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Tasty bits from bmag - March 8

Posted by Eat drink and be Kerry on March 08, 2011

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A night of firsts at Urbane

It was a night of firsts - my first duck tongue and my first lamb sweetbreads. I've always avoided offal, scarred by an unfortunate experience as a child when my mother tried to make me eat liver, but as Ubane owner Andrew Buchanan said, best to try it first cooked by a great chef - so I did. Seated at a long table we were there to experience the new Urbane menu under Alejandro Cancino. He looks like he's just out of short pants, but this chef has a list of restaurants and awards on his resume that demand attention. Passionate about fine dining, Argentinian-born Alejandro has spent the last 10 years working with some of the best chefs in the world, naming the great chef and innovator Andoni Luis Aduriz at Mugaritz in Spain, Luca Fantin at Bulgari Tokyo and Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in England as his mentors. In Australia, he calls Dan Hunter at the Royal Mail in Victoria his local guide, having worked together at Mugaritz. Last April Alejan

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Stokehouse, South Bank

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Why bother with a cheap steak?

Trying to save money by dining cheap and cheerful when it comes to steak is a recipe for disaster. The odds are against you when you select the random steak on the menu and expect to bite into something tender and flavoursome. Mostly you are going to be disappointed because finding the right beef and then cooking it to perfection is something that takes a lot of effort and practice. My next beef when it comes to steak (pun intended) is paying $40 to $50 for a meal when I have to stand in a line to order and then sit with a buzzer on my table so I can collect it when it ready. Yes, I’m looking at you pubs with steakhouses. Maybe you enjoy the relaxed ambience of the beer garden and live for the moment when you peel back the alfoil on that Idaho potato, but if for the same price I can dine with tablecloths and table service, I know where I would rather be. Moo Moo Restaurant Group owner, Steven Adams, and executive chef, Trent Robson One man who knows meat is Stev

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Eat,drink+beKerry by Kerry Heaney is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No