5 Reasons to do a Devour Food Tour in Spain

You’ve arrived in a new country for a week’s holiday. Where do you start? For us, an award-winning Devour Barcelona tour provides the perfect way to orientate ourselves, to discover the hidden gems of a country, its history and local secrets. Nothing brings people together like sharing a meal, drinks and some fun! We soon […]

First Table

Want to dine at some of our best restaurants for half the price? Half-priced restaurant service First Table launched on the Gold Coast on June 4, 2013, with more than a dozen new restaurants joining the discount dining network. First Table rewards diners making early-bird bookings with a 50% discount off the total food bill […]

Community Gardens

Gardening has played an important part in the culture in many civilisations. Gardening not only provides a recreational pastime for many people, but their gardens give a sense of well-being, peace and aesthetic charm. Some have become a status symbol. With an increasing interest in organics and the farm-to-table journey, home gardening is becoming more […]

Why you should teach your child to cook

Cooking as a family has been one of our most enjoyable celebratory activities. Be it the nightly family dinner or an extended family feast, the joy in sharing a meal goes far beyond the table. From the time our son was a toddler, he would join in the culinary action. At first, his involvement meant […]

Be my Valentine

A priest, Roman soldiers, forbidden love, a poet, pagan fertility rites and a church membership drive. Valentine’s Day has a rather interesting history. The tale begins with a Catholic priest, Saint Valentine, who married Roman soldiers in secret, an act forbidden by law. His ‘Love is love’ philosophy led to his own unfortunate end, executed […]

10 ‘must try’ Hawaiian desserts

“To travel is to live,” said Hans Christian Anderson. As travellers, many of our lasting memories are tied up with food – not only what we ate, but also where we were and with whom. The memory of sipping a Mai Tai at the beach bar with our toes dug into the sand at Waikiki […]

‘The Great Australian Cookbook’ – Cookbook review

Until Barnaby Joyce’s identity crisis, I knew who I was. At least I thought I did. Born in Australia and adopted as an infant by New Zealand-born parents, I spent much of my childhood in rural New Zealand, and my teens in Sydney. Besides State of Origin night (an even more complicated story), my identity […]

The street food of China

A recent trip to China convinced us that there’s plenty of Chinese food to discover besides the tiny slice we know. In this widely varying cuisine, some foods, such as dumplings, are well represented in Australia, while other street foods are completely new to us. This was our third trip to China, a tour which […]

The Great Australian Baking Book – Book Review

There’s nothing like baking to show a little love. Baking for someone you love is an indulgent, made-to-order way of saying that you care. There’s no ‘standard fit’ for baking. Everyone has their own favourite dish, determined by taste, culture, flavour palate and food intolerances. Our family baking needs range from Gluten-free orange to almond […]

An interview with George Calombaris

NOTE April 2018: Jimmy Grants at The Kitchens has closed. George Calombaris is one of the most highly regarded culinary figures in Australia. A judge on MasterChef, he owns several restaurants in Melbourne, including the highly regarded Press Club. We caught up with him while he was on the Gold Coast to visit his souvlaki […]