The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 25

25 THE AGE, Tuesday 28 August 1990 West Indies color Epicure Joys of a laden table EPICURE 5 EPICURE 4 Edited by RITA ERLICH WINING DINING TT1 rm TTITTlATTDOrni nmm. OF 1IIK in The 1 1th edition of 'The Age Good Food Guide', released today, introduces some new favorites in the evolving restaurant industry and reassesses the stalwarts. CLAUDE FORELL reports: the paying public looking at ever-increasing prices. She wouldn't begin to count how many meals she has eaten in this quest for the 'Good Food Guide', and now up to his Uth year at the same task, her colleague Claude Forell wouldn't attempt to remember. Of the 500 or so restaurants and assorted food outlets reviewed annually not all warrant inclusion in the book but some are worthy of a second and third visit, especially when it comes lo working out the final ratings and the hard-won Chef's Hats.

The founding editor, Claude says only his waistline has kept the register of his fringe-benefit job "and the fringe gets bigger every If a restaurant has good food then Claude will eat everything on the plate. "For all purposes, reviewing doesn't require this but I tend to do it. It's my early training," he says. Food stylist and compiler of her own specialist cook books, Ann Creber says although over-eating is a constant problem in collecting her contributions she always remains conscious that "you are dealing with somebody's living. You have to allow all the time for your own Ann's obstacle in this is chips.

"I'm a chip freak," she says. "But I know I have to look at other aspects of the menu." Eating out at suburban and outer metropolitan restaurants Ann found only one not worthy of review, the place thai served a fritter for dessert "that arrived swimming In its own Of the others, she has been forgiving of the long night of slow service that had a waiter pouring wine too vigorously Into her glass. "I was very sensitive by the time the food came." She also looked beyond the order of pate "where the aspic bounced around the and remained gracious at the incredibly pretentious place that served frozen crocodile and subjected her to an endless, unsolicited dissertation about every other wine on the list than the one she wished to order. As a professional herself she knows how difficult it is to create a good restaurant and to keep it running at peak standard. "It is a great skill." And this year it has been a pleasure to revisit some of the places that started out with no customers yet which have managed to pick up more adventurous food styles and are now "absolutely "Some of those simple little suburban places are doing a terrific job," she says.

For his part, the cheap entries at the back of the book, David Matthews swung through 80 ethnically diverse restaurants in three months and survived to tell the tale of the "mega chilli" trials. "Sooner or later," he says, "there is a curry that beats you. The hot one that is just too fiery. You can tell (airly quickly what you're in for if the chef comes to the door of the kitchen to watch you take the first few mouthfuls." Frango Piri Piri, a Goanese Indian chicken and chilli combination was an unforgettable even! for this eating enthusiast, "the hottest thing I've ever eaten in my life. We had three bowls of yoghurt to get through it and it wasn't until three days afterwards that I began to taste anything else There are so many pitfalls in this seemingly indulgent job, the professionals willingly admit that it's not what it appears all beer and ceviche, gesch-netzeltes and sizzling finely sliced beef, wrapped in rice paper and served with mint and pickled baby carrots.

But somebody's got to do it. Dining with the rich and famous: EPICURE 4 Thanki given for rich legacy: EPICURE 5 THE harsher economic climate, the trend to cheaper, more casual cafe-bars, and proliferation of ethnic eating houses has not dimmed the lustre of Melbourne's finest restaurants. Some may be less profitable, but they have not compromised their high standards. The Uth annual edition of 'The Age Good Food Guide', launched last night at a theatrical celebration at the new Malthouse theatre complex, lists more restaurants in the top categories (two-and-half to three chef's hats) than last year, but fewer with lower ranking awards for excellence. The guide lists two special awards (his year.

Brown's is named Restaurant of the Year as the best new restaurant of 1990, and Mietta O'Donnell, of Mietta's, Is honored as the first recipient of 'The Age' Special Award for Professional Excellence. Stephanie's and Two Faces at Del-gany (Portsea) are again at the pinnacle of Victoria's restaurants, with three chef's hats and a crown to signify their pre-eminence in the quality and originality of their foods, the magnificence of their wine list, the professionalism of their service, and the splendor of their ambience. Next In rank, with three hats, come Jacques Reymond's Restaurant, Mietta's and Rogalsky's in the licensed section, while Tansy's is again the only three-hat winner among the dwindling number of BYO restaurants. Brown's is awarded two-and-a-half hats a high score for a new restaurant along with Fanny's, Flower Drum (also the best Chinese restaurant), Gowings and Maria and Walter's in the licensed category, and Petit was named Restaurant of the Year in the 1988 edition of the guide. New owners were unable to match the standard set by the Browns, and it has closed.

The special award for professional excellence to Mietta O'Donnell is the first of what will become an annual recognition of someone proprietor, chef or waiter who has made an exceptional and enduring contribution to the highest professional standards of Victoria's best restaurants. Each year the recipient will be presented with a specially engraved Waterford crystal decanter donated by Waterford-Wedgwood. IThe only previous but one-off award of this kind was a personal distinction bestowed on Hermann Schneider by the 1987 edition of the guide after he sold his pioneering Two Faces in South Yarra in anticipation of what became a delayed move to Port-sea. Sadly, the future of Two Faces at Delgany remains in doubt after the country house hotel failed to sell at an auction on 20 July.) Mietta O'Donnell is one of most dedicated, meticulous and professional of Melbourne's elite restaurateurs. Grand-daughter of Mario Vigano of the famed pre-war city restaurant Mario's, she opened the original Mietta's more than 25 years ago.

Mietta's evolved from a fairly unpretentious, adventurous and idiosyncratic BYO restaurant in North Fitz-roy into a highly sophisticated, formal French restaurant and tavern with a superb wine cellar, now located in the historic splendor of the former Naval and Military Club in the city. Open every day for lunch, dinner and supper, it maintains standards in the highest European tradition. Only the fittest survive among restaurant reviewers. JENNY BROWN sees how some of them operate. Ml V) uy this happens two or three forkfuls into a plate "then the restaurant is in To maintain an enthusiasm to dine in at least three restaurants each week her categories are Italian, French, a few Chinese and Rita has worked out a survival regime that depends on careful selection.

By picking deftly through a menu; a salad to check the quality of raw ingredients, something fried to test the timing and cleanliness of the kitchen, "You can taste bad oil really and maybe some meat to check on the suppliers and the way the chef trims the meat, she can get a quicker insight into a restaurant than most erstwhile gourmets TO GET through the endless rigors of his daily grind, "every day a different Mark Shield has developed "a barbed-wire and a nose that can sniff out an overfried dim sim at 100 paces. Does he need to eat the dim sim offered by the Chinese-style kitchen in a hotel somewhere in Melbourne's western suburbs? No, he says. Long experience has made him cautious. But he must stride manfully up to the bar because hidden somewhere in the dark recesses of the cellars they might have a barrel of the best beer in town and it is Mark's job to find this out. "It's work," he emphasises.

"I'm not saying I don't enjoy it One of the regular reviewers for the annual 'The Age Good Food Guide', for his own columns and his series of books on Australian pubs state-by-state. Shield visited 1300 hotels in 1 1 months, a marathon performance by a truly gastronomic athlete of welghtlifter dimensions. He came away from the task with a healthy respect for a decent steak sandwich for $2.50 "They can be dreadful, or absolute rippers" and a permanent aversion for the predictable grub that accompanies the predictable mains chalked up on the counter-meals board in every other hotel. "Three-bean mix, tired vegetables, beetroot there's always beetroot, and cold ravioli in mayonnaise. I avoid these like the plague," he says.

The best pub meals can be as good as any you might find in a decent restaurant, but even where it is just typical Aussie-style cuisine, "a combination of granny's cooking and wholesome the atmosphere, the informality and the more sociable Interaction of a pub must all be weighed up in the final assessment of whether it's worth anyone pulling into the parking lot and taking up a ticket for meal number 24. For this year's guide, Shield selected 30 Melbourne hotels. For next year's, the quest must continue. Shield reckons the only real hazard of his work is to his mental health. Some days he can go expectant into an unexplored hotel and come away sorely depressed.

"I spend the rest of the day thinking about how I can write about it without being sued." Though it may look like a picnic in Free Lunch Land, food reviewing, particularly when the deadline of a book like the guide looms, can have an army of serious food appraisers going all over Melbourne, day in, night out, for months. They all swear it is hard work, a time and task intensive that in the end leaves Rita Erlich, at least, longing for a cool, crisp apple and a long glass of water. A co-editor with Claude Forell of the guide through the past decade, Rita has maintained her weight by working out a series of shortcuts to assessing the quality of food and the relative skills of the kitchen. Rarely does she feel pressured to finish everything on every plate and therefore, too often, reaching for the Alka-Seltzers. "It sounds disciplined," she says.

"But I know exactly when I've had enough to eat." That Is, "when the flavors change in your mouth. It's hard to explain," she says. "Wine makers know what I mean; it's when you stop enjoying things." If tin an ik i ou too can share some of the secrets the days become warmer and longer, of the great chefs Hyatt On Collins is Hyalt On Collins has many delightful ways to help you celebrate the arrival of Spring and Father's Day on September 2. 4 real your father to our very popular Sunday Brunch or Sunday Afternoon Tea and Symphony at Plane Tree Cafe Restaurant. Open seven days a week from breakfast to supper, Plane Tree is contemporary dining al its best.

4 your special father is a kid at heart, he- conducting a series of four uxiking demonstrations, commencing on Saturday Scptcnilx.T and continuing on every second Saturday of the month until December. They include lleallhy Gourmet Cooking wilh Gabriel Gale, the secrets of Hush Pood Cooking, 'Papas Cuisine and Christmas Pastry Cooking. demonstration, starling al 11.00am followed by lunc at 1230pm in Max's Restaurant, costs iS. However, all four demonstrations with lunch cost only 160. Numbers are limited so Ix1 quic Contact Nicola McCrackcn on fn7 2.Vi.

ose who love the gcxid things in life, the Mclliourne International Festival's inaugural International ood Festival at Collins Chase Fcxxl Court, will be a unique opportunity lo enjoy the finest cuisine. Al 8.00pm on SepiemlxT V) Hyatt hefs ill present one grand, inspired evening. At only S'JS it promises to be a gastronomic experienc for the most discerning palate. For Ixxikings to this black tie extravaganza contact liass on I ISllO is sure to enjoy an ice-cream from Hanzelmanns al Collins Chase Food Court, Hyatt On Collins. With many ice-cream flavours, cakes and pastries, Hanzelmanns is perfect for Dad and the children too! fathers who appreciate the finest in food, wine and service, the elegant Max's Restaurant is a delight.

Amid.sl very stylish surroundings, your father will enjoy cuisine that has earned Max's iwo hats in the Age Good Fcxxl Guide. noil vour father ith a nighl al Myall Other awards in the latest edition of 'The Age Good Food Guide' One-and-a-half hats Licensed: Akita, Bamboo House, Chin-ois, Quarter Sessions; Cotswold House (Menzies Creek), Lake House (Dayles-ford). BYO: Alain The Gourmand, Lazar's Charcoal Grill, Manfred's, Vlado's. One hat Licensed: Aya, Centro Cafe, Chenny's, Fitzsimmons, Fortuna Village, France-Solr, Hilton on the Park (Cliveden Room), The Last Aussie Flshcaf, Lynch's, Orexis, Rasa Singapura 6 Singapore Seafood Restaurant, Reef Anchor, Renoir, Sawasdee, Slattery's, Suntory, Toofey's; Chris's Beacon Point Restaurant (Skenes Creek), The Eaglehawk (Maldon), The Queenscllff Hotel (Queenscllff), The Shamrock Hotel (Bendigo). BYOi Cafe Boulanger, Cafe Quixote, Monsoon, Nawab's.

Choux, the only BYO restaurant of this rank. Two hats go to Marchetti's Latin and three top international hotel dining rooms: Max's at the Hyatt on Collins, Ce Restaurant at the Regent of Mel-, bourne, and the Grand Dining Room at The Windsor. The Mask of China (BYO), which specialises in the regional Chinese Chiu Chow cuisine, also scores two hats. Brown's Is really two eating places in one, both located In what was once a car-wash building among the fashionable boutiques of High Street, -Armadale. In front is an Informal bistro, and behind, but served from the same kitchen, a charming restaurant akin to a private dining room serving modern French food at its formal best.

Greg and Merran Brown moved there after establishing a high reputation at their first restaurant, Paysan, in South Yarra, which became too small to accommodate their growing and appreciative clientele. Paysan On Collins lo follow a perfect end to an evening al the theatre. Fncutrc alxmi our theatre packages to the last four weeks of l.cs Miserables or The Phantom of the Opera commencing in December. These popular packages are selling fast. ndeed there is always a special reason to stay or dine al llvatt On Collins.

Cv) HyattOn Collins 123 Collins Mrcel. Melbourne. Victoria. .3000. Telephone di li.Vi Facsimile did.