Dirty Linen - A Food Podcast with Dani Valent

What is marketing, anyway? If you're hospo veteran and marketing consultant Brad Cooke, it's one of the most important pillars of a hospitality business and there are opportunities to thread it through every aspect of activity. He shares tips and strategies on how to get on the front foot with Google, boost staff engagement, and authentically turn customers into fans. https://www.hospitalitymarket...

Disillusioned with conventional farming practises, Rhiannon Phillips set off on a journey to make a change. She started her own farm – Mountains Gourmet where she is committed to growing healthy produce for residents of the Blue Mountains of NSW. https://www.mountainsgourmet.com/ SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER FOR EXCLUSIVE ARTICLES, NEWS, GIVEAWAYS AND BEHIND THE SCENES https://deepintheweeds.us6.li...

Michael Wilson is chef-patron of Marguerite, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Singapore. We chat to the Melbourne-trained chef about moving overseas, career trajectories, the relentless push for creativity and what it really means to have a star. Somehow, we also chat about chicken parmas. https://marguerite.com.sg/ SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER FOR EXCLUSIVE ARTICLES, NEWS, GIVEAWAYS AND BEHIND THE...

Being a chef means endless learning and opportunity. That's the view of Sarah Maric from the Australian Institute of Technical Chefs. Sarah takes time out from judging an apprentice chef cooking competition to talk about her own varied career and the many non-restaurant pathways there are for those who cook for a living. From cocktail parties to coconuts, Sarah's resume proves the life of the chef...

Narie Preston owns the delightfully named Wot’s Ya Caper, a caper and caperberry farm in Bealiba in central Victoria. Narie and her partner Mark didn’t plan to get into capers but somehow this curious plant found them and turned their retirement into a period of dawn rising and hard toil. They’re busy growing, picking and processing a crop that turns into a product they love for its versatility, n...

Many food businesses feel like they can’t afford not to be on the delivery apps, but are they actually good for business? Srini Kondaveeti says an emphatic ‘no’. The owner of suburban Melbourne restaurant Streets of Hyderabad says it’s not just that the apps are bad for his bottom line, they are also ruining dining culture by getting customers hooked on delivery and discounts rather than the dine-...

When every dollar means a lot, how can restaurants best market themselves? We chat to hospitality PR and marketing expert Hilary McNevin from Turnip Media. Hilary shares her methods and gives insights into what works and what doesn't. We also talk about The Little Food Market, which we are co-MCing in mid-July. What are the right questions for food brands and restaurants to ask when considering be...

Mountain Yuzu is located on the foothills of the Australian Alps in North East Victoria. It is here where Jane Casey and her husband Brian grow an array of unique cold climate culinary citrus including Yuzu, Sudachi, Bergamot and Chinotto. https://mountainyuzu.com.au/ SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER FOR EXCLUSIVE ARTICLES, NEWS, GIVEAWAYS AND BEHIND THE SCENES https://deepintheweeds.us6.list-manage.co...

Food waste costs households, businesses and the environment. Dr Ananya Bhattacharya is a Monash Uni researcher and massive foodie who finds it upsetting when people order a meal then chuck half of it in the bin. What are the factors that cause people to waste some times of food and not others? What can be done about it in food service and by consumers? https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/ananya...

Why does hospitality have such a problem with sexual harassment and what can be done about it? We spoke to Jamie Burcide in 2022 after she launched Not So Hospitable as an Instagram account. Survivor testimony collected there has now been used as data to collate a report with University of Melbourne academics. Jamie returns to Dirty Linen to discuss what 'boils her milk' and press government and i...

I'm a huge believer in the power of food to create connection but can it also promote peace? That seems big... Today's guest is Dr Elaine Pratley, a lawyer and Rotary Peace Fellow who's written a PhD on Peace and Conflict and the power of food to forge change. Elaine is the founder of Peace Kitchen, an event series which encourages people to gather to learn, understand, empathise and work towards...

Last time we had Kim Currie on Dirty Linen, she spoke about her history in hospitality and the way she developed her vision for connected dining at The Zin House on Tinja Farm, near Mudgee in country New South Wales. This time, we returned to Wiradjuri country to eat the food of First Nations chef Jack Brown. We also sat down again with Kim to speak about this particular moment in hospitality, esp...

Is hospitality broken? Not if you ask Billy Crombie, the co-owner of two southern Indian restaurants in the hills outside Melbourne. Success lies in community: when you nourish those around you, they care too much to let you fail. We talk about the advantages of starting with nothing, the many ways there are to connect with those around you, and the unexpected places you might be able to find comm...

Nick Honeyman’s New Zealand restaurant Paris Butter has been awarded three hats but the level of attention and interest was nothing compared to the ballyhoo when his French restaurant Le Petit Leon was given its first Michelin star. We talk about different types of acclaim, the differences between running restaurants in the Antipodes and Europe, and what gives someone the courage to follow a crazy...

Come with me on a restaurant review...I have lunch at The Zin House in country New South Wales, where First Nations chef Jack Brown is leading the kitchen, creating a tasting menu using native produce, some of it grown on the property. Listen through to the end where I debrief with Jack about the state of Indigenous dining. Want to hear more from this exciting young chef? Head to the Dirty Linen a...

What's the state of Indigenous dining? Why are local ingredients always 'next big thing' but it hasn't become normal to spread Davidson plum jam on a slice of toast? We check in with First Nations chef Jack Brown, currently leading the kitchen at The Zin House, a hatted restaurant that's part of the family of businesses at Tinja Farm. The property is also home to Nawayy Yila Buradja, a native food...

Back in February we chatted to Sarah Cremona, sous chef at Moke Dining on the Mornington Peninsula. Since then, Sarah has been in Copenhagen at the MAD Academy, a learning institution which sprang from the Noma ecosystem. Sarah undertook an intense Leadership and Business course, followed by a week with chef and restaurateur Christian Puglisi. What did she learn? And what could any of us do to lev...

Chefs are often seen as the stars of the food world but restaurants would be nothing without waiters, managers and front-of-house leadership. We talk to Gianluca Esposto, general manager of a'Mare in Sydney. There's an emphasis on tableside skills at this large, upmarket restaurant. How does filleting a fish or making pesto in front of guests further dining culture and careers? And what would Gian...

Is hospitality broken? Not if Karla Munoz Labart can fix it. The co-owner of Restaurant Labart in Burleigh Heads reflects on six years in business marked by change, restructure and ongoing dialogue with customers. A recent menu rethink was prompted by a drop in business but the new mode actually feels closer to the owners' original vision. We discuss vigilance, courage, messaging and funny words o...

We were thirsting for another episode of Dirty Glass, the crossover podcast with Dani Valent from Dirty Linen and Shanteh Wale from Over A Glass. So here it is! We make a splash with wine lists, assessing the drinks offering at Basq, a restaurant in Melbourne. Shanteh helps Dani assess the list as a food (and drink!) critic, and Dani shares some of the criteria she uses when reviewing the wine off...

Robert Jones was born on Stoney Rises, the third generation on his family’s sheep farm in central Victoria. In 1985, he saw the need for diversification in a traditional livestock enterprise so he launched Tuki, a trout fishing venue where visitors could come to catch a fish and - if they wanted - have it cooked for them on the property. Nearly 40 years later, Tuki is a restaurant, farm and accomm...

Is hospitality broken? Chef and consultant Sam Pinzone works across cafes and restaurants of all types, engineering menus, advising new businesses and trying to inspire staff, some of whom are jaded and despondent. We talk about his efforts to return Rockpool to its glory days, the reasons some menus are so boring and the biggest mistakes he sees. https://sam-pinzone.com/ SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETT...

Friday on my mind! This is an occasional bonus pod and brain dump where I share some of the thoughts flying around my head on a Friday. This time I talk about Sydney fave Fratelli Paradiso, my new Eat Streets series for The Age, and new Melbourne eateries Sebastian Kakigori, Papelon and Charlong. There’s also a special drop-in guest - chef Ronith Arlikatti happened to be dining at his new restaura...

Today's podcast is a restaurant review of Bansho, a French-Japanese restaurant in Melbourne's Armadale. Sitting in a horseshoe booth in a sleek, moody dining room, the microphone sneaks out course by course. https://www.banshodining.com/ Read Dani's Good Weekend review here https://www.theage.com.au/goodfood/melbourne-eating-out/a-little-japanese-a-little-french-but-a-lot-to-love-at-this-armadale-...

We go deep with chef Chris Locke, talking about the way toxic kitchen culture has sent him down a new path in which his daily tasks might include dealing with 300 kg of sweet potatoes otherwise destined for the bin. As well as being chef at the no-waste Moving Feast kitchen at Melbourne’s Victoria Market, Chris is working on the first Australian Chefs’ Manifesto action hub event, which is forging...