Melbourne on the Menu

Long touted as Australian’s food capital, Melbourne is also making its mark on Hong Kong. Published in Discovery – February 2007.

With the opening of chef Geoff Lindsay’s Pearl On the Peak restaurant, Hong Kong has been enjoying a taste of Melbourne in a truly stunning location. Lindsay’s innovative approach and his commitment to the art of food and interior design are typical of the current crop of chefts who are reshaping and reinventing Melbourne’s restaurant scene.

Over the past few months, Australia’s most cosmopolitan city has seen an explosion in exciting casual and fine-dining options. It’s no surprise that British TV chef Jamie Oliver chose the city to open his first restaurant in the Asia-Pacific region. Fifteen Melbourne (Tel +613 8648 6000).

Among other newcomers, award-winning chef George Calombaris has opened his lnog-awaited restaurant. The Press Club (Tel: +613 9677 9677) at the former Herald & Weekly Times newspaper building in Flinders Street. The beautifully designed basement space features an open kitchen from which Calombaris sends out traditional Greek cuisine with a modern twist.

Teage Ezard, well known to Hong Kong diners for establishing the Opia restaurant at the boutique Jia Hotel in Causeway Bay, has opened a second restaurant in Melbourne; Gingerboy (Tel: +613 9662 4200), in fashionable Crossley Street, dishes up Ezard’s take on hawker-style Asian dishes such as taro dumplings with minced porl, deep-fried oysters and caramelized Wagyu ox cheeks.

Wagyu steaks feature on the menu of Neil Perry’s new Rockpool Bar & Grill (Tel: +613 8648 1900), along with King Island chicken, wood-fired tuna and whole abalone. The former Cecconi’s site at the Crown Casino Complex can accommodate 200 people with an informal bar and separate dining room and an outdoor terrace.

Over in the revamped Melbourne Central shopping complex, restaurant entrepreneur Paul Mathis has surprised diners again with SOS (Tel: +613 9654 0808), a “veg-aquarian” diner serving seafood and vegetarian dishes. All the seafood is “ethically harvested and sustainable, taking environmentally friendly eating to new heights – or depths”.

Well-loved Barcelona style tapas bar Mo Vida now has some serious competition in the form of Bar Lourinha (Tel: +613 9663 7890) in Little Collins Street. Beautifully decorated with elaborate light fittings and cosy tables, this atmospheric bar is the place to sip a glass of Spanish red and nibble on snacks like thinkly sliced kingfish, confit rabbit pastries and orange blossom crema.

There’s more European Style to be found at Commer Kitchen (Tel: +613 9631 4000) in Alfred Place, where southern French and Spanish food is on offer, as well as a serious list of 350 fine wines. Expect fantastic steak bordelaise, braised, pork belly and rare grilled ocean trout. The luxurious Comme Wine Room is perfect for an after-dinner drink.

Lastly, excellent modern Thai/Asian food is behind the success of Longrain (Tel: +613 8671 3151) which has opened into a converted warehouse at the corner of Little Bourke Street and Punch Lane in Melbourne’s Bustling Chinatown. The large, communal tables create a welcoming banquet atmosphere and the menu from famed chef Martin Boetz is a unique blend of modern Asian cuisines. Artworks decorate the space and include a giant sea anenome sculpture.

If all this is not a great reason to visit Melbourne, next month the city will be hosting the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival from 16 to 30 March, a must-do experience for gourmets, which showcases the best of all Victoria’s food and wine regions at more than 150 statewide events.

For full details, see www.visitmelbourne.com.

Eight Ways To While Away a Day in Mauritius

Published February 2007 Discovery Magazine.

Hook A Big One in Mauritius
Some of the world’s most highly prized game fish run off Mauritius from December to March. Thousand-pound blue marlins are the ultimate trophy, but yellow-fin tuna, sailfish, barracuda and wahoo are among other large fish that feed just beyond the reef of Mauritius.

Play the Ponies at Mauritius
Founded in 1812 on the site of an old French army parade ground, the Champs de Mars racetrack is the oldest thoroughbred turf club in the southern hemisphere. The season runs from May to October with race meets nearly every weekend on Mauritius.

Play Eighteen Holes of Golf
Mauritius boasts half a dozen top-quality golf courses including the double Legends & Links courses at Belle Mare Plage on the eastern seaboard. Legends is marked by numerous water hazards, while Links is the tropical version of a rambling Scottish links course.

Dive a Wreck at Mauritius
The tropical waters around Mauritius contain many long-ago lost ships like the British Royal Navy frigate Sirius that went to the bottom during the Battle of Vieux Grand Port in 1810.

Bet the Mauritius Farm
Many of the big resort hotels sport their own casinos and scattered around the island are half a dozen “indie” gambling houses including the new Caudan Waterfront Casino in Port Louis, with its pirate-ship theme.

Smell the Roses …
… and thousands of other plants at the sprawling Pamplemousses Royal Botaincal Gardens, originally laid out in the late 18th century and still one of the world’s most important horticultural hubs. Among its hundreds of flora species are acajou mahoganies, talipot palms native to Mauritius and giant Victoria water lilies.

Buy a Ship on Mauritius
Forest Side village int eh island’s interior is world famous for its model wooden ships, rendered in incredible detail by skilled artisans. The miniature fleet ranges from the Bounty of Godlen Hind to 20th century marvels like the Titanic and the racing yacht Endeavour.

Reach a Peak on Mauritius
Many of the island’s volcanic mountains may be reached on foot, although in some cases, it’s an all-day effort. Among the more climbable peaks are Signal Hill, Corps de Garde, Pieter Both, Le Pouce and 827 Metre high Black River Peak (Mauritius’ highest peak).

Culture By the Cup

For a taste of modern Beijing, head to the Green T. House. Originally published in the Discovery Magazine in February 2007.

Beijing’s renowned musician, artist, master chef and trendsetter JinR has brought her unique Green T. House concept to Hong Kong. “Green T. House presents an authentic Chinese experience, but in a way that you’ve never imagined,” explains JinR.

Taking up a large slice of Hong Kong’s chic Cyberport, Green T. House Hong Kong comprises a contemporary Chinese restaurant, gallery and cultural venue designed to revitalize the senses and soothe the spirit. Like its namesake in Beijing, it draws on the tradition of the teahouse as a social gathering place and the centre of Chinese cluture and culinary heritage, mixing them with energizing elements of “New China” art and music, fused with JinR’s unique sense of style and culinary vision.

“We chose Cyberport because it is one of the few places in Hong Kong that really gives people a sense of getting away from it all – with a serene environment and natural harbour views while still being only 15 minutes from Central,” says JinR. “It fits well with our concept at Green T. House concept to transport our guests both physically and spiritually into a space that inspires them.”

Green T House Hong Kong will also act as a gallery space and will stage cultural events and performances ranging from the traditional to be avant-garde and encompassing tea tasting, modern dance performances and discussions exploring various aspects of the arts at Green T. House Hong Kong.

Leading American-Chinese chef Alan Yu, who has worked in the kitchens of some of the world’s top chefs, heads up the kitchen and creates an inspired version of “new China” cuisine that is tailor-made for Hong Kong’s cosmopolitan dining scene. Dining is by prior appointment only at Green T. House Hong Kong, so don’t forget to book! Telephone for the Green T. House Hong Kong teahouse is +852 2989 603.,