Eater – Page 3 – Dani Valent

We’ve all got to eat so it might as well be good! I’ve been a restaurant critic for almost 20 years, and have been writing a weekly restaurant column in Melbourne’s Sunday Age since 2006.

My approach is to always take a restaurant on its own terms: there’s no point slamming a burger joint because it doesn’t have white tablecloths. I try to be constructive in my criticism and I’ve always got the diner in mind: there are many places you could choose to go. Why should it be here?

 

Radio Chat – Desk Lunch, Work Lunch and Crumpets for Elevenses

Every couple of weeks, I drop into ABC Radio Melbourne to chat about what I've been eating, cooking and learning. This time, host Richelle Hunt and I chatted about lunch - how important is it to take the time to get away from your work station to eat, move, and communicate face-to-face. It's not possible for everyone, but I think it's great if you can carve out the time for a proper lunch break.

Radio Chat – Relishgate – Could Feta Be Better? – Safely Fermenting At Home

Every couple of weeks, I drop into ABC Radio Melbourne to chat about what I've been eating, cooking and learning. This time, host Richelle Hunt and I chatted about food safety, including the relish that was recently named food poisoning culprit at a swanky lunch. We also heard from a food safety expert about fermenting at home, and I gave a rundown on the EU's requests that Australian producers use different names for products including feta. Can you think of an alternative name for this popular cheese?

Lello Pasta Bar

Eating pasta is my favourite pastime but simply eating it means not gleaning every morsel of joy from the experience. Knowing the backstory enriches a meal, like an egg yolk spilling from raviolo. Lello, a smart city restaurant specialising in housemade pasta, delivers tagliatelle tales and fettuccine fables, elevating delicious pasta into culinary storytime.

Toorak Tracktor

You know how I knew I was going to like Toorak Tracktor? It wasn't the tasty-sounding menu, though I'll admit the double-smoked beef bacon eggs benedict is a drawcard. Nor was it because the new cafe is an easy hop from Toorak station (on the Pakenham, Cranbourne and Frankston lines). And it's not even because I knew I could have a post-brunch browse in the deli section to pick up fruit, the newspaper and some quality pasta to stock the pantry.

Lee Ho Fook

Who would have thought that an eggplant dish would become a must-eat Melbourne classic? Not me, and probably not Lee Ho Fook's Victor Liong, who stuck eggplant chips on his menu on day one and, six years later, still sends a plate to just about every table in his modern Chinese laneway restaurant.

© Dani Valent 2024