The Food Zeitgeist

Hey there, Tony here.  It’s the Summer holidays here in Sydney and like many of us, the annual trek north from Sydney to visit family is under way.  What a surprise to find Bent on Food then, a country cafe/provedore situated in the town of Wingham, NSW.  Wingham is located west of Taree on the mid North Coast of NSW.  Donna, the friendly proprietor of this cafe, has years of experience (she worked in the wine industry in Sydney) which culminated in her opening this store three years ago.  They have won numerous awards for excellence  Not surpisingly this is one of many such places springing up in country areas north of Sydney serving great food and coffee, as this recent article from The Age newspaper explains.

The Bent on Food cafe is special - it teaches us that there are quality food choices beyond the aisles of the local supermarket.  Plus it supports local and regional Australian produce.  For example we enjoyed a lovely goats cheese from artisan cheese maker Capparis (Gloucester, NSW), Far Meadow marinated figs (Berry, NSW) and cracked pepper Bacco’s leaves (Hunter Valley, NSW), a lovely biscuit bread to complement the figs and cheese.  Coffee from Segafredo was smooth, and the children enjoyed almond shortbread biscuits (Kourambiedes)

Special mention to Google Maps 2.0 and the Palm Treo 750 Smartphone.  Google has hooked up with TrueLocal which provides “Yellow Pages” style searching with maps (basically competing with Telstra’s Yellow Pages and Sensis services - go Google!)  The new version of Google Maps for mobiles has a “GPS” enhancement whereby it can find your location within 1-5 kms.  I utilised this on the road heading north, my Palm picked up I was near Taree, I searched for “Cafe” and Bent on Food was in the results lists.  Note to SEO-savvy readers: list your business in TrueLocal as a backup to Yellow Pages online.  Google maps will continue to be picked up by tech-savvy folk and once they’ve used this service they wont stop - its addictive because its useful, easy and fun.  If you have 3G mobile device download Google Maps from http://www.google.com.au/gmm/index.html

Shortly I will blog about two places in Bellingen, near Coffs Harbour.  Stay tuned!  Bon Appetit, Tony.