Tomato

Big meat at the Middle Park Hotel

2009-11-09T08:48:05Z

Pork rib.

Weeping isn’t something that comes naturally to me in public. Usually, I do it somewhere dark and private where I’m watching Love Actually, probably the bit with the Portuguese girl or the kids in the airport.

But on Saturday night tears rolled from my eyes eating the offal salad at The Middle Park Hotel (opposite tram stop 130 on Canterbury Rd). It could have something to do with my existential crisis or the over consumption of alcohol, although in fact I’d only had only a couple of Trummer Pils, a Lillet Blanc and a martini at Cutler & Co earlier – and a few wines.

But I attribute it to this dish cooked by the big man in the kitchen himself Paul Wilson on my second visit to the hotel (paid for by myself)

Crackling.

I’m always tempted by a prawn cocktail and was tempted by the posh one on the menu. But I asked chef for advice and he said go the salad.

Pink kidney’s, crumbed sweetbreads and a single piece of black pudding surround a salad topped with bacon (I think). The dish is cut with a decent amount of chilli and the remoulade is packed full of garlic.

It’s brilliant, old fashioned cooking with fat helping deliver the packed-in flavour using old fashioned techniques. It was rich enough for me to have to order Bircher Muesli for breakfast the next day, which to be quite frank I’m a bit embarrassed about (as well as being caught weeping during Love Actually).

Heritage carrots

Some five years back this was a showcase microbrewery for Fosters with the stainless steel devices being the centre piece of the hotel. That is now all gone and drinkers are left with an impressive 70 metre island bar in a room cleverly panelled in cheap cuts of wood.

The dining room is more refined than the bar with a central chandelier of stag horns.

And meat is the predominant theme with the trend leading item being an outrageous 1kg steak. It’s massive and designed for two. But at $68, I saw a table find it adequate for four, especially when you’ll be wanting to be ordering sides of bone marrow and thrice cooked chips, modelled loosely on the Heston Blumenthal technique from his show In Search of Perfection.

My first lunch here was a PR freebie. We ate scotch eggs, crisp fried pork cracking, pork ribs with cracking. Lamb. And Hallibut, brought over frozen from Europe and one of two fish concessions on the menu (and frankly at odds with the heritage local sourcing of most other products).

I stuffed down my heritage vegetables and multi-coloured heritage carrots to the point that I peed red later that night. I though that it may have been caused by the aforementioned existential crisis in which I may have picked up a minor venereal disease (perhaps a junior one that would respond to topical treatment I hoped). Luckily it was just the curse of beetroot.

Bread and butter pudding.

Soon it was time for bread and butter pudding, trifle (I ordered a whole one for myself) and a salted caramel dessert that was a bit off putting as it looked like chicken liver pate.

I should point out all this eating (and drinking) was carried out in controlled conditions and a medical team was on standby at all times..

We survived. And I may sneak back to finish myself off.

Proud Mary. Great coffee and tea

2009-11-06T00:29:02Z

I‘m starting to judge cafes by their espresso machines. The more serious the machine, the better the coffee. So when you walk into a cafe and you see a six group Synesso longer than a coffin worth some $40,000 and you know something special is going on. It sorta trumps even St Ali’s $30,000 Slayer which is pretty awesome but only has three groups.

A Synesso in action.

And I can tell you it’s official: Today coffee – and tea for that matter – just got a lot better in not just Collingwood but Melbourne with the opening of Proud Mary on the corner of Oxford and Stanley Streets.

If you are a coffee geek you’ll have heard of Nolan Hirte, a champion barista who within three months of opening Liar Liar in Hawthorne had the place rocking. He sold that place with ownership eventually ending up with St Ali.

At Proud Mary there are also Syphon Filters, a Clover (with another on its way just for tea) plus I think I counted five grinders, the usual Mazzers. Plus there is (I think) the Anfim with the big grinding blades (Miss Jackson also has one now) that looks like it was styled by the man who invented the hobnail boot, or even his drunk Russian cousin.

It’s counter service and I ask for advice and start with the double espresso, a single origin Brazil Ipanema which was rich, clean and zesty with no bitter notes. I think it may be better even than the espresso at Padre, a few doors up from Hellenic Republic on Lygon St. All this is backed by tracks playing on vinyl.

It turns out the beans were roasted inhouse 12 days ago and stored in a special fridge hacked by Hirte to remain at high humidity and 15-16 C. Like I said itis all very serious. Next up was the latte and it was right up there, natch.

Proud Mary is also serving the latest Single origin tea imported from Sri Lanka by Somage Fine Foods, with the infusion time is measured with an electronic timer.

Help needed to support Streetsmart charities

2009-11-06T03:20:33Z

In a world with big budgets and high overheads, Streetsmart is one of those charities that helps the small and local, roping in cafes and restaurants to support often forgotten frugal local causes.

On Monday 9th November its 2009, running until Christmas Streetsmart’s campaign kicks off. The idea is that diners leave an extra $2 for Streetsmart, which distributes the funds to local homeless-related charities, the kind that only really need a few thousand dollars.

It isn’t a big charity but it is worthy and important because it works at the hyperlocal level (and you can find participants on a Google map here).

And many blogs, especially in the food and drink arena, tend to be hyperlocal.

What can I do to help?

Follow @StreetSmartAust on Twitter or join its Facebook page for updates on events.

If you are a diner and you have a choice of where to have a coffee or eat, choose a Streetsmart supporter and help by donating $2, that’s 2 lousy dollars. Nothing really.

If you have a blog (any blog, it doesn’t have to be about food) or you Twitter,you can help by promoting Streetsmart and pass on the messag to blogger and Twitter friends who may like to help. This is a great time for social media to show its solidarity whle old fashioned media are in flux and haven’t in many cases the resources to help right now.

Blog post ideas

- Help the campaign go viral. All ideas are welcome.

- Simply right a post reminding diners about some of your favourite places that support Streetsmart.

- I can help set up an interview with a chef or owner of a restaurant cafe for you to blog about

- I can also help set up interviews and stories with some of the charities involved. And believe me they do great work by helping give the disenfranchised their self respect back.

- Actually go out there and review Streetsmart supporters.

- Post Streetsmart banners on your blog

- Post the map of participating restaurants

Streetsmart bloggers and Tweeters

Claire from Melbourne Gastronome or @mutemonkey on Twitter who has done a great post on all the places she has reviewed who support Streetsmart. Check it out and see some of the best places to visit.

@injerarufus who also blogs here.

Lorraine at Not Quite Nigella has posted a great story about the Streetsmart BBQ in the back garden of Sydney Perama’s David Tsirekas attending by food celebrities and more than a good share of bloggers.

The Sydney Tarts were also at and blogged the David Tsirekas BBQ. And I wish I’d been there.

Ylla Wright of Kissing Frogs & Eating Snails (love the name) is also urging support of Streetsmart because of its work at the grassroots.

Elliott from restaurant review site 1001 Dinners !001 Nights is a supporter and you can check for reviews before you eat out.

Another Outspoken Femail from Confessions of a Food Nazi says that Streetsmart is another excuse to eat and while doing some good.

Zoe, just getting over her “knife block” from the Progressive Dinner Party in Canberra is supporting the campaign and the two restaurants involved.

A Sydney Traveller has a list of local Sydney restaurants involved in Streetsmart.

Femail.com.au quotes tim Costello: “”The beauty of this campaign is that anyone can be a part of it and make a valuable contribution.”

Youth Affairs Network Queensland notes that Streetsmart has raised $830,000 for 188 grass roots projects

Pigs Will Fly – The can do community blog – gives six ways to help.

If I haven’t linked to your site here yet, let me know in comments.

Sydney food festival better than Melbourne?

2009-11-20T05:48:49Z

Yu Bo’s Sichuan banquet at Sydney International food festival

Is it possible to talk about Sydney and Melbourne without making a comparison of which is best? I think not.
And so is the debate between which was the best food festival this year: the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival or Sydney.

I went to both on freebies, although sponsored by NSW Tourism this trip was $$$$$$$$$$.

I think Sydney wins for its focus and theming on Asia and perhaps reflecting the food culture of Sydney, which is a far more Asian city than Melbourne which is still mostly obsessed with Europe.

Also from what I saw of both, despite the big named chefs attending, there were more hits in Sydney and misses in Melbourne.

The two parts I really paid attention to where the Chinese chefs and the sessions which highlighted something I’d always had been conscious of but never really thought about – the influence of Japan on French chefs.

I’ll tackle France next post.

Here I want to talk about the woman I want to run away to China with author Fuchsia Dunlop, who undoubtably in my mind was the star of the festival.

Quite simply if you want to know anything about Chinese, or Sichuan food Dunlop is the woman.

I sat in two sessions with her, one in which she demonstrated dishes including the delicious Fish Fragrant Eggplant, which isn’t fishing but prepared using a method usually used for fish.

Dai Shuang’s porcupine buns as recorded by Amanda from Spread My Butter

The most exciting session was with Sichuan chef Yu Po from Chengdu and his wife Dai Shuang’s (Yu Bo’s wife) porcupine buns, where each spine is cut using shears.

Some of Australia’s top chefs were mesmerised while Dunlop explained Yu Po’s Sichuan food and food culture in China. He presented some 25 dishes, not the chilli laden clichés from Sichuan but each artfully carved, tied or sculpted from the most humble of ingredients.It’s worth taking a look at my Flickr group of dishes here.

Finger-licking good: My short history of sex in cooking television shows

2009-10-27T00:35:29Z

Only the other night gazing out at the opera house from Quay restaurant in Sydney I had the good fortune to sit at dinner with the new improved much, much larger than life Matt Preston. Not only was I subject to his advice on all things Myf Warhurst, his pony skin R.M. Williams boots and dressing-up box chic but his stagey sexy looks.

The look that stuck in my mind is when his sultry eyes gaze towards what should be a camera and while he sucked A-list chocolate off his index finger. What I can only imagine is a lot of practice in the mirror had paid off. Although I can’t say the earth moved for me, Matt later may have retired for a cigarette.

And it made me realise how we got to this point that food isn’t food on TV with out some sort of sexual imagery. Two decades (and more) ago food writing and TV was left to the stuffy, recipe writers and cookbook authors, dry enough to pucker the mouth up like a plain Carrs Water biscuit.

Food was twee, as were the shows about it. And not everybody had the high camp talent and hilarity of a Julia Child, who is being reintroduced to local audiences through the film Julie and Julia.

The British cooking icon Delia Smith may write idiot proof recipes and own a football club, but her TV presence is flat and she’s hardly a sex symbol.

Then all of a sudden food is sexy, perhaps even rock ‘n roll. Inevitably, Australia is influenced by the UK and the US, with mainly English shows making it to free to air TV.

Here’s my brief history of food sex as (eventually) seen Australian TV.

1999
The new popularity of food on TV is born. I’m talking of course of the cheeky chappy himself Jamie Oliver, styled with a naked double entendre and raw delivery style. Born on 22 May 1975, youth and his Essex banter were on his side. His dumbed down but appealing recipes have taken my mates, some of whom haven’t yet admitted their own metro sexuality, from Barbequing sausages to making Thai green curries and fresh pasta.

This is the same year that the final season of the enormously entertaining Two Fat Ladies show goes to air in the UK. They aren’t sexy but nevertheless are enormously engaging.

2000
Artful cinematography hides Nigella Lawson’s bottom on Nigella Bites while her sexy licking of various phallic foods win over the audience. Men the world over fall for her burlesque looks.

2004
Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares first hits the screens. Ramsay soon is stripping topless before switching to his dental hygienist-style chef’s whites.

Bill Granger arrives on TV, and is distinguished by his pastel tops and bright white smile. A year later his show is repeated in the UK and he is now seen in some 22 countries worldwide.

2005
The UK version of Masterchef, which first went to air in 1990, in given a new contemporary format but still isn’t selling sex. The would-be chefs cook-off in heats but don’t have to pretend they want to open their own restaurant as in Australia.

Gordon Ramsay takes his naked torso to the US with Hell’s Kitchen.

Meanwhile, food writer Laura Calder starts filming 78 episodes of French Food at Home which airs on Foxtel. There are enough glimpses of her low-cut top to keep the lads’ attention after the pub’s closed.

2007

Nigella Lawson introduces a new weapon of mass sexual frustration, what I’m convinced are specially dubbed in slurping noises created with a bucket of KY Jelly and a Wellington boot. The cinematography remains artful and we are still none the wiser about her bottom.

2008

The Chopping Block begins airing on Channel 9 in February with hard-boiled Aussie chef Matt Moran (who later makes a guest appearance in Masterchef). Moran keeps his top on and presenter Catriona Rowntree is distinguished by her selection of tight singlets.

Somehow it doesn’t quite gel.

2009

Matt Preston debuts with his closet full of cravats on Masterchef Australia, with Melbourne chefs Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris. They all, and several of the contestants, become sex symbols.

Women want to plant George’s face in their bosoms and fondle his shaved head. It turns out Chris is a love rat (I met his ex via Twitter). And Poh is totally gorgeous and appears to be a lovely person too (yes, I met her too).

Even winner Julie is given a sexy makeover, which certainly involved Photoshop and possibly an angle grinder, in Who Weekly.

Matt becomes the poster boy for Don’s salami and some of those paper super absorbent paper towels used to wipe up all sorts of unfortunate stains.

Channel 7 initiates its own national search among restaurant critics for its own sex on a stick presenter. I’m called to Sydney and turn up with a sock stuffed in my pants. I return home from the audition elated and with an unfortunate food stain on my trousers.

A few weeks later the news is broken that I can’t suck finger like Matt Preston. And to think I’d also been buffing my torso.

Who’s your sex on a stick on food TV?

Originally published on The Punch.

My Sydney wine fix

2009-10-20T05:29:54Z

Fix St James: Funnily enough very close to St James station, 111 Elizabeth Street, Sydney NSW 2000 +61 2 9232 2767

There must be something about Fix St James to make me return. During the last two of my trips to Sydney I have visited, three times – twice in the past week. And it is a place now popular with bloggers and twitterers @reemski, @felixexplody and @carmr. But also it is popular with the ACP crowd, including the editors of Gourmet Traveller.

Fix St James is the sort of place to come if you like, but know nothing about wine, or if you know a lot. I know enough about wine to know that I know very little at all. And here you have no fear in asking for help or to be taken on a journey through the sparkling, white, rose and red available by the glass or carafe in addition to the standard list.

I’ve found it a place to be locked in guzzling far to much (and oversleeping the next morning when you are meant to be at the Sydney International Food Festival or SIFF) Bloodwood Cabernet Franc from Orange Heinrich Hartl ‘Classic’ from Austria with Stuart Knox, the knowledgable owner, a former sommelier from Level 41 who’s also done his time at Bibendum in London.

At lunch its bar tables are filled with the office crowd, still drinking wine and many hoeing in to the five course $35 fix (for a whole table of more than two people). We were filled to the brim with this lunchtime bargain and managed to tip the lunch bill $65 further with more than our fill of wine. But for the restrained you can add a glass of house for $5.

Evenings are slower and I have yet to eat more that a few nibbles at this time. But it is no less a journey.

At this point, I should declare some conflicts in this review. On all three ocassions Knox has known I was coming although the service appears to be even throughout the place. And on this last visit I was flown in by Tourism NSW, picked up by a swanky limo, Put up at The Diamant boutique hotel in Kings Cross and given a pocketful of cab charges to visit SIFF.

Will this Melburnian be turned by sin city and its food festival? You’ll have to wait and see.

I’ve seen the future of food and it’s in Collingwood (and beyond)

2009-11-19T01:48:41Z

Reflections on Cutler & Co

Arguably the Collingwood Fitzroy borders have everything. Almost every cuisine is represented and there are plenty of places for a friendly glass of wine, an outsized Hefeweizen or even a friendly neighbourhood Fog Cutter. Let’s not forget if you want to score drugs either.

But what Collingwood also offers an insight to the future of dining. Sure regular cafes, restaurants – including the high end -and bars will be around for somewhile yet but there are signs of what may come.

And actually I’m going to also extend this story to other parts of the city too.

1.0 High end casual dining

Andrew McConnell and his partner in business and life Pascal Gomes McNabb have in Cutler and Co created a casual restaurant with high end food. I was lucky enough to be invited with friends and supporters to the inaugural Sunday lunch at which Pascal told me that the idea is that you can wear anything to this tablecloth free zone: “You can even come in a bikini,” she said. (I brought a gorgeous beast with surgically enhanced vampire teeth).

The food at lunch is shared as opposed to individual courses at lunchtime. But the vibe is the same.

And if, after adoration in The Age and the Age Good Food Guide, you can’t secure a booking, there you can always prop up the bar or one of the surrounding tables and enjoy a Negroni and a few of Andrew’s nibbles.

Of course, I should also mention his casual no-bookings second string restaurant Cumulus Inc as a trend leader in it’s breakfast to dinner wine bar style. And also the fact that McConnell and partners have acquired the space next door. What it will be is still up for debate but my vote goes for something with specialty coffee, perhaps a variation on Cumulus Inc. But god forbid it won’t be iCumulus2.0.

Dessert at Truffe – sadly on hold now

2.0 High end food at bargain prices

With the arrival of Pierre Roelofs, the former pastry chef at Interlude (that’s the guy who makes pudding as well as pastry) this was a real treat in store at Monsieur Truffe on Thursday to Sunday evenings. He produced exquisite and also very rich wonderful, surprising desserts for about $16 a course and up to $35ish for three.

Unfortunately, because of liquor license delays and the fact that Roelofs is flying to Barcelona for an international competition, these evenings are temporarily suspended. Bummer.

Whatever you order, a pre dessert is served, usually in style. On my last visit it came in a large wooden bowl. To make this work Monsieur Truffe needs to get its liquor license. Let’s hope it comes soon.

It’s the same thing Neil Perry has done offering his $18 Wagyu burger at the bar at Rockpool Bar and Grill at Crown Casino – access to his food at almost everyday prices.

Beef tartare with smoking cinnamon at The Deanery

Robin Wickens, the former chef and owner of Interlude, is also playing this game at his new patch, The Deanery (a former car park with a wonderful wine collection).

Sure you can eat his high end food in the restaurant. But now you can nibble on his Tomato Explosion for $4.5, Beef tartare with smoking cinnamon for $12 and, incredibly, his take on Bacon and eggs for $12.

Coffee dinners at St Ali with Paul Wilson on the stove.

3.0 Cafes that behave as restaurants

How good is this: Former Botanical head chef Paul Wilson cooking at one-off dinners matching coffee (and wine) with his superb food at St Ali in South Melbourne. The warehouse itself is a very cool space. It’s brilliant.

And it is showing how cafes now are competing with restaurants but without all the overheads of having to do six nights of service a week.

Around the corner in South Melbourne, a former crew from St Ali have established Dead Man Espresso serving coffee made with Seven Seeds beans. It has a cool zinc bar and fitout and is serving a higher level of food than the standard cafe, a pretty delicious French onion Soup being a case in point.

It’s a bit like Birdman Eating on Gertrude Street, a cafe with better than your average food and some decent wine to boot but at the price of a starter in a good restaurant. It’s blurring the line between cafe and restaurant.

Around the corner towards the other end of Smith Street Provenance is doing the same. Food and drink throughout the day with some decent well-priced wine, good beer on tap and cocktails. It also does occasional special nights, recently hosting mushroom dinners and soon turning it’s attention to goat for one night only.

Maedaya Grill & Sake bar Richmond

4.0 Tapas style – whatever the cuisine

This week Simon Denton’s (Verge. Yikes!) Japanese style pub food place Izakaya Den on the corner of Little Collins and Russell St is meant to open. It takes Japanese food out from being nice and twee to the drinking masses in small sized portions just as Maedaya Grill & Sake bar in Richmond and Ichi Ni in St Kilda has done before it.

As with the ground trod by Movida (expect Movida MkIII open by December), Bar Lourhina and Anada Tapas, expect lots of inferior copies as cynical restaurateurs try and cash-in on the trend.

Seven Seeds. Try the Clover coffee

5.0 Specialty coffee roasters

St Ali is going gangbusters and has opend Outpost in South Yarra. Seven Seeds run by former St Ali owner Mark Dundon on Berkeley St, Carlton is awesome.

I’ve drunk some of the finest espresso’s ever in it’s hand made china at Padre up from Hellenic Republic on Lygon St, Brunswick East. Check out the Auction Rooms in North Melbourne. Or Dukes on Chapel St.

What they are all doing is roasting good ethical beans, mostly fairer than Fair Trade coffee.

Why do we love it? To become a coffee wanker takes only a $3 to $4 investment rather than thousands of dollars it takes to be a true wine wanker.

The new coffee is more than espresso and lattes though. Try the clean and tea-like brews from the Clover at Seven Seeds, the Syphon Filters at St Ali, cold drip at Outpost/St Ali or regular filter at Dead men Espresso for an introduction.

Win tickets to Julie & Julia movie

2009-09-28T04:00:43Z

TTo celebrate the launch of Julie and Julia I’m giving away ten double passes for the film – 5 double passes for the sneak preview weekend coming up this 3 to 4 October. And 5 double passes for the theatrical season which starts on October 8.

The story is compelling, adapted from the book Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen, which came from her blog which she started back in 2002. It’s probably the dream of every food blogger but one few of use will realise.

Those really were the early days of blogging and before, I think, any had started in Australia. There are now about nearly 600 food blogs in Australia alone, at last count split: General Australia 57 food blogs; Tasmania 11 food blogs; Vic 227 food blogs; ACT 14 food blogs; NSW 171 food blogs; Qld 40 food blogs; NT: 1 food blog; WA: 37 food blogs; SA 29 food blogs.

All you have to do is answer this question in comments detailing, which tickets you would like – sneak preview or theatrical release:

How many food blogs are there in Australia?

I’ll announce the sneak preview winners this Thursday and the general release winners at the weekend.

My wonky hot chocolate

2009-09-08T00:15:54Z

180g cylinders of 100% pure cacao

I‘m obsessed by good chocolate. This time last year flying on the excellent Emirates I was entranced by the story of Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory, a TV documentary aired on Channel 4 in the UK. (Check him out on Youtube)

The storycentres on the trials of Willie Harcourt-Cooze who sold everything and planted 50,000 criollo cacao trees in Venezuala courting disaster at almost every moment.

Finally, he succeeds in securing retail distribution for his 180g cylinders of 100% – yes 100% which means its for cooking rather than eating straight – cacao. I got around to ordering some of this most excellent drug from his website in the UK.

It’s not cheap but the three cylinders – Rio Caribe Superior, Carenero Superior and San Martin – are worth it. The labels feature recipes inside but for now I’m ignoring them.

I’m shaving rough chunks of the chocolate and palm sugar into unpasteurized milk and heat until dissolved. It is very dark and energizing, the ideal way to start the day now I’ve strayed from my regime of porridge.

The downside is that, currently relocated to Collingwood while I solve my existential crisis, it keeps me away from Monsieur Truffe on Smith Street who serves the best (in flavour and presentation) hot chocolate in town.

Monsieur Truffe hot chocolate: the best in town.

I’m only eating this burger so you don’t have to

2009-09-02T06:26:11Z

I get a lot of stick on this blog every time I eat Maccas. Usually, I serve the chips with a home made steak tartare. Living a one minute walk away from the Acland St Maccas, it is far easier to walk there are back rather than deal with hot fat or oil (I refuse to use oven chips).

The last time I advocated Maccas chips the comment was “he’s obviously not a foodie”. Well, done for recognising it. Proudly, I’m not.

I do have secret food shames. Five years ago it was boxes of nine McNuggets with the strangely addictive mustard and curry sauces. Like I said, not a foodie. One day the girl behind the counter said:” Do you know you are the only person who orders that sauce combination?”

Hurrah! I’d become a regular. Everybody has to have a regular place to hide out, the downside being the lack of alcohol at Maccas.

I’ve also been a regular employer of staff from Maccas too. Faced with the hundreds of resumes from young graphic designers (with identikit portfolios produced under artificial conditions) having worked at Macccas showed a work ethic and being able to work within a process or system.

My system was that I was in charge and didn’t like rainbow coloured headlines. The process was designing loads of pages a day, flipping and photoshopping pictures rather than burgers. Delivering everything to a tight deadline, now preferably.

Nowadays, Maccas has become fancy. Salads and all sorts of stuff keep the mums there with their kids. Burgers are cooked fresh and delivered within a few minutes.

Last Saturday the Grand Angus appeared good perhaps because my palate and head was jarred by a big night. Monday I was back for a second opinion.

“Everybody wants Angus,” the guy behind the counter said. It took two minutes to deliver, and another one to take it home. And it came with decent enough tomato, cheese a hue of Richard Wilkins (orange), pickle slices and onion.

I think these last two are the secret of Maccas burgers. The pickle gives the flavour to the Big Mac. Here too it does, as does the additional onion, which is a bit much for my taste. The burger patttie is nice enough but too large.

Perhaps it would be nice to make one sized for normal people rather than the greedy and obese.

If I’m busy and hungry I may be back. But I prefer to support local businesses and if I have time will hit Danny’s on Barkly St. Or even better, Andrew’s in Albert Park.

Where do you stand on MacDonald’s