd look for a chocolate shop.Sitting on the side of the road, a lone retailer in a sprawl of suburbia, Adora Handmade Chocolates looks like a fish out of water.And water isn't too far away. The sloping hill leads down to the Illawarra Road bridge over Cooks River, with Mahony Memorial Reserve on one side of the bridge,

Becasse, Sydney - Winter Producers Forum with fresh Black Perigord truffles

"The dogs. They went crazy."Duncan Garvey, of Perigord Truffles is on my right, talking about yesterday's truffle hunt in the Southern Highlands with Justin North and his kitchen team from Becasse.On my left is Jill Dupleix. Then Terry Durack. Truffle farmers Bill and Pat make up our table of five. One by one we pass around a glass jar that barely manages to contain a hefty Black Perigord

Room 27, Sydney

EDIT: Room 27, Sydney has now closedHave you walked past this door and never noticed?Sandwiched between the cheerful yellow splash of Barby's bakery and a clothing store on the other side, is a black doorway simply labelled with Room 27.Although there's a menu board of Taiwanese dishes at the front, it's hard not to be a little intimidated by the black walls and entrance, made all the more

Series launch of My Family Feast with Sean Connolly at Sean's Kitchen, Pyrmont, Sydney

Jamon Iberico in the jamon roomFood. And family.For many of us, food and family are naturally intertwined. A family gathering is a good excuse for a feast, and a feast just isn't the same unless it's shared with loved ones.As an Australia-born Chinese, the importance of food has always played a part in my upbringing. We use it to celebrate, to commemorate, to commiserate, and my mother always

Parramatta Park Cafe, Parramatta, Sydney

Is there anything as interesting to read about than food? Apparently so. People also love to read about cats, weddings, and reality tv...Saturday morning saw ten female bloggers meet for the first ever lunch by Blog Chicks, an online networking forum for Australian female bloggers. The forum is hosted by Leigh, who also puts together the list of Top 100 Australian Female Bloggers, updated every

Da Wan Lai, Eastwood, Sydney

I hope that you like garlic.A day of errands happened to bring us to the Eastwood area and when lunchtime came, we strolled our way past Chinese, Korean and Japanese options, investigating each one keenly. Compared to the Oriental opulence of the Golden Jade Seafood Restaurant across the mall, Da Wan Lai is quiet and understated, a few fish tanks at the front and an entry marked with a multitude

10 tips on how to market your restaurant (and what restaurants really think of food blogs)

We all dine in restaurants but what's it like to run one? Attending Restaurant 09 provided some insight into the challenges that restauranteurs face, particularly the topics covered in the Business Talk sessions.I sat in on two sessions: "Marketing 101 - Ideas for surviving the down times"; and "Gen Y dining - Meeting their demands". The panellists raised a number of interesting points which

Restaurant 09, Royal Hall of Industries, Moore Park

Kurrajong grubsNow in its fourth year, Restaurant 09 is an trade-only industry event designed for restaurants, hotels and cafe and their suppliers, producers and manufacturers. Apart from the chance to see new products, look out for emerging trends and indulge in a bit of dishwasher and cookware porn, it's an insightful look into the food industry on the other side of the coin.Camel mettwurstNot

Spice I Am, Surry Hills, Sydney

It's always reassuring when things stay the same.Consistency of quality was mentioned at Restaurant09 as one of the key drivers behind restaurant selection by customers. With a two-year gap between visits to Spice I Am, I'm always surprised to see the food is always just as good as I remembered.Bael fruit drink $4.00 and Thai iced coffee $4.00In fact the only thing that's changed is the signage.

How to earn money on your blog and get free stuff from Nuffnang

Do you have a blog? Are you interested in getting paid ads on your website?Nuffnang is an Asia Pacific blog advertising platform looking to add to its 800-strong Australia blogging network. As of July 2009, they have 80,000 bloggers in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines using Nuffnang ads.Interested? You can read more about Nuffnang, their history and what's in it for you. As as special

Cafe Sopra and Fratelli Fresh, Waterloo, Sydney

ArtichokesShopping for fruit and veggies should always be this fun.There's a great sense of adventure when exploring the market-style setup at Fratelli Fresh in Waterloo. Admittedly it's more fun if you don't look at the price tags, but quality comes at a price, and this price buys you luscious, heavy, vivid and gargantuan specimens of deliciousness, all artfully arranged in rustic wooden

Best Friend Chung Jin Dong Korean Restaurant, Sydney (and the pleasures of eating silkworm pupae)

EDIT: Best Friend Chung Jin Dong has now closed

Silkworm pupae.

Who said dinner out had to be boring?

It was a random lunch time wander that sparked my interest in silkworm of the edible kind. Browsing grocery stores can easily provide me with hours of fun, and a tin of silkworm pupae not only caught my eye, but had to be photographed and tweeted.

Although the tin didn't cost that much, I

LNC Dessert House, Sydney

I've decided. The Sydney CBD needs more late night dessert houses.I cannot count the number of times I've left the cinemas on George Street, or stepped out of a restaurant, and gone in search of dessert - because the night is still young and the sweet tooth has yet to be satiated.Invariably we end up at Passionflower on George, Passionflower at the Capitol or--more recently--a celebration of roti

How to cook pork crackling (and maple syrup choko fries)

I don't understand people who don't like crackling. What's not to love? The earth-trembling shatter as you take that first bite, the footsteps-on-gravel-crunch as it turns into smithereens, the smatterings of salt you have to lick from the corners of your lips... oh yeah, baby.And yet, when faced with cooking a roast pork yourself, the pressure to make the perfect sheet of crackling is

Kaizen BBQ, North Ryde, Sydney

All. You. Can. Eat. with wagyu.Ahhh.... now I have your attention.All-you-can-eat BBQ $29.90With a protein free-for-all on offer, Kaizen draws us in like moths to a flame. The boys have been looking forward to this all day. I guess it's the same type of excitement sweet tooths get before a high tea buffet.The decor is modern and uncluttered, an emphasis on clean lines with plenty of timber in the

Bird Cow Fish, Surry Hills, Sydney

"When you wake up in the morning Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?""What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?""I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said.I love this quote by Winnie The Pooh from The House at Pooh Corner by AA Milne. Bird Cow Fish co-owner and

Mecca Bah, Manuka, Canberra

Self-portrait at the National Portrait Gallery

It's true what they say. If you keep your head down, you miss out on all the fun stuff.

On our recent day trip to the Truffle Festival in Canberra, we stopped by the National Portrait Gallery after our lunch at Senso. Along one of the corridors is a long bench table with information touch screens. It's not unless you're paying particular attention

Kana Express Food, Sydney

"I'm sorry. Everything is deep-fried."Sorry? Those two beautiful words are music to my ears. The enquiring passerby steps away, shocked and a little aghast. In the meantime, I'm dancing a little jig of unrestrained joy.Korean deep-fried snacksAlmost everything here is served on skewers and a celebration of all that is deep-fried - it's like being at the Easter Show without having to deal with

Lemon cheesecake, and a pressure cooker comparison (which pressure cooker should you buy?)

Dinner party jitters? Let the only pressure be in your pressure cooker, I say.With three pressure cookers at my testing disposal courtesy of KitchenwareDirect, I decided to use one for each course at a recent dinner party. For entrees, it was a sweetcorn and basil soup in the electric Cuisinart pressure cooker, mains was a beef and Guinness stew in the Fagor Duo pressure cooker. For dessert? How