I was fortunate in the past few days to spend some time with some of the best and most innovative restaurant owners and chefs in Australia. It was a great opportunity to find out what is happening on the broader food scene - and it is not often you get spend time with people of this calibre. In particular I was thrilled to meet and talk with people such as Sydney chef and restaurant owner Matt Kemp about his beautiful two-hat restaurant Restaurant Balzac in Randwick.
I've been a fan for quite a while now and I love Matt's approach - his restaurant philosophy is simple – sensational food at affordable prices packaged in a suburban location. His food and restaurant has attracted some of the best reviews I've read. Brian and I am looking forward to celebrating my approaching birthday with a visit to Restaurant Balzac for Matt's wonderful degustation menu and matching wines!
It is always exciting to spend time with people so very passionate about food and service and I came back very inspired by his committment to always giving his customers the best food and dining experience that he can. And although our food is more modest, that's what we work hard to do here as well.
It's not often that you get to be in the room with a two hat chef (actually there were several very highly acclaimed chefs in the room) and I found a whole new level of inspiration which I am applying to our new menu.
One of the biggst trends in dining now is share plates and tapas style food and although we have had share plates for a while now, our new menu will see a special share plates and modern tapas style section to offer you an even great choice of great food.
Also exciting for us is a recent review from the website http://www.urcaferulz.com/. Thanks guys - it was very nice to get such great feedback!
Taste was recently awarded the 2009 True Local Business Awards Café of year. So the question is, did they deserve to win? We decided to put them to the test on the day after boxing day and went boldly to have breakfast. First impressions of the ambiance etc were good. The shop is airy and well laid out and the whole gourmet grocer feel reminded of the Red Hill district in Brisbane. The feeling is one of a café/grocer the buzzes with exciting and unique food ideas. A big sign, hanging at the door invited us to take a seat, because they have table service, yay!! Bonus points there. We were greeted quickly by a waitress who was genuinely happy to be there and wanted to serve us. She took our order and even thanked us for it. The coffee arrived in timely fashion. The Amanti bean is not a very commonly used bean around here and I had come to think of it as second grade, however Taste managed to espress the flavour from the bean very well. While the flavour wasn’t bold, it was woody and different and satisfying. The food was delivered by a different waitress who was even more sincere and thanked us again, during the meal she returned to check that everything was good and after the dishes were cleared she came back to check if we wanted to order any thing else. Hallelujiah, real service at last, I hear the trumpets sounding!!! While we are discussing the food, the quality was great, the portions were just right and it was presented nicely, nothing flash, just nice and tidy. So it would appear that Taste Gourmet Grocer and Café deserves the award of Café of the Year 2009. In fact I would even vote for them myself. Congratulations Taste.You do it the way it should be done. 8.9 out of 10.
A reminder, our new menu will be happening in the next week or two - stay tuned for the launch!
Oh, and if you are inspired to visit Restaurant Balzac, check out their website complete with menus! www.restaurantbalzac.com.au
I've been a fan for quite a while now and I love Matt's approach - his restaurant philosophy is simple – sensational food at affordable prices packaged in a suburban location. His food and restaurant has attracted some of the best reviews I've read. Brian and I am looking forward to celebrating my approaching birthday with a visit to Restaurant Balzac for Matt's wonderful degustation menu and matching wines!
It is always exciting to spend time with people so very passionate about food and service and I came back very inspired by his committment to always giving his customers the best food and dining experience that he can. And although our food is more modest, that's what we work hard to do here as well.
It's not often that you get to be in the room with a two hat chef (actually there were several very highly acclaimed chefs in the room) and I found a whole new level of inspiration which I am applying to our new menu.
One of the biggst trends in dining now is share plates and tapas style food and although we have had share plates for a while now, our new menu will see a special share plates and modern tapas style section to offer you an even great choice of great food.
Also exciting for us is a recent review from the website http://www.urcaferulz.com/. Thanks guys - it was very nice to get such great feedback!
Taste was recently awarded the 2009 True Local Business Awards Café of year. So the question is, did they deserve to win? We decided to put them to the test on the day after boxing day and went boldly to have breakfast. First impressions of the ambiance etc were good. The shop is airy and well laid out and the whole gourmet grocer feel reminded of the Red Hill district in Brisbane. The feeling is one of a café/grocer the buzzes with exciting and unique food ideas. A big sign, hanging at the door invited us to take a seat, because they have table service, yay!! Bonus points there. We were greeted quickly by a waitress who was genuinely happy to be there and wanted to serve us. She took our order and even thanked us for it. The coffee arrived in timely fashion. The Amanti bean is not a very commonly used bean around here and I had come to think of it as second grade, however Taste managed to espress the flavour from the bean very well. While the flavour wasn’t bold, it was woody and different and satisfying. The food was delivered by a different waitress who was even more sincere and thanked us again, during the meal she returned to check that everything was good and after the dishes were cleared she came back to check if we wanted to order any thing else. Hallelujiah, real service at last, I hear the trumpets sounding!!! While we are discussing the food, the quality was great, the portions were just right and it was presented nicely, nothing flash, just nice and tidy. So it would appear that Taste Gourmet Grocer and Café deserves the award of Café of the Year 2009. In fact I would even vote for them myself. Congratulations Taste.You do it the way it should be done. 8.9 out of 10.
A reminder, our new menu will be happening in the next week or two - stay tuned for the launch!
Oh, and if you are inspired to visit Restaurant Balzac, check out their website complete with menus! www.restaurantbalzac.com.au
Hi, I've updated you on the Australian Food Blogs webpage
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