Yo-Chi Frozen Yogurt, Balaclava, Melbourne

Frozen yogurt you say - didn't we already pass by that fad? Well, I assure you, that fad is alive and well down here in Melbourne town. Thanks to my friend the impeccable Mr Oliver Blaker, I had the privilege of visiting Balaclava's newest hotspot, Yo-Chi. Frozen yogurt, primarily marketed to young health-conscious twenty/thirty-something, is common these days but Yo-Chi does it a little differently. Yes, it still sports claims such as 'gluten-free' (isn't all yogurt?), 98% fat-free, and some flavours even sport a sugar-free claim. Be wary however, as this one is sweetened by honey, which is largely the same thing.

But where Yo-Chi excels is in three specific ways: decor. add-ons. flavours.

With the widest range of yogurt flavours I have come across, I took it upon myself to try as many as possible. Highlights were the ridiculously sweet but delicious Chai, and the dairy-free honey-soybean. Their flavours are freshly made daily and on rotation, meaning you will have to visit a few times to try all their offerings. Along with the ubiquitous original, chocolate, and strawberry, you can find Peanut Butter, Apple Pie, Pomegranate, Green Tea, Coconut, Passionfruit and Hazelnut.

Their add-ons bar has a huge variety of fresh fruits, cookies, chocolate, shortbread crumble, caramelized bananas, honey cashews, halva, fruit pearls, candy, stewed apples, syrups, coulis... you could make any combination you could think of. Unlike other ice-cream or frozen yogurt bars everything looked and tasted very fresh and there were no canned or packaged fruits to be seen.

That brings me to their decor: polished wood, spotlights, and an excellently simple logo create a familiar vibe that is echoed around the city at many popular cafes and some more upmarket fast food establishments. Where Yo-Chi really stands out however is their simple yet eye-catching artwork of a serene bay, beach and mountains by Gaku Nakagawa, a Japanese artist whose work has appeared in Monocle and Illustration Now, and the Yo-Chi mascot, around 8 feet high and waving his colourful spoon over his subjects, bidding them to self-serve themselves some damn yogurt. And we all obeyed, like the good Yo-Chi citizens we were.

The prices are easy - grab a tub, Small, Medium or Large, and fill up with whatever you want. Get all 8 yogurt flavours. Fill your cup with caramelized bananas. Or just chocolate syrup. Make a maple syrup soup mixed with Apple Pie froyo and lychees. They don't judge here - make your mix, plop it on the scales up the front, and pay by weight. Whatever you put it in the cup, 100 grams costs $2.80.

Have some fun with your (relatively) healthy dessert. Catch up with friends under the Yo-Chi guardian. Or join the hordes of St Kilda hipsters who rush in for a large cup of late-night Green Tea frozen yogurt. As Yo-Chi says; 'You are the creator of your own yogurt destiny'.

Chingón Cantina y Taqueria, Richmond, Melbourne

Chingón Cantina y Taqueria is worth visiting just for the decor. Cast iron chandeliers and sconces, Colombian coffee sacks, fairy-lit beer garden, exposed beams, possibly some of the coolest bathrooms in Melbourne, a truckload of candles, oh, and a vintage car that sits in the middle of the dining room. Cool right?

The ambience alone transports you away from the relatively isolated and dingy stretch of Swan st that the cantina occupies, to a warmer clime where you can ply foreign women with copious tequila shots under the stars.

A foodie trip to Seattle, Washington, USA

We have a penchant for seeking out extraordinary amounts of food when we are visiting a new place. Ok, we have a penchant for seeking out extraordinary amounts of food full stop. But when we visited Seattle I had our dining itinerary planned months beforehand. Home of Starbucks (yep, I care, even though I am coming from the coffee capital of Melbourne. I LOVE gingerbread lattes. I love them. Enough to make me drink Starbucks coffee), Pike Place Market on the waterfront, excellent seafood chowder, and some of the best milkshakes I have had.

We got into SeaTac just before midnight, and along with a variety of homeless people, travellers with layovers, and people with no good reason to be there except they are cheapskates, slept on a small pocket of carpet in the arrivals hall. We figured by the time we got to the airport hotel, checked in, showered, and got into bed we would have 1-2 hours before we had to get up and leave to go to the ferry (we were heading directly up to Victoria, Canada for an overnight sojourn before starting our 4 day Seattle eating adventure.) So we slept on the floor. It was horrible. I said I'd never do it again, but I just did it again in Kuala Lumpur with around 800 other people. What can I say - I don't like wasting money. Stick in my ear plugs, chain my bag to a chair, roll up all the clothes in my suitcase to make some semblance of a pillow - it's an adventure. I'll probably do it again.

After what was probably one of the worst nights sleep I have ever had due to the security announcements broadcast at 5 minutes intervals all night, at 4AM we donned our backpacks and headed into the city on the train. Luckily I had my bear hat - it sure doesn't get that cold down here in AUS!

We then trekked from the station to the ferry terminal, checked in our bags, and bought a small carton of milk. Here we were, being cheapskates again - we then retrieved plastic packets of cereal that we, well I won't say stole, but graciously accepted from our New Orleans hotel and proceeded to have breakfast at 5AM on an icy Seattle wharf, in the dark. I promise - the rest of our eating was way more exciting.

Quaint, crisp, yet one of the most temperate places in Canada, Victoria, Vancouver Island is studded with a number of delightful tea stores, chocolate shops and restaurants, and the friendliest people I have ever met in my life.

We ate breakfast at the amazing Rebar Modern Food reviewed here. We bought maple teas and Maple girl scout cookies on the main street, and stayed at the gorgeous Empress Hotel.

A Perfect Drop Wine Bar in the spa town of Daylesford

A few years back, we booked one of those special deal weekender trips online to have a mid-winter weekend break up in the spa town of Daylesford. We love heading up there and do so at least three or four times a year. This time, however, it was in the dead of winter. Our deal came with entry to the gorgeous Hepburn Bathhouse and Spa, so we decided to head up on a Friday morning and spend the afternoon at the bathhouse.

After a walk around the Hepburn Regional Park in the brisk cold, and some scones and tea next to the
fire, we were ready to head into the spa sanctuary. When we finally went in, we didn't come out until around 6PM. The aim was to head straight to the cottage and cook up dinner, ready to relax for the rest of the weekend. We had confirmed with the owner the day before and told him what time we would be arriving. It was easy. Too easy.

When coming out of the bathhouse I had 4 missed calls and a message from the owner of the cottage that there had been an emergency and we couldn't stay at the cottage any longer. I called him back quickly only to find out he had double booked the cottage, and even though we had booked first the other couple had arrived first, so he had given them our accommodation. Furious, I told him that we had paid him for the accommodation and would not be driving back to Melbourne that evening as we had taken time off work, plus, a thunderstorm had started while we were in the bathhouse. So he found us a small studio in town to stay at for the night. While it was nice, it wasn't the luxurious villa we had paid for, and he told us that he would pay for the studio and that would be considered that. I refused, contacted the lady who owned the studio, paid her for the weekends accommodation directly at half the price of the villa, and told the guy he would be putting us up another weekend of our choosing. And that, as far as I was concerned, was that!

Anyway, the point of the story is that we found ourselves staying in the town of Daylesford on a cold and rainy evening, rather than in a villa with a full kitchen out in the country. So, we needed to have dinner. We had driven past a quaint old house with a large front porch covered in tables and chairs on our way in, and thought we would give it a go. We had been there once before for coffee, and the food had looked amazing. So off we tottered to the Perfect Drop Wine Bar.

Bare wooden beams and haphazard lighting fixtures are draped with maroon velvet and diverse French, Italian, or vintage Australian posters or signs adorn the walls. The furniture is mismatched, tables strewn with old card games and antique chess sets. Waiters lean over diners to toss another log on the woodfire in the corner. Yet the Perfect Drop is not a down at heel restaurant - it is quite classy, with the sort of Australian fusion style food you would expect at ezard at half the price.

Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2013: Masterclass with Peruvian Chef Virgilio Martinez

The second class of our day at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival's Langham Masterclasses was with Peruvian chef Virgilio Martinez, a former pro-skateboarder turned chef. He owns Peruvian restaurants Central in Lima, and Lima, in London. Our first class was with Master Baker Dan Lepard - click for a review of his session and to read his baking tips and tricks.

Virgilio forages and scouts ingredients from the Andes and the Amazon. In Australia with his sous chef and fiance, he cooked up some very unique dishes for us to try, using ingredients such as maca root (a Peruvian root vegetable), eco dry potato, red amaranth, cacao amazonia, sacha inchi oil (made by pressing from the seeds and flesh of the pracaxi fruit, a native Amazon tree), muña leaves (from the medicinal plant grown in the Andes), cañihua ( a species of goosefoot, similar to quinoa).

Arapaima (white fish) with Tigers Milk, Sacha Inchi Oil, Chia seeds and Passionfruit

Mushrooms, Eco Dry Potato and Giant Corn

Eco Dry Potato and Red Amaranth

A charming fellow that can whip up some mean Peruvian cuisine, Virgilio showed us a number of little videos he had filmed while foraging in the Amazon. Never one to turn down food, he takes guides into the Amazon and peppers them every couple of seconds with 'Can I eat that? Can I eat this? I'm eating this'. While he hasn't killed himself, yet, he has poisoned himself a few times and is now a little more careful with what sort of mushrooms he picks off the ground and shoves into his mouth.

Plating of a dish from Central Restaurant in Peru, styled to look like the Amazonian Forest the ingredients came from

But diners benefit immensely from his adventurousness, as his dishes are full of tantalising and intriguing ingredients you would be hard pressed to find on menus elsewhere. Virgilio says that Peru has somewhere between 3000-7000 varieties of potatoes, and in all his exploring he has only seen 400. The key ingredients used in the Andes are corn, potatoes, chilli and fruits. There are also many varieties of corn - he managed to get some Peruvian giant corn through customs and we were lucky enough to try some. Crunchy and milder, it was almost like a nut with a popcorn flavour.

He had one major tip for working with herbs. If you are going to add herbs to a sauce or dish, make sure you add them at the end. If you blend it with all the other ingredients they will turn black within 1 hour, which detracts from the aesthetic of your dish if you care about those sorts of things.

Many of his tips are relevant to recipes created with ingredients from his home country so I won't bother sharing them all with you, but I will share a lovely ceviche recipe that he gave us that is adapted to work with available Australian produce.

Raw white fish is topped with a bright yellow, fragrant marinade called Leche de Tigre 'Tigers Milk'. At its essence this is just the citrus marinade used to 'cook' the ceviche. Virgilio's Leche de Tigre was creamy with a hint of spice - I suspect he may have had some special Peruvian herbs in his that are not included in our recipe due to us not being able to source them. Regardless, this is a lovely ceviche recipe for an appetizer, that is very visually striking due to its bright yellow colour. Top with some tiny red edible flowers or some microherbs to contrast and you have a simple gourmet dish!

Peruvian Ceviche in Leche De Tigre (Aji Amarillo Tiger's Milk)

Fresh firm white fish fillets, thinly sliced

200g white onion, finely chopped
150g celery, finely chopped
10g garlic, finely chopped
10g ginger, finely chopped
1 kg small green limes, juice only
2 red Thai chillies, finely minced
10 g cilantro (coriander leaves)
30g aji amarillo paste (yellow hot pepper paste - look for this in a spanish food store such as Casa Iberica in Fitzroy, Melbourne)
80ml fresh fish stock

In a blender, liquefy the chopped onion, celery, garlic and ginger, and fish stock. Strain and discard solids.

Add the lime juice, red chilli, cilantro and aji amarillo paste.

As an appetizer, pour some of the marinade into a shot glass, and poke a toothpick through some of the fish slices. Dunk the fish into the marinade and let sit for an hour, serve.

Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2013: Baking Tips at a Masterclass with Dan Lepard

Six years in and I still hadn't attended a Melbourne Food and Wine Festival Masterclass. The main event of a festival named one of the top five things to do before you die by The Chicago Tribune, I'd never convinced myself it would be worth coming up with the $300-odd for a day listening to chefs speak. I always thought it would be interesting but I didn't think it would be worth it - I mean we can watch these people on TV doing the same thing right?

Nope. I was so wrong. This year, Eric bought me a day of Masterclasses for my birthday, and I am SO sad that I likely won't be in Melbourne next year to attend again. It is just another thing to add to my list of Reasons Why I Continually Question the Sanity of Our Impending Move to Canada.

It was truly amazing - hosted at the beautiful Langham Melbourne on Southbank, the whole day was fully catered, stocked by some of the best food producers in Victoria such as La Madre Bakery and Five Seeds Coffee Roasters. Fridges full of sparkling water, chinotto, and other San Pellegrino beverages were free to take all day, and a huge selection of food was provided between each class as well as a full buffet lunch of gourmet sandwiches and salads by the Langham. Each masterclass included tips, tricks, and conversation with a master chef, baker or food professional, a recipe book of the dishes they cook in front of you, and 2-3 small plates of the dishes they create. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to taste some amazing ingredients, such as the variety of corn brought from the Andes by Peruvian chef Virgilio Martinez (review of his Masterclass coming soon).

The first class of the day was a Masterclass with master baker Dan Lepard, author of Handmade Loaf, Short and Sweet amongst many more, and he is also The Guardians 'baking maestro'.

We started the morning with an olive loaf and finished on the sweet rum baba. Dan highlighted how easy bread is to make, and why it should be a part of everyone's life.

For those bread bakers out there, he had these master tips to share:

MIXING:

• Use olive/pickle brine in dough instead of salt for great flavour and so that you don't waste anything!
• If you have a recipe for fresh yeast, you can substitute instant/dried yeast. Just halve the weight listed in your recipe and add that weight of dried yeast. 
• ALWAYS dissolve your yeast before adding in. Dissolve in a portion of your measured out water for the dough to make sure you aren't adding too much liquid.
• If you substitute some apple juice for some of your water, your bread will stay fresh for longer. Excellent tip for longer shelf life. 
• Fold dough like puff pastry every 45 minutes rather than kneading, as it stretches and traps air bubbles in your dough.

FERMENTING:

• Flavour is all dependent on how long you ferment the bread - 'retard' or slow down the fermentation by putting your dough in the fridge. It will take longer to rise and develop more sour flavours.
• DON'T LET YOUR BREAD DOUBLE! Most recipes and baking guides will tell you to let your bread double. Dan recommends you only let it rise by half again during both fermentations. This prevents it from overrising. Because you aren't letting it rise as much, don't knock it back as much. He says to 'bake dough young'. Personally, what he calls overrisen bread looked perfect to me - I think it is just a matter of personal preference. Bake a few small loaves off at different stages of the fermentation and pick your favourite.

BAKING:

• Heat your oven fan-forced, and then when you pop your bread in, turn it to conventional (non fan-forced) for the first 20 minutes and then turn to fan again. He says that this will cause the top of your loaf to split and get that nice split top crust. I haven't tested this one yet!
• Make sure to steam your oven directly after putting the dough in, either by splashing some water on a hot empty tray on the bottom rack or misting the oven well with a spray bottle and quickly shutting the door. This will make a nice crisp crust.
• For a thicker crust, drop temperature by 10-15ºC after 20 minutes, and bake it for longer at a lower temperature. He recommends starting at 240ºC for a good thick crust.

ALTERNATIVE DOUGHS:

• If you are making a sweet dough, it is better to add in things with sweet flavours than using extra sugar in your dough.
• Psyllium husk acts like gluten when it meets moisture as it gels. Good option for gluten free baking.

You can access Dan's recipes on his profile at The Guardian UK, or pick up any of his baking books cheap on Amazon by clicking on the below. 

Date and Honey Hot Cross Buns and a trip to Redbeard Bakery, Trentham, VIC

I love Easter. Even though on this side of the world, it doesn't mark the beginning of spring, it marks the change to cooler days and even cooler nights, heading into a cold, dark winter. Although I do love summer, there's something I really like about winter. It could be that winter clothes are much cooler, you can layer up and accessorise - or it could be that we have an excuse to sit at home and watch all of our TV shows under a comforter.

I should really be laughing at our strange customs here down under, mirroring the American way of life even though it is completely at odds with our environment. Christmas trees, eggnog and full turkey roasts are not ideal foods when the mercury is pushing 40ºC (104ºF). Easter bunnies, pastel-coloured flowers, eggs and spring decorations abound when our leaves are turning red and falling off the trees. And during the warm month of October we carve small, old pumpkins leftover from the long-gone harvesting season of Autumn - Winter for Halloween.

I think why I love Easter so much here is that it is a reminder that although the days are turning cold, somewhere spring life is blooming, and it won't be too long until it is here again too. We put up out Easter decorations and turn on the heater, eating our toasty warm hot cross buns. A relic from our British past, these delicious buns are usually eaten on Good Friday (but can now be found in the supermarkets pretty much straight after New Year). In Australia, chocolate hot cross buns have become almost as popular as the traditional fruit spice ones. Regardless of the flavour, give me a warm bun with waaayyy too much butter and I will be a happy girl.

I've never made my own as Eric and I have made it an annual tradition to camp up in the spa town of Daylesford over Easter long weekend. Our two favourite campsites in the state, Firth Park and Mount Franklin are within this area, and for some reason they aren't packed over the long weekend as most other campsites are. We camp in the national parks for free and save our money to go to the mineral spas and eat out at some of the fantastic restaurants in the area. The day before we left, I got home from work to see this wonderful sight welcoming me home! What a lovely start to an Easter weekend.

One of our favourite places is Redbeard Bakery in Trentham, which is a little town about half an hour east of Daylesford. A very old organic sourdough bakery, they bake everything on site in their 19th century woodfired scotch oven. It is the best, and I mean the absolute best bread I have ever eaten. Just the right amount of chewy and soft, ridiculously good keeping qualities (I can keep a loaf for a week without it staling) the bread has SO much flavour. Due to their process they make traditional sourdough, that isn't hugely sour.

Redbeard Cafe Courtyard

So every Easter while up in Daylesford, we drop past Trentham while visiting the local organic and biodynamic farms to pick up some fresh country produce, and have a bakery feast and take home some sourdough hot cross buns. These buns are so very very soft yet not gluggy, and filled with just the right amount of mixed fruit and a hint of spice. This year, we were quite sad as it will likely be the last time we get to eat these, as we are off to Canada at the end of the year. In fact, as you don't seem to be able to get hot cross buns in the USA, it might be the last time I buy easter buns - I might need to start making my own.

This year we had a beautiful, creamy vegetable tart with a quiche custard-like filling suspending winter veggies within the pie pastry tart shell. We also had a delicious nut and honey tart that was EXACTLY like a tart version of the Beesting cake. Filled with a honey sweetened creme patissiere, topped with a crunchy nut/sugar topping, it was no wonder Daisy couldn't stay under the table! As soon as Eric sat down she was up next to him, wanting her share!

This recipe for hot cross buns is based on the one in the Australian book BAKE by Allison Thompson. This book is great as it hits a little higher than your typical baking book, and assumes that you will make everything from scratch (which you should, as it is really very easy!). Recipes for pastries, creams, custards fill the basics section, and then the rest of the book is filled with delicious breads, brioches, croissants, tarts, pies, baked desserts, cakes, pastries, pizzas, and even a pretty big Gluten Free baking section.

Easter Hot Cross Buns
Makes 16 buns

10g instant dried yeast
300ml (10 fl oz) warm water
550g (1 lb 3 oz) plain flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
finely grated zest of two oranges
100g ( 3 1/2 oz) unsalted butter, softened
125 g (4 1/2 oz) sultanas
60g (2 oz) currants
60 g (2 oz) finely chopped dried dates

Flour paste
90g (3 oz) plain flour
30g (1 oz) caster sugar
90 ml (3 fl oz) water

Sugar syrup
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoons water


Place the yeast, sugar and water in the bowl of an electric mixer, and stir until dissolved. Leave for 15 minutes until the mix becomes frothy. Add the flour, salt, honey, eggs, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, orange zest and butter. Using the dough hook, mix on a low speed for 2 minutes until the ingredients are combined. Mix on medium speed for a further 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add the sultanas, currants and dates to the bowl and mix on low speed until combined.

Remove the dough hook and leave the dough in the bowl, covered with cling wrap, for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, until the dough has doubled in size.

Knock back the dough and transfer to a floured benchtop. Divide the dough into 16 equal portions and roll into balls. Place the buns (making sure to leave adequate space between them for them to rise) on a tray lined with baking paper. Leave in a warm place, covered with a well floured tea towel if draughty, until risen by 1/4-1/2.

Combine the flour and sugar in a bowl for the flour paste, and gradually stir in the water until smooth. Place the mixture in a piping bag and pipe crosses on the top of the buns. Preheat the oven to 170ºC (340ºF) and bake the buns for 25 minutes until golden.

While the buns are in the oven, bring the honey and water to boil in a small saucepan. Take off the heat. When the buns come out, immediately brush them with the honey syrup and cool on a wire rack (Just slide the baking paper onto the rack!)

Serve warm, preferably on the day of baking, with a lot of butter! These also freeze beautifully in an air tight bag after they have cooled completely.

Beetroot Feta Keftedes

Leftover pile of beetroot from my relish making adventure (beetroot and rhubarb), just sitting in my fridge going old. It got to the point where I was really not sure whether it was still good to eat or not, so being terrible with food safety at home and all, I decided to cook with it. One day we will get terribly ill but until then I'm not going to waste food!


So I'm going to recommend you cook fresh beets for this recipe, I cannot endorse my own behaviour! Regardless, these are beautiful with a dollop of tzatziki or Greek yoghurt on top. Great light lunch or as part of a 'deli dinner' as Eric likes to call them, with hummus and tomatoes and bread etc..


Beetroot Keftedes


200g fresh beetroot, cooked, finely chopped
1/2 onion finely diced
4 tbsp parmesan, grated
180g feta cheese, crumbled
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp dried dill
1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
120g breadcrumbs
100g plain flour
Salt and pepper


Combine all ingredients except flour and season with a little salt and pepper. Add flour gradually while mixing until mix comes together and you can form it into loose patties with your hands. It should still be quite moist, but just comes into shape. Use only enough flour to get to this stage, you may need more or less.


Heat vegetable oil over a medium heat and form patties of the mix, dropping them into the hot oil and pressing them down so they are flat and about 1 inch thick. Fry for 2-3 minutes per side until slightly golden and then remove to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Repeat with the rest if the mixture.


I like to serve these warm as the feta is so strong and kind of gooey, however these are also great cold.

Jazz City Milk Bar, Darlinghurst, Sydney

New Orleans: that little city that reaches so much further than its square mileage is the home of a melting pot of original, unique music styles, a plethora of festivals, parades and celebrations, and a highly unique cuisine. Combining a little bit of French and a little bit of African with the produce of the region, it is all mixed up into a delightful array of dishes that can only originate from the 'South'.

Unfortunately in Australia we are a little too far ‘South’ to have ease of access to that enchanting cuisine, developed in the colourful cities and towns that surround the bayou. Luckily, expat Chef Dan McGuirt decided he would call Australia home. With a career spanning over 15 years, a testamur from Le Cordon Bleu and a background in fine dining such as at Melbourne’s Vue de Monde, McGuirt has opened a pair of American-style diners/milk bars. First came the ever-popular Jazz City Diner, tucked away on a suburban street in Surrey Hills. Spilling out onto the street, hungry customers eagerly await a table. The crowd is always diverse – Chef McGuirt’s signature dishes appeal to many.

Now, just around the corner from Jazz City Diner is a little milk bar with all the trimmings, all imported from the US. Shining silver bar and stools; cake dishes full of homebaked, scrumptious US of A treats such as Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Pie and Apple Pie; custom made retro fifties milkshake and burger signs, and waiters with those little paper sailor hats. The milk bar hopes to cater to those disappointed potential customers turned away from the diner on the next street, and of course to develop their own cult following like their predecessor. Jazz City Diner staff eagerly direct customers to ‘the other one’ when their tables are occupied, yet the Milk Bar deserves a much better nickname than that.

New Orleans BBQ Shrimp

'Pura Tierra' at True South Brewery with Chef Martin Molteni from Buenos Aires

The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival is resplendent with unique, flavoursome one-off events. Take the Everleigh Tram Car, that turned Melbourne's beloved tram restaurant into a speakeasy on wheels, serving cocktails inspired by our magnificent city. Or the famous Langham Masterclasses, a focal event that draws international crowds every year to see the discussions and demonstrations from some of the leading chefs in the world today.

One particularly unique event that took place for the first time this year was the Pura Tierra event held by True South Brewery in Black Rock. A contemporary Argentinian restaurant, the dining area surrounds the brewing room where True South brews their own beer on site. Upstairs you will find the stunning events area, cleverly themed white to reflect the evening sun bouncing off the ocean. The front of the large room opens out onto a large balcony area, directly facing the sun setting over the sea. Tonight, the events room is decorated in line with this years festival theme of 'earth'. The tables are white, decorated with wooden beams, recycled paper and studded with freshly baked loaves of sourdough topped with charred rosemary spiders. The entrance holds a cleverly styled pile of fresh vegetables, and a smiling hostess offers a tray of house-brewed cider as you walk in.