Press Food & Wine and Adelaide Dessert Bars: The Aviary and Devour

Visiting a new city is both exciting and stressful for someone keen to uncover its gastronomic secrets. There's so much eat and discover, but time and insider knowledge is half the battle.

One restaurant that was hot on everyone's lips during our recent trip to Adelaide was Press Food & Wine. Opening mid-last year, Press was awarded Best New Restaurant in the 2011 Adelaide Food Awards.

Our

Taco Eating Challenge at El Loco, Surry Hills

Most people celebrate their first birthday with cake and one candle. El Loco celebrated theirs with a call-out for their first ever taco challenge - how many tacos could you eat in half an hour?

What is it about competitive eating competitions that brings out the voyeur in all some of us? In a world plagued by  both rising obesity and starving children, excessive consumption should not enthral

Adelaide Central Market, Adelaide Showground Farmers Market and Inside a Bee Hive at Buzz Honey

There ain't nothing like a protective suit to really feel like you're living on the edge. We're not heading into a biochemical hazard zone but off to get up close and personal with a working bee hive in the Adelaide Hills.

I made my first trip to South Australia for Tasting Australia two years ago, a biennial event that brings together chefs, publishers and journalists in food, wine and travel

Rhinedorf German Restaurant, Beverly Hills

Let's face it: the best part about ordering schweinehaxen is the excuse to pronounce it in the thickest German accent you can muster. Say it right and you’ll be rewarded with a massive hunk of roasted pork knuckle gift-wrapped in golden crackling.


Decor inside Rhinedorf German Restaurant

Get your pork knuckle on by putting the top down and cruising past the palm trees that welcome you to

The Carrington $3 pintxos Tuesdays, Surry Hills

It's no coincidence that I seem to have taken up residence at Sydney's pubs of late. Everyone loves a cheap eat and Sydney's watering holes have taken up the challenge with gusto. The Abercrombie offers $10 weekday lunches, The Norfolk has $4 mini burgers on Mondays; and at the Pyrmont Bridge Hotel you can score a 1kg steak on Thursdays for only $20.

On Tuesday nights you're best off heading

Cheap Eats 2012

Life has a way of coming full circle. Exactly two years ago I landed a regular column with Time Out Sydney covering suburban eats. My first review appeared in the May 2010 Cheap Eats issue - a fitting theme for this cheap 'n' cheerful fan. Now I'm pleased to reveal that the latest Time Out Sydney 2012 Cheap Eats feature was curated and written by yours truly - my first ever cover story!



The

The Norfolk, Surry Hills

If life is marked by epiphanies, then this is one of mine. The deep-fried pickle. Oh god yes. It's the glorious combination of crunchy batter wrapped around a pickled gherkin. Ingenious. Why? Because even as an aficionado of all things deep-fried, there is only so much greasy batter my war-torn arteries can take. And that's when the pickle comes in - a sweet and acidic bullet that doubles as

Pyrmont Bridge Hotel, Pyrmont

They didn't require much convincing. The boys were in. The Man or Mouse challenge at the Pyrmont Bridge Hotel was in their sights. All that stood between them and chest-thumping glory was a plate of chips, salad and one kilo of rump steak.

How much steak do you get for one kilo? We debate its size while we wait for it to arrive. The steak is part of their regular bistro menu, a one kilo "prime

Mushroom picking in Oberon

Mushroom picking. For years I'd wanted to indulge in this foraging fantasy, my mind filled with romanticised visions of skipping in a cool dark forest with a wicker basket tucked under my arm, stopping every now and then to pluck a large waiting mushroom to add to my spoils.

The reality, of course, was markedly different. For us, it began with a 5.30am wake-up call so we could be on the road

Restaurant Review #252: Pho 21, Canoga Park

No. 77, Spring rolls, $5.25

After making the long trek from my house to San Gabriel to get my Golden Deli fix, I decided I needed to find a quality Vietnamese restaurant that wasn't so far away. Pho 21 seemed to fit the bill with its extensive menu and stellar Yelp reviews (4.5 stars out of 113 reviews). I studied the menu and came up with $45 worth of food I wanted to order. At most

Lao Village, Fairfield

There are many things to love about Lao Village. The bargain basement prices are just one of them. You could easily eat there for about $15 a head, feasting from a menu of 30 dishes with nothing priced over $12.

The restaurant itself is unassuming: one of several businesses housed in a long red brick building. Entry is via a white flyscreen door, depositing you into a room that is minimal in

Restaurant Review #251, Leila's, Oak Park

Grilled lamb loin with Israeli couscous and apricot sauce

If you think all the delicious gourmet restaurants are in LA County, Leila's in Oak Park, a small pocket of Ventura County near Agoura Hills, will prove you wrong. There's also plenty of free parking, and the surrounding area makes for a beautiful drive during the day.



Soup of the day: Corn chowder, $8


The restaurant is pricey for

Darley Street Bistro at the Botany View Hotel, Newtown

The southern end of King Street has always been my preferred stretch in Newtown. Here you'll still find a chaotic jumble of shopfronts, dusty window displays and traces of its original bohemia. And yet capable of a surprise or two.

On the corner of Darley Street you'll find the Botany View Hotel, a local watering hole for blokes with TAB screens for punting and flatscreens for the latest in

Buffalo Dining Club, Darlinghurst

There was only one thing we wanted. Pasta. In a giant parmesan wheel. Could a humble plate of spaghetti arrive with any more spectacle?

It's the promise of this glorious vision that brings us to Buffalo Dining Club, a tiny slip of a place just off the hubbub of Victoria Street, Darlinghurst. No bookings means an early arrival is crucial - at 6pm on a Friday the place is empty but by 6.40pm

Restaurant Review #250: Howie's Grill & Bar, Simi Valley

Grilled Portobello Mushroom - $10.95

Howie's opened in January 2011 on the corner of Cochran and Madera, a location that's very convenient to the freeway if you happen to be at the far west end of Simi Valley just before you get to Moorpark. Howie's occupies a former Applebees, and the dining room hasn't changed much. The cuisine is also somewhat similar--what I'd call suburban American--but

Taipei Chef, Artarmon

 

If crisp skin, succulent flesh and the lingering trail of smokiness in every mouthful is your idea of bliss, then Taiwanese-style smoked chicken ($10) is the flavour bomb your tastebuds have been waiting for. The chicken is cooked twice - first steamed and then smoked over a mixture of tea leaves and sugar until the skin takes on a golden glaze and becomes deliciously brittle. Trust us: this

Freda's, Chippendale

If Sydneysiders are ready to embrace new neighbourhoods, then Chippendale is ripe for a giant bear hug. The object of affection? Freda's Bar & Canteen, set up in a formerly abandoned warehouse in the inner city.

Sure we're all used to hidden bars and secret entrances, but you know things are serious when even the bar's blog has a photo essay published with directions on how to find it.

Restaurant Review #249: Ladyface Alehouse and Brasserie

Patio dining, complete with heaters and umbrellas

It's rare for a restaurant in LA to focus on beer. Or at least, it used to be before beer got trendy. But as luck would have it, I was driving, so I didn't get to sample any ales at Ladyface Alehouse and Brasserie, a Conejo Valley microbrewery whose beers are served around town at places like Father's Office, Boneyard Bistro and Library

Habib's Charcoal Chicken, Bankstown

There's a tantalising smell of charcoal as you approach Habib's Chicken in Bankstown. It's the heady scent of meat slowly caramelising, the hiss of chicken fat hitting the coals, and then the loud whoosh of a hairdryer used to fan the glowing embers.

A hairdryer? In a chicken shop? It takes pride of place by the barbecue at Habib's, mounted on its own little stand before being removed, flicked

Ms. G's, Potts Point - Milk Bar Memories

The potato scallop. You couldn't find a better snack for 15 cents when I was a kid. The golden batter would be bubbled and crunchy, surrounding a thick slice of cooked potato. Out it would come, straight from the deep fryer, threatening to burn your fingers and your tongue as the oil from the batter rapidly seeped into the paper bag.

There was the always half-empty bain marie, lined up with