Latest news with #GreatHall
Perth Now
08-05-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
Epic $10 million transformation coming to beloved WA brewery
Iconic WA brewer Little Creatures will celebrate its 25th birthday with a $10 million transformation of its Fremantle home. Due to welcome beer lovers in November, the new Little Creatures Fremantle will be located in the former Harbourside nightclub site at 42 Mews Road, next door to the current Great Hall and Brewhouse. Nestled between the existing venue at 40 Mews Road, which opened in 2000, and the derelict Joe's Fish Shack, the revamped space will span two levels and offer uninterrupted panoramic views of Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour. Your local paper, whenever you want it. The new-look Little Creatures will have capacity for more than 1000 patrons and feature The Den, a new family-friendly zone with an outdoor play area to keep the kids busy while parents enjoy drinks and watch sport. The Brewhouse will serve as the new tasting room, offering tours, merchandise and a beer school. Lion field sales director for WA, Danny Connolly at Little Creatures in Fremantle. Credit: Supplied Little Creatures' kitchen will also get a renovation to offer a refreshed menu and streamlined service, according to the brewer's parent company, Lion. Lion's WA field sales director Danny Connolly said the company was excited to bring something new to the people of Fremantle as well as the many tourists that visit the venue. 'Little Creatures has been a part of the fabric of Fremantle for the past 25 years and this significant investment marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the brand,' he said. Mr Connolly added that the refurbished brewery would inject 'new energy' into the Fremantle dining and entertainment precinct. Fremantle mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge welcomed the new venue on the Fremantle waterfront. 'We're thrilled Little Creatures can remain at their original site,' she said. 'The new space for Little Creatures will provide locals and tourists with an inviting place to enjoy some of the best views, beers and hospitality in WA.' The Great Hall will stay open until the end of October, before the launch of the new venue. Indigenous-owned builder Dundee Rock will oversee design and construction. Both 40 and 42 Mews are owned by the Department of Transport, which leases the land to Lion. The Great Hall building at 40 Mews Road originally housed the Kookaburra yachts competing in the 1987 America's Cup and then a crocodile farm before opening as an independent brewery in late 2000. Little Creatures was established by the original brewers of the Matilda Bay Brewing Company, marketing specialist Howard Cearns, restaurateur Nic Trimboli and master brewer Phil Sexton. Little Creatures has been a brewing institution since opening in Fremantle in November, 2025. Credit: Supplied The partners named the venture after Talking Heads' 1985 album Little Creatures, which also refers to the live yeast cells that turn sugars into alcohol. Little Creatures launched its first beer, a pale ale modelled on hop-driven American pale ales, in 2000. Lion bought Little Creatures' parent company Little World Beverages in 2012 for a reported $380 million before opening a bigger production brewery in Geelong the following year. A Little Creatures branded venue, operated by Three Pound Group, is due to open at Elizabeth Quay later this year. In September 2021, Lion announced plans for a purpose-built $30 million venue on the site previously occupied by Joe's Fish Shack. Those plans were scrapped in December 2022 when Lion, which is part of Japanese giant Kirin, purchased the ground lease for its existing hospitality venue and adjacent production facility.
Metro
05-05-2025
- Metro
Deep in the Cotswolds, I found the hotel of every history lover's dreams
Metro checks in to Ellenborough Park, a history lover's dream hotel with an elegant spa in the Cotswolds. Dusk light pours through the stained glass windows into the lavish wood-panelled room, as a sommelier tops up my champagne flute. I take a bite of my smoked salmon blini with Oscietra caviar, all while a crackling fireplace roars nearby. I'm at a Taittinger tasting in the Great Hall of Ellenborough Park in the Cotswolds, a 15th-century manor house turned five-star hotel at the foot of Cleeve Hill with history in every corner. It's a stone's throw away from Cheltenham Racecourse; you can see the tips of the iconic white tents through the window. I'm suited and booted under high ceilings and chandeliers, as portraits of Catherine Parr – the sixth, and last, wife of King Henry VIII – and Richard Sackville stare me down. I have never felt so bougie. Fuel your wanderlust with our curated newsletter of travel deals, guides and inspiration. Sign up here. Getting to Ellenborough Park from London is a breeze – a two-hour train from Paddington to Cheltenham Spa, then about 20 minutes in a taxi. Alternatively, it's a two-and-a-half hour drive from London. Originally constructed in 1485 as a humble home to local farmer Thomas Goodman, the manor went on to host King George III and later became a girls' boarding school, before transforming into a hotel in 1973. After closing for a major renovation in 2008, it was restored to its original glory and expanded to 90 acres. Today, there are 61 rooms and suites on offer (including converted stables) all complete with modern amenities and ensuite bathrooms with roll-top baths. During my tour of the grounds, I'm told it's a popular wedding destination – I can see why. The Old Chapel can hold up to 120 guests and there are versatile events spaces, including bright, leafy areas under the Decar Pavilions. Throughout my stay, friendly and attentive staff are happy to guide me through the snaking hallways that I get lost in on more than one occasion. There's even more history on Ellenborough Park's doorstep, too. A short 10-minute taxi takes me to Sudeley castle. Owned and maintained by Lady Ashcombe, it's most famous for being the lost burial site of Catherine Parr (sensing a common thread here?). After the monarch's death, she married Thomas Seymour (the brother of Jane Seymour – Henry's third wife) and moved to Sudeley Castle, where she had her first child, Mary. Sadly, she died after complications from childbirth and was buried in the private church on the castle grounds. Walking through the castle and elaborate gardens (with a collection of Six The Musical songs playing on a loop in my head), I marvel at the history before me. After my private tour (£40, I'm lucky enough to have tea and scones with Lady Ashcombe herself and her two curious dogs. The crown and jewel of Ellenborough Park is its new Scandinavian-designed Spa Garden Retreat (from £35 per person for 60 minutes). Tucked away in a secluded, cobbled area of the 90-acre grounds, it's the perfect place to sweat it out in the sauna, plunge into the ice bath, and relax in the hot tub under the glass pergola. I can't refuse a glass of champagne while another form of bubbles from the jacuzzi jets swirl around me. In one of the spa's six treatment rooms, I opt for a 50-minute traditional Swedish massage and spend every second of it melting into the table, as a piano version of Sting's Fields of Gold plays softly in the background. Afterwards, I take a dip in the outdoor heated pool (which averages between 28 and 30 degrees) and recline on a lounger in the sun. There is even a dog spa, which I don't personally try but have heard it gets a real round of a paws. Sorry. If there's such a thing as too much relaxation, you can get your sweat on at the gym. Or rent a pair of Dubarry boots to go for a hike around the countryside. The hotel also offers unique experiences, including chocolate-making workshops with Cheltenham Chocolates (starting from £70) or the aforementioned Taittinger tastings (£55) with an in-house sommelier. If I had more time, I'd spend all day in the spa – the perfect little staycation. Ellenborough Park has two restaurant options, including the Horse Box Brasserie (open from 12:30pm to 9pm daily) and the main restaurant in the lavishly-decorated dining room. The latter showcases the original features of the former stately home, with stained-glass windows, wood panelling and a carved fireplace. At the Horse Box Brasserie, I try a decadent charcuterie board (£35 per head) and a delightfully refreshing aperol spritz. But the real show-stopper is in the main restaurant's dinner menu – specifically the king prawns with chorizo starter and the roasted Creedy Carver duck breast and confit leg (£34) as a main. All with free-flowing bubbles too. For dessert, the fluffy passionfruit souffle with mango iced parfait is deliciously light, while the first crack of the cinnamon creme brulee triumphantly echoes around the room. I swear I can still hear it the next morning during the buffet breakfast in the same spot. During spring and summer, I'm told alfresco dining is available in the quirky carriages on the hotel's front lawn. Walking through a tour of the grounds and some of the suites, it's clear that every room is unique. The overall vibe is affluent country chic: floral wallpaper, rustic wood beams, ottoman boxes at the end of four-poster beds. My room is at the top of a spiral staircase in a flagpole tower. As soon as I enter, I clock the bathtub in the corner of the living room, right next to the bed and TV. I can see everything from the window – the heated pool, gym, garden, and Cheltenham Racecourse in the distance. More Trending I can also make out the Lodge, which is a self-contained one-bedroom bolthole with a cosy sitting room, wood burner, fully-equipped kitchen, private garden, dining area, and an outdoor swing. For a prime Cotswolds location dripping in history, Ellenborough Park room rates start from £269 per night for a double room on a B&B basis. Train tickets from London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa start at £70.90 for a super off-peak return journey. James Besanvalle was a guest of Ellenborough Park Hotel. MORE: The lesser-known Greek 'floating village' with return flights for just £100 MORE: I thought bird-watching was for pensioners until I flew 8,000 miles from home MORE: 9 reasons a Galapagos cruise should be on every travel bucket list
Indian Express
28-04-2025
- General
- Indian Express
Why Tamil Nadu banned mayonnaise, and its strange Madras connection
You've probably heard that Tamil Nadu has banned mayonnaise made using raw eggs, because it is giving people a stomach bug. What you probably don't know is that there is a close relationship between Madras – the old name for Chennai – and mayonnaise. The two came together in 1953, thanks to a luncheon held at the Great Hall at Westminster School in London for Queen Elizabeth II. It was to honour her coronation later that year. The task of feeding the Queen and some 350 international dignitaries fell on Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume, the principals of the London branch of the prestigious French cookery school, Le Cordon Bleu. Among the various Frenchified delicacies served at the luncheon, one stood out. It was a chicken salad that Spry and Hume christened 'Poulet Reine Elizabeth'. What was unique about it was that it was held together with a mixture of thick mayonnaise and Madras Curry Powder. Okay, the Madras Curry Powder bit is probably untrue. What is true, though, is that Poulet Reine Elizabeth, later known as Coronation Chicken, spread like wild spicy fire across pubs and restaurants in London, where Madras Curry Powder was the most commonly used spice blend. Indeed, across the pond, in the US, delis began selling a Coronation Chicken-style salad and called it Madras Chicken Salad, or a Madras Curry Chicken Salad. Its main ingredients were smoked chicken, tomato ketchup, apricots, raisins, spring onions, coriander leaves, and mayonnaise laced with Madras Curry Powder. It might not be that popular anymore, but you can still find the recipe on the interwebs and YouTube. Mayo, on its own, has been around for centuries. One story says it derives its name from Port Mahon, in the island of Menorca in Spain, which was captured by the French from the British in 1756. The French chefs ran short of cream for their sauces and devised a way to mimic it by whisking together egg yolks and oil. The resulting sauce came to be known as ' mahonnaise,' and later as 'mayonnaise.' Other origin stories locate it in the French town of Bayonne, where the egg and oil emulsion was supposedly first created. From Bayonne came ' bayonnaise ', which gradually morphed into mayonnaise. Another French theory is that the term comes from ' moyen ', an old French word for egg yolk – hence moyennaise, and then mayonnaise. The mayonnaise in India In India, mayo was mostly eaten by the Westernised elites, in colonial clubs and their post-independence copycat restaurants. Its ubiquitous presence in street food is something entirely new. Now, every hawker has a bottle of mayonnaise, which they squeeze over anything and everything – from sandwich and kathi roll filling, to veg momo and paneer tikka. In the northern states, where eateries have to cater to vegetarians, the mayo served is almost always eggless. In the South, where eating eggs is much more common, the roadside mayonnaise is likely to be an original recipe, using raw egg yolks, or even entire raw eggs. That, as any food scientist will tell you, is a recipe for disaster in hot climates. Eggs can carry Salmonella bacteria, which can cause stomach infections, resulting in diarrhoea, fever, and dehydration. In extreme cases, patients might even have to be hospitalised. Salmonella is killed when eggs are heated beyond 160°f for 30 seconds. The other way to make them safe to eat is to pasteurise them by holding eggs at 140- 145°f for three-and-a-half minutes. Neither of these is done in traditional mayonnaise recipes. So, when a raw egg-based mayo is kept on the countertop next to a stove, out in the hot sun, it acts as a day on the beach for bacteria of all kinds. They multiply and contaminate every food item that has been blessed with a shower of mayo. In fact, traditional recipes for homemade mayonnaise, meant for Western home cooks, stipulate that it should be refrigerated and consumed within a week. Even in colder climes, mayonnaise is considered a delicate, slightly risky condiment. Then why use raw egg yolks at all? The reason is that yolks contain an emulsifier called egg lecithin. It is made of molecules having a fat-attracting tail and a water-attracting head. When an emulsifier is added to oil and water, which would normally not mix, the tails hold onto fat droplets, and the heads attach themselves to water droplets. This is how an emulsifier, like a lecithin, holds oil and water droplets together to create a smooth, creamy emulsion. At the same time, the heads repel the fat droplets, keeping them apart, so that they don't separate into large masses of fat, and stay evenly suspended in the water base. In the case of mayonnaise, the egg yolk holds together vinegar and oil when all three are whisked together. The method is to first slowly emulsify the oil by whisking it into the egg yolk, drop by drop. According to the celebrated chef, Heston Blumenthal, one egg yolk can emulsify two kilograms of oil, but a standard recipe uses one yolk for every 115-150 grams (125-165 ml) of oil. Commercially sold eggless, or vegan, mayonnaise usually contains soy lecithin, the most commonly used vegetarian emulsifier. You will find it in chocolates, ice cream, sliced bread, biscuits, and hundreds of other packaged foods sold in India. It is often mentioned in the ingredients as E 322 and INS 4150. Soy lecithin (or lecithins of sunflower seeds) works in the same way as egg yolks do in traditional mayo recipes. However, anyone who has tasted both kinds of mayonnaise will agree that the vegan 'eggless' mayos lack the rich umami flavours and the mouthfeel of a true egg yolk-based mayonnaise. But there can be no doubt that eggless mayonnaise is much safer to use in hot climates. Here are two easy recipes – one for traditional egg-based mayo, and the other eggless. The eggless mayonnaise uses soya milk, which has a small amount of soy lecithin. The egg-based mayo can be easily made with a normal balloon whisk. You will need a mixer-grinder or a hand-held stick blender to make the eggless mayo, because it needs much higher levels of whisking power. Method: · Place the egg yolks in a large bowl and mix in the mustard sauce. · Use a balloon whisk to slowly whisk in the oil drop by drop. · Once you have added 80-100 ml of the oil and the mixture has thickened, add the remaining oil in a slow steady stream while whisking it constantly. · Once all the oil has been incorporated, whisk in the vinegar. · Add the salt and red chilli powder (if using) and mix well. · Taste and adjust the seasoning. · Remove the mayonnaise into an airtight container and refrigerate. · Use within 5-7 days. Method: · Chill the soya milk, vinegar, and oil for at least an hour. You can keep the oil in the freezer to make it as cold as possible. · Pour the soya milk, vinegar, and mustard sauce in the tall container of a hand-blender or in a mixer jar. Mix well till the ingredients have blended together. · Now gradually add the oil, drop by drop, and blend. If you are using a mixer-grinder, then mix the oil in short bursts. · Once one-third of the oil has got incorporated, you can pour the rest in a steady thin stream, while continuously mixing with the hand blender. · If you are using a mixer-grinder, give one-minute breaks after every minute of blending, so that the emulsion doesn't heat up too much. · Keep blending till the mayonnaise reaches a 'soft peak' stage. Do not overbeat, otherwise the mayonnaise will break and curdle. · Set aside for an hour. Then remove to an airtight container and refrigerate.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Report: Colorado's ‘largest economic engine' generated billions for state economy
DENVER (KDVR) — The Denver International Airport is continuing to hold the title of Colorado's 'largest economic engine' after the 2025 Colorado Economic Impact Study results were released Monday by the Colorado Department of Transportation's Division of Aeronautics. The study found that the airport contributed about $47.2 billion to the state's economy during 2023, which is a 40.9% increase from the previous study released in 2020. Additionally, the report found that DIA supported over 244,000 jobs and $15.9 billion in payroll during 2023. Denver's airport releases new details and timeline for Great Hall project Of that total revenue generated, $28.8 billion was created through on-airport activities and another $18.4 billion was generated by visitor spending. 'Denver International Airport fuels our economy, supports tens of thousands of jobs, and connects our city to the world,' said Mayor Mike Johnston in a DIA release celebrating the study's results. 'With every new flight, every new investment, and every traveler who chooses Denver, we reinforce our vibrant city as a leading destination for tourism, business, and economic success.' Statewide, about $68.9 billion was reported in aviation business revenues. Of that, $23.5 billion went to payroll and supported over 348,000 jobs. The second largest airport in the state, the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, reported business revenue of almost $5.2 billion during 2023. The airport also supports over 34,800 jobs, according to the state report. The state study looked at the direct impacts of the airport, which included airport administration, airport tenants, capital improvements, commercial visitor spending and general aviation visitor spending. Multiplier effects calculated by the study included portions of revenues used to purchase goods and services from Colorado businesses (supplier sales) and when income earned by workers in airport-supported jobs is spent at Colorado businesses (income re-spending). Total economic impacts add these two components together. 'Since opening thirty years ago this week, DEN's exponential passenger growth and emergence as a central hub in the global aviation market has contributed to it being a multi-billion-dollar economic engine for the Denver metro area, Colorado and the entire Rocky Mountain region. This is something we are incredibly proud of, and it's a responsibility we take seriously,' DIA CEO Phil Washington said in a release. 'We are focused on preparing the airport for the near future, when we anticipate exceeding 100 million annual passengers, and for the next 100 years, as the aviation field evolves,' Washington continued. 'As DEN grows, so too will Colorado's economy, through jobs, revenues, new development and industries created to leverage the connectivity and capabilities of DEN.' Record breaking number of travelers passed through DIA in 2024 A 2022 study commissioned by DIA on the economic impact of the airport's 'Vision 100' strategic plan projected all included projects to be complete by 2032 and passenger levels will exceed 100 million annually. 'This near doubling of economic impact from 2021 to 2032 and the separate quantified impact of implementation of the Vision 100 infrastructure program demonstrates the tremendous power of DEN as a regional and statewide economic generator,' the airport said in a release Monday. Last week, the airport released new details and a timeline for its Great Hall project, which is expected to wrap up in December 2027. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
