Is Immitation Flattery? Controversy At Restaurant Interlude

This is an old post from my other blog More Thanh Words which I have decided to group here as it is about food.

Recently, chef Robin Wickens of high profile restaurant Interlude in Melbourne has been involved in a lot of controversy. He has been accused of copying dishes from other high profile restaurants Alinea and WD-50 in the US.

I think from the pictures you can clearly see that he has copied the other restaurant's dishes. The question is, was it merely an oversight and he naively forgot to credit them. Or, did he think he could get away with it, and get credit for himself. I tend to be cynical and think that he was trying to get credit for it. He did win young chef of the year from The Age Good Food Guide and I'm sure these innovative dishes helped in achieving that.

What Wickens has done is ethically wrong, but not legally wrong. You cannot copyright a food dish, which is fair enough, otherwise you might only be able to eat a Pepper Steak at one restaurant in the world. I mean we at home copy dishes all the time when we follow a recipe from a book. But the difference here is that Wickens is making money off someone else's idea and not crediting it. I think the least you can do is to credit the other chef, its just a matter of principal. Imagine the injustice if the other chef was actually accused of copying Wickens dishes if a diner went to Wickens restaurant first. I think a chef should be inspired by a dish and at alter them to give it a different feel, infuse it with his own special touches. That should be how a good chef operates, not steal someone else's idea and try to pass it as their own.

I'm sure Wickens isn't the only chef that is copying dishes from other restaurants. As with anything in the commercial world, if it sells, others will try to copy it. Not crediting the original inventors means that firstly there isn't a comparison. Secondly most people will tend to want to try the original item rather than the imitated version. If I knew two restaurants had the same dish, I would want to try the place that invented it.

Tantawon Thai Restaurant

This is an old post from my other blog More Thanh Words which I have decided to group here as it is about food.

I went to Tantawon Thai Restaurant in Kingsway in Glen Waverley last night with my friends Jo and Kin. I had been there previously for lunch and remembered that the food was quite good but fairly expensive. Well it has gone through a management change and not for the better. After last nights experience, I'll never be going back. When you first walk into the restaurant, it looks like an upmarket place with the table settings nicely arranged and a nice ambience about it. But thats where anything good about it ends. There's a reason why all other restaurants along Kingsway are packed to the max and this one isn't.

There is a lot wrong with this place and I don't even know where to start. Let me start at the service as that is where it went wrong from. We were handed menus and after we made our selections, we waited, and waited. You would think that the waitress would at least bring our drinks first. How hard is it to open the cap on a bottle of beer. Anyway it took ages for that to arrive. Also we had asked for water knowing that the food would be spicy. The water never arrived and throughout the night we asked again and finally for a third time when Jo had to physically get out of her seat, go over to the bar and demand for some water. There is no excuse for this. The restaurant may want to sell drinks for over inflated prices (which we all had already ordered) but even if customers don't buy a drink, they are entitled to ask for water. It couldn't have been an oversight as we asked the same person twice and since there were hardly any other customers, it couldn't be that hard to remember.

The wait staff were also not very attentive. It was hard to get their attention as they were all mulliing around the bar and not looking around the room to see if any help was required. Another thing that was bad in my opinion was that they left tables uncleared for a very long time. If this was supposed to be a high class establishment, leaving tables uncleared with all the messy plates didn't look very good.

With the actual food itself, it was not very good and ridiculously overpriced. We ordered a Beef Pad Thai, Chicken with Lemongrass and Tom Yum, Green Chicken Curry, Satay Beef Skewers, Roti and Coconut Rice. The Satay Beef Skewers were so overdone and totally hard and dry. The Beef Pad Thai was way too sweet from too much sweet soy and lacked any other flavours. The Green Chicken Curry was boring and just tasted like a lot of coconut milk. The Roti was again too sweet and so chewy. Compared to the Roti that I had last week at Namaskar India, this tasted like chewy paper. The Coconut Rice was again too sweet. It wasn't just me that thought everything was too sweet, Jo had commented about it before me. The only half decent thing was the Chicken with Lemongrass and Tom Yum. It was the only dish resembling what Thai food SHOULD be like, aromatic fresh flavours blending a variety of different taste sensations that jump around in your mouth.

Overall, I rate this restaurant extremely poor. It tries to be a high class restaurant but it doesn't come close to achieving it. The only thing high class about it are the prices, which is not reflected by the food. The service is also extremely poor so we didn't bother tipping.

Overall Rating: 8/20, Food is overpriced and boring, service was terrible.

Scores: 1-9: Unacceptable, don't bother. 10-11: Just OK,some shortcomings. 12: Fair. 13: Getting there. 14: Recommended. 15: Good. 16: Really good. 17: Truly excellent. 18: An outstanding experience. 19-20: Approaching perfection, Victoria's best.

Namaskar India Restaurant

This is an old post from my other blog More Thanh Words which I have decided to group here as it is about food.

Namaskar India is located on Glenferrie Road in Malvern. The first thing that hits you when you walk in is the strong unmistakable smell of curry. The restaurant looks a little like a cross between a take away shop crossed with a cafe. The interior is nice with a high ceiling and a few decorative touches. The tables are set very nicely with red table cloth, clean cutlery and crisp white plates. The only downfall was the tacky butcher paper lined over the tablecloth so cleaning up was easier and the tablecloth could be reused.

Service was friendly and helpful. They remembered any requests we had and were willing to explain items on the menu to us. The waiters were also dressed in neat black uniforms making them easy to spot and separate from customers. I don't like places where the waiters dress casually as you don't know sometimes who is the waiter or just customers.

My friend Paul had told me that the food at Namaskar is very cheap but also tasted good, as even his Indian friends come and eat there. For entrees, Paul, Serena and I shared the Indian Chilli Chicken and the Gobi Manchurian, marinated cauliflower fried with chilli, onions and spices. These turned out to be the highlight of the food for me. I loved the chicken, it was soft and had strong aromatic spices to it. The capsicum and onions accompanying it helped to break up the flavour. Also surprising, I found the cauliflower to be good too. It really didn't taste a lot like cauliflower and almost had a meat like quality to it.

Main course was Butter Chicken and Chicken Tikka Masala. These are well known Indian curry dished and Namaskar does them well. The Butter Chicken was very rich and got a bit much at the end while the Masala was hotter and equally aromatic without the richness of the butter. I had the Roti Plantha (roti stuffed with butter) bread to eat with the curries while Paul had the Plain Naan and Garlic Naan bread. The bread tasted similar to me with the Roti Plantha being a bit more moist and richer due to the butter. Serena had the Murthabak Kambing which is roti stuffed with lamb, onion, chilli, tomato, egg and spices. It tasted a bit like one of those Chinese meat buns.

For dessert we all shared a Roti Tisu, which was just crispy corn bread topped with condensed milk. It wasn't anything too special, just tasted like toast with condensed milk that I eat a lot of anyway.

Overall Namaskar India is a great place for Indian curry. There is a wide choice of foods and all at very affordable prices. You can easily get a meal and dessert for under $10. The atmosphere is nice and relaxing and service is good.

Overall Rating: 14/20, Good food but its the value for money that gets my recommendation.

Scores: 1-9: Unacceptable, don't bother. 10-11: Just OK,some shortcomings. 12: Fair. 13: Getting there. 14: Recommended. 15: Good. 16: Really good. 17: Truly excellent. 18: An outstanding experience. 19-20: Approaching perfection, Victoria's best.

Koko Black Chocolates

This is an old post from my other blog More Thanh Words which I have decided to group here as it is about food.

My friend Patrick (below left) and I went to Koko Black to eat dessert (below right) and buy chocolates. Patrick had the Chocolate Platter consisting of chocolate cake, shortbread biscuit, pieces of chocolate, chocolate mousse and chocolate ice cream. Although his platter looks really good, Patrick thought the only nice thing was the shortbread biscuit. I had the Panacotta and Sorbet, with the panacotta made from coconut and passionfruit and the sorbet of lemon and passionfruit with pineapple pieces inside. It was nice without being spectacular.


We then bought lots of EXPENSIVE chocolates. Patrick bought almost a kilo for $90, while I was a bit more mindful of my wallet and bought about half a kilo for $48. Now that I have spent all my money on chocolates, I will have to go without lunch for the rest of the week or substitute my lunch with chocolates. :-)

The CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet

This is an old post from my other blog More Thanh Words which I have decided to group here as it is about food.

Its been 2 months and I have just finished the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet. So far I have lost 4kgs, going from about 68-69 kgs to 64-65 kgs and dropped one pant size. I'm very happy with this as I feel a lot better and have more energy each day despite sleeping less than before.

What the diet boils down to is eating more protein and less carbohydrates, the reasoning being that the body burns carbohydrates first before other things, so if it lacks carbohydrates, then it must burn the protein and fats. Also proteins are suppose to be more filling so you don't want to eat as much.

I found that the first week was the toughest. I did feel hungry quite a lot as I wasn't used to not eating rice. I'm Asian so I love my rice and usually must eat it everyday. Anyway, I slowly adapted to the diet and didn't start to feel hungry anymore. I was eating vegetables, which I never ate in the past. I was even starting to enjoy the vegetables (can't believe I would ever hear myself say that in my lifetime). I used to be a big time meat eater and this diet still allows you to eat meat so I didn't feel deprived of anything.

The book containing the diet doesn't really tell you much. Most of the books is recipes for foods that they allow you to eat. So if you want recipes, then get the book, otherwise if you want to save $30, I have written the daily food allowance below and its all you need to know to start the diet.

DAILY FOOD ALLOWANCE

1) Lean Protein Foods - 3 units
1 unit is equal to 100g of lean meat of fish or 2 eggs.

2) Wholegrain Bread - 2 units
1 unit is equal to 35g slice bread, 1 medium potato, 1/3 cup cooked rice, 1/2 cup cooked pasta, 1/3 beans.

3) High Fibre Cereal - 1 unit
1 unit is equal to 40g cereal, 1 slice wholegrain bread.

4) Dairy - 2 units
1 unit is equal to 250ml low fat milk, 200g low fat yoghurt, 25g full fat cheese, 50g reduced fat cheese.

5) Fruit - 2 units
1 unit is equal to 150g fruit

6) Vegetables - 2.5 units.
1 unit is equal to 1 cup of cooked vegetables or salad.

7) Fats and Oils - 3 units
1 unit is equal to 1 teaspoon of any oil or margarine, 60g avocado, 20g nuts.

8) Wine - 2 glasses (300ml) a week
Or 3 standard alcoholic drinks a week or anything that matches about 800 kJ such as 40g chocolate if you don't drink.

You can divide the food in anyway you want when eating them during the day.

La Paella Spanish and Moroccan Restaurant

This is an old post from my other blog More Thanh Words which I have decided to group here as it is about food. I have since decided to drop the score down one point for this review since I had just started reviewing restaurants months ago and I was too generous at the beginning.

I went to La Paella Spanish/Moroccan Restaurant with 3 friends on Saturday. The restaurant is located on Sydney Road in Brunswick. This restuarant is one of few restaurants that actually have a webpage. Just having a good webpage scores them points with me already. You can get a feel of what the food is like through the menu and also the costs involved.

The atomsphere inside is comfortable with Moroccan pottery lining the walls and lots of other trinkets on sale littered around the restaurant, including the famous tagines, conical clay pots. You can see the pottery in the picture on the left behind Harinder (in his very cool Indian shirt) and the booth seating with these colourful cushions. There is soft percussive music played in the background and the constant clack clack of the ceiling fans actually sound like those wood clapping things that Flamenco dancers use.

The service is efficient and straight forward. We were given adequate time to order and were looked after with the waitress' attention easily caught to get a glass changed. The waitress made a polite enquiry about the food at the start, which was good in case there was anything wrong.

The food, which is what you come for at La Paella was extremely good. We wanted to order their famous Seafood Paella but seeing how it would take 45 minutes, we decided maybe we will try that next time when we went a bit earlier. So we settled for entrees of Chicken Shasliks (chicken skewers) and Chickpea Salad, and mains of Beef Tagine, Chicken Irfan and Lamb Shanks.

The Shasliks weren't that good, with the chicken being a bit dry and lacking flavour. Surprisingly the Chickpea salad was liked by all, including me. The salad had a nice flavour to it and was fresh and light, with the chickpeas cooked sufficiently so that they were soft.

The Lamb Shanks was nice and hearty with the shanks extremely soft and the meat falling off the bone. It was served with vegetables and and a bed of mash. The Chicken Irfan was very interesting, with grilled banana and pineapple used in the dish. I liked the banana but I have a thing about pineapple in savoury food, I don't mind if it accompanies the food to add flavour but I won't eat it. This is not to say I don't like pineapple, far from it, I love pineapple on its own with some salt and chilli sprinkled on it, I just don't like eating pineapple in savoury food. The chicken itself was a little dry but eaten together with the onions and banana, it worked very nicely. My favourite dish was the Beef Tagine. The beef was moist and soft and the prunes, onions, almonds all made for a very interesting flavour.

For dessert, they only had one item that night, which was the Spanish Flan, so we all got that (it was an easy decision between ice cream or cream with everyone opting for ice cream). The flan was sort of like a creme caramel/custard without the caramel sauce. Instead it had an orange sauce at the bottom and was served with orange slices sprinkled with icing sugar and the ice cream. The orange flavours worked well and it wasn't too sweet.

Overall, La Paella is great food that is different and worth eating once in a while. The atmosphere is good without being too noisy and service is efficient. The prices of the food is quite fare I thought, with the dishes being very substantial in size and quality.

Overall Rating: 15/20, Great food that blends many different flavours.

Scores: 1-9: Unacceptable, don't bother. 10-11: Just OK,some shortcomings. 12: Fair. 13: Getting there. 14: Recommended. 15: Good. 16: Really good. 17: Truly excellent. 18: An outstanding experience. 19-20: Approaching perfection, Victoria's best.

Ocean King Chinese Restaurant

This is an old post from my other blog More Thanh Words which I have decided to group here as it is about food.

Ocean King Chinese Restaurant is located in Kingsway in Glen Waverley and is your typical Asian style restuarant, from the look of the place, to the food they serve, to the service style of the staff.

The interior has that usual look, pink walls, cheap table cloth and chairs and tacky ornaments on the wall. The atmosphere in there was noisy as in all Asian restaurants. Asians just love to shout really loudly when they talk, I don't know why, maybe because they're used to having to do that back in Asian countries where there are so many people and you have to shout to be heard.

The service was ok without being great. The waitress wasn't rude, a nice change, but just went about her work efficiently. She did take away the soup when my friend Justin hadn't finished with it yet though.

The food was run of the mill stuff. I think there is a standard Chinese menu that all restaurants copy from. The dishes looked to be catered for Australian clientel as it was all stock standard popular Asian dishes without anything risky. There wasn't really anything out of the ordinary on the menu so we went the safe option and orderd beef with honey pepper sauce, scallops and vegetables, roast duck and roast pork. The food arrived so promptly (in under 10 minutes from ordering) that we joked that it must have been some else's who didn't want it and they reheated it in the microwave. To the right was the roast duck and roast pork beautifully modelled by our resident hand modeller Kevin.

The food tasted ok, there was nothing wrong with it but tasted similar to many other places that I had eaten at. The roast duck and pork weren't that good and their sweet chilli sauce didn't taste nice.

As you can tell from the recurring theme, overall the meal was ok, with service being prompt, our meals arriving quickly and tasting ok. The only slight drawback was that I thought the prices were too high for the quality of food they were delivering. Maybe their location in Glen Waverley meant there was always lots of customers and they could get away with those prices but they were too high in my opinion.

Overall Rating: 11/20, Food ok but too expensive

Scores: 1-9: Unacceptable, don't bother. 10-11: Just OK,some shortcomings. 12: Fair. 13: Getting there. 14: Recommended. 15: Good. 16: Really good. 17: Truly excellent. 18: An outstanding experience. 19-20: Approaching perfection, Victoria's best.

Seamus O'Toole Irish Pub

This is an old post from my other blog More Thanh Words which I have decided to group here as it is about food.

Seamus O'Toole Irish Pub is located in the Knox City Shopping Centre O-Zone complex with all the other restaurants. Its the tiny place wedged between the cinema and Dragon Boat Chinese Restaurant (never go to Dragon Boat, its one of the worst dining experiences I've ever had).

Paul (below left), Kin (refused to be photographed) and I (below right) went for a "cheeeaaaapp" meal as Kin would say and some drinks. The pub is fairly dark (as most old style pubs are) and with its low wooden rafter ceilings makes you feel like you are underground as Kin noted.

The atmosphere inside is as expected, very noisy and raucous. The dining area is better lit and separated from the rest of the pub where you can't smoke. That's good since I hate the smell of smoke and don't want to taste it all in my food. The service (or lack of) is to be expected. The waitress behind the counter was less than warm, asking us "What do you want" like she was really annoyed.

As for the food itself, its pretty standard pub fare with the usual steak, pasta, pizza, chicken parma etc. We all ordered the steak, which at $12.90 is cheap for steak. I had my steak medium and it was still nice and moist. The powerful grill they used gave it a very nice charred flavour. Washed down with my beer, the meal was enjoyable without being special.

Overall Rating: 12/20, Good value for money while still quite nice

Scores: 1-9: Unacceptable, don't bother. 10-11: Just OK,some shortcomings. 12: Fair. 13: Getting there. 14: Recommended. 15: Good. 16: Really good. 17: Truly excellent. 18: An outstanding experience. 19-20: Approaching perfection, Victoria's best.

Afrobev's Guide To Eating Out: The Maenllwyd Inn

Welcome to the first part of the World famous eating out guide as written by Afrobev and was first seen on my blog 'A Man Amongst Men'.

I Went to a restaurant last called The Maenllwyd Inn at Rudry with Philomena on our Wednesday night 'date night' and I must admit the food there was absolutely gorgeous. My date wasn't bad either!

Its about the third time I've been there as the first couple of times we went with our friend Leanne-who is a total foodie like us and seems to know all the best places for a munch. She's got this place spot on as it serves some of the nicest food I've ever tasted...And the desserts are to die for. Its a nice, cosy, low light country setting.The ceilings are a bit on the low side for my height but I find it a suitably relaxing environment. Especially for date night.

Last night we had Chicken breast stuffed with leeks and mushrooms in a garlic sauce with potatoes of your choice(Chips, Chips, Chips!) and a selection of fresh vegetables. For afters Phil had Chocolate Mousse and I had Vanilla Cheesecake with ice cream from their vast selection on their dessert board. Got to go back to try out more desserts...And more main courses for that matter. I'm not a seafood nut as a rule but I feel I should return there and try some of their tantalizing fish dishes, it's got to be done.

The waiter there is a bit eerie and sinister( like he should open the door at a haunted manor and say"You Rang?"). But I think he puts it on a bit as part of the act as the Inn is supposed to be haunted by a man known as the Legless Cavalier.Due to the fact that he's got no legs, not because he's had too much to drink. Though that's probably due to the fact that he couldn't get a drink from the slowest bar staff in Wales, who stumble around the bar at a snails pace with personalities of pall bearers. Apart from that though, the Maenllwyd rules when it comes to the complete dining experience!

Afrobev's Ratings:
Food- A
Ambience -B
Waiter- A-
Bar- C
Presentation -A
Overall A

Welcome To "I Eat Therefore I Am"

Hi There Food Lover,

I thought I would update this profile since the composition of this blog has changed a lot since it was first conceived. So here goes.

Let me first introduce myself. I'm Thanh Do, engineer by day, baker by mid week, gluttonous diner by weekends and food blogger in between. I am consumed (boom boom, pun intended) by food. I love to eat it, read about it, discuss it, write about it, look at it, smell it and eat it again. I profess to no technical training in the field of cooking or writing about food. All opinions on this blog are my own humble thoughts.

I must thank Alan, from Photo Finish, who was the one who encouraged me to start this food blog. I haven't looked back since. Whilst the other contributors have stopped contributing to this site, I am even more enthusiastic about it. I've met so many wonderful people through this blog, all of whom love food as much as I do. A lot of those people are now my friends, who I invite over for meals and catch up with for food adventures around Melbourne. I always love to meet more people who want to explore more of Melbourne's food scene. Drop me an email if you want to catch up to do something.

Well, that pretty much sums up the story of this blog thus far. Yes, it's about food. Yes, it's about me. Hopefully, there's enough humour, information and discussion to keep you coming back. Your feedback is valued as it will drive more discussion and a greater understanding. I would love to hear your feedback whether you disagree or agree with me. Feel free to leave comments on any topic or send me an email if you want to discuss it privately.

So that's the end of my usual rambling. There's probably a tonne of speeling and grandmatical mistakes, but I'm sure you get the point.

And don't forget the motto

"I Eat Therefore I Am"

Cheers,
Thanh Do
2nd March 2010


PREVIOUSLY IN 2006
Hello, thanks for visiting our blog "I Eat Therefore I Am". As you can see from the carefully chosen name for this blog, food is not just a way of staying alive, it's a philosophy in life. For those of you who don't understand the title, its copied from Rene Descartes' philosophy of "I Think, Therefore I Am". He believed that reality only existed if he thought about it and made sense of things. In our case, our reality is that we all enjoy food and it brings us pleasure. Food plays such a vital and major role in our lives, so why not enjoy it as much as possible and make it something that you look forward to.

This site is jointly contributed by many members across the globe. Most of us didn't know each other before we began our blogging journeys, but have since become to be friends, friends who all share a common passion for food. Hence an idea was born, that we should not let the barriers of distance stop us all from collaborating on a project that should be lots of fun. Hence, with the aid of the Internet, email, and MSN, this blog was born.

So far, the contributors (in order of gluttony down the list) to the blog are the following people:

The little Kae from Supa Dupa Girl Kae blog fame. The following is a short introduction about Kae.

At the tiny age of 5, Kae ate kilos of lychees and promptly got sick and was rushed to hospital for eating too much. From that moment on, Kae began her love affair with all things sweet and sugary, and every now and then, grotty and authentic. Kae has food buddies around the world, has enormous plans to embark on an eating adventure with each and everyone of them marked by croissants in France, spices in South America, chocolates in Belgium, and noodles in Asia. A not so great cook, Kae loves to experiment in the kitchen, and spends most of her culinary desires perfecting her baking skills, and hence, that's where most of her posts will come from :)

The fashionable Michelle from Hoarding Heirlooms blog fame. The following is a short introduction about Michelle.

Hard to believe, but food takes precedance over fashion for Michelle. When there's nothing to be found at Alannah Hill, you can count on Michelle to feast her eyes on something sumptuous around the corner at Coles. Michelle doesn't (know how to) cook however her dining habits more than make up for it. You see, mention the four letter F-word to Michelle and she will think you were offering her five million bucks as part of the lottery. One cheeseball and she's outta here.

The wise Choo from The Oriental Express blog fame. The following is a short introduction about Choo.

"If Choo can cook, so can you! To encourage those of you who think you cannot cook, try it. It is not difficult at all.
When Choo was a student in Canada, she tried to brew some coffee for the lady who wanted Choo to babysit her four children during the summer months while she was away in Europe. She was flabbergasted to find that Choo had put all the beans in the pot, without first grinding them into coffee powder. Yet today, Choo runs the Rialto Italian Cuisine restaurant. She has become a Chef, not by training, but by crisis, learnt by observing her chefs. Now she can also cook good Chinese, Nonya, Malay, Thai and Western dishes. As a lover of animals, Choo eats more vegetables and fruits than meat. Sharks Fin is a no no, as Choo feels it is too cruel to kill sharks just for their fins. She feels that if God intended humans to be carnivores, they will have teeth like the wild animals. Like Thanh, Choo love chocolates too. She also enjoys eating nuts.....any type of nuts. Her siblings say she is the biggest NUT! She can eat noodles everyday, but can go without rice or bread for months and still not miss them. She can cook noodles in 101 ways. Want to try them? Then be nice to Choo. You will get invited to her home for a meal. The most important ingredient in cooking is love. This is why homecooked dishes are always tasty because they are cooked with love.
Bon appetit! Buon appetito! Makan sedap! Rusi ya irikire! Enjoy your food!"

The literary Alan from Photo Finish blog fame. The following is a short introduction about Alan.

"Alan hails from the sunny island state of Singapore, a multi-ethnic society that's also a cosmopolitan melting pot of different scents and flavors. He enjoys an economical meal and can also whip up a mean plate of fried rice (paradise?). Alan is a soup person; he believes that even though a meal can suck, it ain't too shabby as long as the soup is kicks ass. His favorite is sichuan soup, which he is also fond of making (it's easy!). Thank you for visiting us. Please have a seat, check out our menu, and our friendly staff will be with you shortly to take your orders."

The communicative Trev from I Am Superb blog fame. The following is a short introduction about Trev.

"Gday ladies and gentlemen. And here too begins the journey of sharing Trev's sizzling tasteful, saliva tingling and sumptuous times spent around bowls, plate, ounces, kilos, mountains and piles of food food and more food! Trev certainly enjoys eating and some of his favourite cuisines are Korean, South African and Turkish. Cooking dishes is great fun but his recipe appertoire isn't a great one, so he hopes this blog will be as much of a learning experience for you as it is for him, learning about food, cooking, reviews and whatever else everyone has to contribute."

The law abiding Stan from Brother Daniel San blog fame. The following is a short introduction about Stan.

"To Be Added Soon"

The relaxed James from A Man Amongst Men blog fame. The following is a short introduction about James.

"James is all about the food. Food is his life. If the old adage You are what you eat is to be applied then the man known to bloggers as 'Afrobev' would be many things from red meat to white meat to basically anything that can be digested as he eats to live and lives to eat. He will readily admit that cooking is not his strong point but he has been known to concoct a decent enough meal as long as he has instructions and has everything written down for him in point form. His 'Afrobev's Guide To Eating Out' has become legendary (even though it's only he that says so himself) for it's honesty and for it's self depreciating style. Eating out is to him almost as big as the man himself and he has been known (along with his 'foodie' girlfriend) to spend hundreds of pounds a month on dining out together in a variety of establishments ranging from the classy restaurants to the 'KFC's. He likes his specialty cheeses, his favourite fruit is banana and his least favourite dessert is lemon merangue. Recently he has discovered an intense dislike for sushi."

The scientific Thanh from More Thanh Words blog fame. The following is a short introduction about Thanh.

"Thanh is a chocolate loving incompetent cook. His ultra acute sense of smell and taste serve him well when he is "suggesting" (insert the word criticising instead for suggesting) ways other people can improve their cooking. His ultra sensitive stomach is also a good indicator of when food is bad or overly manipulated with chemicals. While he will suggest many good ideas for improvements to other's cooking, his own repotoire of cooking consists of instant noodles and cakes made from boxed cake mix. His only redeeming cooking skill is a perfectly cooked medium rare steak. In his own opinion, the steak is comparable to restaurant quality, good restaurants that is, not "steakhouses". He loves to eat dessert the most, and the first thing he will check on the menu at a restaurant is what desserts are available. He will then plan his dinner around the dessert, leaving enough space in his slightly portly belly to eat dessert. His food ambition is to somehow make it into the food industry in a small way and indulge his unending appetite for good food. Or his other ambition is to eat as many different tiramisu's sold in Melbourne as possible."

We all hope you enjoy our blog and some of our enthusiasm about food rubs off on you. Hopefully you will come back often to read all the interesting and maybe sometimes uninteresting things we have to say about food.

"I Eat Therefore I Am"