Bill's Star Keeps Rising

Next month Bill Granger's new London restaurant opens in trendy Notting Hill Gate to join the 6 other establishments he owns-3 in Sydney and 3 in Japan.

The Brits  have taken Granger to their hearts. His Bill's Food TV cooking show received a healthy audience on the BBC and was shown in 22 countries although he his still finds time to clock on to Richard Glover's ABC 702 afternoon radio show every fortnight.

Now Bill's cookbook Bill's Everyday Asian has been included in The Independent newspaper's Top 50 Cookbooks along with  foodie heavyweights like Rick Stein, Jamie Oliver and Michel Roux and the legendary Elizabeth David and Delia Smith.

The Shuttle has breakfast 2 or 3 times a week at Bills in Surry Hills and this morning we heard an interesting piece of news from a very reliable source.

Both the Independent and the Evening Standard newspapers in  the UK are owned by the Russian 'oligarch' Alexander Lebedev, an entrepreneur who was once pretty high up in the KGB, a spy for the USSR in London and who is financing the political comeback of Michael Gorbochev.

A year ago Lebedev launched the lightweight daily I Newspaper that appeals to commuters and sells for around 22cents. It's a better version of the Murdoch freebie Mx that is handed out at Sydney and Melbourne rail stations.

Alexander Lebedev

Our source says Lebedev has had a small team working the Sydney and Melbourne markets to calculate if they could handle an Oz version of I Newspaper. Which would surely be a welcome addition to either city dominated as they are by Fairfax Newspapers and News Ltd.

There is a story doing the rounds that an angry James Murdoch summonsed Lebedev's son Evgeny who runs the UK newspapers, to the Wapping compound with a demand The Independent lay off reporting on the hacking scandal when it was in it's infancy.

An annoyed Murdoch received no joy from Evengy and a spokesman is reputed to have said later- "Alexander Lebedev faced some formidable opponents in the KGB-the Murdoch's don't frighten him."

Here's a reminder of how Alexander Lebedev deals with those who annoy him :

Come On Down Alex !..Australia needs you.

Tony & Margaret

# Sadly the Australian matriarch of cooking, Margaret Fulton was not included in The Independent's 50 Best Cookbooks but we feel sure it was oversight.

Kate Gibbs with chefs Tetsuya & Lucio

When her Margaret Fulton Cookbook was launched in 1968 it sold an unprecedented one and half million copies and her 12 books since have sold more cookbooks than any other chef on the planet. Not that the diminutive 87 year old Scot is deterred.

Last week she was out on the town launching Tony Bilson's new book and she has a new website that will be up and running shortly and she has an Iphone app. In fact the entire Fulton family are at it with daughter Suzanne Gibbs a respected food writer and Margaret's 2 grand-daughters taking up the mantle.

Lousie Fulton Gibbs has just launched a children's cookbook- My Grandma's Kitchen while Kate Gibbs is a contributor to the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Food Guide.

The Original Masterchef

Simon Eckersley at Tony Bilson's book launch

Ita Buttrose,Tony Bilson, Margaret Fulton

 He's always referred to as the 'Godfather of Australian cuisine' or the 'original Masterchef' and chef Tony Bilson undoubtedly deserves the titles. From small beginnings with his Tony's Bon Gout  that opened near the railway line at Central Station, Bilson was undoubtedly the first to introduce nouvelle cuisine in the 1970s and all others have followed since.

His next venture Berowa Waters Inn became a legend. Only accessible by sea-plane and nestled over the calm Berowa Waters it was packed every night with a 3 month waiting list for a table. His 'apprentice' there-Tetsuya Wakuda has gone in similar fashion with his city restaurant having an even longer wait time for tables and Tetsuya the biggest food star in Japan.

Another Bilson successful chef is the Dancing With The Stars champion Manu Feildel. And that's par for the course with Bilson whose first cook book Fine Family Food published 15 years ago is still used to inspire and instruct competitors in 'Masterchef Australia'

Tetsuya and Lucio

John Bell

In 2006 Tony was inducted into the Restaurant & Catering Hall of Fame and the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide honoured him with a special award for his contribution to the industry.

Murdoch Books and Matt Hanbury, Tony Bilson's publisher hosted a party at the Radisson Hotel where Tony's current venture  Bilson's is located, to launch Bilson's new book.
                                                                                          Insatiable-My Life In The Kitchen is a must read in which the bon vivant  recounts wild nights and wild appetites with an extraordinary cast of artists, painters, writers and politicians. It's a Who’s Who of Australian cultural life from the late 1960s to the present-day.

Stars may head towards Bilsons when they touch down in Sydney (Leo DiCaprio three times now) but the proof of Bilson's pulling power is the number of foodies that flock there whenever in town. In the past 3 months he has fed Rick Stein, Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsey, Paul Bocuse, Anthony Bourdain and A.A.Gill.

Those sipping Moet & Chandon at the launch included Ashley Dawson Damer, Ray Hughes, Margaret Fulton, Tetsuya Wakuda, Ita Buttrose, actors John Bell and Graeme Blundell and Lucio Galletto.

Buy Tony Bilson's Insatiable here

we are the new media

So says film-maker and artist Bruno Grasswill the son of a noted French film director. Bruno was filming everything that moved and didn't, at the launch of top foodie Lyndey Milan's 4th book The Best Collection. Bruno is also married to top ABC TV producer Helen Grasswill, the driving force behind the hugely successful Australian Story (which featured the Shuttle once-we are biased) and Oz sections for the US series Entertainment Tonight.

Both were guests at the swell shindig given by Lyndey's merchant banker boyfriend in his magnificent duplex apartment in the Ikon building in Kings Cross. The Ikon is the home away from home (and the best kept secret until now) of Hollywood royalty and visiting film stars working at the near-by Fox Studios.With the most commanding views of the Sydney skyline from the harbor heads to the Opera House and beyond, it's hard to top these homes.

Lyndey presents food sections on the top morning show hosted by Kerri Anne Kennerley and is food editor on the Packer family pride and joy, the Woman's Weekly (which is published monthy to confuse readers). She is also a hostess with mostess-in every way. Bruno also painted a fab portrait of Lyndey for beau John and when our party gal saw it she immediately requested more cleavage should be added. Those who know the lovely Lyndey know this is par for the course. Delicious nibbles at the party came from Lyndey's recipes and were passed around by the handsome waiters from Mandy Foley-Quin's Stedmans (the French government is trying to lure this top caterer to Paris).
                                  


Food legend Margaret Fulton launched the book. At 85 , Scot's born Margaret has now sold millions of cookbooks and knows a great chef when she sees one.  In between glasses of champers and vintage wines from Lyndey's own cellar we forced down Bloody Mary shooters with oysters. And every time we tried to leave another crate of French champagne was wheeled out. Who are we to disappoint ?. No-one can actually re-call what time they left but the Shuttle woke up this morning clutching a bottle of wonderful Taittinger. Get the book now. For Christmas.

                       




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A darling of the new media Madame Arcati features a video on her blog by writer Duncan Fallowell. It's a superb piece titled  Andy Warhol in Church :



Check out Fallowell's books on his site. They are really very good. Put him on your reading list.Now.