Macleay St. Bistro – a Sydney Dining Icon Sydney’s Best French Restaurant Macleay St. Bistro is one of my top 10 restaurants in Sydney for all time. I have been here five times (I do believe) and every time I leave all warm and fuzzy from the experience, but four of those were of no doubt due to Tony Hollingsworth (socials manager) plying me with alcohol haha. But this time, for the first time in 40yrs, they are in a different venue, which is literally next door from their old venue. The Sydney French icon has moved down the hill by one door. And they hired a new PR agency to set-up and to e ..read more

Bar Elvina – an Avalon Delight Upstairs restaurant is a hit While I was staying in Newport a few weeks ago I ran into an old friend, Rowie Dillon from Rowie’s Cakes and Rowie by the Sea fame, and she said we should head out to dinner while I was in town. Funnily enough she was walking next to another friend of both of ours, Ali, so we decided to all do dinner together, with my school mate and Ali’s hubby, Kai. Rowie picked the venue and so we headed off to Bar Elvina in Avalon. The Venue Bar Elvina has a climb up a flight of stairs to reach, but it is worth it and almost a hidden ..read more

Beaches – Life’s Peachy at the Beachie What a wonderful place!! My wonderful friend Brookie is a EA, Executive Assistant, and her level of organisational prowess borders on ADHD levels. Her sister, Selina, suggested a place they could go with the entire extended family for Christmas 2024. Said place was the Beachcomber Hotel and Resort in Toukley. So Brookie suggested she come and stay from Sydney and we drive to Toukley for lunch for reconnaissance haha – I was 100% in! We drove the 50min and parked, saw the resort from the road, and then we walked through the doors to a Toukley paradise, i ..read more

Queen Ester – The Best Falafels in Australia Israeli Street Food Has Never Been Better I first heard of Queen Ester from one of the besties, Brookie, her longest friend and a great friend of mine (Sammy’s) hubby worked there. Sammy was telling us to visit and see Arthur cooking up the greatness. I thought, that’s great, I will go and visit because it was Sammy’s hubby. It was located in a little hole-in-the-wall, and Sammy said to get there early, so we planned a 1030am lunch/brunch at Queen Ester’s in Newport. Who’d think it would become my obsession, I have since been to feast four times ..read more

Brae | A Regional Victorian Example in Flawlessness Second time visit to a venue I never thought I would have the opportunity to return to In 2019 I heard of this restaurant in a magazine article and having more money than sense at the time I booked Brae with Claire. Two weeks after I booked the 2019 Good Food Guide’s Best Restaurants of Australia list was published and Brae won the coveted Best Restaurant in Australia. It was then booked solid for months in advance until the plague shut it down for a long time. They have held THREE CHEF HATS ever since and I have followed them and the amazi ..read more

NOUR – Culinary Perfection on Every Level Lebanese Dreams are Made in this Place I first visited NOUR not long after it opened and it just blew my mind, such wonderfully nuanced and perfectly flavoured Middle Eastern food, the best I had devoured prior was late night drunken kebabs and this was presenting Lebanese food in a fine dining setting. Mind blown. I was hooked! And nowadays I have two clients, one is a kebab shop and one is a fine dining Turkish restaurant in Brisbane, and the fine dining Middle Eastern venues are now almost common. But not only was NOUR my first, they are still up ..read more

Amalfi | One of the Central Coasts Best Views Beachside Greatness Amalfi is about 10mins from my house and located at my favourite beach on the Central Coast, Pearl Beach, a little millionaire’s stretch of a beach that is mostly sheltered from the ocean, just around the corner to the right in the photo above. To the left of the photo is my house, in Umina, and about a third in is Ettalong Beach, where you can catch a ferry from Palm Beach to visit us Coasties. Amalfi is located on the literal beach, in the place of the older Pearls on the Beach, a famed fine-dining venue. I still can’t get o ..read more

Spooning Australia’s Top 10 Restaurants, Cafes and Venues of 2023 10 of Australia’s Best Wow – 2023 is gone and 2024 is already steaming ahead!! It has been a wonderful year for dining, but it has been from a lot less invites and therefor a good collection of food I wanted to pay for, there was only 2x comped meals in the entire list. It should be noted, I do not include venues I do social media for, photography is AOK. We have a good mix, 1x VIC, 2x QLD, quite a few regionals and a good mix across the board. So what does it take to reach this list. Bloody damn fine food will definitely help ..read more

Avoca Beach House | When the View is Everything Beach Restaurant Greatness Mike, the stepdad, had some spare Christmas cash and offered to take Mum and I to lunch on Boxing Day if I found and booked a place on Christmas Day, determined to make it work I asked the fine folks of the Central Coast Food Lovers Group on Facebook where we should go, the local community is so active on this page, I just love it!! Avoca Beach House was suggested multiple times and after trying to get a booking by following an incorrect link the restaurant commented on the post and they had tested it and I discovered ..read more

Lady Chu | The Most Authentic Vietnamese in Sydney Kings Cross food at its Best Forty five years ago Nahji Chu and her family escaped the Pathet Laos Regime in 1975, and then after three years in various refugee camps she settled in Australia, jump forward to 2007 and she opened a wonderful Vietnamese street food chain of stores named misschu, of which I discovered and fell in love at their Manly location – being a local I was obsessed, I could walk here and not a week went by without the greatness of her dishes. Sadly during Covid the business ran into dire trouble, like so many other busin ..read more