the heart of food is now a little over a year old, having first started on February of 2009. The birth of this blog is in some part thanks to Helen, from the prolific Sydney food blog Grab Your Fork. She was the one that inspired me to start this whole blogging thing, as she has with a number of other Sydney food bloggers.

Over this past year, there have been quite a number of amazing food experiences. One of the things that stands out in my mind are the birthday celebrations of various food bloggers.

Please join me for a review of the food experiences regarding birthdays and birthday-related posts over the past year, including some new material and images. Read more »

The Taste of Sydney Festival for 2010 is right around the corner (March 11 – 14). As the name implies, the festival gives one a taste of the culinary scene in Sydney. It showcases what this great city has to offer with regards to good food, whether that be a fine dining restaurant, or a food & beverage supplier.

If you have yet to experience the Taste of Sydney Festival, or you’re after a refresher, read on for a summary of what to expect, along with a few handy tips to make your experience as enjoyable and as effortless as possible. Read more »

Image courtesty of GourmetRabbit Magazine.

I’ve finally made my first foray into print media, namely with the first issue of GourmetRabbit magazine. GourmetRabbit looks to bring together the collective knowledge, talents and expertise of the food industry, as well as the energy, passion and experiences of a community of passionate foodies and food bloggers all in one publication.

The above image is an article that I’ve contributed to the magazine, regarding an experiential review of the first French-Caribbean themed tasting menu at the French Bistro, Tastevin. Click on the above image to read the review.

I also had the pleasure of conducting a shoot in the kitchen of the Galileo restaurant, located within The Observatory Hotel, for a serial article known as “The Masked Apprentice”. Read more »

There is a Czech proverb that goes “A fine beer may be judged with only one sip, but it’s better to be thoroughly sure”. There was opportunity for plenty of both fine beers and thoroughness at a special beer appreciation dinner held at the MuMu Grill, owned and operated by Head Chef Craig MacIndoe.

Craig had invited a number of bloggers, as well as some twitter followers and some regulars to this dining experience. Various courses of food were served with matching beers in the same way that one may serve food with a matching wine. However, there was a little more to this dinner than just food & beer. Read more »

Lebanese food holds a special place in my heart as one of my favourite cuisines. If I were asked to articulate why that was so though, I’m not sure that I would have a suitable answer. Probably the closest I could come to an answer would be that it’s food that I find is often good, uncomplicated and inexpensive. It’s food without the pretension that more often burdens formal dining than not. It’s food in a casual environment for the common man. My kind of food.

That’s precisely the experience that a couple of fellow food bloggers and I had received when we dined at Jasmins one evening. A casual environment, without pretension, serving good food. A feast of really good food. The kind of good food that frequently has you coming back for more, at prices that makes such endeavours affordable. Read more »