Wellington on a Plate 2010

"We greet you. We greet you."After my trip last year for the inaugural Wellington on a Plate food festival, I was excited to not only be invited to return, but to visit with fellow food bloggers Billy, John and Peter as well. Hurrah - food loves company.Bolton HotelWe've been split up across two hotels - Billy and John in the Holiday Inn; Peter and I at the Bolton Hotel. Our rooms are on the

Ocean Room, Sydney

Is there an alcoholic drink more misunderstood than sake?Too often dismissed as overly harsh and alcoholic, a recent Sake Masterclass at Ocean Room showed us otherwise. Guests were led through a six course degustation dinner designed by Executive Chef Raita Noda. Each course contained sake as an ingredient, and was matched with sake by Melbourne-based sake master Toshi Maeda.Sakes sampled during

Win movie tickets to The Kids Are All Right

This week's Freebie Friday takes us back to the movies. Giant tubs of popcorn, frozen coke and a choc-top will have your weekend sorted.Thanks to Hopscotch Films, we have ten double in-season passes to see The Kids Are All Right, starring Julianne Moore, Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo. Lesbian parents, a restaurant-owning father and lots of laughs make an enjoyable comedy about today's modern

Chophouse, Sydney: Suckling Pig

"Can you smell that?"Suze stops short and looks at me, her eyes wide with excitement. I can only nod in reassurance as I breathe in deeply. "It's definitely the smell of suckling pig," I say. "I can smell the fat and the crackling", and we both fall silent as we enter a Homer Simpson-like reverie.David Clarke, Executive Chef, in the kitchenWe are are a group of eleven pork-loving food bloggers

Chef interview: Ten questions with Tomislav Martinovic

Tomislav Martinovic is the chef and owner behind Sydney restaurant Tomislav. His work with Heston Blumenthal is evidenced in a menu that fuses flavour with innovation, creating playful food like rice crackers that come with DIY vinegar spritzers. After dining at Tomislav, I was keen to find out more about the chef in the open kitchen. Tomislav was only too happy to oblige.Ten Questions with

Mizuya, Sydney

Kushiage? It means "deep-fried on a stick". On the touch-screen menu at Mizuya, the kushiage section has helpful "before" and "after" shots so you can see the bright green asparagus and the glossy quail eggs quivering in their naked form, before they are crumbed and deep-fried to a Bondi Beach golden tan.Mizuya is all about instant gratification, the pictorial touch screen menus easily navigable

Kammadhenu, Newtown

Gobi pakoda $7
After a day out traipsing on a Newtown food tour, a late lunch was clearly in order. A trail of cheeky comments on the post pondered why we didn't eat at one of 123,894 Thai restaurants along King Street. But why would you when you can have dosai and deep-fried cauliflower.
There are two outlets of Kammadhenu in Newtown - the King St south branch is closed so we walk up to the one