Latest news with #Gimlet
Time Out
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Just in: this Port Melbourne spot has won a major award for the best burger in Australia
No topic ruffles the feathers of our food-obsessed readers quite like the humble burger. From where to find the best ones to whether the fancy-ish takes at Bistra, Gimlet and Maison Batard are good enough to rival your classic Aussie fish and chip shop burg (fried egg, pineapple and all) – everyone has got their own opinion. But if there's one opinion we really trust when it comes to the matter of meat between two buns, it's that of Jimmy Hurlston AKA Jimmy's Burgers on Instagram – one of Australia's most prolific burger reviewers since 2012, author of The Burger Book and co-founder of Collingwood trailblazer Easey's. Last week, Hurlston was one of the judges at the inaugural Australia's Best Burger Awards at the hospo trade show Food & Hospitality Week, where he lent his expertise in crowning one winner to rule them all for 2025. Drumroll, please... are you ready for it? Let's give it up for chef Jonathon Donovan from CBCo Brewing Port Melbourne! The official winner of the highly coveted National Burger Award, Donovan was praised by the judges for his 'Fillet-O-Shrimp' burger, a next-level ode to the the Maccas fish fave. The brewery's yummy two-hander features a panko-crumb prawn patty, lettuce, onion, and a creamy ranch and Japanese Mayo sauce. Not sure about you, but we know exactly what we're ordering next time we pop in for a brew! 'It's phenomenally hard to cook in a kitchen that's not yours under such pressure, yet all the contestants put up delicious, high-quality burgers," shared Hurlston. "Jonathon was able to deliver consistently when it came to both flavour and presentation of his two burgers – it was a very well-deserved win." In another win for Victoria, Phillip Island's The Shearing Shed tied with a Queensland burger joint to take home the Best Signature Burger Award. To read more about all the winners (as well as who took home accolades at Australia's Best Pizza Awards), head to the website.
Time Out
02-05-2025
- Business
- Time Out
Just in: Melbourne is home to six of the world's best steak restaurants for 2025
Now here's some mouth-watering news meat lovers will be happy to sink their teeth into: six Melbourne restaurants have just ranked in an epic round-up of the world's finest dining destinations for steak in 2025. We already knew our carnivorous game is strong in this town, from our much-loved barbecue joints – both American and Korean – to our fabulous steakhouses, but it's still wonderful to be recognised on a global scale. London-based media company Upper Cut Media House has just released its esteemed list of the World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants for 2025, and not only did six of our restaurants make the top 101, but one even made the top 20. The top Aussie gong actually goes to Sydney, with Neil Perry's Double Bay fine diner Margaret voted the second best steak restaurant in the world for 2025 – and the best in Australia. But Melbourne wasn't far behind, with Armadale's Victor Churchill ranking 18th place. The judges praised the restaurant for continuing "to blur the lines between artisanal butchery and high-end gastronomy – with breathtaking precision and undeniable flair". "The dry-ageing programme, now even more developed," the verdict continues, "lends depth and complexity to each bite – every steak a moment of balance between smoke, salt and buttery tenderness." Steer Dining Room in South Yarra was voted the 37th best steak restaurant in the world, and second best in Melbourne (ninth best in the country). Steer was commended for its selection of premium steaks, which include a range of local and international cuts painstakingly sorted by breed, origin, marble score and ageing. "The A5 Kobe Wagyu remains a showstopper – its silken texture and intense umami coaxed to perfection through the chefs' expert touch," the judges noted. "Equally impressive are the Stone Axe Wagyu tenderloin and David Blackmore full-blood ribeye, each revealing the nuanced differences between producers and regions." Is this making you hungry? Well, we're not done yet! While Prahran's stylish French bistro Entrecôte didn't make the cut (it was ranked 86th in 2024), Scott Pickett's Matilda 159 Domain made a welcome addition at 57th place after missing out in last year's list. "Here, the art of cooking over fire is not just a method but a philosophy, delivering dishes that are both robust and nuanced," the verdict read. A huge congrats is also in order for our very own Meatmaiden, which the judges called "Melbourne's underground shrine to smoke and steak". It made its debut on the list in 91st place. The team must be stoked with this news after an epic sold-out run for the Rare Tour (Australia's spin-off steak contest) in collaboration with Stockholm's restaurant AG – which ranked number nine this year. Gimlet – winner of Time Out Melbourne's Best Fine Diner Award in 2023 – came in at 45th place, rocketing up a whopping 49 places since its ranking last year at number 94. Hats off to the Trader House crew! Read here to find out about why Gimlet's steaks made such an impression. And finally, we have Grill Americano in 92nd place, marking it the 15th best restaurant for steak in all of Australia. While Sydney had 11 restaurants make the list, neither of our fair cities took out the number one spot. That coveted position went to Don Julio in Argentina, which was also recently crowned the best restaurant in Latin America.
Calgary Herald
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
Chorney-Booth: Calgary cocktail bars use creativity and science to blend imaginative new drinks
Tomato and basil, strawberry and mushroom, orange and sesame. It sounds like a grocery list for a dinner party-worthy salad, but these are all flavour combinations going into drinks at a local cocktail bar. Article content Article content There was a time, not so long ago, when a drink at a bar typically meant a draught beer, a glass of house wine, or maybe a highball. Most bartenders could whip up a classic like a Gimlet or a Manhattan on request, but it felt a little old-fashioned (or worse, pretentious) to order one. After the modern cocktail resurrection took hold in the mid-1990s and early 2000s, we began to see a new generation of bartenders (or 'mixologists' as we called them at the time) emerge at bars like Proof and the dearly departed Milk Tiger, testing their creative mettle and experimenting with ingredients and techniques to formulate new cocktails. Article content Article content These days, local bartenders are pushing things even further, using techniques like infusion, custom-made bitters, fat-washes (a scientific process to impart the flavour of anything from duck fat to brown butter to a spirit), and elements of molecular gastronomy to create sippable works of art. One local bar setting the standard for these new drinks is Shelter, a cool little lounge in Victoria Park that recently released a unique cocktail menu based on the theory of active aroma compounds for some weird and wonderful flavour pairings. Article content Article content Active aroma compounds are essentially molecules found in food (or beverages) that create a specific taste or smell and are often described as the 'building blocks of flavour.' When broken down, bartenders can identify which compounds work in harmony and pair ingredients with complementary flavours, even if common sense says they shouldn't go together. Shelter's menu started when head bartender Paulina Arteaga Vazquez worked for months on a carrot cocktail and eventually got it right when she realized the aroma compounds in carrot matched well with those in crème de violette liqueur. Article content Article content 'Paulina likes to follow cocktail trends and looks for different things to try out,' says Shelter's bar manager Ryan San Diego. 'She started explaining the science behind the active aroma compounds and how they work in cocktails. Our other bartenders all got hooked on it.' Article content That carrot and violette cocktail — which also includes mezcal, shiso sochu, hazelnut, and various other ingredients — set the bar for a full menu of drinks created by the entire Shelter bar team. Other showstoppers include a savoury brandy and leche de tigre (i.e. the marinade used to cure ceviche), banana and juniper, and the aforementioned strawberry and mushroom and tomato and basil cocktails. The drinks all have simple names, but are impressively complicated, and took considerable time to develop. Article content While Shelter is bold about touting the science behind its new cocktails, it's far from the only bar in the city using kitchen science to create premium sips. Tiffanie Hensel, the general manager at Milpa and one of Calgary's great bartenders, has also built a reputation for creating deliciously complicated cocktails. Since Milpa is primarily a restaurant, Hensel takes cues from the kitchen to develop interesting flavour profiles and encourages her bartenders to use culinary scraps as ingredients or garnishes in their cocktails.
