Press Food & Wine and Adelaide Dessert Bars: The Aviary and Devour

Visiting a new city is both exciting and stressful for someone keen to uncover its gastronomic secrets. There's so much eat and discover, but time and insider knowledge is half the battle.

One restaurant that was hot on everyone's lips during our recent trip to Adelaide was Press Food & Wine. Opening mid-last year, Press was awarded Best New Restaurant in the 2011 Adelaide Food Awards.

Our

Taco Eating Challenge at El Loco, Surry Hills

Most people celebrate their first birthday with cake and one candle. El Loco celebrated theirs with a call-out for their first ever taco challenge - how many tacos could you eat in half an hour?

What is it about competitive eating competitions that brings out the voyeur in all some of us? In a world plagued by  both rising obesity and starving children, excessive consumption should not enthral

Adelaide Central Market, Adelaide Showground Farmers Market and Inside a Bee Hive at Buzz Honey

There ain't nothing like a protective suit to really feel like you're living on the edge. We're not heading into a biochemical hazard zone but off to get up close and personal with a working bee hive in the Adelaide Hills.

I made my first trip to South Australia for Tasting Australia two years ago, a biennial event that brings together chefs, publishers and journalists in food, wine and travel

Rhinedorf German Restaurant, Beverly Hills

Let's face it: the best part about ordering schweinehaxen is the excuse to pronounce it in the thickest German accent you can muster. Say it right and you’ll be rewarded with a massive hunk of roasted pork knuckle gift-wrapped in golden crackling.


Decor inside Rhinedorf German Restaurant

Get your pork knuckle on by putting the top down and cruising past the palm trees that welcome you to

The Carrington $3 pintxos Tuesdays, Surry Hills

It's no coincidence that I seem to have taken up residence at Sydney's pubs of late. Everyone loves a cheap eat and Sydney's watering holes have taken up the challenge with gusto. The Abercrombie offers $10 weekday lunches, The Norfolk has $4 mini burgers on Mondays; and at the Pyrmont Bridge Hotel you can score a 1kg steak on Thursdays for only $20.

On Tuesday nights you're best off heading

Cheap Eats 2012

Life has a way of coming full circle. Exactly two years ago I landed a regular column with Time Out Sydney covering suburban eats. My first review appeared in the May 2010 Cheap Eats issue - a fitting theme for this cheap 'n' cheerful fan. Now I'm pleased to reveal that the latest Time Out Sydney 2012 Cheap Eats feature was curated and written by yours truly - my first ever cover story!



The

The Norfolk, Surry Hills

If life is marked by epiphanies, then this is one of mine. The deep-fried pickle. Oh god yes. It's the glorious combination of crunchy batter wrapped around a pickled gherkin. Ingenious. Why? Because even as an aficionado of all things deep-fried, there is only so much greasy batter my war-torn arteries can take. And that's when the pickle comes in - a sweet and acidic bullet that doubles as