By Caris Bizzaca

Celebrated Australian chefs Tony Bilson, Tetsuya Wakuda and Cheong Liew have launched a new Sydney gastronomic festival incorporating food, culture and art.

Cuisine NOW begins on January 11 next year and over two weeks will feature a variety of culinary events, ranging from masterclasses to a gala dinner.

Seven internationally renowned Australian and European chefs are involved in the festival, and each will conduct a two-hour masterclass, followed by a five-course luncheon celebrating their culinary career.

The three international chefs – Michel Roux, Nicolas Le Bec, and Reine Sammut – will also be preparing lunch and dinner at The Shangri-La’s Altitude Restaurant and at Bilson’s in the Radisson Plaza Hotel in Sydney.

Four years in the making, the festival was devised by legendary chef and restaurateur Tony Bilson and will become an annual event.

“It’s about getting different artists together as a celebration, because for us, food and wine is a part of the joy of life,” Bilson said at the festival launch at his restaurant on Thursday.

He said Cuisine NOW, which runs concurrently with the Sydney Festival, is not just a gastronomic event.

“We’re celebrating the mixture between gastronomy and art,” said Bilson.

To emphasise this, a series of performances from Australian opera and cabaret stars will complement the different lunches and dinners in the festival.

Award-winning Japanese-born chef Tetsuya Wakuda, who will be involved in the masterclasses and gala dinner, said he was looking forward to working with Bilson again.

“I came here (to Australia) with nothing and Tony showed me what makes a restaurant,” Wakuda said.

“He’s the reason I am standing here today, so when he asked me about Cuisine NOW, I said, ‘Whatever it is Tony – if you do it, I’ll do it’.”

Wakuda, who is famous for his Japanese-French inspired cuisine, said the festival is also a reflection of Australia’s multicultural society.

“The Japanese always say ‘food is culture’ and I believe that. It’s a celebration of the weather, city, food and people,” he said.

Bilson agreed, saying that the different chefs, food and wine will show off Australia’s complex culture.

“It’s not the simplistic British culture it was in the ’60s and ’70s, and in a lot of ways this really symbolises those changes in society and celebrates them,” Bilson said.

The next phase of Cuisine NOW will be in September 2010, when Bilson plans to take a group of Australian chefs to Paris.

“This is not just a local idea, but an international and interstate idea too,” Bilson said.

Tickets for Cuisine NOW go on sale on November 26. Visit www.cuisinenow.com.au.

Fast food giant McDonald’s has received the dubious honour of a hat trick in the annual children’s food marketing Fame and Shame Awards.

Voted by more than 200 members of the Parents Jury, an online network of parents who advocate improving children’s food and physical activity, McDonald’s was named the most irresponsible creator of food promotions in three out of four categories.

These included McDonald’s sponsorship of a high school maths website (the inaugural ‘Techno Hack’ category), the ‘Pester Power’ award for animated Happy Meal TV ads which feature animation and play equipment, and the Jury’s ‘Bad Sport’ category for sponsorship of grassroots state Little Athletics competitions.

The ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ category was won by Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain ads, deemed misleading due to the high-sugar cereal’s promise of turning young boys into elite athletes.

In its fifth year, the awards also paid tribute to those promoting healthy food choices to children.

The Socceroos took out the Fame Award for Parents Choice for their association in 2009 with Sanitarium Weet Bix and Batlow Apples.

Victorian Health Services Commissioner Beth Wilson likened shopping with children at a supermarket to a war zone.

“There is a deluge of propaganda out there,” she told the awards ceremony on Tuesday.

“Advertisers understand very, very well the psychology of children and they really cash in on it.”

Ms Wilson warned the insidious marketing of junk food to children leads not only to obesity and other chronic illnesses but long-term health costs to the community.

And banning junk food advertising on television will not get rid of the problem, obesity expert Anna Peeters says.

The Monash University public health researcher said that media like the internet, which remain unregulated, circumvented regulation of other media.

“We’re trying to redress the balance,” Ms Peeters said.

“We’re pushing towards more corporate and social responsibility.”

Comment was being sought from McDonald’s Australia.

AAP

Jim Schembri

OH, YOU gotta love this. During a standard Friday-night telecast of an eviction on Britain’s Big Brother, news begins breaking of chaos and riots throughout the country.

But everybody in the production office, including producer Patrick (Andy Nyman) and production gofer Kelly (Jaime Winstone), is far too busy with the frenzy of the show to twig to the nature of the disturbance, namely that the dead are on the rampage, biting people and turning them into zombies.

It’s only when the bloody tsunami of society’s collapse reaches the show’s control room that reality hits, with Patrick taking refuge in a unisex toilet while Kelly, having survived a very close encounter, runs to the only safe place left — inside the Big Brother house.

Being cut off from the outside world, the inmates, of course, have no idea what is going on, so when Kelly bursts in covered in blood and brandishing this outrageous story, they naturally take it as a clever ruse by the producers to see how they will react. What Kelly has to do to convince them the outside world has been taken over by zombies is the highlight of the opening inning of this tasty five-part series.

Jamie’s American Road Trip
Channel Ten, 7.30pm

IT NEEDS to be said that of the army of chefs, restaurant owners and D-list celebrities currently swarming across our TV screens in a seemingly endless blizzard of food-related shows, the only one who has proved to be of any lasting value is long-hauler Jamie Oliver.

Unlike most other “cookebrities”, Oliver is not just about the cooking and the close-ups. He used to be but he’s matured a great deal, both as a presenter and a producer, since those early days of The Naked Chef. Recipes aside, Jamie is into the impact food can have on people’s lives. He attacked the unhealthy eating habits of children in Jamie’s School Lunches, gave disadvantaged teens a chance at a culinary career in Fifteen, attacked battery farms with the controversial Jamie’s Fowl Dinners and challenged the obesity epidemic head-on in a truly pukka TV special called Eat to Save Your Life.

In Jamie’s American Road Trip, Oliver tries getting to the heart of the American character via its hotplate. Driving into the wilds of Los Angeles, he bypasses the glitz and glam and heads into the mean streets of the city’s east, a zone where poor working-class Mexicans live. With a reasonable amount of trepidation, he talks to former gang members and criminals about their troubled lives and how food has changed it for the better.

In a gritty urban sub-culture that lacks role models, Oliver finds, as he did in Fifteen, that cooking makes for a good substitute and can even help break a cycle of crime. It’s highly informative, entertaining stuff and while there are plenty of other entertaining TV food hosts out there, Oliver is one of the very few who deserves respect for treating cooking as an issue rather than a hobby.

Nurse Jackie
Channel Ten, 10pm

AS THE team from M*A*S*H and Hugh Laurie from House taught us, there’s something perversely attractive about the spectacle of a misbehaving medico.

That said, Edie Falco (The Sopranos) brings a lot of bark but very little bite to her turn as the titular, ever-scowling Nurse Jackie. Constantly popping pain medication and coping with a fractured family life, the crowded, poorly resourced emergency room gives Jackie plenty of opportunities to spit bile, yet there is something monotonous about the sprays she doles out..

“Answer your f—ing pager,” she barks at one, without any sense of comic delivery. His reaction is nonplussed. Nurse Jackie is a fun idea done flat.

Elizabeth Meryment – From: The Sunday Telegraph

PHONES are ringing off the hook. When I call, it’s less than a month after the restaurant at this South Coast hotel was rebranded Rick Stein at Bannisters.

The phones are ringing off the hook at Bannisters. When I call, less than a month after the restaurant at this South Coast hotel was rebranded Rick Stein at Bannisters, the receptionist spends our entire conversation answering the huge volume of inquiries pouring in.

And when we arrive for dinner on a cold, wet Sunday, after a long and treacherous drive from Sydney, the place is so packed we can barely find a park and we wonder if our 8pm booking is safe (it is).

I suppose this shouldn’t be surprising – it’s not often a world-recognised celebrity chef takes up residency at an out-of-the-way NSW hotel.

Stein, for anyone who doesn’t exist on a diet of food TV, is an English chef who owns four restaurants in Cornwall and whose TV shows take a gentle look not only at the fruits of the sea and how to cook them, but at the people who spend their lives harvesting these wonders.

Cooking-wise, his approach is to prepare brilliantly fresh seafood as simply as possible.

The chef is often in Australia these days, having hooked up with Sydneysider Sarah Burns, although the hotel receptionist concedes he is not here tonight, will be here only once this week and possibly just four times each year.

Is that enough to warrant the restaurant carrying the Stein moniker. I’m dubious; it sounds suspiciously like a victory of marketing over reality. Still, you can’t deny it makes Bannisters a great tourist attraction, and the restaurant itself is pleasant, with elegant enough furnishings, friendly staff and a cracking position beside the Pacific.

True to form, Stein’s menu – executed by head chef Julian Lloyd, another Brit -  is seafood-focused with mainly agreeably old-fashioned-sounding fare, such as lobster with herbs and Singapore crab, prawns with mayonnaise.

I think I’ve seen Stein cook Indonesian seafood curry before, as well as fish deep-fried in dripping, so we choose these for mains ($42 and $40, respectively) after starting with a selection of oysters ($21 for six), plus fish and shellfish soup ($18) and ravioli of lobster with tomato and basil ($28).

The oysters,  are spectacular. Sourced locally and from South Australia, they are huge, briny, sweet and mouth-tinglingly wonderful.

The soup, too, is perfect. Served from a tureen, its like a bouillabaisse without the fiddly bits, brilliantly flavoured and textured, so good it overshadows the delicate ravioli.

But it’s the mains that really win us over. Fish with chips and mushy peas sounds dull, or at least boring, but this is something else. Swimmingly fresh hapuka has been folded into crunchy brown batter that can only be described as exemplary, while the curry is a study in fragrant aromatics.

This is a masterclass in seafood done simply and well.

There are some annoyances. The wine list disappoints, as does the seriously second-rate glassware.

We’re shocked to see both red and white wine poured into identical clunky, old-fashioned glasses; this is a deal-breaker for wine lovers and really not acceptable.

Sigh. Nobody’s perfect and neither is Bannisters. Fortunate then that the food is so outstanding it’s easy to overlook a few flaws. No matter who’s behind the burners.

All meals are paid for and visitsare unannounced

MY NAME is Tamzin, and I confess – I am a surly waiter.

I confess also to sniggering when you mispronounce the name of this week’s obscure vegetable. I roll my eyes when you order your steak well done, or with fries. I pretend to misunderstand you when you squiggle in the air on your invisible credit card with that imaginary pen. I refuse to split your bill and I wilfully neglect your empty water glass.

For I am a waiter who is Going Places, and I have no time for your petty requests. This is not a career, this is a job. I resent it – and by extension, I resent you. One day, hopefully soon, I’ll get a Real Job. Until then, I must subject myself to the daily ordeals of a career in service.

Despite my disdain for my industry (and you), I have always considered myself to be a reasonably good waiter. I’ll get you seated quickly, I won’t forget your order, and my fingernails are usually clean. I will be perfectly pleasant, and you will have an adequate evening under my care.

But a week in the Arabian Gulf has made me realise that I’ve got no idea. These guys know service. From the lowliest bathroom attendant to the society man who hosts a dewaniya in his home, it is a source of pride for these people that they are able to make my day a little better.

They take every opportunity to be helpful to me. Where I would send someone off with a back-of-the-napkin map, my waiter cheerfully escorts me around the corner and settles me into a nice coffee shop.

When I baulk at the flavour of Arabic coffee, I am offered tea instead. When I say ‘’shak-run”, which is like saying ”thoonk-ya” in English, my waiter takes the time to gently correct me. With a smile. And a five-minute Arabic lesson.

My tea is poured with flair and served with my choice of milk, sugar, lemon and mint. My homesick wishes for lamingtons lead to a request for the recipe. My gift of a cheap clip-on koala is matched with a ring offered from my host’s finger.

My Kuwaiti servicepeople are gracious. They turn a blind eye when I use my left hand to eat. They ignore the three teaspoons of sugar I put in my coffee. It doesn’t worry them that I don’t know the right words for my food.

But the best bit is this service doesn’t come from a fear of unemployment or a respect for my status. It isn’t degrading or awkward, nor obsequious. It is their pleasure to facilitate enjoyment of every part of my day. And they don’t even ask for a tip.

Tamzin Byrne

CELEBRITY chef Peter Evans is set to judge Channel 7’s new cooking show My Kitchen Rules.

The reality cooking series is Seven’s bold plan to cash in on the phenomenal success of Channel 10’s MasterChef Australia.

Evans, a partner with brother David Evans in The Hugo’s Group restaurants, was a guest celebrity judge on the MasterChef series and was formerly contracted to Nine, where he hosted the cooking show Fresh.

He is looking forward to My Kitchen Rules, in which aspiring chefs will transform their home into a restaurant.

The Daily Telegraph

CELEBRITY MasterChef judges have suggested Anna Bligh’s enthusiasm for showcasing her home state may have cost her a chance to win he hot TV series.

As Ms Bligh’s cooking prowess with Queensland produce fell short on the top-rating Channel 10 show, viewers were hit with Liberal National Party-funded commercials questioning the Premier’s honesty over her Government’s asset sales and reasons for appearing on the show.

In a surprise attack, the LNP quietly booked the three prime-time slots – costing tens of thousands of dollars – under a different name to thwart any chance of Labor seeking a court injunction to stop them airing.

“Can you think of just one thing Labor hasn’t told a lie about?” the ad said while a picture of Ms Bligh appeared with a clock ticking.

“Just one thing Labor hasn’t lied about?

“No? No amount of spin will cover up what Labor is doing to Queensland.”

Ms Bligh has insisted she appeared on the show to promote Queensland produce but the move has been criticised as an attempted diversion from her sagging poll fortunes.

Judges last night suggested Ms Bligh’s enthusiasm for showcasing her home state may have cost her a chance to win through to the next round.

Ms Bligh and actor Simon Westaway were beaten by swimmer Eamon Sullivan in the first round.

In her signature dish challenge, the Premier served up an ambitious three courses: Moreton Bay bug with Thai dressing; rib eye beef with red wine, asparagus and mashed potatoes; and vanilla and strawberry panna cotta.

However, other celebrities presented one course each and the judges suggested that may have been Ms Bligh’s undoing.

“If Anna hadn’t put the beef in she would have won (the first challenge); she was judged on that one negative,” Matt Preston said.

“She’s gone into this challenge like a premier because she wanted to take on a lot – eager do three dishes – which probably in terms of the competition is less smart because the more you do the more you get judged on (and) the more things that can go wrong.”

Fellow judge Gary Mehigan agreed: “I was surprised she cooked a steak to be honest . . . and I thought she might have been a little more creative with it.

“As a cook, I think she did really well. She overcooked the beef a little bit, but then Matt put it in context and said everyone loves it differently.

“We all just waxed lyrical about this panna cotta because it was creamy.”

In the second challenge, the contestants, upon Sullivan’s selection, had to cook guest chef Kylie Kwong’s recipe for crispy duck.

Ms Bligh attacked the challenge with relish but was pipped at the post by Sullivan.

“If nothing else I am going to go away from here knowing how to cook this really complicated thing . . . hopefully,” Ms Bligh joked.

“As it turns out I think their criticisms have been fair. I haven’t felt anything they have criticised was unfair,” she said. “Put it this way, I didn’t feel any sense of injustice.”

Stephanie Clifford-Smith October 13, 2009 – 4:49PM

In 1819, when Sir William Watkins Wynne first grew bananas in England, he sent samples to the Horticultural Society describing them as “agreeable, luscious and acid flavoured”. Nearly 100 years later, writer Octave Uzanne said their smell “evokes in our senses exotic countries, perfumed Arabia, distant islands and tropical Edens”. Few fruits in their natural state work as well as the banana for dessert. Simply peeled, they’re sweet, soft and fragrant but introducing them to cream, sugar, butter and pastry transforms them into something altogether more decadent.

1. Plan B

Perfectly crisp, short pastry forms the base of the banana custard tart with salted peanut brittle ($4) at this tiny cafe. Lying beneath the creamy filling are rum-caramel poached bananas and on top the lightly salted peanut brittle provides good textural and flavour contrasts. The cafe is an offshoot of Becasse, next door, and offers a quick, cheap way of trying the hatted restaurant’s food — the custard and brittle do double duty in a banana creme brulee at the restaurant. Try the tart with an excellent coffee at a pavement table.

2. Riverview Hotel & Dining

Lovers of upmarket pub grub flock to this place, housed upstairs in a smart olive and white dining room with — joy of joys — sound-sopping carpet. The banana tarte tatin ($13) is as good a reason as any to visit but it’s certainly not the only one. A whole baked banana nestles in a canoe of golden puff pastry, nicely chewy and caramelised in parts. Chilled rum-and-raisin custard surrounds the tart though vanilla, thankfully, is more prominent than rum, which can easily overpower. The dried fruit adds a welcome tang.

3. Sopra

Hidden away above a groovy greengrocer, this bright cafe with soaring windows and rustic timbers has a huge following and queuing is common. But getting a seat mid-morning, before the rush, is easy and a slice of banoffee pie ($12.50) might rule out the need for lunch. The biscuit base, while good, is thick so the knife and fork provided are necessary to cut through it. The middle layer, a bed for freshly sliced banana, is a rich, almost chewy toffee made with boiled condensed milk and is heavenly. The crowning layer of piped whipped cream and a dusting of grated chocolate lightens the whole.

● Plan B, 204 Clarence St, city, 9283 3450

● Riverview Hotel & Dining 29 Birchgrove Rd, Balmain, 9810 1151

● Sopra, 1st floor, 7 Danks St, Waterloo, 9699 3174