You asked, we answered. We had a most interesting mix of questions and after much deliberation, we have made our choice of ten.
Ask Gourmantic: Your Questions Answered
FONG TRUONG: Why the name Gourmantic?
Corinne: Kevin is the creative one with great ideas so I asked him to think of a name that was unique, one word and represented the three main pillars of the website: travel, food and drink. He came up with Gourmantic, based on gourmet/gourmand and the romance of travel. I liked it, slept on it then registered the domain first thing in the morning. It soon became our brand and identity. To this day, some people still call us “The Gourmantics”!
Kevin: It took about a day and a half to come up with a name that summed up what we were doing. I would come up a name and think on it then dismiss because it lost its impact quickly. As is usual, when I have something close in my mind, I have a shower. The name came to me as soon as the hot water cascaded and by the time I had finished and dried off, Gourmantic was born.
DENYSE MCDONALD: What is your favourite indigenous flavour (pepperberry, wattle seed, finger limes, riberry etc.) and how would you incorporate it into your home bar collection?
Corinne: I’m such a big fan of indigenous flavours (have written about them here) and have incorporated Australian native ingredients in the Gourmantic Birthday Gin 2017. I just wish they were more readily available for home use and it still surprises me why Sydney doesn’t have a restaurant specialising in native produce like Tukka in Brisbane. In terms of of favourites, I like the versatility of finger limes, be it on oysters, in a cocktail or a garnish for a Gin & Tonic. If I had to pick one ingredient for the home bar, I’d choose the pepperberry. It’s relatively easy to source, keeps well and I have used it in a tomato and pepperberry shrub as well as a in pepperberry tincture.
Kevin: Finger limes. Works when looking for a citrus component. Just need to do a bit of trial and error as the flavour is strong so you do not want to overpower and unbalance the drink. Also, love popping those little caviar on the roof of your mouth.
DANIELLE & CHRISTIAN WYTHES: When did you have the light bulb moment that this was a fantastic idea and could turn into something big?
Kevin: It was the wonderland of possibilities that came into view at the launch party of Schweppes Elixir at Elizabeth Bay House. A night of meeting friendly and passionate hospitality and industry people that have a became part of our lives. It ignited a desire to learn more about hospitality which has taken us on a journey of education that is never-ending.
Corinne: Hmm, I had to think about this one… It was back in 2011 at an intimate whisky launch event presented by Laura Hay at Eau de Vie bar. Sven Almenning (dressed in his suit and top hat) gave a speech about changing the face of whisky from an old person to a younger generation and ended it by saying to the group something like, “and you are the people who are going to help make it happen.” I thought at the time, me? how? And the rest became history.
JENNY HISLOP: Do you think you could include a list of recent restaurant shutdowns? Lovely to have openings we are looking forward to but need a ‘Sadly, You Missed it List’.
Corinne: What a great question! There’s a reason we don’t. While we get many media releases broadcasting new restaurant openings, we’re hardly informed of restaurant closures. Sometime we find out when we try to make a booking ourselves! Other times, a media release mentions a new opening “at the former location of” but generally, it’s very quiet. If we were notified of closures as we are of openings, or had access to that information, we would publish it.
Kevin: What I would also include is a list of all the incredible hospitality people from these venues who have gone on to great roles in the industry overseas. As that list continues to grow, it might prompt people to be out there supporting those venues and people who have made their career of being in front of the public and delivering a quality experience night after night.
JACKIE McMILLAN: Each year you write, the good, the bad and the ugly, which takes on terrible PR trends, restaurant trends. It’s one of my favourite Gourmantic posts because you show the most opinion in it. What I would be interested in seeing your opinion on, is the rise of influencers, and how they’ve impacted the industry?
Corinne: This deserves an article of its own but in a large nutshell, firstly I question: what is an influencer? Is it a person with over X thousand followers who bought fake followers, pays for fake “likes” on every post, an account that brands and PR turn a blind eye to just because they can quantify “ooh, we got 9690 likes on this photo”? Or is it someone with credibility and authority on what they’re promoting?
I’ve lost count at the number of times we’ve been at events where the “influencers” invited don’t even like the product – and openly admit it, some on their social channels. We’ve been at a rare spirit event where an influencer admitted to being a teetotaller. We’ve attended an elaborate sit down dinner where the influencer didn’t eat but took selfies (without the food). We sat through an intimate and exclusive whisky pairing dinner where 90% of the influencers asked for red wine. I can go on… We’re living in the era of fake news, fake followers and sadly, fake influencing. As long as “marketing likes it”as I’ve been told, it’s changed the industry for the worse. It’s like asking me to promote lipstick on Cocktails & Bars’ instagram because it has around 35,000 followers!
Kevin: As Corinne has said this has become the norm at present. We have met influencers who question why they were invited as it had nothing to do with their focus, food or fashion for example, and they attended just to see why as they had been invited to so many events and this was the first they had come to. One influencer, whose company we enjoy, told us of an event that had 100 guests in attendance. On checking the hashtags the following day, there were only 4 posts, 2 of which were from this influencer. Leaving 2 posts from 99 guests!
CRAIG BOSTON: Over the past ten years, is there a great restaurant or bar in Sydney that comes to mind that is no more but that you wish you could bring back?
Kevin: Easy! Marque Restaurant and Hello Sailor. Two places that delivered every time. Marque ticked every box and then a created a few of its own boxes that it ticked multiple times. Hello Sailor was our date night bar. A place to chill and relax.
Corinne: We always pick the same! Marque Restaurant in Surry Hills beyond any doubt. It was the first restaurant feature I wrote on Gourmantic but long before that, we celebrated many birthdays, anniversaries and took international friends there. As for a bar, it’s Hello Sailor in Darlinghurst. It was a great hospo hangout and we had our 5th birthday celebration there. We often used to go there on the quiet, sit at the bar, and have something delicious off the menu.
JEREMY BOWELL: What have been your reviewing highlights and lowlights over the last 10 years?
Corinne: Highlights are many and include meeting and interviewing international legends such as Jim McEwan and Dale de Groff, attending GQ Men of the Year for a few years (may or may not have something to do with kissing Barnsey!;), the day I found out I was listed in Bartender magazine 100 Most Influential, the day we made our Gourmantic Birthday Gin 2017 with Reg Papps – way too many to list so I’ll refer to this year by year retrospective. Lowlights have not been many but when I look back at the brief period when I felt pushed to write about the burger craze, I cringe. Lucky that was short-lived and I started saying a polite no to anything burger-related.
Kevin: As Corinne has said above, we have met so many incredible and inspirational people over the 10 years it is impossible to list them all, so as she said, check them out in the year by year retrospective.
THERESA WINTERS: How have you felt the media scene has changed in the past decade?
Corinne: This also deserves another article of its own but here are a few points:
- In a mad rush to be first, media is writing about new venues long before they open. The result is everyone is saying the same thing and using the same photos. You either follow this trend or be left behind.
- Post event coverage has died long ago as instagram took over, and in more recent times, instagram stories.
- It’s all about the shiny new venues with very little media interest in existing venues. People rush to “places you must visit before you die” and this has turned the Sydney dining scene into a fashion statement. Readers have also lost interest, a bit of a chicken or the egg factor here.
- Very little proper online reviews. Most are now a rehash of a media release (see dot point one).
- The rise of the fake “influencer” (see question above) means that for those of us (old school) who attend events, do live social media then write an article, share it on our social channels and include it in a newsletter are at an disadvantage. We’re expected to do all that (unpaid) work while an “influencer” turns up and posts one photo, or even a selfie without showing the brand.
Kevin: I would add a couple of ugly points that venue operators have let us know of over the years.
- The instagrammer who demands, not asks, demands, free food and drink and they will put up a photo.
- This is one I have not heard for a while. Influencers telling a venue it would be good to bring some more people, usually up to a table of six, ordering up big on food (usually not finishing – food wastage) and expensive wines which of course they would finish.
That being said, there are and we are good friends with online reviewers who are passionate, work ethically, love the industry and what they do.
TIM MARTIN: Would you consider doing Gourmantic events at all, like hosted dinners or parties in exciting venues?
Corinne: I get asked that question a lot! Gourmantic was created to combine my passion for writing with our joint interest in travel, food and drink, and it grew beyond expectation. I was writing a novel beforehand. I launched Cocktails & Bars in 2015 because I wanted to do more on cocktail culture and spirits and it needed its own platform. I’m a writer at heart and that’s what I love doing. Two years ago, we hosted the Gourmantic Origins Dinner to celebrate the 8th birthday. It took nearly one year to arrange, just like our wedding! It was a huge success but when it was over, I said to Kevin, “That was amazing but I’m never doing this again!” But you know the saying… never say never!
Kevin: We had many years ago, before starting Gourmantic, thought of having a small French bistro. Now knowing the incredible hard work that goes into running a restaurant or bar, I am glad we left it in the hands of those more talented in that field. In some way that is the same with events. While I was tempted, it would take us away from our loves, Corinne’s writing and photography for me.
KIRSTY TRADELL: If you could have dinner with any three people (past or present), who would it be with and where would it be?
Kevin: Not counting Corinne in the three it would be David Bowie, Douglas Adams and Robert Kennedy. Bowie as I have loved his music for so long and hopefully I will be not be as starstruck as when I first met him. Adams for his humour and observations and Kennedy as I believe this was a man who would have taken his country and the world on a better path.
Leaving the location to Douglas Adams, it would have to be Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
Corinne: I’m assuming Kevin would be with us so I’m not counting him in the three. I would pick my dad, James Bond (Sean Connery) and Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek TNG). Dinner would be on board the TARDIS piloted by Doctor Who (David Tennant). Dad passed away 4 months before Gourmantic was born and he got me into writing, 007 and sci-fi. Bond has a fine taste in food and luxury but I want to teach him a thing or two about Martinis! Captain Picard knows his way around the galaxy, and is known to indulge in the odd illicit Romulan Ale. And he’s forever the diplomat, just like my dad was. David Tennant (he’s hot, ok?) would take us all to a secret location at the edge of the universe where no one has gone before!
Ask Gourmantic Winners
Thank you to everyone who has entered our Ask Gourmantic give away in celebration of #10YEARSOFGOURMANTIC and congratulations to the 10 winners! The prizes were allocated at random, in other words we drew them out of a hat.
- Fong Truong – Food and drink voucher to the value of $100 at Burrow Bar in Sydney.
- Denyse McDonald – One double pass to the Cocktail and Highball masterclass at Osaka Trading Co., on either 6 July or 13 July 2019
- Danielle & Christian Wythes – Champagne Vintage 2009, Gourmantic’s birthday year, courtesy of the Champagne Bureau Australia.
- Jenny Hislop – Food and drink voucher to the value of $100 at Bar Tapa in Darlinghurst.
- Jackie McMillan – Food and drink voucher to the value of $100 at Door Knock in Sydney.
- Craig Boston – Sydney Brewery tour and tasting for 2 persons at Sydney Brewery in Surry Hills.
- Jeremy Bowell – Food and drink voucher to the value of $100 at any of the House of Pocket venues.
- Theresa Winters – Two bottles of wines from St Hugo in the Barossa Valley, St Hugo Shiraz and St Hugo Cabernet Sauvignon, courtesy of Pernod Ricard Australia.
- Tim Martin – One bottle of wine from each of the Hungerford Hill, Sweetwater and Dalwood wineries, all situated in the Hunter Valley, made by award-winning winemaker Bryan Currie.
- Kirsty Tradell – One carton of Sydney Brewery products of your choice.
We’ll be contacting you this week on the email you provided with information about how to claim your prize.
Kevin and I would like to thank our wonderful sponsors: Bar Tapa in Darlinghurst, Burrow Bar in Sydney, Champagne Bureau of Australia, Door Knock in Sydney, Hungerford Hill Wines, House of Pocket, Osaka Trading Co. at Tramsheds, St Hugo Wines/Pernod Ricard Australia and last and certainly not least Sydney Brewery. These are not faceless brands but talented individuals who put everything into their respective businesses and we thank them for their generosity, friendship and support over the years and for helping us share with you Gourmantic’s 10th Birthday.
Corinne & Kevin
