On Monday Design Federation popped into a construction site in Paddington to check out some magic being made. Photographer, Phu Tang, was shooting his “Shoot The Chef” submission featuring English chef, Jamie Thomas, the food maestro for new restaurant Avido.  

Amid the drilling, concrete dust, sparkies and cement pouring, Tang had his chef (ex Victor Churchill) perched on some scaffolding sharpening his knives in a vaguely psychopathic manner. While the swirling chaos of the restaurant reno moving at pace around them (afterall, doors are scheduled to be swinging open late September) Thomas maintained a stronghold over serenity.  

To further the zen and ambience of the place, enter Matt Woods, new kid on the block when it comes to designer interiors. He’s handling look and feel which was still an unrealised vision on Monday but rumour is, the place will look wicked and if sustainably designed Bloodwood - Matt’s last project – is anything to go by, we should expect to be impressed.

This week, the venue that was formerly home to Cupcake Bakery & Hot Gossips cafe, will begin transformations into Oxford Street’s newest food and wine haven, AVIDO.

AVIDO will be an 80 seat restaurant and wine garden that aims to bring a new style of culinary experience to locals.  The name AVIDO translates in Italian & Spanish, to greedy or hungry and thirsty, reflecting the focus on sharing great food & wine with friends. Read all about Avido»

Last night the Electrolux Appetite for Excellence 2010 national winners were announced at an exclusive reception held at the Electrolux Showcase, Sydney, attended by Australia’s leading chefs, restaurateurs and food industry luminaries. 

The 2010 Electrolux Appetite for Excellence winners across three award categories are:  Read who won the Electrolux Young Chef of the year»

Victoria street, Darlo is no secret to foodies and inner city hipsters, well loved for it’s low key cool, it can be tricky for a restaurant to make its mark on this popular Sydney eat street. 

One serious contender is Palette.   Opening it’s doors just this year, management doesn’t seem to be sure if it wants to be a wine bar, a loungey café or a restaurant, fortunately it fails at neither. Read all about the Palette Restaurant & Bar»

MasterChef,  the show that stops a nation is coming to the end after months of “plating up”.
So who won? Read who won the Masterchef 2010...»

Nigella Lawson and Elena Arzak confirm for Langham Melbourne MasterClass Melbourne is set to welcome British kitchen goddess Nigella Lawson and Spain’s three Michelinstar chef Elena Arzak, among the inspirational women of the culinary world attending Melbourne Food and Wine Festival’s Langham Melbourne MasterClass (12 and 13 March 2011), on sale from 4 October 2010.

Read all about Melbourne MasterClass»

TwoFlatWhites is not above jumping on the latest pop culture craze to wash upon our shores like ambergris on the coast of France. Enter – macarons!  These lolly-coloured meringue and ganache sandwiches are popping up everywhere.  A petit-four you probably call a “macaroon.” Read all about the Macaron Maddness»

Two Flat Whites recently visited Brisbane hotspot Jade Buddha and the Shadow Lounge.

Perched on prime inner-city real estate, on a deck overhanging the Brisbane river with views of the glowing Storey Bridge, Jade Buddha restaurant is still a restauraunt that gets a lot of air time amongst the cool set in Brisneyland.   However, a quick Google search reveals the interwebz has not taken kindly to this restaurant.  It has has copped a serious bashing in the review stakes,  so unique in its relentlessly scathing remarks,  you would wonder why anyone goes there at all. But the locals are loyal in the sunshine state and Two Flat Whites was not going to be deterred! Read all about the Jade Buddha & Shadow Lounge»

Sydney’s Quay restaurant is the 27th best restaurant in the world and Australia’s finest. The restaurant, which debuted at No.46 last year, leaped 19 places to its new ranking on the S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, announced in London overnight.

Tetsuya’s was the only other Australian restaurant to make the top 50, dropping to No.38. But two other restaurants – Marque of Sydney and Attica of Melbourne – were also picked at No.67 and No.73 respectively in the top 100, with Marque being honoured with the Restaurant Breakthrough Award. Greg Doyle’s Pier, which debuted in the top 100 at No. 94 last year, did not make it into the list this year.

Famed Spanish restaurant elBulli lost its crown after four years at the top, beaten to the number one spot by rising star Noma in Copenhagen.

The S.Pellegrino World’s Top 10 for 2010 is below. Click here to see the Top 100

1 Noma -Denmark (▲2) +45 3296 3297 noma.dk

2 El Bulli -Spain (▼1) + 34 972 150 457 elbulli.com

3 The Fat Duck -UK (▼1) +44 (0) 1628 580 333 thefatduck.co.uk

4 El Celler de Can Roca -Spain (▲1)+34 972 22 21 57 cellercanroca.com

5 Mugaritz -Spain (▼1) +34 943 522 455 mugaritz.comx

6 Osteria Francescana -Italy (▲7) +39 (0)59 210 118 osteriafrancescana.it

7 Alinea -USA (▲3) +1 312-867-0110 alinea-restaurant.com

8 Daniel -USA (▲33) +1 212 288 0033 danielnyc.com

9 Arzak -Spain (▼1) +34 943 78456 arzak.es

10 Per Se -United States (▼4) +1212 823 9335 perseny.com