Dear Food Lovers

Sydney Safaris

We have been having so much fun with our Sydney Safaris - and been lucky enough to have some great photographers come along and join us...so let me share with you some great moments from recent safaris.

Middle Eastern World in a Day

I can smell exotic spices at the mere thought of this lovely day out, full of small family businesses opening their doors to share knowledge and some great tastes with us.

We start at Baalbek Bakery to watch how Lebanese bread is made...our hosts Dominic and Adam keen to give us extraordinary access to their bakery - they only do it for us!

We learn the secrets of the perfect falafel from Nazih at the sparkling Jasmine restaurant in Punchbowl, share a za'atar pizza with the warm welcoming Sam at Yum Yum Pizza - most Lebanese families will order 20 of these at a time to have in their freezer - and they're so delicious and at $1.50 each, amazingly well priced.

Beautiful Violet at Abla's Pastry in Granville shared some of the many types of sweet magic made in this palace dedicated to pastry and nuts and glorious textures and tastes...including the luscious Damascus Rose - circles of pastry filled with ashtar (like clotted cream), drizzled with syrup, crushed nuts and orange blossom jam...it makes your knees weak!

We also visit our friends at the beautiful family business Real Turkish Delight - even people who have never liked Turkish Delight seem to have a taste epiphany there and become converts.

At Gima in Auburn we sample a range of lovely teas including apple and cinnamon. These were photos from our friend Chris Meredith.

French Safari on Wheels

Our first French Safari was everything we dreamed it would be and more - this is one for lovers of good food! We started in a beautiful bakery with a bowl of cafe au lait alongside some of the lightest pastries on earth, lovely baguettes and croissants...and a behind the scenes journey to see how croissants are rolled, baguettes baked and cakes and pastries created.

Then to explore cookware and cookbooks with a hefty discount for our guests - we love that

Plus a specialist cheese tasting, pates and foie gras, exquisite chocolates, light but divinely delicious lunch...and more.

Here are some photos from our friend Melissa Graovac

Special French and Italian Safaris for Mothers Day

We love our mums and we've been giving them 'experiences' rather than 'stuff' for years - so when a number of guests on our first French Safari suggested it would be a great one for Mothers Day, we agreed. We also thought our Italy on Wheels would be terrific too - so - hot off the press, here are new dates for special safaris. You'll notice that some of the dates fall before Mothers Day - but it will just show what a clever son or daughter you are thinking ahead!

French Safari on Wheels: Wednesday April 30th and Tuesday May 7th for Mothers Day ...and more French Safaris on Wheels on May 27th and July 8th.

Italy on Wheels: Tuesday 29th April, Tuesday 6th April, Tuesday 14th May

Indulgence Safari

The reports from last weekend's Indulgence Safari were absolutely glowing (which is great - for us, the small shops we visit and of course the Safari guests!) ...here are just some:

A big thank you to our guide, Susie (and our driver Peter) for providing an interesting, informative, friendly and very tasty Indulgence Safari. We will be recommending the Safaris to others and looking forward to making a booking for another Safari! Thank you all, Becky & Merrin Bradford (I swear we don't write these ourselves - Maeve )

I just wanted to pass on that we had a wonderful time on the indulgence safari on Sat. Suzi - our guide was WONDERFUL! She was so warm, energetic, helpful, knowledgeable and great with all the people from the shops and tour participants too. It was a wonderful day and I am still reeling from being so full! I just polished off my last Portuguese tart! Mmmm! What a wonderful company yours is and such great Safaris - this is my second one and I loved it! Many thanks - Holly Doel-Macakway

Oh Boy!!!! Bruce & I are now reclining with a nice cooling beverage & some nice red wine. We had the most fabulous day with the most fabulous tastings from delicious chocolates to mouth watering Portuguese custard tarts to yummy Turkish Delight. Oh and a beautiful lunch to nearly finish with, not before icecream and gelato at Leichhardt. Thank you for the most decadent day & thank you Bruce for my Christmas Presssie. Can't wait for my birthday. Gourmet Safari, we will be seeing you again. - Lynne & Bruce Elvy

Media

Click here to read our latest write up in Woman's Day about our divine Vietnamese Gorgeous Safari. We like the line:"Dressed in a sarong, I float from a lunchtime cooking demo - rice paper rolls and pork and prawn filled pancakes - to the spa for a sublime four-handed full-body massage." Hmmm wish we were there!

Book now for:

Our brand new Bali Gorgeous Safari 18th - 23rd May, Thailand Gorgeous Safari 8th - 15th June and Vietnam Gorgeous 14th - 21st September and 12th - 19th October. Click here to see the new Gorgeous page on our website

Gourmet Safari to Vietnam 19th - 29th October
Greek Islands Safari 8th - 19th September

Also, thanks to all of you who took the time to vote for Food Safari in the Logies we had such a big response...whole communities logging on to vote - so...its in the lap of the television gods now..the awards are early May. It would be so good if the little non commercial show about food came out on top...but even without Logies, your feedback on it has been accolade enough.

Hope you're still keeping an appointment with us on Wednesday evenings at 7.30, SBS TV.

Enjoy March and start planning something lovely for your Mum for Mothers Day.

Maeve and Suzy