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Well it’s the restaurant awards season with The Age Melbourne Good Food Guide 2008 awards just announced today.
Melbourne is arguably the food capital of Australia (although this was severely contested by the Australian Gourmet Travellers lack of awards given to Melbourne restaurants this year.)
So it is with great anticipation that the winners were announced in The Age today:

VITTORIA RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR
Rockpool Bar & Grill

BEST NEW RESTAURANT
The Press Club

CHEF OF THE YEAR
George Calombaris, The Press Club

THE AGE YOUNG CHEF OF THE YEAR
Adam D’Sylva, Pearl

DISH OF THE YEAR
Confit apple with burnt butter icecream, Three, One, Two

KEMENYS WINE LIST OF THE YEAR
Circa, the Prince

BEST SHORT WINE LIST
Bar Lourinha

SOMMELIER OF THE YEAR
Dan Sims, Fifteen

SERVICE EXCELLENCE AWARD
Ari Vlassopoulos, manager Pearl

PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Ronnie di Stasio, Cafe di Stasio

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Jacques Reymond, Jacques Reymond

BEST WEBSITE
Gingerboy

No word yet on who won country restaurant of the year (last years winner was Lake House in Daylesford - a wonderful experience if you ever get to visit. I went for my b’day a few years ago) and it was also interesting to note that a dessert has won dish of the year.
Two new awards added this year include Sommelier of the Year and best Website. I’m very happy that they’ve added a best website award as so many restaurants have terrible sites! With most people using the Internet now to see pictures of the restaurant and food and to browse the menu before booking, it’s essential to have a professional and easy to use site.

Picture from The Age online store.

I went to the Bundall farmers markets this morning and I have to say I was a little disappointed. The range wasn’t as big as I was expecting and the prices weren’t all that cheap either.
I was VERY happy though to have finally found a Milawa cheese source! There’s a guy there who sells all sorts of Milawa cheeses as he told me he is good friends with the owners of Milawa Cheese and flies all the cheeses up himself. Yay!
As far as everything else it seemed to be similar prices as you’d pay at a supermarket and the fruit and veg range wasn’t that great. The carpark had lots of BMW’s, Mercedes, Jags etc so maybe that’s why the prices weren’t so great. I bought some olives (not that nice - the fetta filling is very watery and the olives don’t taste too nice), milawa cheese, turkish bread, vegetables and a punnet of strawberries which look really yum.

If you’d like to write your own review on the Bundall Farmers Market then click here.

Location: Gold Coast Turf Club Racecourse Drive (off Ashmore Road)

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Queensland is renowned for its beaches, beautiful weather and the Great Barrier Reef but is it on the map as a destination for top restaurants? Not really according to the 2008 Australian Gourmet Traveller Australian restaurant guide recently released. The Courier Mail today posted an article where Restaurant and Catering Queensland CEO James Vissar said the result was “overwhelmingly disappointing.”

Out of 100 restaurants judged by AGT throughout Australia, the highest ranking QLD restaurant is Absynthe on the Gold Coast who came in at number 28. They were last year’s regional restaurant of the year winner. The top 24 restaurants in Australia was dominated by NSW and VIC.

The breakdown state by state was NSW had 44 restaurants nominated, VIC had 30, QLD 11, SA had 9, WA 4 and TAS had 2 restaurants featured in the top 100.

The Gold Coast had 6 restaurants featured in the guide- Absynthe (who placed 28th in the top 100), Chill on Tedder, Ristorante Fellini, Songbirds in the Forest, Vanitas and Vie.

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This is our naughty cat Jackson who loves to jump in the pantry at every chance he gets. He normally burrows into the back corner and is a pain to get out. Sometimes I don’t even know that he’s jumped in there until I hear a faint meow. He also loves playing a game of jumping on the kitchen bench when I’m making dinner and hiding behind the cookbook stand. He’s been known to steal cheese, sliced salami and has a special penchant for smoked salmon and tandoori chicken.