THE VERY BEST AUSTRALIAN CUISINE, HOTELS AND HOSPITALITY COMMENTARY BY KEVIN BECK I have eaten at thousands of restaurants and stayed in hundreds of hotels, motels, caravan parks and bed and breakfasts, from budget price to luxury. The opinions expressed in this web site are personal, and are based on experience and knowledge. The writer receives no payments, or gratuities, and has no relationship with the establishments other than a personal membership of Qantas, Starwood and the Hyatt. Any enterprise, or other entity, commented on has the right of reply, the content of which will be posted, in whole, without prejudice or change, provided that it does not, in the opinion of the owner of the web site, Kevin R Beck, breach ethical, common sense and/or legislative, standards or plageurise other's owned material without suitable acknowledgement or attribution. |
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Many people, across the world of the web, visit the Tourism portal on the Mosaic Portal network of web sites developed, and maintained by Kevin R Beck. |
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EXPERIENCE THE HOSPITALITY, THE FOOD, THE WINE AND THE PEOPLE OF AUSTRALIA When I am travelling back into Australia and have to land in Sydney, and connect, I allow at least five hours between landing and getting the flight. Customs is efficient but the airport and its carriers are not. I would preferably allow even a day, because it is an appling airport both in facilities, charges and services. If there are four of you, getting taxi into the city is probably more efficient and less costly and onerous than getting the train. By yourself with small luggae get the train to the city. Congestion and delays are the norm at Sydney and the airport owners (an Australian bank owned investment corporation) do not seem to have very good relationships with the airlines. They have a monpoloy and exercise it ruthlessly even though watched by Australia's competition regulator. The charges for parking are the dearest in the country at an airport - $A15.00 per hour. I often drive rather than fly from Melbourne to Sydney and also to Canberra. The national capital has a small and omewhat embarrassing airport as the gateway. Often it is better to land in Brisbane and connect domestically. Qantas, Australia's premier carrier and the Spirit of Australia cannot seem to run to a timeable. The budget arm of Qantas, Jetsar is eactly that Jet Star. As a Qantas member I avoid using it where possible but Qantas management seem oblivious to the attitude and dislike tat many have for the airline and only fly Jetstar in and ot Qantas, for example to the Sunshine Coast. Qantas also offer code share and you have to look carefully at the code (QF or JS) flight number if booking on the web. My partner likes Virgin better and flies that airline as well as Qantas and Jetstar with me. Tiger? No never, budget is exactly what it is and the risks are high and the penalties and baggage imposts ($A12 or %15 per kilo over) are frightening if you make a mistake. They can be well above the cost of the original ticket. There is a programme on Australian television called "Airport", watch that. I marvel at how novel the staff are and the age of the supervisors and their reliance on self, and the power of their badge. They seem oblivious when on television how they come across as a poor advertisement for their employer. Thye always seem to be ringing the federal police to come. One supoervisor canclled a person's ticket becaise he shouted at her. She felt that she could not risk him going on the plane with some lame justification. Undereducated and inexperienced, in life and work, kids playing manager to my mind. Even if its not your fault you will still be penalised if you are late checking in. According to stories, and the television show, whihc is reality TV at T4 terminal in Melbourne, Tiger may cancel flights and you can come back, hours, a day or more later, for a connection. There is a lot of tension, yelling, swearing and crying on this show. When you do come from overseas fill out your customs declaration carefully and accurately. If not sure write what you have in and say you are not sure. They will not fine you for not knowing, or understanding, unless you have something really naughty. Honesty is always best and will get you through quicker. We have fines if your do not declare and food and agriculture undeclared is a no, no. Sniffer dogs, drug tests on bags and clothes, X rays and cameras watching you sweat, the moisture on the brow, are among our arsenal of toys to keep you nice. Customs and quarantine ofers ar very polite, and resaonable, but they are highly trained and cannot be scammed. |
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" Australia does not do hotels very well". This was a comment by a person staying at the Deep Blue Sebel at Warrnambool, December 2009. If there is a negative in the Australian hospitality scene, it is the lack of a service culture generally in the population. Providers of hospitality services struggle to get staff. The work ethic is not all that flash in the "she'll be right" country. The hospitality industry is viewed as the domain of the university student, supplementing their incomes with casual work. Or the backpackers who come in from overseas and work casually to pay for their holiday. The Australian Training, and Further Education, system run by state and territory governments, has worked tirelessly to alter this under the yoke of a lumbering bureaurcracy and an industry disjointed and fractured, spoeaking with multiple voices through multiple industry associations. There is no one voice driving the industry to excellence. They are riven with political, and self interest, agendas. The overall policies and actions of continuous Australian governments' and their mediocre approach to education and comptency has assisted the dumbing down of the hospitality career as a professional option. The Australia media assists with its focus on celebrity, the chef or the proposition that anyone can become a master chef. The wages and salaries in Australia for hospitality do not help to lay a foundation for a professional career. A Duty Manager in a four star hotel may earn just under $A50,000 a year for long hours. The people who service the rooms in hotels, and motels, are usually mature aged and/or people who have come here to live from developing, or war ravaged, countries. There are however, fine dining establishments, and hotels, bed and breakfasts and small to,large establishments, that embed a service culture. Very often their staff are from European backgrounds where food and hospitality is considered a worth career and they show it with pride. Interestingly small communities, described below can reflect this overall excellenece and mentality. Why is it that some mall towns can do it so well and others simply suck at it? Talking of dumbing down, one might consider that the Australian population has been dumbed down and brain washed as to their perceived riches. Australians meekly acept prices for main meals in the $A30.00 - $A40.00 with no standards as to quality and consistency. They accept the marking up of wines and beverages by 50% - 300%. Perhaps they feel that paying high prices is an indication of their wealth and status. The Australian consumer generally is being ripped and they are, from my perspective, meekly accepting it. Pubs are now charging the same prices as fine dining restaurants. Cafes are moving to do the same. |
| I have no association with these places other than I think they represent the best quality and value. |
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| Rivalry, for the most hospitable city, in Australia, is strong around the nation and Sydney tends to believe that it is the capital of the nation in all respects. However, undoubtedly, Melbourne, Victoria is the cuisine, and hospitality, capital of Australia, with thousands of restaurants, and cafes, emulating a European style of life but benefitting also from other cultures. From cutting edge fine dining cuisine to traditional and to budget, every nation is represented here in this Australian city. Melbourne does pubs so well. There is a plethora of great pubs in South Melbourne and surrounds. The Montague in Albert Park, symbolises the sheer quality of Australian cheffery, of there is such a thing. Oconnell's, nearby, the pubs of South Melbourne include, amongst others, the Clarendon, the Rising Sun and the Water Rat, the Cricket Club, the York near the South Melbourne market. Lamaros in Cecil Street. This suburb, and those nearby, are full of wonderful examples of culinary arts and social environments. The Sloany Pony in Port Melbourne, The London near the ferry terminal. The Pier Hotel and the Albion, are in the suburbs around Port Melbourne. Up the beach you will find St Kilda. The Pelican, Destasio's fine dining Italian, Karen Martini's Melbourne Wine Room, the Murka by Grossi, can be all found along Fitroy Street, add to the fine dining establishments of Melbourne. Grossi also has the Cellar Bar and next door, Florentinos, in Bourke Street Melbourne. Ginger Boy, a far eastern dining experience, The nearby China Town, in Little Bourke Street, through to Spring Street, where one can find the European and the Wine Room opposite Parliament House. Go to the arts precinct near Flinders Sreet station, Federation Sqaure and the Taxi Restaurant abd Bar, Young and Jackson, along the Yarra River, into Southbank where there are dozens, and dozens, of restaurants including the exceptional Walter's Wine Bar, next to the Arts Centre inside Southbank shopping precinct. Then keep going down to the Crown Casino for many many more eating establishmnets to suit all budgets and tastes. Melbourne has it all. However this is definitely a bit biased. On January 31, 2010 I decided to give Sydney another shot at the title. I booked into the Sheraton By Four Points at darling harbour. The room rate was excellent for a harbour view room at $A190.00 including breakfast. The bar and restaurant and the attached pub are very very good. As a Starwood member i always perfer the Sheraton and Westin, worldwide. On Sunday evening I dined at the Chinta Ria, on the top section of the Cockle Bay Wharf behind the Sheraton. It is an easy wlak along the ramps over the freeway. I have always preferred this side of Darling Harbour for dining. At the Chinta Ria one might think they were actually in Thailand. Good food and atmosphere. On Monday I went to the Coast, right next door on the Roof Terrace. This restaurant was one of the first on the Cockle Bay side and has always presented a fine dining atmosphere. I think it is the best of the Darling Harbour dining offerings. "By day; sundrenched terrace dining. By night; dramatic fireworks display and cool jazz sounds." While it was more international it has now returned to its roots - Italian. Here I met Iain Parkinson, the humming waiter (though he is really the licensee) and bantered about life. The food and wine were excellent. The price, unlike some places in Sydney was very good value. It is always a better experience when the people in the restaurants interact with the patrons. Here is the Coast Chef's market menu Grudgingly I conceded, the Coast can give Melboure a run. |
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VICTORIA The competition in Melbourne is fierce. Victorians have a real dining out culture and enjoy a range of cuisines, brought from across the world. Innovative, refined and exceptionally good cuisine delivered by world class chefs. I can not list all of the good, very good and exceptional restaurants, So I can tell you of the locations. In Melbourne there is Richmond, Toorak and South Yarra, Fitzroy and Collingwood, Elwood and along the Beach road, either way, St Kilda, Albert Park, Brunswick, North Melbourne - around Errol Street, China Town in the city, Flinders Lane, the alley ways off Flinders Street between Elizabeth and William Streets, The alley between the Post Office and Myer, where cafe De Vin can be found and four others, the restaurants at The Arts Centre, at and federation Square, at Southbank and the Casino, along the yarra River. The pubs in Clarendon (Cricket Club, Clarendon) and York Streets (The York), the little italian cafe next to the Clarendon and the Rising Sun in Raglan Street South Melbourne. Pubs, restaurants and bars. Live music. I do not think that Lygon Street, Docklands and the restaurants where the ferry leaves for Tasmania, offer value for money or striking cuisine. |
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I have stayed at the Sheraton in Geelong (January 2010) and highly recommend it for price, value, service and hospitality. Across the road from the hotel on the wharf is the La Parisienne Restaurant. Its prices are in the high range but the food, wine and service are excellent. There are many choices along this wharf and bay. Nearby wlaking distancefrom the hotel (5 minutes) are the National Wool Museum and Ford Discovery Centre. They are interesting and educational. Geelong has much to offer if you are looking for a holiday outside of Melbourne, short or medium stay. It is just over one hour drive to Geelong from Melbourne. Add a half hour if it is peak hour on a weekday eveining (4 - 7pm). |
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Along the Victoria coastal highway just past Geelong, to Torquay and Anglesea, who will find the (Great Ocean Road) Here can be found some of the most stunning scenery in the hinterland as well as the sea. The coastline, the beaches and the environment nearby, are all stunningly beautiful. Like hiking around then this is the place for you. Lie surfing, exploring and wondering about the majesty of nature, then this is it. Overseas tourists may well look on the net, and see this Great Ocean Road, as an enticing destination, particularly in summer. This is not a sophisticated destination promising the best of Victorian cuisine. The surf calls the dedicated. The destinations along the Great Ocean Highway would seem to try and make their major annual income in two tranches - summer late December through January and Easter. To do this they "rip the tourist". Prices asre much higher for goods and services bordering on mediocre value for money. They want to charge Melbourne cuisine prices for far lesser delivery and quality. I stopped in Torquay for breakfast (January 2010) at the Rocks. Ordered my large latte and got a small one. Ordered the benedict eggs, which came on a homemade has brown. No hasbrowns and no hollandaise. A banana smoothie, sorry out of bananas. A mushroom omellete, sorry out of mushrooms. An earl grey tea, sorry out of that but they had a "erbal" earl grey. What is an "erbal" earl grey? It is actually earl grey tea infused with lavender. Time goes by, they forgot the coffe and then the earl grey. Fluctuating service is the hallmark of the Great Ocean Road establishments. Lorne , an hour or so past Geelong, down from Torquay, is the first major town on the Great Ocean Road. It is a spectacular location between the hills and the sea. A popular destination in summer, reasonably close to Melbourne, and has all styles of accommodation. Its hospitality is mature and diverse, though lower graade than Melbourne. The Mantra at Erskine Beach is a mix of old heritage and new. This resort wanted full payment in advance. Do not be drawn by the pretty pictures, and the implied promises,of the resport's web site. I am not sure that it has ocean views from any of the apartments. Reality is often different to the glossy pictures and claims of the web site. What the Mantra calls a "suite" is far from that, alternativel they refer to a Resort Room, it is a basic small bedroom and bathroom with a balcony. The larger apartments are probably more relaxing. The room cleaning service, advised after you arrive, starts the fourth day in from when you book in. This apartment hotel wants a basic minimum of $A225.00 a night for the small room. This is not great value given competitive pricing for hotels in Australia, in 2009. The Sheraton in Gellong, with exceptional views, good cuisine and tp service and facilities asked $A175.00 for a better appointed suite. The mantra at Lorne is an apartment hotel run by an operator on behalf of individual owners of those apartments. They have basic furniture and budget fittings. They offer cable television with two free (Foxtel showcase chaennels) which makes the entertainment far cheaper than the Sheraton at geelong and the Sebel Deep Blue at warrnambool, which charge $A15.95 for the movies. The Mantra formerly managed the Deep Blue at Warrnambool. The Mantra at Lorne, is not, in my opinion, a five star hotel. If you are seeking sophisticated ambience, and high quality/value for the dollar asked then I do not think the Mantra Erskine at Lorne delivers that. You might like to try a stylish bed abd breakfast. If however you are a young couple seeking a romantic location with typical summer events and environments, sun, surf and sand, a lap pool, gymnasium and sauna, close to the beach, then it is quite worthwhile. If one stays here it is likely, in the hig season and on weekends, as I experienced, that you will be boarding with people whose regard for your comfort and amenity and sleep quality is low to no existent. During New Year this town attracts the not so attractive of Australian society and community. There are larger apartments here and they offer better views and faciities. The Mantra at Erskine Beach, to my mind, is a 2-3 star facility, no more. It has a spa centre, an indoor pool and recreation facilities such as tennis around the resort. It has a pub restaurant. At 3am some fool was climbing over my balcony to get to his room. he then engaged on searling, blasphemy and verbal violence with other residents. This is the crowd these Ocean Road destinations draw in summer. The Mantra unlike the Sebel Deep Blue at Warrnambool (see below) has furniture on an enclosed balcony and a lounge chair in its resport room. If I come again I will choose another smaller residence provider at both Lorne and Warrnambool. For the money being charged I can get better value, and higher quality, in many other destinations in Victoria. The, shopping, entertainment and cuisine in Lorne is not indicative of the best that Victoria has to offer. At Lorne there is one supermarket and, to my mind, it aims to maximise its profit during the high season. All of these coastal towns seek to earn their majority revenue in the summer months and can be very pricey for what is on offer. They are not close wtachers of their clientelle and thus go for the masses. Their dollar take is minimised, through a lack of knowledge of their audience and targetting. One can buy the accommodation in a block quite early and prepay. In my expereinec, that gives you no better location or amenities than nyother. The scenery, along the Great Ocean Road, is spectacular and the great Southern Ocean is a brooding giant, waiting to swallow anyone who ventures out, as evidenced by more than 200 ship wrecks. Appollo Bay, is another destination of the surfing addict, and families, the budget conscious seeking the value holiday. This town, like many others, specialises in rental accommodation with no significant hotels or resorts of note. A family, or group, can rent a three or four bedroom apartment or house for around $A2,000 - $A3,000+ per week in high season. Motels ar pricey at $A200.00 - $A250.00+ per day. The restaurants are passable and the town struggles with a growing population, utilities - water, communications and media) overpriced (limited season) accommodation. Like Lorne, it seems to me that Appollo Bay tries to make its annual revenue in a few short months, annoying the locals with increased prices in the two small supermarkets. Travel further down and it gets no better really. Try the B&B's for I think they offer better value and ambience. Warrnambool, has one glossy (acccording to its web site) hotel, the Deep Blue, by the sea, a Mirvac Hotel, operated by the Sebel. Poorly signed, it was difficult to locate from the highway, this is an 80 room hotel with a four star+ rating. I studied it on the web and was to lead to book. My confirmation staated 27 December to 2 january. The hotels reservation system stated 27th to 30th. maybe that affected the allocation of my room. This error of system was smotthly rectified by the front desk supervisor Duty Manager, Paul. Paul, Chloe and Sarah are among the people who make this hotel worthwhile to be in. But I think it is really a 3 star facility. This hotel has a spa treatment centre (not the best I have experienced in a hotel in Australia or internationally, and not all that well priced, a heated, if uninspiring mineral pool can be fiund in the spa centre (charging an exorbitant $A23.00 per hour), there is a compliemntary heated pool in the hotel as well, alos uninspiring in ambience. The brochure for the Spa Centre has an enticing vegetation surrounding the occupant of the pool. The hotel has its own separate pool also uninspiring in decor and ambience. There is an excellent (but quite small) and good value restaurant. It is strangely positioned off and within the foyer. There is a modern casual dining section, and an adjacent tapas/lounge bar (very good value also) which is bright, and comfortable, if not a little clinical. I do not particularly like bars being situated in the foyer area of a hotel where one is to read, eat and drink. The room I was in was not equipped for comfortable reading either in room or on the balcony. Though I had an ocean view from the balcony I would have had to use the desk chair. There may have been chairs originally, but the furniture probably blew away, or someone chucked it over the edge I do not know. I seems that the management does not have this issue as a priority or perhaps have not yet invented a system to keep it anchored. The hotel operator is mean with newspapers in the lounge bar, and the ambience is disrupted by the masses moving in, and out, and sometimes by noisy kids, adults who have money but too often lack sophistication, the atmosphere rent by disagreements, and problems, at the front desk. One might want to experience the passing parade. I do not. The location of the restaurant is directed by the kitchen which serves a conference/function centre of two rooms. Thus the management's focus may well be on the weding, bithday and corporet market. A coffee at the bar (take away)is $5.00. The wine selection is limited and the management gouges, I think on pricing, asking quite high prices for what I view as medium/low value wines. Australians will take being ripped off unlike Europeans and Americans. The room rate for a small room, in high season December 2009, was $A249.00. I do not recommend a long stay at the Sebel. The hotel when I stayed (December 2009) suffered slightly from insufficient staff. This is pretty common in the Australian hospitality industry and the availability of people willing to work. Someone, living in the community, told me that there was a lack of work ethic amongst the Warrnambool population. It is hard work and long hours, particularly in housekeeping. The rates of pay in hospitality are not that flash and observation is that the housekeeping personnel in hotels are usually women of middle age from various ethnic backgrounds. The area around this hotel is full of more apartments, and lower cost caravan, and park, style accommodation. However it is near the ocean and if one likes walks on the wild coast of Soutern Australia it is a perfect location. For the family, there is an itinerant carnival operation (similar to the one at Appollo Bay) in summer just down the road from the Sebel Deep Blue Hotel. The Deep Blue is isolated and one has to drive to get to the town, or walk, for some considerable distance. This may make it a challenge for the elderly. There is one restaurant in Warrnambool, that you should visit. It is extraordinary for its range and diveristy, FishTails, in Liebig Street where the cafes can be found. It has a menu of hundreds of choices, at very good value. It is the best value in town. Next door is Bojangles whihc is also good value for money. There is a restaurant at the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, called Pippies. It advertises itself as a dining experience. Unfortunatley the hype does not meet the expectation. The view is aross the village to the ocean. The service was poor when i went as part of a Flagstaff night experience package. Then again what can one expect for two courses at $A26.00 with the choice of adding a third for $A9.00. The management of the restaurant may not have thought of applying the $A26.00 as a subsidy to offering the full menu? There is a segregation between the hospitality/tourist area and the main town of Warrnambool. This is not conducive to developing an integrated community welcome for tourists. Warrnambool has the historical story, and the ever changing majesty of the ocean, but lacks the other ingredients that make it a great tourist destination, to my mind, wasting the potential. Warrnambool is a large service town, the largest on the Great Ocean Road and such service towns, found in many locations in Australia, often detract from a focus on tourism and hospitality. The residents of some of these towns may not be all that inviting to tourists. Other such examples, in Victoria, are Swan Hill, and Echuca, on the Murray River in the north west of Victoria and fishing ports on the far south coast of New South Wales. I have spent and extensive amount of time in Echuca, and Swan Hill, including operating, and managing, hospitality venues. The locals are disengaged and when the tourists season is gone and the tourists are away they do not support their local industry condemning the operators to eek out a living and concentrate on the peak seasons and long weekends. There are factors that make regions, and towns, great destinations. Daylesford, Castlemaine and places in between are fabulous and bring all of the factors together. The Park Hyatt Hotel in melbourne does it as a single venue. These factors include key human drivers, coupled with entrepreneurial quality and a feeling for what the client seeks and will pay for. Inexplicably most restaurants, including the serve yourself order at the bar, want to charge the same prices as full service, up market, restaurants. They want to rip the customer for a standard drink. Who decided that a main meal, in most restaurants, in Australia, should be priced in the $A30.00 to $A40.00 range as a standard? Then some want to add a side at $A7.00 - $A10.00? They also mark up the price of wine lavishly. In Victoria, Appollo Bay, Lorne and Warrnamboll, Swan Hill, Echuca, Phillip Island and Wangarratta, among others, may have their enterpreneurial champions but they may be stifled, by who knows what, the local Council and/or the community at large? |
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Quite a number of Victorian regional towns work their hospitality. Echuca, and Swan Hill, on the Murray, I think can be avoided if you are after a culinary, and hositality, experience. They were once showing promise, and were favoured destinations, but I think they have suffered from an uncaring, and some might say, short sighted local community and council. The places along the Murray River in Victoria should be world class destinations but they are not. The Grand Hotel, at Mildura, is very good. Daylesford, in central Victoria, is eclectic and diverse. It offers the budget and the expensive. daylesford is a spa region. The Lake House is a well known quality venue of accommodation and food. It is very pricey. I stay at the nearby Dayleford Apartments on the Lake at about half the cost.The Convent is worth a visit. Down the road is Castlemaine and the exceptional historic Empyre Hotel. The Yarra Valley is near Melbourne. In Healesville there is the pub, cafe and butchery, all in one complex, it is fabulous. Throughout the Yarra Valley are many, many wineries, though the winery restaurants can be over rated. Debortolis I think is restrictive, and losing, its image and gloss. Yering Station, is like the Lake House, bordering on extravagance. Mt Rael, is between Yarra Glen and Healesville, and is a wonderful B&B and restaurant. It was was owned in 2008 by two boys who developed the Zartoa Restaurant in Elwood, but I think they have departed for New York. The Blue Tongue (bar and restaurant) in Elwood is a great pub with good food. Further into the mountains past the Yarra Valley you will find Stonelea. A wonderful, and peaceful, B&B and fine dining restauarnt. It has very good facilities. Some people like Sorrento (Mornington Peninsula) as a destination but I find its food patchy and I like the pub best of all. The Mornington Peninsual can do wit some creativity and fine dining. Queenscliffe, past Geelong, was once a destination of choice when Metta owned the Melbourne hospitality scene. Her sister ran the Queenscliffe Hotel. Unfortunately Mietta was killed in a car crash in Tasmania and with her went the heart of Queenscliffe for me. A german gentleman took over the hotel and set about instigating the rules for the guests. Up along the Hume Highway towards Albury is a desolate place until you get to Rutherglen, and Beechworth, and nearby is Bright, they are off the beaten highway. They are worth visiting but are not of the quality of central Victoria. However there is a group of places that are simply lovely and worth visiting, they are Woodend, Kyneton and Malmesbury. In Woodend you will find Campaspe House. I booked thinking I would have a bed in the historic house. Not so. It houses the restauarant, games room, lounges and kichen. The accommodation is a series of quite small rooms around a pool behind the main house. They are not historic. The television is placed high up above the wardrobe and one has to lie down to avoid the possibility of having to wear a neck brace later in life. The television also has basic channels, no satellite television here. Given the accommodation I do not think it is value at $199 + for bed and breakfast. It has water heating in the rooms which I think is the best. Maybe rather than stay again I will just visit to try the restaurant. But that is a personal choice. Over riding my view of the accommodation, is the friendly wlecome and service and the very comfortable lounges and it is peaceful, and sublime, with gardens designed by Edna Walling. It is the gardens, and the restaurant, that are the show piece and the draw card. I could not try the restaurant for dinner because it was booked out. A good sign. There was a very excellent breakfast well above the standard hotel buffet that is so painful and sub standard in many many hotels across the nation and around the world. Hotels that offer buffet breakfasts at $28.00+ indicate to me that the chefs are lazy and the management average. At Campaspe House there was the continental buffet and a very good al a carte choice. So I went lookingf or a dinner venue. I went into Woodend and, the very enticing, Sequoya was booked out. Keatings Hotel has the look but not the ambience. On to Kyneton, to find a place to eat, and the Shamrock Hotel, I was told had good food but not the ambience and similarly the Albion Hotel. I was turned off by the small wooden tables that bespoke standard pubs. There is little romance at these and very little likelihood of surprise. No doubt they offer good value but not a place to drive to, from Melbourne. The place where all the good restaurants are, is Piper Street and the choices are exquisite. Even the pizza place rates highly for its Italian cuisine. This is a small country Victorian town that boasts more fine restaurants than many larger centres like Ballarat and Bendigo. It has farmer markets and festivals, and a Fayre at Malmesbury, and local wineries. They do Opera and other artistic enterprises at the wineries. The year is full with a calendar of interesting events. The mysterious Hanging Rock is nearby and there is Lancefield. This area, once the play grund of the Melbourne wealthy, is blessed with opportunity and a very smart group of community people. It shows. If you are not interested in a gold mining replicae town, the likes of Bendigo and Ballarat, where the food is average to poor, then ignore both of them and go to Kyneton. The Royal George Hotel, in Kyneton, built in the 1850s, is a venue of choice as is Annie Smithers Bistro. People come from all over to experience the art of these culinary wizards. Just as they do to go to the Royal Mail, in Dunkeld, which is 2.5 hours from Melbourne, some twenty kilometres from Hamilton. Tbis is a stunning rural hotel and dining experience. It is about the same drive time as going to Port Fairy. Kyneton, one hour from Mmelbourne by car The Royal George Hotel, in Piper Street, was booked out but the owner recommended the Star Anise across the street. We discovered a gem of a restaurant. The Daffodil, and Arts, festival was in full swing and I was told that there would be no available tables at the best restaurants in Kyneton. But we were in luck. There had been a cancellation at the Star Anise . And this luck would deliver a rare find. The Star Anise had been open only four months, since its creation, in September 2008. The intimate open fire, with the European atmosphere, and attentive service to the 22 guests. Here they do not try to turn covers, here they want you to experience the passion of the chef, I think her name was Jenny. The chef wants you to try many things so there are shared plates, a small number of main dishes and there and good things, I noticed for lunch. The cuisine is a blend of Asian, Italian and Middle Eastern influences. The deserts are a delight, Mr White, Mr Brown, Mr Yellow and Ms Daffodil the special treat. They are $14 dollars for four servings that bring an innovation to the cuisine of this delightful example of the best Victoria has to offer. I generally do not like fish but am determind to experiment. Why go to a restaurant to have what you can have at home like a steak, chicken or a chop? The five spiced rockling was a dish that was exquisite. I only remember one other fish dish that stunned and that was Mahi Mahi at the Sheraton in Hawaii. Local wines were good though I found the Granite Hills sparling not all that inspiring. The Zig Zag Rd. Riesling from the Macedon Ranges was very good and erasonably priced. Victorian restaurants tend not to rip off consumers as do Sydney restaurants. The Star anise is open for dinner only on Friday, and Saturday, nights. |
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Craig's
Royal Hotel,
in Ballarat, is a beautiful heritage hotel full full of lovely art works and architecture.
The ambience was spoilt by the presence of
a gaudy "slot poker machine" area next to reception on the ground floor. The Storrier Hotel in Sydney claims to be in Potts Point. However I would think that it is more Kings Cross but this is rather academic. This is a theme hotel based on the art work of Tim Storrier and is an art deco hotel. Very interesting and modern with a bohemian decor. Service is excellent and the rooms are well equipped there is an IPOD base and radio receiver of very high quality in the room I had plus a small kitchenette with cooking facilities. Bathroom tiny but functional and floor tiles were a bit slippery in shower which was slight worry. Limited room service. The dinner and breakfast options menu and service was excellent. Good television with cable and movies. At this hotel you can have an alla carte breakfast which does not require you to choose the normal continental, and hot buffet, offerings at almost every other hotel which cost an arm and leg and are a threat to body mass. This is a relief and good positioning. Unable to deliver a paper which is a tradition in most hotels I stay at. But they apologised and gave me one at reception. Recommended. There are apartments on the Lake at Daylesford in Victoria. They are superb in both location and value with the same views, and ambience, as the Lake House at half the price. Daylesford is a small village in the spa country well worth visiting. It has fine food, art galleries and spas amongst its many attractions. Eclectic restaurants from five star to humble extraordinary value, caters for vegetarians and vegan. caters for people of all dispositions and bent. Beechworth Victoria is an elegant location serving any budget and any lifestyle want. I stay at Annabelle's with host Diane Gavan. It is among one of the best bed and breakfasts in Australia. |
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Travel into the suburbs of Melbourne to Prahran, and sample the restaurants all along Chapel Street, into Toorak Road, Toorka and South Yarra. Swan Street and Bridge Road, Richmond, are the hubs of good value Asian cuisine. In West Melbourne and Fitzroy you will find the budget, eclectic and very polished eateries of Brunswick, and Smith, Streets. But you can travel into the regions to the Yarra Valley, into Mornington Peninsula and the wineries that exhibit style, max's restaurant Red Hill. Travel along the Great Ocean Road to Port Ferry. This small village by the sea epitomises the capabilities of communities to ceate fine destinations. Oscar's along the river, the Victoria Hotel in the main street, the pubs ad restaurnats here are of the highest quality in food and wines. |
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Hire a car and go to Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula, or drive about an hour, in the opposite direction,
to Woodend, Kyneton, or north to Beechworth. I stay at
Annabelle's Bed and Breakfast.
It is
a lovely B&B nestled at the base of foothills. Diane Gavin is the owner and she knows how to treat her guests to a relaxing time.
I will cook dinner on Saturday night for her and Jack. I sleep in the loft.
Beechworth
is a great Victorian town with restaurants, and wineries, bush walks, entertainment,
old and new world, it is like many others, an historic gold mining town.
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I stay twice a year at Wangarratta (for a total of eight nights), you travel by car along the Hume Highway, about three hours above Melbourne towrads Albury. It is a gateway to the winter nosw lands in the Victorian Alps.
This town is a service centre. I think it has mediocre hospitality venues with
rather unimaginative cuisine. I think it would be very difficult to build a hospitality business in Wangarratta.
I have eatn at many restauramts including martinis in the pub in the main street upstairs on the balcony and the Hollywood among others.
There are two restaurants I favour, Tract near the river through the town and Bar Code Orange as you enter the town (from Melbourne end) near the rail crossing.
Some thirty minutes away, in the rural area, is Millawa, with good food and wine and accommodation choices.
Travelling the highway (regularly) from Melbourne to Canberra. I sometimes decide to stop at places along the way. Euroa, off the Hume Highway attracts me. It is the beginning of the territory where Ned Kelly plied his bushranger trade. I have high expectations. It is a lovely Sunday morning and I am looking forward to a country breakfast. I note the headstones of the fallen war heroes on the Avenue of Remembrance. There are a lot. After I cruise the main street, with scant offering in this sleepy country town, I spy the hot bread bakery. I order from the very limited menu, coffee and eggs, bacon and tomato. The coffee is watery, and burnt, and is undrinkable. The breakfast is lack lustre and the bread sadly not a partner to the burnt offerings that is called breakfast. I leave it there (I paid for it) and move on. Euroa is uninviting. I go to Rutherglen. A wine town. There are more choices, though I am surprised at the limitation. This is a developing region worth visiting. One can follow a gourmet trail from Ruthergen to Beechworth. This is recommended. The next day I cross the border at Albury into New South wales, to arrive in Gundagai, another off the highway town. I have stayed at Albury a number of times but find it average. It is lunch time oa Sunday. I seek a good counter meal in a pub like I have found in Kyneton (see articles below) Victoria. Gundagai is where the Dog sat on the Tucket Box, a legendary poem of a dog awaiting its master who never returns. This town in NSW, has a very interesting criss crossing, wooden rail structure, on stilts. The town is deserted. No tourists here either. I walk into the Letts family Hotel. It is an old Cobb and Co booking office. It wreaks of potential. I am told that there are no counter meals today. I can go the Chinese, the pizza place or the RSL. Interesting how in some regions one can find a wealth of hidden gems. And in others? Well very little. I arrive in Canberra and have chosen the Diamant Hotel It is new and I decide that I will watch an in house movie and order room service. I cannot find the movie channel or the remote that engages the technology. I note that each room has a Sony DVD player. I ring the reception and ask how I access the movies. She informs me that they do not have any and that the cable service is being installed (2007). They also have no DVD's to rent. There is a DVD retail hire place nearby, she tells me. I look at the brochure that enticed me here. Yes it says in house movies. Typical of Canberra. yet it is typical of the modern business that sees nothing wrong with engaging in a little misrepresentation. Despite this I regularly choose to stay at the Diamant because it has among the best bars and restaurant choices of a hotel in Canberra and is a walking distance to the city. It can be, like all hotels, very pricey when Parliament is sitting. I have eaten here at the Diamant in the Flint Restauarnt, many times, and recommed it. The Parlour Wine Bar, has an atmosphere that is relaxing with an eclectic mix of tables and chairs. An attentive staff who actually care about their patrons and a tapas menu. There is another restaurant nearby with a European feel and big centre table. It has a good menu and serves a good value breakfast with a number of options. This is superior to the buffet of the modern hotel and probably exceeds the Canberra Hyatt in value. The governmet of the Australian capital teritory actually believe that they are one of the nation's hospitality destinations. It is a cultural destination not a culinary one though it is getting better. The Diamant Hotel has raised the bar and is challenging the venerable Hyatt, the Canberra Hotel. It is my other hotel of choice, though not quite like a real Hyatt. A beautiful buidling limited by the availability of staff and a myopic territory government, that is mote like a local council group, erroneously believing that Canberra is a hospitality capital and toutist mecca. There is a good restaurant with outdoor area in Old Parliament House and a fine dining restaurant on both sides of the Lake Burley Griffin. I also like the Southern Cross yacht Club, however here the service lets the place down. The clientelle also have expectations of their club. This is a price driven venue like the other Southern Cross cub venues. They however provide good value for money. The Ottoman (near Parliament House) and the Terrace at the Hyatt canebrra Hotel are also top of the line. With some of the most wonderful cultural icons in the nation, the National Gallery of Australia, the Musuem, Old Parliament House, the National Library, the Portrait Gallery and the High Court, Canberra overall, lets itself down as a tourist destination. Maybe the members of government, and industry, need to go and experience Melbourne. Once every year I go to Phillip Island for a week. This beautiful island, just on two hours from Melbourne, is idyllic with some grat B&B's. The restaurants and hotels are not five star and rate to my mind 2 - 3 star at a push. The choices for food are limited with the clientelle largely being similar to those who patronise the Great Ocean Road rowns. many are families, day trippers on budgets. |
| The most well known locations in the nation, internationally are perhaps not necessarily the best value, and experience, of what Australia has to offer. Queensland is diverse. The coast offers a sensational changing environment and varied experience. The Great Australian Barrier Reef needs no more commentary. I have stayed at Cairns and Noosa (a number of times), at Port Douglas, at the Hyatt Coolum, various locations on the Sunshine Coast and on Daydream Island and at Twin Waters. For families I reccnmmend Twin Waters and Daydream Island. I will not fly budget airlines to Noosa since Qantas (full service airline) no longer goes there relegating the location to using its down market subsidiary, Jetstar. Some say that this condemned Noosa to down market clientelle. I tend to agree. I like Brisbane and have stayed at the Point, Kangaroo Point, at the Sheraton, the Heritage, the Marriott, Treasury and Crowne Plaza. I favour the Emporium Hotel. the cusine is exoanding and there are fine dining restaurants of diversity across the city. many by the water. My favourite pub is below the Storey Street Bridge near Kangaroo Point and the river. |
INSPIRATION, HEALING AND PEACE Heartland Retreat, is one hour in land from the Maroochydore Airport at the Queensland Sunshine Coast. |
 
Heartland Retreat Queensland Australia  Les Dyer's Inspiration |
So what about the dining experiences? The Absynthe in Surfers Paradise on the Queensland Gold Coast is good. In Brisbane one might like the ambience, and style, of the Emporium hotel at 1000 Anne Street, Fortitude Valley. It is very eclectic, over priced and small. It sits in a small alcove of restaurants that are at best passable. Gpoing up market one can find the Batavia and Cafe Dellugo, La Dolcevita, Onyx restaurants, they are above average as is the Era Bistro in Brisbane. The Storey Street Bridge Hotel (as a pub) is very good. The Point. |
In Sydney, hardly a culinary capital, the Tim Storrier hotel is eclectic. It is on the fringe of Kings Cross. The harbour is the pivotal must see destination. The Sydney Cafe, perched high atop Customs House down at the Quay is a wonderful restaurant with stunning views. The ambience, atmosphere, cuisine and service is excllenet. The Catalina out at Rose Bay is relaxing and the food is okay, the view up the waterway is placidly rexlaxing. The CBD Restaurant is in the city and is good but over priced for a pub restaurant. Most Sydney restaurants are overpriced and working hard to catch or equal Melbourne. The hotels in the city of Sydney are diverse in terms of service and value. Among my favourite hotels is the Shangri-La Hotel at the Rocks. The Hilton Hotel in George Street Sydney has celebrity chef Luke Mangan and to get him the hotel apparently had to limit the competition in terms of on site restaurants. There is his restaurant and a cafe on the ground floor (tis note was made in 2007). H To my taste the best part of this hotel is the bar at the top. Down the road a bit is Darling Harbour. A tourist destination it has a range of hotels with the Mercure being the bext option with stunning views. This is a multi-apartment hotel. One restaurant stands out it is called the Coast. The rest I conider to be tourist traps. Neil Perry is another celebrity Sydney chef who owns the, much praised, Rockpool at the Rocks, george Street, down near Circular Quay, Sydney Harbour. Why it is praised is any body's guess? Over priced. Neil Perry is also the Executive Chef for Qantas. The food on the airline (excepting business class which is extravangtly over priced) is more about the cardboard box design than what is in it. What's in the box in terms of the quality of Qantas' food, in its economy cabins, is as lousy as the airline's punctuality, the delusional meanderings of the management and their, hand picked, spin marketing doctors. I am a Qantas Requent Flyer member and this airline, in my opinion, has dropped in quality, value and service under the hands of its management. The management's focus seems to be on being competitive in the shark world of airlines and delivering a profit at the expense of the client. qantas' copetitors are offerignequal or better value (2009). There are some good restaurants, and pubs, at Balmain, in Sydney, try the London and the Bistro Moncur nearby. The NSW regions are not consistent for hospitality with the coast from Wollongong to the Victorian border a wasted opportunity. Unlike Victoria, it is a challenge to go on a culinary, gourmet, drive across the state of NSW. The Hunter Valley near Newcastle stands out. Why? Sydney, and NSW, seem to have no dining out culture, unlike Victoria. In Sydney it is about show and shallow, the number of covers, and turning over diners, not about experience and quality. I believe that the major reason for mediocrity, and malaise, in NSW, is the government and vested interests. Corruption, and self interest, overt and covert, is stifling the growth of quality small entrepreneurs. Perhaps they cannot afford, or do not want, to grease the palms of the political class in NSW? The NSW labor, and liberal, parties and governments, at all level have shackled innovation, and stifled, creativity quite viciously. The liquor laws up until 2008 have not allowed the development of the small bars and hospitality venues that have been the pride of Victoria's growth and versatility. Today in 2009 the resistance to allowing these enterpreneours is still rife. Local government, Sydney City Council, the Liquor LIcencing Authority, the Australian Hotels Association, and the Clubs, protecing their interests, at the expense of the consumer and citizen, have all contributed to the dead hand that has debilitated, and blighted, the state of NSW. But most of all the politicians are to blame. Shitty government has its consequences far beyond politics. It eats at the economy and no more so than at tourism and hospitality. |
A wonderland of nature, but not necessarily of hospitality, though there are pockets of excellence in Darwin. I like the restaurants at Cullen Cove. The best restaurant I have eaten at in Darwin, is the Hanuman, at the Bennett end of Mitchell Street near the Holiday Inn. The Hanuman is a group of restaurants with providers located in Cairns and Alice Springs. At Ayres Rock I have stayed at Sails. "Named after the soaring white sails that crown its roof, this is Voyages Ayers Rock Resort's premium hotel. The interior decor focuses on Aboriginal heritage and culture, with a gallery in the lobby and significant artworks featured throughout the public areas and in the private rooms." Sails is a high end hotel that is I think the best in this tourist destination. I booked an evening dining in the desert with an astrology lecture thrown in. This was an experience as the sunset and the night came on. Highly recommended. At Kings Canyon, in the Northern Territory I chose the Kings Canyon Resort. I sat in the spa looking into the night as animals passed by in the desert night. This is truly an amazing place where the stars are brilliant, twinkling in their tens of thousands, flickering against a black sky. It is so quiet here. I do not like Alice Springs and found nothing to reccommend it. |
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