casa e cucina

Radisson Blu Hotel Sydney, renowned for delectable High Tea experiences, now offers an innovative 100% gluten-free High Tea, for as little as one person in your group. Gluten-free eaters can now join in the beauty and enjoyment of tea-taking without fuss or requiring the whole group to do so.

Set in the stunning heritage-listed Fairfax Building, the historic home of the original Sydney Morning Herald, Bistro Fax at Radisson Blu Hotel Sydney is the ideal place to take time out for tea with friends, family or clients.

Executive Chef, Oswin Ribeiro, and his team of talented chefs have carefully developed the innovative menu to be as tasty as it is tummy-friendly. Oswin’s menu includes delicacies such as chocolate and lemon curd tarts, French coconut macaroons, divine Australian walnut slice and petite pavlovas with delicate cups of passionfruit jelly.

To accompany the superb food, guests can choose their favourite tea blend from our range of Twinings loose leaf tea such as Jasmine, a perfect choice to accompany High Tea with its subtle, sweet flavour. Add a little fizz to your High Tea with a glass of sparkling wine.

Oswin shares, “With more people eating a gluten-free diet we thought it was time to further develop our gluten-free offering. By providing guests with the option of an entirely gluten-free High Tea, even just for one person in the party, we hope to make their life easier…and more delicious!”

Radisson Blu Hotel Sydney General Manager, Peter Tudehope says, “Our food and beverage team are committed providing the highest quality High Tea for our gluten-free customers, in addition to our large range of gluten-free menu items available at Bistro Fax throughout the day. To be able to order the gluten-free High Tea option as you sit down, rather than booking ahead, is even better!”

Gluten-free High Tea is available from $50 per person, Sydney High Tea from $40. Call our reservations team on +61 2 8214 0400 to make a reservation.

Darebin Homemade Food & Wine Festival is a unique, annual celebration of food traditions and sustainable food. The Festival features seminars, demonstrations, workshops and a progressive dinner, with the program culminating in a competition that champions home-grown wine, beer, passata and ajvar.The Festival is a place where you can meet the modest makers and taste their wonderful wares.

What?

Darebin Homemade Food & Wine Festival is a unique, annual celebration of food traditions and sustainable food. The Festival features seminars, demonstrations, workshops and a progressive dinner, with the program culminating in a competition that champions home-grown wine, beer, passata and ajvar1.The Festival is a place where you can meet the modest makers and taste their wonderful wares. Melburnians are also encouraged to enter a batch of their own homemade wine, beer, passata or avjar into the competition by simply submittingl their product to Darebin City Council by 9 May.
When?

13 – 18 May 2013
Where?

In the heart of Darebin – Preston City Hall, 284 Gower Street, Preston.
How much?

All events in the Darebin Homemade Food & Wine Festival are free (excluding the progressive dinner).
Events not to miss:

• Edible Weeds [Thur May 16, 6.30pm]: Instead of yanking those unwanted plants from the garden, find out how to turn them into a tasty food source.
• The Art of Salami Making [Sat May 18, 2pm]: The team from Melbourne Salami Festa comprises a panel of salami superstars to demonstrate how to make salami at home.
• Homemade wine & beer tasting [Sat Mat 18, 1-4pm]: Savour the results from the wine, beer, passata and avjar competition, where the winners will be revealed!

Who? 

The City of Darebin is a cultural hotpot with almost half of its resident population comprising first generation Australians. The city is proud of its heritage and everyone from the community and beyond is invited to celebrate its diversity.

Why?

The keepers of homemade food traditions are not going to be around forever! Secrets that have been passed down for generations will be shared with the next generation, to ensure these traditions are not lost and are kept alive. Learn a thing or two about culturally significant food and wine traditions and how they contribute to sustainable living.

Darebin Homemade Food & Wine Festival 2013 - For the full program visit www.darebin.vic.gov.au  

This year’s Taste of Sydney will see a gourmet line-up in the new Tasmanian Pavilion.  Designed to educate and excite visitors with the coolest gastronomic delights from Tasmania’s wild places – the Tasmanian Pavilion will be the largest on site, and will showcase the state’s rich food and wine heritage, as well as Tasmanian eco-tourism adventures.

Inside the Pavilion, Sydneysiders can sample some of Tasmania’s best known produce grown and harvested in its world-renowned cool climate, clean air, fertile soils and pristine waters.

Guest chefs and industry experts will be cooking up a storm in the Pavilion’s Demonstration Kitchen using the best fresh Tasmanian produce.  Kylie Kwong has signed up for the Thursday evening and will be working her magic with Flinders Island Wallaby, which is a regular feature on her menu. The final line-up will be announced closer to the event date.

The Tasmanian Pavilion will entice visitors with:

Atlantic Salmon from Huon Aquaculture - readily available from Sydney Fish Market retailers.

• Mussels from Spring Bay Seafood’s - and luckily for everyone these mussels are also on the menu at the Taste of Sydney’s Four in Hand tent prepared by Chef Colin Fassnidge. Frank Commora from MoVida sources his mussels from Spring Bay, too.
• Cape Grim beef and Robbins Island Wagyu - both favourites of Tetsuya’s and can be found at Hudson Meats.
• Lamb and Wallaby from Flinders Island Meat - a regular on the menu at Billy Kwong’s.  The wallaby was also recently featured on MasterChef®.
• Gourmet Pies from Tasmanian Bakeries - using all local and quality Tasmanian produce these are a ‘must’ to sample.
• Beer from Moo Brew - a hit amongst the Sydney boutique bar scene and enjoyed at Otto, Quay and Café Sydney. The Brewery is located at MONA.
• A taste of the Apple Isle - taste the difference…Franks award winning Apple & Pear cider, Willie Smiths Organic Apple Cider and Forager Fruits.
• Tasmanian Single Malt Whiskey Bar featuring Lark Distillery, Old Hobart Distillery, Sullivans Cove and Nant Distillery.
• Tasmanian Wine Bar showcasing Holm Oak Wines, Tamar Ridge, Clover Hill, Grey Sands Vineyard, Bay of Fires and House of Arras, Barrington Vineyard and Josef Chromy Wines. All of which are on many Sydney wine lists and rated well via the Sydney Sommelier set.
• Eco Tourism adventure – The Maria Island Walk - a good one for the bucket list.

  Visitors to the Tasmanian Pavilion will also have the opportunity to enter a draw to win a trip to taste the coolest food in the wildest place.  The grand prize of a Tasmanian trip for two people includes return economy flights ex-Sydney to Hobart, accommodation, car hire and an amazing array of gourmet delights.

Taste of Sydney is Sydney’s premier food festival for food and wine lovers.  It will be held in the beautiful alfresco setting of Sydney’s Centennial Park from 14-17 March 2013.

Further information can be found at:

www.tastefestival.com.au

Tasmanian Pavilion

The fertile soil and clear waters of the Sapphire Coast have long been known to provide world class fresh produce. In the skilled hands of local chefs and artisans, our region’s harvest becomes an experience to be savoured.

Now local families and tourists alike can experience all of the region’s flavours in one place by packing a picnic blanket and wandering down to the picturesque Fishpen on Merimbula Lake on Sunday March 10.

“EAT Merimbula will provide plated premium local fare from our most accomplished local chefs”, says Natalie Godward from the Merimbula Chamber of Commerce. “We’ll have up to 20 of our best chefs and food entrepreneurs creating something special for the day. Think Kingfish Sushimi, gourmet pastries, giant paellas, mouth watering oysters – and plenty of surprises.”

The foreshore at the Fishpen will be set up as a locavore’s paradise for the day in one of the best settings in Merimbula.

Sapphire Coast Tourism’s Tourism Manager Anthony Osborne adds, “Get hungry and get excited because this is the start of big things to come. The region has so much to offer. Merimbula locals and tourists look out over the lake and right under their noses is a jewel in our culinary crown…the humble oyster. Left or right you’ll see the rich earth that sustains the dairy indutsry and down by the the Eden or Bermagui wharves, a shovel scraping on ice is music to seafood lover’s ears. Us locals, we mostly take it all for granted but I can assure you our visitors don’t. So this is a great way to start jumping up and down about it”.

EAT 2013 will be held on the banks of Merimbula Lake at Fishpen and will run from 10am to 4pm on March 10. Bring a picnic blanket and the family and come on down!

Two of Australia’s most respected natural wine producers – Anton Von Klopper and Tom Shobbrook – tee up with Dusty Treweek of Wallis & Ed and guest chef Joel Alderson to create their five-course Wild Weeds & Wine dinner as part of this year’s earth-themed Melbourne Food & Wine Festival.

In preparation for the earthbound dinner that will be held on 4th and 5th March, Alderson and talented wine producers (Von Klopper of Lucy Margaux Vineyards and Shobbrook, winner of the 2010 Wine Australia Talent, Best New Talent;  will forage amongst Victoria’s richest natural pastures for a one week 1,000 kilometre journey gathering edible weeds, succulents and animals. Delicacies foraged and sourced en route may include such finds as coastal seaweed, sea blight, samphire, pig face, acorns, dandelion, milk thistle, wood sorrel, eel, lobster and wild mushrooms. All dairy and animals will be sourced from biodynamic producers who have great respect for the earth, soil and nurturing.  Sustainable produce will also be gathered from The Windsor Hotel’s vegetable patches located on the roof of the Federation Square complex. The Windsor is the first hotel in Melbourne to be part of the Pop Up Patch community initiative.

The filmed road journey that will be shown during the event begins in the Adelaide Hills at Lucy Margaux, winding its way through some of the richest Victorian pastoral pockets to culminate in the Bourke Street kitchen of Wallis & Ed.

Chefs Alderson and Treweek will bring earth to the table with their use of traditional cooking methods, exploring the role of earthly vessels and craft: curing with a block of salt; baking fish in clay; smoking with grapevines and using hay to roast.  The majority of cooking will involve low intervention where food is prepared in as natural a state as possible.

All courses will be matched with a traditional and non-traditional pairing presented by Von Klopper and Shobbrook.

In celebration of the 130th anniversary of The Windsor, the cost per head is $130 for a five-course feast of wild produce and wine and will be held on 4th and 5th March 2013 at 6.30pm. Reservations  open 1st February 2013 and can be made by calling 9633 6004 or emailing reservations@thw.com.au .

Wallis & Ed enjoys a prestigious location at 1 Bourke Street Melbourne and is a contemporary addition to its 1883 grand neighbour, The Windsor.  Alderson and Treweek ’s culinary talent shows they are not afraid to break the rules  – as did the Royals after whom the bistro is named.