Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2018 i Gourmet Traveller

In a small pocket of Melbourne, 26 January is no longer Australia Day. The City of Yarra Council voted that in 2018 it would replace the traditional celebrations with an event marking the loss of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. I’m on board with Yarra. It feels spectacularly tone deaf to celebrate a day that marks the loss of rights, land, family and culture for the traditional owners of our land. There’s plenty to celebrate about being Australian, but as many of us immigrants have now realised, it’s just not the right day to do it. As the Change the Date campaign gains momentum, January now tends to kick off debate about nationalism and nationhood and the appropriate way to mark the arrival of Captain Arthur Phillip on the…

Breakfast at Tiffany requires patience rather than appetite. Online reservations for one of 40 seats at Tiffany & Co’s Blue Box Café in Midtown Manhattan open a fortnight in advance and are booked solid. If you happen to be waiting at the Fifth Avenue store, there’s a slim chance you might land a table left empty by a no-show and you’ll be able to order breakfast (coffee, croissant, fruit and a choice of avocado toast, waffles, truffled eggs or smoked salmon and bagel: $US29). Or lunch, or “Tiffany Tea”. We arrived early, waited, and failed to catch a glimpse of the dazzlingly blue room. Instead, like Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Golightly, we went searching for takeaway coffee and a croissant. 727 Fifth Ave, New York, tiffany.com They might not be silver,…

“A friend sprung me holding an egg in one hand and a cooking book in the other, looking up how to boil an egg. She never let me forget that moment.” We hear you’re a terrible cook. True or false? I used to have a best friend who was an amazing cook. It was the ideal relationship because we lived together for a long time. She sprung me one day holding an egg in one hand and a cookbook in the other, looking up how to boil an egg. She never let me forget that moment. So you dine out a lot, then? It’s one of the things I love about being alive. I’ve often fantasised that when you die, heaven is just an endless fantastic meal in a restaurant…

The summer heat can make the prospect of even another round of fish and chips or a burger from the beachside kiosk seem nigh on unthinkable. Raw vegetables with plenty of herbs, a little protein, punchy dressings and a squeeze of citrus backed up with some crunch will satisfy without flooring you in the humidity. All-in-one bowls work well when you’re out and about and need to feed a crowd. Prep in bulk and box up individual elements for easy assembly; making a double batch of quinoa, or having vermicelli on hand to soak as needed will make things even easier. The herbs and dressings bring the flavour here; opt for a variety of leaves, and keep tasting the dressings as you go to get the balance spot on. Rice…

1 CRYSTAL EXTRA HOT Consider this classic, tangy Louisiana hot sauce your best all-rounder. The vibrant red spice bomb balances salt, sweet and sour, while cayenne peppers give it good all-over heat. It’s not a slow-pour cap so be prepared to splash out. $3.95 for 177ml. gourmetgroceronline.com.au 2 MELBOURNE HOT SAUCE XPA Jalapeños smoked over cherrywood? A splash of pale ale for a hint of hops? If tomato and barbecue sauce got together by a campfire, then this mild, smooth and super-smoky ketchup would be the result. Sounds like thick sausages and fatty pork ribs to us. $8.95 for 150ml. melbournehotsauce.com 3 DIEMEN’S STINGER HOT SAUCE Don’t let the name put you off. This skinsy, sour-leaning hot sauce is fresh, juicy and complex. Most of the spice is from wild…

“It’s great for Australia that there’s so much interest in native ingredients. Our identity is these flavours that we have in the bush.” I’m sitting under a palm tree at the Darwin Sailing Club, watching the sun go down, drinking a beer. But this isn’t just any old beer. This is a wattleseed lager. It was produced by the Something Wild Beverage Company, majority-owned by the Motlop family, famed Indigenous AFL players whose Larrakia country includes Darwin and surrounds. It doesn’t, I think, get much more Australian than this. Something Wild Wattleseed Lager is one of a growing number of drinks produced using native flora, and indeed fauna, in the case of Something Wild’s green-ant gin, released last year. Since the craft spirits boom kicked off at the beginning of…

I don’t know what to make of the doughnut labelled “bother me”. It’s stencilled on the wall along with a dancing pig holding a bottle of wine, a slice of pizza, a dancing can holding a pizza, a dancing slice of pizza holding a bottle of wine, and a love heart beribboned with the word “pizza”. Interesting move for a place that doesn’t sell doughnuts or dancing pigs. Or pizza. On the other hand, the phrase “self-serve coolroom full of really great wine” is easy to grasp. That, plus a new outing for the Pinbone mob makes an excursion to Mascot a “when” proposition rather than an “if”. Yes, the name “ Mr Liquor’s Dirty Italian Disco” smacks of a brainstorming session that needed more brain and less storm. And…

Charred prawn sandwich with fennel, lemon myrtle and lime SERVES 4 These make a fine summer lunch or dinner as they are, but switch the bread for mini milk rolls and you’ll have a simple canapé guests will lap up. 8 slices soft white bread 600 gm peeled uncooked prawns, cleaned Olive oil, for drizzling 2 small fennel bulbs (fronds reserved), thinly sliced on a mandoline, crisped in iced acidulated water (see cook’s notes p176) 1 cup (firmly packed) watercress sprigs Lemon wedges, to serve LEMON MYRTLE-BUTTERMILK SAUCE 50 gm mayonnaise 50 ml well-shaken buttermilk 1 garlic clove, finely grated Finely grated rind and juice of 1 lime 1 tsp dried ground lemon myrtle (optional; see note) 1 For lemon myrtle-buttermilk sauce, whisk ingredients in a bowl and season to…

My love affair with the food of Hong Kong started long before the famous Kai Tak Airport closed in 1998. I remember wandering through the crowded streets of Wan Chai, gawking at the cornucopia of fruits and vegetables at the wet market and being quickened by possibility. I was mesmerised by the umami-packed broth of a wonton noodle soup, and intrigued by the elusive quality of some of its flavours. I noted the name of this family-run joint: Ho Hung Kee. Little did I realise that decades later I’d have the chance to get to the bottom of its broth’s mystery ingredients for my new cookbook, Hong Kong Food City. For me, Hong Kong is a culinary wonderland where it’s possible to eat practically any regional Chinese cooking style, from…

HIGHLIGHT: CULINARY WONDERS Enjoy a private chef-prepared lunch overlooking a quiet stretch of the Great Wall of China with free-flowing beverages. HOSTED BY PAT NOURSE, GOURMET TRAVELLER MANAGING EDITOR Best of China: Beijing to Shanghai Departs 24 May 2018 13 days from $8,095* per person twin share, and your companion will Fly Free* • Specially designed Gourmet Traveller experiences and host, Pat Nourse • Travel in an intimate group with no more than 29 other guests • Stay in luxury accommodation and enjoy a four-night river cruise on the Sanctuary Yangzi Explorer • All sightseeing hosted by expert local guides with exclusive or unique APT Signature Experiences, including a private lunch overlooking the Great Wall of China and an authentic Peking duck banquet • Finest dining with a total of…

Spring onion pancakes with jamón SERVES 4-6 // PREP TIME 15 MINS // COOK 20 MINS (PLUS RESTING) Paper Bird, 46a Macleay St, Potts Point, NSW, (02) 9326 9399, paperbirdrestaurant.com Pictured p178. 480 gm plain flour 12 thin jamón slices, to serve Lemon wedges, to serve SPRING ONION AND SHIITAKE FILLING 100 gm butter 100 gm shiitake mushrooms, finely chopped 3 spring onions, thinly sliced, plus extra to serve 4 small garlic cloves, finely chopped, and rinsed in cold water and drained 3 times 1 tbsp plain flour 1 Place flour and ¾ tsp salt in an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, then, with the motor running, slowly add 350ml boiling water and knead until a tacky dough forms. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl,…

Kendall Hill, senior writer; La Camargue, France I visited Les Marquises ranch in the Camargue where “cowboys” (gardians in Provençal) still raise horses that are dark in adolescence, white in adulthood, but beautiful at any age. @misterkendallhill Harriet Davidson, editorial coordinator; Mollymook, NSW Best favour asked of me this year? To drive my parents’ MG up the South Coast from Mollymook to Sydney. Pit stops included vineyards with live music and white-sand beaches. @harriet.olive Emma Breheny, digital writer; Margaret River, WA I experienced the whirlwind of Margaret River Gourmet Escape in November, meeting wine writer Jancis Robinson and chef Alex Atala, taking in the scenery (from a helicopter, no less) and, of course, eating lots of marron. @breheny…

For Dan Yee and Shoji Sasa of Artificer Specialty Coffee Bar & Roastery in Sydney’s Surry Hills, cold coffee appreciation has come a long way. Yee started bottling brews back in 2012, and now, in peak season, the coffee trade in their café hits nearly 50-50 hot to cold. You may have had an espresso topped up with cold milk – and Yee and Sasa pour plenty of iced lattes – but for coffee that starts and ends cold, that’s lighter and more subtle than coffee made hot, there are two main techniques: cold brew or cold drip. “Cold brew is an immersion method,” says Yee. “Think of a big, cold tea bag. With cold drip, water drops over a bed of coffee, and works its way through a filter.”…

You’re both part of the National Indigenous Culinary Institute program. What’s NICI all about? Samuel: NICI is a three-year interactive program, which you come out of with a Cert III in Commercial Cookery. It brings Indigenous people into some of Australia’s top kitchens to learn from the best. Luke is at Rockpool Bar & Grill and I’m at Rosetta. You’re twins. What drew you both to professional kitchens? Samuel: These are the first kitchens we’ve cooked in. It’s scary to begin with – there’s a lot of pressure – but the mayhem, adrenaline and camaraderie create more passion. What’s the best part of the job? Luke: We regularly have suppliers delivering everything from David Blackmore wagyu to Port Phillip scallops. They talk to us about their produce and what’s happening…

Remarkable nights The DNA is unmistakably QT: signature gel beds, big circular backlit mirrors, deep bathtubs, tongue-in-cheek minibars and pops of colour. But views of New Zealand’s Southern Alps and Lake Wakatipu through floor-to-ceiling windows give QT Queenstown a look all its own. In keeping with its alpine setting, the 69-room lakeside hotel has a ski room, a suspended fireplace and split-rock feature wall in the lobby, and thick, cable-knitted throws, timber floors and herringbone-patterned rugs in rooms. Bathrooms are clad in white marble with copper fittings. Guests can watch the sun set on the Remarkables with a glass of Central Otago pinot noir in hand at the sixth-floor Reds Bar, while breakfast and dinner are served at the QT’s open-kitchen Bazaar “interactive marketplace”. 30 Brunswick St, Queenstown, New Zealand,…

Just back from… Fiji, singing at community events. Next up… Perth, singing at charity events. Travelling has always been about family. Every Christmas the tradition was for all of us – Mum, Dad and the five girls – to travel to Dad’s hometown of Kupang in West Timor. I was very young, but I have the most vivid memories of getting on the plane for the first time, eating fried chicken from a little tray, using those wet paper towels. And then the heat when we landed, and the colours of the fish market and the noise of the vegetable market. Those memories are hard-wired. I grew up in Darwin, and my family still lives there. My first driving trip was from Darwin to Alice Springs when I was a…

“As the flames die down, the heat rises, and embers emerge. Embers provide intense, consistent and clean heat, so this is the ideal time to cook.” Pipis with garlic and karkalla SERVES 4 “Found all around the coast of Australia, pipis have long been an important food source for Indigenous Australians,” says Lennox Hastie. “As a youngster, I would take great delight in pipi-ing for fishing bait by shuffling in the sand between tides until I felt a shell pop between my toes. While you couldn’t get fresher pipis, they were as gritty as hell. You have to ensure that pipis are well purged of sand before cooking. There’s nothing worse than grit in your pipi.” The pipis should be cooked over intense heat, says Hastie. He uses applewood. 1.6…

SLOWLY DOES IT Brookie’s Slow Gin, Byron Bay, NSW, $70 Inspired by the sweet- tart characters of traditional British sloe gin, this local version, made from tangy native Davidson’s plums steeped in slightly sweetened Brookie’s gin, is perfumed and moreish. capebyrondistillery.com YOUNG SPIRIT Adelaide Hills Distillery Native Grain Project, Adelaide Hills, SA, $120 By adding lightly roasted wattleseeds and malted barley to the mash, the distillers have created a spirit with delicious coffee and grilled-nut characters. adelaidehills distillery.com.au NEW SOUTH ALE Wildflower Waratah, NSW, $30 A tangy, refreshing, cloudy golden ale brewed using all-NSW ingredients: locally grown barley and hops fermented with wild yeasts cultured from native flowers. Very limited. wildflowerbeer.com BITTER SWEET Okar Australian Amaro, Adelaide Hills, SA, $39 Gorgeous deep magenta colour, punchy scents of sweet riberries, blood…

Five words to put a smile on your face: waffle-coated fried ice-cream. Chef Jerry Mai’s ode to the once-ubiquitous Aussie-Chinese dessert at her new city diner, Annam, is as good as it sounds. Better, even. The ice-cream is flavoured with coconut cream, the waffle crumb salty-sweet and satisfying in its crunch. Salted caramel sauce is poured over the top. It’s good times in a bowl – and that’s the way Annam rolls. Annam’s menu reflects Mai’s Vietnamese heritage, but, unlike her two pho and banh mi Pho Nom outlets, more influences are at play here. Vietnamese and Cambodian dishes she ate growing up are touchstones, but Mai has cooked with David Thompson and worked at Zuma, so Thai and Japanese influences get a run, too. Add a fondness for some…

For most of us our kitchens and the objects in them are the definition of “quotidian” – so ordinary that they seem insignificant and near invisible. But objects so very close to us are the ones best evolved to our lives and most reflective of them. Every object has a design history; some manufactured objects have corporate “origin myths”. All are worthy of attention. HAND MIXER In 1884, Willis Johnson of Cincinnatti, Ohio, became one of the first African Americans to receive a patent. He invented a mechanical egg beater that differed from the ones we might see today in that the crank drove beaters in two large tanks. The idea was that in the professional bakery one tank could be cleaned while the other was in operation. With its…

It’s not about authenticity so much as an attitude. David Moyle’s sentiments about his food at Longsong, the restaurant he has just opened above (and as a complement to) Longrain in Melbourne’s Chinatown, could be said to speak to his work as a chef in general. It also chimes with the original Longrain mission statement, and the way the restaurant took the traditions of Thailand as an inspiration rather than a goal, a mood board more than a rule book. “I eat a lot of Thai food, but don’t have much background in Thai cuisine, so for me to try to do something authentic and traditional wouldn’t feel right,” Moyle says. “The influence is in the seasoning, the consistency of the glazes, the pungency of the flavours and the unapologetic…

Strawberry, cherry and raspberry salad with raspberry sorbet SERVES 4 // PREP 25 MINS (PLUS FREEZING) Not just a pretty plate – this dessert bursts with bright berry flavour. Start this recipe a day ahead to freeze the sorbet. 250 gm (about 1 punnet) strawberries, sliced 125 gm (about 1 punnet) raspberries 12 cherries, halved and pitted 2 tbsp rice malt syrup Juice of ½ lime ½ tsp rosewater, or to taste Lemon balm leaves (optional) or finely grated lemon rind, to serve RASPBERRY SORBET 500 gm (about 4 punnets) fresh or frozen raspberries 150 gm rice malt syrup 1 For raspberry sorbet, purée raspberries, 90gm malt syrup and 90ml water in a food processor until smooth, then strain through a fine sieve. Divide among ice-cube trays (or place ¼…

You already know the Great Southern region. This stretch of Western Australia’s coastline is Summer Bay, Bonnie Doon and a collage of Australian childhood memories rolled into one. It’s surfboard wax and sunburnt noses and family camping trips in station wagons – as much a state of nostalgia as a place of rugged beauty. The beaches are empty, the people unpretentious, the surf’s up. It fairly screams “Australian summer” in long flattened vowels. The Menang Noongar, the Great Southern’s first people, believe Porongurup, a mountain range 50 kilometres inland and 1,200 million years in the making, is home to the Wagyl or Rainbow Serpent, so powerful it created the Swan and Canning rivers and a handful of other WA landmarks. The early European settlers weren’t exaggerating when they called the…

Pumphouse Point is about as secluded as lodges come: just 19 rooms in an unused hydroelectric pumphouse, on the shore of misty Lake St Clair, in the middle of Tasmania. But the Pumphouse’s new hideaway for two is even more private. Located about 20 metres from the lodge’s Shorehouse, The Retreat is hidden in bush fringing the lake and is accessed via a “burrow”, an effect created by a retaining wall set below the treeline. “The feeling you get walking down to The Retreat is one of curiosity,” says Pumphouse Point’s owner and nature-tourism entrepreneur Simon Currant. “Then, ascending the stairs, all is revealed.” Clad in silvertop ash, the hideaway has an outdoor stone bath for stargazing and another inside. A “midnight snack” button lights a path from the king…

WHO After years spent pickling and preserving in his home kitchen in Adelaide, Robin Mather hit on something he knew would be loved: jerk-spiced beans. The hot pickled green beans were such a hit with his family that he was inspired to launch his pickling business in 2016, Nice Pickles. Most recently, Mather has collaborated with Something Wild, an indigenous produce specialist operating at the Adelaide Central Market, on kimchi made with native karkalla. HOW Something Wild harvests the karkalla, or pigface, from the Coorong region in Ngarrindjeri Country, South Australia. It has a distinct brininess that’s not found in traditional Korean kimchi. “It instantly gives you a taste of where it’s from,” says Mather, “and reminds me of being a kid and getting dunked while harvesting pipis at Goolwa.”…

NATIVE CURRANTS “Native currant” refers to the fruit of a few species of berry plants such as Leptomeria acida and the commercially cultivated Acrotriche depressa. The acidic berries are outstanding in jam, and are served in jam-like guise at Adelaide’s Orana with chocolate praline and coconut sorbet. QUANDONG Prized by Aboriginal peoples and settlers alike, this desert plant bears meaty fruits reminiscent of semi-dried stone fruit. Quandongs team well with pig; try them in the sweet-and-sour pork at Sydney’s Billy Kwong, and with Berkshire pork and sweet onion at Wildflower in Perth. MOUNTAIN PEPPER This tree yields plump berries that have mouth-tingling heat reminiscent of black pepper, but with more complexity. Usually dried, they’re on the menu at EXP in the Hunter Valley, adding spice to a dessert of brown-butter…

“When you have good produce you can use it well, no waste. You use all of it. I teach our young chefs this.”TETSUYA WAKUDA PASSION POINTS When you’ve been in the business for more than 30 years, there’s a thing or two you know about food. For Tetsuya Wakuda, it is meticulously sourced ingredients that keep him busy and passionate about what he does. With restaurants in both Sydney and Singapore, he readily admits he goes to great lengths to maintain and uncover new ingredients from farmers and producers both here and in Japan. “Quality is always first. When you have good produce you can use it well, no waste. You use all of it. I teach our young chefs this. It’s something we all can practise both at home…

Boning and butterflying a lamb leg turns a wintry cut into one primed for barbecuing (see our recipe on p94). Not only does a butterflied leg cook relatively quickly, it marinates well and has the benefit of picking up char from the grill. “It’s one of the easier and more satisfying home butchery skills to have a go at if you use the shank end,” says Richard Gunner of Richard Gunner’s Fine Meats and Feast! Fine Foods in South Australia, referring to the lower half of the leg that doesn’t include the difficult-to-remove “aitch” bone. While you may come across butterflied legs, “bone-in is cheaper, so you can buy better quality”, says Gunner. Freeze the bone so come roasting season you can pop it in the tray to enrich the…

“Parmigiano Reggiano is the definitive Parmesan and the King of Cheeses.” Parmigiano Reggiano, known by the cognoscenti as the King of Cheeses, has a long and distinguished history. First made by Benedictine and Cistercian monks 900-odd years ago, it is said to have been favoured by the likes of Casanova and Napolean. How has it retained its noble standing over nearly a millennium? It’s authenticity is strictly protected by European Union Law and the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium, and to receive the official seal of approval each wheel must meet a strict set of criteria. Produced totally naturally, Parmigiano requires a maturation period of at least 12 months, but won’t reach its peak until it has aged for 24 months. Ageing can continue for 36 months or more, during which time…

WHAT IS IT? In Australia saltbush typically refers to an edible blue-grey shrub, but there are about 60 species in this country alone; grey saltbush, a coastal variety with slender leaves (pictured), and old man saltbush, an inland plant with flatter, wider leaves, are the most commonly eaten. Indigenous people were known to eat the fruits from ruby saltbush and to grind and other varieties of saltbush seeds, but the leaves, which were an important vegetable for early colonists, are what the plant is prized for now. WHY DO WE CARE? Saltbush leaves are fleshy with a salty, herbal flavour, and are very versatile. Use fresh leaves in salads or as a bed for roasting meats (it’s great with lamb) or fish, toss them into stir-fries, dip them in batter…

“PHOTOGRAPHY IS A NEVER-ENDING JOURNEY AND I LOVE THE THRILL OF CHASING THE PERFECT SHOT AND DREAM LANDSCAPE.”LISA MICHELE BURNS What’s the best photo you’ve taken? I like to think my best photo is yet to come. Photography is a never-ending journey and I love the thrill of chasing the perfect shot and dream landscape. You’ve spent time shooting for Olympus – how was that? It has changed the way I work. With the lightweight gear, I can carry more lenses to change up perspectives and pack my underwater housing when hiking. The OM-D E-M1 Mark II’s ability to handle extreme conditions makes it a great companion for the outdoors. You shoot great underwater photos – how do you achieve such accuracy? One of the things I love most about…

There’s a world of difference between a young, immature cheese and a skilfully ripened cheese in perfect condition. Controlling this wonderful transformation is a crucial step in the cheesemaking process, and requires skill, patience, careful observation and a special empathy. In Europe, the link between cheesemaker and customer is traditionally undertaken by an expert. Known as an affineur in France and stagionatura in Italy, the job involves selecting young cheese to mature in temperature-and humidity-controlled cellars thriving with unique local moulds and bacteria until they reach their optimum potential. Many of the well-known benchmarks have strict regulations on how and where they’re matured to ensure their authentic regional character, their terroir, isn’t compromised. In Italy the integrity of the country’s Parmigiano-Reggiano depends on all cheese bearing the famous name being…

COOK The Cooking School Noosa Wasabi is Queensland’s top-rated regional restaurant and one of Australia’s best Japanese eateries. But the team’s cooking school is less well known. Hands-on classes in the same precinct extend beyond Japanese technique, featuring guest chefs and produce grown at the restaurant’s Honeysuckle Hill farm. The results can be enjoyed in Wasabi’s dining room on the Noosa River. 2 Quamby Pl, Noosa Heads, (07) 5449 2443, thecookingschoolnoosa.com A rustic-chic microbrewery and diner, Copperhead Brewery Restaurant brings unfiltered beers, lo-fi wines and gastropub-style meals to the hinterland town of Cooroy. copperheadbrewery.com.au STREET FOOD Sum Yung Guys Street art and neon signage conjure an uptempo Asian aesthetic at this first-floor venture. The long banquette and semicircular booth are good for groups and there’s a good haul of…

There’s an Italian side to my family and a Scottish side. I enjoy the simple act of eating boiled potatoes and mince because I understand the Scottish culture. Likewise, I understand the whole ruckus that is a family meal for Italians. I understand why there’s spaghetti on the walls and why people are always yelling. This has always been the missing link for me in Australia. If you don’t understand the culture of Australian people, and the traditional owners of this land, how can you begin to understand the food? And what it might become? The first time I visited Australia was for a year in 1994. At the time, I had been cooking in dark and rainy London, working the three-star grind, 20 hours a day. I’d seen advertisements…

Hammered flank steak. Pig’s brains grilled in banana leaf. Fried chicken tendons. Delicacy is not the hallmark of Thai drinking food. The linking factor in the array of dishes Andy Ricker, of famed American Thai restaurant Pok Pok, has collected in The Drinking Food of Thailand is often their “insistently spicy, salt, chewy and/or sour” quality. “They’re meant to keep you drinking, to keep the night going.” And there’s a lot of those dishes to choose from. In Thailand, writes Ricker, you almost never see people drinking without something to eat. “That impromptu alley bar, for example, might have set out drinking fare at its most basic: small bowls of mayom, a tiny, bracingly tart fruit not unlike a crab apple, or salty fermented shrimp paste to be eaten by…

Of all the world’s dream destinations, the Maldives delivers most precisely what it promises in the brochures. Blinding white talcum sands. A sea of hues so blue they seem unimaginable, and certainly indescribable. Swaying palms, balmy breezes, astonishing reef encounters – all these come as standard. The question you need to ask yourself is, what else do I desire? A waterslide from my master suite straight into the lagoon? Done. A submarine restaurant where I can dine while surrounded by sea creatures? Take your pick. A private plane to fly me to those hard-to-reach surf breaks? At your service. With almost 1,200 islands scattered across the equator and just over 100 resorts, there’s a Maldivian address to satisfy every whim. BEST DINING One & Only Reethi Rah Pitched at the…

Don’t miss Channel Islands National Park comprises five of eight small uninhabited islands, the closest being 20 kilometres offshore. Known as the “Galápagos of North America”, this marine sanctuary has kelp forests, spectacular sea caves and more than 2000 species of animals and plants. Take a day trip or stay overnight in campgrounds to kayak, scuba dive and camp with Santa Barbara Adventure Company. sbadventureco.com STAY Kimpton Canary Santa Barbara The canary theme is evoked by yellow bird motifs and Mediterranean styling in the hotel’s 97 rooms, with handpainted tiles, wall tapestries and dark timber floors. The rooftop has views of the ocean and Santa Ynez range, a swimming pool, hot tub and fireplaces. Complimentary local wines are served in the lobby every night. 31 West Carrillo St, canarysantabarbara.com SEE…

APT Venture to lands steeped in history on a 14-day small-ship cruise from London to Lisbon with APT, joined by GTeditor Sarah Oakes, from $14,245 pp twin share; departs 24 September. See aptouring.com.au/GourmetTraveller for details. Johnnie Walker Aged 18 Years is a luxe blend of up to 18 different whiskies, each chosen by master blender Jim Beveridge for their depth of flavour and character – the best 18-year-old blended Scotch ever created by Johnnie Walker; RRP $124.99 Parisi O’Rama Kitchen Mixer with Black Hose Chrome (Double Jet) by Newform embodies sleek and sinuous Italian styling. The swivel spout doubles as a detachable flexible spray, captured by a magnetic click-lock. parisi.com.au Hisense The spacious four-door Hisense 695L French Door Refrigerator is now available in a sleek stainless-steel finish. Its large capacity,…

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