No darlings, I haven’t gone all YWCA on you. When Joan Holloway suggested lunching at the Australia Youth Hotel I did a double take. Because I don’t know about you but I like my sheets crisp and toiletries aplenty and slippers fluffy. But I also know that Joan Holloway has good taste and knows my comfort zone very well. And she knows I’m all about food-and hell even if it were in a youth hostel if the food was good I’d visit it (just not stay there overnight).

Parking Purdie the Prius in nearby Broadway Shopping Centre I take the short walk to the Australia Youth Hotel where I bump into Joan H. outside. I follow her through the pub to the restaurant area. There’s an inside area and an outdoor courtyard area which is the perfect place for a sunny lunch if the weather is good (and let’s ignore this week’s downpour). The menu is new and as we are early at 12 o’clock we have a pick of tables. We choose one near the window which faces the main restaurant. And by 12:30pm the crowds descend including the type of people that love courtyards-smokers! The menu has a nice selection of items with charcuterie, terrines, saffron spaghettini and some lovely sounding steaks as well as crowd pleasers for the work crowd who want a quick lunch of burgers, pizzas and sausages at a lower price point.

Entree share plate for two $24

We chose the entree share plate because that meant that we could get to try a few different flavours. There are four items today, the first a basil cured Petuna ocean trout with a microherb topping which has a lovely sumptuous texture.

There is also salt and pepper squid with a spicy seasoning on top. The squid is wonderfully tender without any hint of chewiness at all.

The third item is a duck croquette crunchy on the outside with a potato and duck rillette type of filling inside.

The last item is a lovely smooth duck liver pate with a layer of butter on top and a generous serve of bread.

Char grilled Bangalow pork loin $27

Click here to read the full story

I am running late and when I get frantic my decidedly dodgy sense of direction tends to get more frantic (which is why Mr NQN tells me that I would be a terrible Amazing Race contestant). And we’re at The Star, formerly Star City but with an overhaul and a new look marketing campaign. Everything is different and I can’t tell whether we are in the front or the back or the side of the building and I feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland falling down the rabbit warren. And here I am about to see the Adriano Zumbo cake walk. And Zumbo happens to be running even later than we are!

The cake walk is his long held dream of having a fashion parade where models strut down a catwalk holding his creations based on a Parisian cake walk that he once saw.  He had held one previously but that was for the taping of his Zumbo television show and it was more staged for the television show rather than a cake walk. And about 200 guests made up of industry contacts, press, friends and family are here to watch his cake walk which is to celebrate the opening of his new store at The Star.

They’re running over an hour late and guests are kept suitably watered and fed with sushi and sashimi from Momofuku Seiobo next door and cocktails including popcorn martinis. Suddenly with a burst of music and a shimmer of the curtain, long legged models strut down the catwalk, pout, turn and flirt with the cameras and crowd.

And there isn’t just comely eye candy for the menfolk but also some for the ladies!

The latest season’s cakes are paraded on the catwalk and some of them match the outfits of the models. The catwalk is over after about 10 minutes of strutting and posing and Zumbo comes out for a final bow.

They raise the curtain to reveal the new store with a “I Love Zumbo” in red neon, a turning gumboot display, a bathtub of chocolates and spotlit specimens of cakes in the window. Adriano makes a heartfelt speech thanking his family and his staff and tells people that there will be samples of the goodies brought out on platters. He then invites everyone to play in the shop and then to join him at the Cherry Bar afterwards.

Click here to read the full story

If my lucky number is eight, my current unlucky number seems to be five. Why five? Well because with five people you may have to wait 1 hour and 40 minutes for a table at Jamie’s Italian but with six you can make a booking and with a group of two, you can have a table within about half an hour. My friends had encouraged me to make the booking for six people and just cite one as a no show but I was being good.

But after being told it would be a 15 minute wait or thereabouts on the phone that afternoon, a 30 minute wait by the first person while standing at the queue and then an hour as we put our name down after standing in the queue, I’m slightly regretful.

During the wait period Viggo and Dave got up and ordered us some nibblies while Louise, Mr NQN and I waited at the bar. And it was a good thing that he did because you know that twilight where you’ve been waiting for more than you’ve thought and you get your cranky pants on? Well that was Mr NQN. And somehow we completely missed the order for free bread on the menu although I would think just bringing it for people like in most restaurants might be a good idea.

There is a tray of nibblies brought out to the people waiting in the queue which is a nice gesture but the tray comes back still half full bypassing everyone in the bar waiting. I bump into a friend Ute who says to me “Is it just me or is there no signage for this place?”  Oliver is said to pay a visit to his latest outpost some time in February.

Italian Nachos $7

We tried the Italian nachos, crispy deep fried four cheese ravioli blanketed with a thick covering of grated parmesan and “angry’ arrabiata sauce. The ravioli weren’t bad although you couldn’t really tell that there were four cheeses inside and the filling has shrunken leaving mostly an air pocket. The spicy arrabiata sauce is nice and spicy.

Oven dried tomatoes cooked with basil, garlic and creamy ricotta bruschetta $12

The bruschetta, and they all come as pairs, is crispy and crunchy and comes with three different toppings. The first features oven dried cherry tomatoes, basil and garlic and ricotta which is cooling and crunchy and has a good balance of flavours.

Roasted mushrooms grilled and marinated with lemon, thyme and garlic $11

My favourite out of the three bruschetta is the roasted mushrooms that were grilled and marinated with lemon, thyme and garlic as the flavours matched well with the meaty mushrooms.

Spanner crab with chilli, lemon and zest mayo $15

There is a generous amount of crab here and I expected that I would like this best but the crab was quite wet in texture (you can perhaps see the pooling of the liquid in the picture) which made the bread a bit wet too.

It is getting close to one and a half hours and the queue outside has all but disappeared. Dave suggests that we line up again to get a table and figures that we’ll have better luck asking for a “table for three and two but next to each other.” We ask if we can squeeze on a table for four and they see what they can do.

We finally make it upstairs after 1 hour and 40 minutes and by then we know what we want to order having had plenty of time to peruse the menu. The walls are exposed brick, lightly graffiitied with painted metal and wooden chairs and banquettes. There is a downstairs section next to the kitchen which is pumping furiously with testosterone and steam. Our waiter is lovely and accommodating and helps us with the menu selections.

Crispy Squid $12

The crispy squid comes with chopped chilli, parsley and a wedge of lemon. The squid itself is a little tough although we do adore the “really garlicky mayo” which is true to its name-no kissing anyone after that!

Smoky Scamorza Arancini $9.50

Click here to read the full story