Food News
Last week alongside a couple of hundred chefs and restaurateurs, I headed down to Salt Meat Cheese in Alexandria. We were there for the launch of Sydney’s latest entry in the restaurant guide scene: the 2014 Gault & Millau Sydney Restaurant Guide [RRP $24.99]. This is the international company’s first foray into Australian waters, with plans to launch a Melbourne guide next year. While they certainly made a splash with singers and their own yellow “go me-yo” vehicle driving through the crowd, the guide itself seems a bit hit and miss. What I liked seeing was venues like Glebe’s constantly overlooked Restaurant Atelier get the 16/20 that it has long deserved. What I didn’t like was the ‘mouthwatering’ advertorial style of writing that gives the reader little indication as to whether or not they’ll like a venue; and also fails to give the restaurant any indication of where it might have gone wrong. Excluding some Sydney gems like The Woods and Café Opera (see my review) also implies that these restaurants are below the guide’s minimum standard, which (if my meals were anything to go by) clearly ain’t the case.
