https://www.facebook.com/277381225707226/

Hungry Fox, 273 Neldner Rd, Marananga (2026)

03/07/2014

Sod Wimbledon. The real competition has already been decided at the 2014 Gin Masters.

Flex your tatts and get out your bell bottoms because the Navy Strength category has been awarded to one of my all-time favourites, a cask-aged gin by Master of Malt, a small distiller in Kent.

It's made with gorgeously named Bathtub Gin and aged for six months in small 50 litre casks. With 'bashed up' botanicals lending depth, get on board for 57% ABV (alcohol by volume). You'll be singing sea shanties in no time.

http://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2014/06/gin-masters-2014-results

20/06/2014

Grab a glass of Two Hands with both hands and get drinking.

The boutique cellar door, in a historic building with fire roaring and some of the Barossa’s best quaffs, is not to be missed.

Their shiraz ambles across your palate, a goliath of soft fruits and low tannin. Crafted by winemakers who know the US market inside out, it’s a robust but easy style akin to a California smile and a “c’mon in sugar”.

At around $26, their fun ‘picture’ series (you’ll get it when you see the label) is enough to put me under the table, but if you’re happy to fork out $60, go for the structure and elegance of the ‘garden’ series. Bella’s Garden to be specific. Bella knocked me for six, and her friends Lily and Max weren’t so bad either.

The cellar door staff are one of Two Hands’ biggest asset. They’re as jolly as the wine, posing in leopard-print dressing gowns for tongue-in-cheek labels like Smooth Operator and Sexy Beast.

Grapes are sourced from the Barossa, McLaren and Clare Valley, Padthaway and Langhorne Creek. If you like your wine big and friendly – put your hand up.

Two Hands Cellar Door: Neldner Rd, Marananga, South Australia

03/06/2014

Uh oh. This could get messy. Deliciously messy.

24/05/2014

My favourite breakfast treat. Papaya with lime. Silky sweet flesh with a flash of astringent citrus. Let the weekend commence.

And for the boffins, yes papaya (Carica) and paw paw (Asimina) are different fruits.

The papaya originates in the tropics of Hawaii, the West Indies, South America and India whereas the paw paw is native to North America and Canada. The papaya tree is much bigger than the paw paw shrub.

15/05/2014

Palmer & Co is sultry and petulant, just like a cocktail bar should be. You'd be petulant too if you had to put up with prohibition.

Open late (and I mean sunrise late) it's a posh cocktail hit for both pre-dinner tipples or post-I-should-have-got-that-cab-home raucous fun.

Interiors are fit for a dalliance. Think brick walls, lamps and bric-a-brac cabinets shielding you from prying eyes.

Drinks are carefully mixed classics, bar service can be a little dour but waitresses in flapper dresses cheer things up.

Grab your lover's hand, sneak into Abercrombie Lane and don't look back.

A little hard to find, Palmer & Co is in Abercrombie Lane, Sydney. You can also get in through the Mr Wong basement door.

12/05/2014

Do you need to down whole fried Yamba prawns, sip prosecco and soak up the sun in one of Sydney's prettiest bays?

If the answer is "hell yeah" then may I suggest the Watson's Bay Hotel.

Legendary Sunday sessions (they have a shuttle bus people), options for a bushwalk and a swim pre lunch and tables pretty much on the beach are all draw cards.

Food is gastro pub style, counter service makes life easy for everyone and sufficient bar staff mean you're not detained from your harbour views for long.

Getting hammered and catching the ferry home is just a bonus.

06/05/2014

It's OK John Milton, I know you lost paradise but I've found it again, well in its pasta incarnation anyway.

Fratelli Paradiso in Sydney's Potts Point has cultivated dark and sexy to an art form.

Daily menus are scrawled on the wall and the waiters seem to enjoy reeling it off at your table more than you'll ever enjoy reading it. They are good at their trade and I rely on their judgement, especially for the Italo dominant wine list.

You'll always get house baked bread on arrival and a glass of chilled cortese will help you settle into the bustling cafe style dining room.

People watching is a key occupation but food of this quality will draw you back soon enough.

Calamari Sant' Andrea is named after one of Fratelli Paradiso's original chefs. Seasonal crudos such as salmon, fennel, caperberry and saffron come up trumps every time but it's pasta who is king.

Just choose your flavour of the day; unctuous ragu, lasagnetta or FP's stalwart - spaghetti scampi. Burly, simple flavours will have you kissing your fingertips.

Fratelli Paradiso: 12-16 Challis Avenue, Potts Point, Sydney.

30/04/2014

Lovers of the dive bar unite. The cocktails at Mary's rock out harder than the Slayer sign on the wall, but it's the burgers that keep me coming back.

Squidgy pillows of toasted sweet bun, a patty that's a melting combo of chuck, brisket and rump, lurid yellow 'square cheese' as my mother would call it, and bacon smoked in a trash can.

I cannot think of any improvement, oh no hold up a second - it's all cooked by former Tetsuya's head chef Luke Powell.

It's the type of burger where you brace your elbows on the table, hold that sucker steady and just eat. Maybe a pause to shovel in some skinny fries and order another round.

Then there's the fried chicken. Half bird or whole bird is the only question. Crack the gnarled coating with your fingers and tear out the slick flesh, still broiling in its cloak of spices.

Mary's former incarnations include a Greek club for men and an STD clinic - it's dark, it's grimy, there was banging 80's gangsta rap last time I ate there, plus the staff look like this is a vocation, not a job. In short, Mary's rocks hard.

PS they serve my favourite gin here, Sacred Gin.

Mary's: 6 Mary Street, Newtown, Sydney.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Marys/479868108773331?fref=ts

29/04/2014

All hail the messiah, I mean the Messina. Gelato that is.

With a line out the door and happy punters licking their way back to the end of the queue, Messina has a cult following.

With flavours like peanut butter gelato with coffee custard and cocoa nib crunch or coconut and lychee or wild flower honey gelato smashed with honey soaked loukoumades and candied walnuts, who can blame Sydneysiders and Melbournites from setting up base camp at the door of gelato’s Mt Everest.

Gelato Messina’s simple flavours dance and weave, the lemon was silky and had enough zest to achiever the desired level of mouth pucker.

The family owned company eschew any form of pre-prepared product of flavouring. If you’re eating apple pie ice cream – they baked the apple pie.

The ‘creative department’ come up with more wacky flavours than you can poke a spoon at and fabulous cakes such as Dr Evil’s Magic Mushroom, a dulce de leche, vanilla cream, ganache toadstool better than any magic mushroom.

The shop is a delight. Bustling, smiling staff and you can taste all the flavours you want. You can even attend Gelato University (although all 2014 places are booked out).

Get thee to Messina. https://www.facebook.com/gelatomessina

09/03/2014

Hello there sweet thing.

Meringuey, berry, honeycomby, lemony, fairy flossy quintet at Jellyfish Restaurant.

Great for a group, quintessential Brisbane views, more than 10 fish dishes every day.

I love that you can order a meal of two pieces of fish, because of course I can't choose between flame snapper and sand whiting, and now I don't have to.

Seafood is generally Australian and New Zealand sourced and sings alongside innovative flavours like ginger vinaigrette and smoked tomato.

27/02/2014

Blakstar Coffee, Thomas Street, West End.

I wouldn't normally advocate anything 'light' to you guys. Why bother when there is full fat available.

But the full cream bottles were all naked and I wanted to show you the label so you know exactly what you are looking for.

You're looking for the silkiest, creamiest cold pressed coffee money can buy right? Good. Get to Blackstar Coffee in West End.

I don't walk anywhere in summer without one of these. I can't vouch for the light version or the soy but the full cream is the bomb.

It's coffee. It's cold. It comes in a beer bottle. What more could you want.

PS you need a bottle opener, none of this twist top nonsense.

https://www.facebook.com/Blackstarcoffee?fref=ts

13/02/2014

I'm really excited about this place.

Finally, a Brisbane city lunch spot that is wholesome, innovative and generally kicks hunger's arse.

The folk at Felix Espresso seem to give a damn. About you and about their food, which is spectacular - on all fronts.

Salad bowls of beetroot, mint and feta or zucchini, quinoa and cashew herb dressing - all served with buttered toast, flaky goat pie, quiches packed with caramelised onion, prosciutto and a green smoothie to die for. It's a sharp, tart blend of kale, mango and orange and it's your greens for the week.

Plus coffee and wine (soon). What's not to like.

The fit out is grand. Pared back brick walls, exposed pipes and castings, a huge plated window onto Burnett Lane, wooden floors and a mezzanine kitchen, which is weird but it works.

The welcome is awesome. The food is from a happy place.

Eat. Lunch. Here.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Felix-Espresso-and-Winebar/155311811312408

Hungry Fox

03/07/2014

20/06/2014

03/06/2014

24/05/2014

15/05/2014

12/05/2014

06/05/2014

30/04/2014

29/04/2014

09/03/2014

27/02/2014

13/02/2014

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