Category Archive: FOOD
The Mushroom Tapes
Conversations on a triple murder trial (By Chloe Hooper, Helen Garner, and Sarah Krasnostein, 2025) Erin Scutter was born in 1974 . Her mother Heather is said, rather vaguely, to have been an academic (“an expert in children’s literature”) and her father, even more vaguely, “a company director”. Although her mother is important in this tale, her father is not. In May, 2025 Erin (now Patterson) was tried for three murders and an attempted murder. Famously, in 2023, Patterson had invited her estranged husband Simon, his parents, his aunt and his uncle, to lunch at her house in Leongatha, New…
Continue Reading →Le Pas Sage
(“The Naughty One” – 24 Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide, February 2026) This delightful French brasserie is in the north-eastern corner of the Square, tucked-in between the Pullman Hotel and the Griffins Pub. It is very pretty (though small) inside (one can also laze on the terrace out front) and the staff are fully switched-on, hip and amusing. The maître d charmingly explained that whilst we were in the premier wine state of Australia, they only served French wines – Hourra pour l’arrogance francaise!! We had: Médaillon de Poulpe – a fresh and colourful dish consisting of Octopus medallion, red capsicum coulis,…
Continue Reading →The New Jacksons on George
176 George Street, Sydney – (02) 8027 9997 When landing in Sydney, The Varnished Culture habitually strolled around to Jacksons on George for lunch while our hotel room was made ready. It was a typical old pub: dark, dingy and grungy, beers and sticky table-tops, Irish lasses behind the bar, an air of uncouth lassitude. We liked it. So imagine our surprise when, having been away from the Emerald City for a few years, we strolled into George Street to find a totally new and glamourous Jacksons on George, with a downstairs bar and concourse café, an upmarket bistro on…
Continue Reading →Back to Otto’s
(Southbank, Brisbane, December 2023) We were last at Otto in 2021 – and had a wonderful lunch. Dinner this time, and just as good, actually even better. It was prefaced by a 90-odd minute power cut at our hotel (and the Queensland Premier hadn’t even formally stepped down yet) but after we were able to return to our room and freshen up, it was a short walk along the Brisbane river to this lovely restaurant. Service was impeccable; tables were not too close but not overly distant either. We were under cover but over the water’s edge, making us feel…
Continue Reading →Victor Churchill
(953 High Street, Armadale (Melbourne), April 2023) Originally opened in 1876 as a butcher shop in Sydney, Victor Churchill eventually expanded to Melbourne; specifically, Armadale, to which TVC Ubër-ed in the pouring rain. Featuring an artisan butchery and grocer, we came for dinner, at the curved marble dining counter. This is the place for former President George W. Bush (“I’m a meat guy”), but there are plenty of nice alternatives, including one of our starters, delicious oysters naturale with caviar, trimmings, and lemon. TVC’s ‘meat guy’, meanwhile, channelled W’s successor (entering Air Force One, he said “Let’s see how you…
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