News from Australia and New Zealand

We are delighted to welcome Roberta Muir to the EYB Blog. Roberta will be doing a weekly post with news from Australia and New Zealand on cookbooks, cooking, restaurants, and all things food.

David Chang’s only restaurant outside North America, Momofuku Seiobo in Sydney’s The Star casino, is closing permanently on 26 June, after almost 10 years as one of Australia’s most highly-acclaimed restaurants. Paul Carmichael took over the burners in 2015 from Ben Greeno (now at Merivale) and slowly introduced the flavours of his Caribbean homeland to intrigued diners. He and restaurant manager Kylie Javier Ashton have announced that, with the lease expiring, the team has decided to go out on a high note!

One of the few great things to come out of COVID has been home delivery from top restaurants, not least the Merivale Group who’s kept its customers well fed with meals from Fred’s Danielle Alvarez, (ex-Chez Panisse), Totti’s Mike Eggert and group exec chef Dan Hong among others. Now with Sydney almost back to business as usual, they’re calling time on Merivale at Home, with last orders on 29 March. This seems to be the pattern with Firedoor’s Fireshop wound back to just special occasions (including upcoming kits for Easter and Mother’s Day) and Josh Niland’s Fish Butchery at Home doing the same.

After a year of virtual food events, there’s much excitement around the upcoming Tasting Australia Festival in Adelaide from 30 April-9 May. The stellar line-up includes chefs Lennox Hastie, Paul Carmichael, Andrew McConnell, Dan Hunter, Maggie Beer, Morgan McGlone, Palisa Anderson, Christine Manfield and Duncan Welgemoed. As always there’s a strong focus on beverages as well as food, with the program including tours, tastings, meals and masterclasses featuring Australia’s fabulous fresh produce, wine, beer, producers and chefs covering everything from fine dining to street stalls and a special family friendly program for the littlies.

Despite the controversy surrounding Crown Resort’s Sydney casino licence, its premier restaurants are pulling in the crowds. Alessandro Pavoni of Italian fine-diner a’Mare says he’s delighted with the response to his interpretation of classic Italian cuisine, much of it prepared and theatrically served tableside by talented waitstaff. Ross and Sunny Lusted at Woodcut, featuring food cooked using wood, charcoal and steam across four open kitchens, and Ryuichi Yoshii of the 10-seater Yoshii’s Omakase within Nobu Matsuhisa’s third Australian restaurant, have been equally busy.

With international travel off the books for at least another year in Australia, we’ve turned to regional tourism like never before. Whether it’s a day trip, a weekend away or a longer break, the increase in regional gastropubs certainly makes travelling outside the major cities tastier than ever. The historic Royal Richmond Hotel at the foot of the Blue Mountains an hour west of Sydney has recently relaunched its bistro with the combined talent of chefs Todd Garratt (ex-Fish Butchery) and Anthony Tanielu (ex-Spice Temple), and a strong focus on produce from the local Hawkesbury Plains, delivering food well worth travelling for.

The queen of beautifully-presented, simple food – Donna Hay – is inviting everyone into her kitchen on 31 March for a free live virtual class presenting her favourite Easter recipes and easy styling tips. Register to receive a link with recipes and Zoom details. 31 March, 6.30pm AEDT.

Roberta’s blog Food Wine Travel with Roberta is indexed on EYB. You can also follow her on Instagram.