Dirty Linen - A Food Podcast with Dani Valent

Wine is a crucial element of the experience at Vue de monde. We continue our special series at this iconic restaurant with head sommelier Dorian Guillon. How did Dorian transform from an uncertain young man into a Master Sommelier and one of the most accomplished wine waiters in the world? What are the keys to great wine service? And what unforgettable wines has he sipped at Vue? https://vuedemond...

We continue our 500-episode celebration at Vue de monde in this chat with senior sous chef Claire Feij. Born in Holland, Claire commenced her kitchen training while still in high school and, after Michelin-star experience in the Netherlands, she spent a year at Eleven Madison Park, spanning the period where the restaurant was named number one in the world. We talk about Vue de monde as a distinctl...

We continue to celebrate a half century of Dirty Linen episodes by spending time at Vue de monde, a restaurant that’s helped thousands of people mark their milestones over 23 years of service.  Today’s guest is Vue general manager Hugo Simoes Santos. We talk about the profound impact front of house professionals can have on the guest experience and indeed on key life moments. https://vuedemonde.co...

Sophie O’Neil is an owner of Torello Farm, a mixed business and farm gate on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. Founded in 2016, Torello sells Sophie’s own beef and lamb as well as curating produce from around 70 other local growers. It’s a bountiful business that creates connection and brings nourishment and joy as well as offering an ethical model for contemporary food systems. https://www.torello...

We’ve done 500 episodes of Dirty Linen! To celebrate, we’re spending time at a restaurant that’s been a special place for Melbourne milestones for more than 20 years. Vue de monde was founded by a fiercely ambitious Shannon Bennett in 2000. From its beginnings in a quirky terrace in Carlton, it moved first to Normanby Chambers in the city and then in 2011 to its current home on level 55 of the Ria...

What does a pricing strategist think about hospitality? Alice Fox is a pricing expert with degrees in both Hospitality Management and Economics and Finance. She worked for Marriott and honed her skills in food and beverage operations before helping companies like SEEK, Winc and Domain nail down their pricing game. Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dirtylinenpodcast Follow D...

Michael Samsir lovingly handcrafts noodles at his small restaurant in Melbourne's multicultural Clayton but why can't he price them high enough to make PBK Noodles a truly viable business? We talk perception, value and the puzzling price of pasta.  It's Costs and Pricing week on Dirty Linen. What factors impact ideas of value in restaurants? Why is it so hard to raise prices? Is there anything bus...

We’ve had an enormous response to our discussion on costs, pricing and the perception of value in hospitality. Cafes are at the pricing coalface...just ask any cafe owner about the cost of eggs! Today we’re heading to Adelaide to chat to Rose Adam, whose Middle Store is so beloved by regulars that some of them encouraged her to raise prices. We talk about why it's so hard to lift the veil and reve...

Basik Chocolates was founded by Krsna Rajalingam with a simple belief: That every chocoholic deserves a perfect bonbon that speaks to them. After painstaking research, and trial and error he’s creating some of the most stunning chocolates in Australia – and they’re delicious too. https://www.basikchocolates.com.au Follow The Producers on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/producerspodcast/ Host D...

Costs, pricing and value are perennial topics when it comes to dining, and this discussion seems particularly inflamed in the current scenario of inflation, ongoing staffing pressures and post-Covid recovery. Restaurants are places of emotion, both for the people who work in them and the people who visit them so these conversations can become inflamed. This week on Dirty Linen, we’re digging into...

We head to New Zealand to chat to chef Tommy Hope. Tommy was previously sous chef at Attica where he worked on dish development (crocodile ribs! honey ants!) and became steeped in a culture of respect and constant innovation. Now he's leading the kitchen at Sid at the French Cafe in Auckland, an iconic restaurant entering a new era. We talk creativity, standards and pathways. https://www.instagram...

International Pizza Day is upon us! When you’re talking pizza, you want to talk to Johnny Di Francesco, founder of Gradi Group, which has pizza restaurants in Australia and the US. We chat about the extraordinary rise of his business, training for consistency, a pizza with 154 cheeses and why he wants to have the first pizzeria on Mars. https://400gradi.com.au Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https...

Founded in Melbourne in 2016, the Tahini Neri vision is tahini schmeared on just about everything. From small beginnings selling homemade tahini on the pavement, Rikki Goldman and her husband Neri’s products are now stocked in major supermarkets in Australia and even overseas. The early impetus was to take tahini from a niche dip to an everyday staple. Along the way, they’ve expanded the range to...

We love celebrating milestones at Dirty Linen. Today we talk with Spanish-Australian chef Ruben Lopez Mesa about the fifth birthday of Eat Spanish, a culinary organisation he co-founded to foster appreciation and understanding of Spanish food. Ruben is based in the very foodie town of Orange in New South Wales. His big ambition is that Australian households will have Spanish ingredients in the pan...

Gunditjmara and Yuin culinary entrepreneur Niyoka Bundle and her head chef husband Vincent Manning have just opened Pawa Cafe and Bar at the Arts Centre in Melbourne. It’s the follow up business to their Indigenous-fusion Pawa Catering and the very excellent Taka Gin. We talk ethics, pathways and inspiration. https://pawacatering.com.au/cafe-bar/ Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://www.instagr...

Is there anything that expresses the Australian melange better than a Chinese-Indian-Swedish pizza restaurant? Great Eastern Hakka tells a hemisphere-hopping migration story in quirky, delicious meals. We check in with Alexandra Liu who owns this Melbourne restaurant with her chef husband Steve. https://greateasternhakka.com.au Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dirtylinenpo...

After moving to Bundjalung country - Byron Bay Rebecca Barnes started to explore Native Ingredients. Twenty years later and Playing with Fire Native Foods is not only showcasing the culinary possibilities of native foods, but is helping create career pathways for first nations people too. https://www.playingwithfire.com.au Follow The Producers on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/producerspodcas...

When Barry Susanto came to Australia 13 years ago, he didn't speak English. Now he's on track to open his second business in Melbourne. Warkop does Indonesian-inspired sandwiches: think brisket rendang or gado-gado between bread. Barry draws from fine dining skills learnt at two-hatted Navi and the much-loved flavours of home. https://www.warkop.com.au Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://www.i...

When your restaurant isn't working, many owners would look at the menu, wine list, maybe the interior. Omar El Deek instead studied the psychology that underpinned his business, turning a struggling Italian eatery into a tiny powerhouse. We chat about his restaurants - Melbourne's Cosi, Cucinetta and Vaporetto, and Carboni's in Ballarat - and the way he and his partners approach staff training, cu...

The early part of the year is often a time of reflection and goal-setting, in business and in life. Ruby Haupt is the 25-year-old chef of Freda’s, a Melbourne bistro she runs with her father and named after her grandmother. Freda’s is about to turn one and Ruby is reflecting on what's worked and setting intentions for the year to come. https://www.fredasbistro.com Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram h...

How would you go farming for a year to end up with 200 grams of product? That’s life - in a good year! - for saffron farmer Gamila MacRury. As well as saffron, Gamila grows olives in Victoria’s High Country. She’s always been connected to the land - and especially this part of north-eastern Victoria - but Gamila trained as an engineer and worked in Melbourne before buying a 12-acre block. She’s st...

There are lots of reasons you might open a bar in Sydney. Saving a Queensland rainforest and restoring land to the Kuku Yalanji Traditional Owners is perhaps not the most obvious. But that’s what Tom Bulmer is doing at Daintree Sydney in the much maligned but fast improving Rocks precinct. With more than $50,000 donated so far, Tom is pouring drinks with a purpose. https://daintreesydney.com.au Fo...

We're still hanging at the Australian Open, this time with food truck originator Raph Rashid. His Taco Truck and Beatbox Kitchen are parked by the Yarra River for the duration of the event. Raph tells us what to order. We also talk about money falling on the road, sharp corners on burgers and the fact that there's no Turkish bread in Turkey. https://linktr.ee/good_hustle Follow Dirty Linen on Inst...

Dirty Linen is hanging at the Australian Open this week, finding out what's cooking and pouring. Today's guest is Corey Costelloe, culinary director at Rockpool Bar & Grill. What has Corey learnt about premium event dining? And what produce does he think we should all be eating more of in 2023? https://www.instagram.com/coreycostelloe/?hl=en Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://www.instagram.co...

With farming roots that go back many generations Greg Cromwell (Cromwell Farms) is carrying on the tradition in the Byron Bay Hinterland with wife and daughters where they are using regenerative practises to pasture-raise rare heritage breeds of animals. https://cromwellfarms.com Follow The Producers on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/producerspodcast/ Host Dani Valent  https://www.instagram.c...