Gourmet Traveller April 2022

By the time you read this, I will finally be home, reunited with my family in New Zealand, after yet another long year apart. Aside from bringing me obvious joy, this marks a significant milestone for other reasons. Because finally – after two years of focusing solely on when I can go home – I can begin to plan my next adventure. I can allow myself to start researching Roman restaurants and Venetian galleries and Puglian beach clubs. I can begin to plot elaborate itineraries based on the many excellent recommendations that come my way – including several featured in this issue. The Italian issue is a perennial favourite but this year’s is especially poignant as it comes two years after the world shut down. In March 2020, our Italian issue…

Zetta Florence This Melbourne institution has been delighting Brunswick Street shoppers since 1989 with its clever and colourful collection of hand-crafted stationery and gifts. We especially love their boxed card sets, printed on Italian paper. zettaflorence.com.au Linen House ReJeaneration Made from recycled denim, this new range of natural, sustainable bed linen is not only good for the environment but 10 per cent of all profits go to marginalised and vulnerable members of the community. linenhouse.com Breville Pizzaiolo Create restaurant-quality pizza at home in minutes with Breville’s benchtop pizza oven, which heats to a fiery 400°C to ensure a perfectly scorched crust every time. An essential addition for your next pizza party. harveynorman.com.au Pellegrino 2000 It may be the new kid in town but Sydney’s newest trattoria, from the team behind Bistrot 916, is already a firm favourite. Keep it light…

AMBER GUINNESS cook and author The artist’s way, p116 Growing up at Arniano, a farmhouse near Siena in southern Tuscany, author Amber Guinness learned to cook by her mother’s side. In 2014 she founded The Arniano Painting School, a residential painting holiday, designed to celebrate the local landscape and cuisine. “The retreats are designed around creativity and food,” says Guinness. Her debut cookbook A House Party in Tuscany captures the magic of these retreats, along with vibrant menus to share. EMIKO DAVIES writer Venice’s next renaissance, p78 Australian-Japanese food writer Emiko Davies has called Italy home since 2005 and her latest (and fifth) cookbook Cinnamon and Salt, is an ode to Venice and the art of cicchetti – small bites to go with a glass of wine. In this issue, she explores why Venice needs our support,…

The Mysa Motel, Gold Coast, Qld Part of the thrillingly great trend of breathing new life into 1950s and ’60s-era motels, The Mysa Motel, is a tiny seven-room cutie in Palm Beach that blends light-filled rooms in gelato colours with terrazzo floors and spacious bathrooms, plus a magnificent kidney-shaped magnesium pool. Assemble your besties and have the whole place to yourself. Michael Harden, Vic state editor Mummucc’, Perth Laksa, I’m pretty certain, isn’t a traditional Italian dish. Yet somehow, this thrilling plate of sopressa and prawn tortellini sauced with sea urchin butter suggests Asian soup noodles and la cucina vera have more in common than one might think. 6/46-56 Grantham St, Wembley, WA Max Veenhuyzen, WA state editor Lion Sands River Lodge, South Africa It’s been an unforgettable experience to return to the African bush, with lions calling…

VICTORIA The team behind Tokyo Tina, Hanoi Hannah et al is heading to Balaclava, where it will open Moonhouse, fusing Asian flavours with classic bistro dishes. The corner restaurant will see executive chef Anthony Choi (Cumulus Inc and Firebird) joined by head chef Shirley Summakwan to power a menu of idiosyncratic snacks: think prawn toast amplified by a prawn bisque dipping sauce; or a club sandwich tricked up by replicating flavours found in Hainanese chicken rice. In the city, Chris Lucas will unveil his latest venture on Flinders Lane, Grill Americano. Drawing inspiration from Northern Italy and promising old-school hospitality, the menu will centre on fire-kissed produce cooked over a Josper grill and hand-built wood oven. In Fitzroy, young chef Ruby Haupt (Rosetta) and her father Graham Haupt have opened Freda’s Bistro. By…

Almost a decade on from what started as a side hustle, chocolate purveyor Loco Love is continuing to build a brand that’s innovative and delicious but still rooted in its humble beginnings. “Making healthy treats was a hobby of mine,” says founder Emica Penklis. “It wasn’t until we moved to Byron that it really became a proper business.” The model turned naturopath, herbalist and chocolate maker focuses on creating ethically sourced, vegan, soy and refined sugar-free artisanal chocolates. While there’s a long list of things the treats omit, Loco Love chocolates each hinge on both a pleasing mouthfeel and classic flavour combinations, be it truffles with thick almond butter caramel and salty umami tamari toasted almonds; or smooth raspberry ganache with sour cherries. Recently Loco Love introduced chocolate drops into…