Category Archive: FOOD
Dubai – Dawdling and Haemorrhaging Money
The view from The Atlantis
2013 Wandering in foreign countries seems such a luxurious waste that it would shame P, as a working member of the idle poor. Yet here we are, en route to Rome, stopping for a night in Dubai, described by some as Hell with air-conditioning. Arriving at 5.30am, we are conducted through an enormous white entry and processing hall, apparently designed by the committee responsible for the repulsive Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II. Officials in full Bedu garb loiter as we slowly file past and stare into the passport-face-recognition machines that struggle with asiatic eyes. Our modest hotel in an…
Continue Reading →Larousse Gastronomique
Image courtesy of Booktopia
TVC embraces cuisine as a necessary element of culture but has hitherto been rather an ignoramus in the field. Not any more. This Christmas treasure, a gift from good (culinary) friends, was originally devised by Prosper Montagnè, with the first edition in 1938, as a comprehensive guide to matters gastronomic, a serious counterweight to Alexandre Dumas’ Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine. A skim of the contributors to this (2009 English edition, based on the French, 2007) and earlier versions reveals a pantheon of cordon bleu chefs, restauranteurs, academics, scientists, critics, writers, oenologists, sommeliers, confectioners, etc, etc. From recipes to history to…
Continue Reading →La Tombola
61 Unley Rd, Unley, South Australia This inner suburb Italian restaurant is an Adelaide institution and its Majordomo, Tony, clearly loves his work. He has a great staff and kitchen but he personally ensures it always runs true. TVC in particular recommends the formaggio soufflé.
Continue Reading →Bistro Vue
(Picture by A12, Wikimedia)
Wouldn’t it be nice, if like a girl who comes out of her emo stage and puts on a pink dress, Australian restaurants decided that now it is ok, in fact perhaps even desirable, to look pretty. Bistro Vue in Little Collins Street, Melbourne understands that it is ok and its eclectic, Frenchy, art nouveau style quite warmed the cockles of TVC‘s heart – starved as we are for carpet, flowers and colour. L regretted not choosing the snails when the neighbour’s molluscs, little balls in pastry, were served. P’s onion soup was almost as good as his version, but…
Continue Reading →Stokehouse
Melbourne, December 2014 What is a stokehouse? We came across this sister to the restaurant with the same name in Brisbane when dragging ourselves through the Melbourne alleys, too weak from fatigue and hunger to care. We never did find out, but it doesn’t matter. We spurned the packed, noisy bar for the upstairs restaurant which happened to be as packed and noisy but also light and airy. Virtually the only decorations are large chandeliers wrapped in string nets which we eventually decided we liked. I had to try the peach gazpacho. It was disappointingly sans peach as far as…
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