Hello there folks.

This week I’ve been hanging out with American uber-blogger Adam Roberts aka The Amateur Gourmet.

Adam is a food blogger from New York and is in Perth to take part in a food blog conference. He’s been writing about his (mis)adventures in the culinary world for about a decade and writes honest, funny stories about trying to cook.

Today we were taken on a ‘speed grazing’ tour of the Swan Valley with Taste Bud Tours.

The Swan Valley is situated about 13km from the heart of Perth city and has a nationally awarded food and wine trail. The aim of the tour is to introduce passengers to the people behind the label and provide an insight into the growth, harvest, development and production of the food, wine and beer of the region. So off we go!

Taste Bud Tours

It’s an early pick up, so first stop on today’s agenda is the Yahava Koffee Works. They roast all their coffee beans in-house and give visitors a coffee tasting education like you’d expect with wine at a winery. I can really taste the difference, from bitter tones to citrus tangs.

Continue reading →

“And he likes it, he likes it, he likes it, he likes it, he liiiiiikkkes it, liiiikkkkkes here we goooo-oooooo, he’s shucking all over the world”.

Jerry Fraser, King of the Oysters, grew up in Peru, has shucked all over the world and now, luckily for Perth, plies his trade at the excellent Print Hall, the city’s first multi-level dining and bar precinct. His is the definitive word on the subject, shucking 5,000 oysters per week and if you want absolutely fresh, delicious oysters, there’s no other man to see. Visit Jerry.

Word of warning, just be careful not to mention the two words he detests most…the K word and the F word.

K is for Kilpatrick (a TERRIBLE way to cook oysters, hiding all their delicious flavour with fried bacon. Basically it’s a way to get rid of old stock).

And F is for Frozen. Like Jerry says “Don’t waste your money on frozen oysters. They’ve gotta be fresh otherwise there’s no point.”

Although extremely busy, he made time to give us a master class on shucking.

Continue reading →

So far on my Taste Master travels, I’ve had Rich Keams, Rich Kearn, Rick King and all last weekend up at Kalamunda I had Reg Kemp! But that’s OK, I don’t mind at all because my alter ego and I had a fantastic time.

Kalamunda is about 20 minutes’ drive outside of Perth up in the Hills. It was pouring with rain when we headed up on Saturday arvo but that just added to the spectacular drive. It was like travelling through a tropical rainforest, which was unexpectedly so close to the city.

There’s a real artistic and entrepreneurial flavour to the region, with lots of creative new businesses. Just behind the town, the Bickley wine trail, comprises 10 boutique wineries and a bio-dynamic cider house (which we visited on the Sunday, delicious food and great views over the orchard).

But we were there to stock up on our fruit and veggies (and cheese, olives, bread, oil, honey, eggs, the list goes on!) at the Kalamunda Farmers Market held every Sunday.

Continue reading →