Japanese cuisine comes to Carrara

Kemuri is a little Japanese gem hidden from sight in the middle of suburban Carrara. Owned by Hiroyuki Okubo and his wife Yuki, one could easily overlook it due to a lack of curiosity or understanding. In fact, the couple between them have great experience, Yuki a French-trained chef and Hiro a top-level sommelier and […]

Pancakes for Shrove Tuesday

One of Easter’s celebration days, Shrove Tuesday, celebrated this year on 5 March, has unusual beginnings. Also known as Pancake Day, it began as a way to use up the luxury ingredients in the household ready for people to fast during Lent. Eggs and milk (prized items in poorer times) combined with some flour make […]

Zeus Street Greek’s Tzatziki recipe

If you dream of holidays in the Mediterranean, there’s probably a little restaurant beside that azure sea serving delicious Greek food and wine: succulent flame-grilled lamb and seafood, great flatbread and delicious dips. The team at Zeus Street Greek brings traditional Greek food with a modern twist to the Gold Coast, their new outlet in […]

BBQ Duck with Honey Plum Sauce, Micro-Salad and Cherries

Our local Chinese-Malay restaurant, Kenny’s Malay, serves a delicious Duck salad, which we have enjoyed on many occasions. While Kenny’s sauce remains his secret, I have attempted to capture some of its flavours, translated to a dish that can be presented as an entree at a dinner party. Not able to find the microherbs I […]

Shitake mushroom and asparagus nori rolls

Many years ago, one of my dinner party recipes was a nori-lined spring roll stuffed with marron we’d caught while visiting a local dam, the heads poking out of the end of the spring roll for presentation. It’s an recipe easily adapted to prawns and asparagus or, in this case, to shitake mushrooms and asparagus […]

Watermelon and Prawn salad with Thai dressing

The warmer weather of summertime calls for fresh, bright dishes. Moving away from winter’s comfort food, we long to stay hydrated, to feel energised though lighter eating.. It’s not uncommon to see fruit in salads, particularly peaches and nectarines. This year, watermelons have been luscious, so I developed this recipe with inspiration from two sources: […]

A taste of Italy on the Gold Coast

Hailing from Cesena in Northern Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, Andrea and Simona Riva, owners of the newly-opened Osteria Del Mare, come from a region of Italy that produces the best parmesan, balsamic vinegar and prosciutto in the world. They cook fine Northern Italian food in their restaurant overlooking Burleigh’s foreshore, food that is lighter than that […]

Make your own Sauerkraut – The Good Wolf’s recipe

Sauerkraut, kombucha, kimchi, … What do these foods have in common, and why should we include them in our diet? They are all fermented. Long before we had refrigeration, fermentation was used to preserve food that would otherwise go to waste. Many cultures also realised fermented foods’ contribution to health, its ‘good’ bacteria contributing to […]

Chanoya’s Matcha Muffin recipe

It’s the Matcha chocolate ganache tart that gives it away – a pretty little pie case filled with two shades of green chocolate filling… We may be in Southport suburbia, but we’ve just stumbled upon a well-respected chef in a most unexpected locale. ‘Chanoyu’, meaning ‘a gathering of people to enjoy food and coffee together’, […]

Hot Shott’s Sweetcorn fritters with smashed avocado and eggs

Gold Coast café culture has done well from the downward shift in fine dining culture. Hot Shott is no exception, with owners Chef Kellie Rolfe and barista Jenna Finch leaving Palazzo Versace to open their own business in Main Beach in 2016. Named after their chocolate-lined waffle espresso cup, this ‘play on words’ café bears […]