Cam Ward

Troy Taylor building Lego career one brick at a time

The change of season is coming fast on the rolling hills and wide open spaces between Drysdale and Queenscliff. Too fast for some.

North of the city, down Mackey St way, Hamo Hospitality’s expansion has a bold new addition. Just opened in the Federal Mills precinct, MexiCams is a unique departure from the group’s other venues (1915, Woolstore, The Retreat and Paddock Bakery) but has not sacrificed trademark food quality for fun and games.

He’s become a top gun in the Australian Army, launching and mastering a vehicle capable of touching 200km/h. Yet his feet never leave the ground. Instead, Belmont’s Hamish Glover is making a name for himself as an ace in the world of military drone racing.

Another side to the Bellarine Peninsula’s award-winning Bellarine Distillery is about to be unveiled. But in a departure from the usual array of gins and whiskies it makes, this new bar will be championing wine.

It’s not every restaurant that opens for business every day knowing that its menu won’t be what is drawing diners to the location. In the case of the Meerkat Bistro, it’s safe to say the food – good though it is – is something of an afterthought for its customers.

When history-making Geelong Paralympic athlete Jess Gallagher says this is a quiet year for her, it needs to be put in context. A lot of context.

Sure it might be missing a vertically challenged, brightly hued workforce and that wondrous chocolate river, but there is more than a hint of Willie Wonka’s fabled fictional factory at the Great Ocean Road Chocolaterie and Ice Creamerie.

There is plenty of familiar fare on the Addy’s latest of our 100 top restaurants, which has been revealed today, but there is significant change too.

When it comes to Manny’s Kitchen, a cafe at the Church St end of Minerva Rd in Herne Hill, the secret is, quite literally, in the fine print.

Once Alistair Bullock and Alex Brownbridge decided last year to take the leap into bricks-and-mortar hospitality, the second venue they looked at was what they have now transformed into Daisy.

First impressions can be important in hospitality. They’re not the be all and end all, but they can be an indication of what kind of experience you’re in for.

It is barbecue, but perhaps not as you know it. Yes, it is all about sitting around the barbecue grilling your food over heat for as long (or as little) as you like it.

When Graham Jefferies decided to reinvent his hatted Samesyn, he went all in on the Torquay fine dining destination. It wasn’t the type of food that was subject to change: Graham wanted a rethink on the way the entire business operated.

From chippie to jeweller: How Nick became a Jack of all trades

Collendina is the Bellarine Peninsula location Sean Minter wanted before he really knew what he needed.

YOU would expect a restaurant named Basils Farm to be produce-driven. But that is only part of the appeal of this hidden Bellarine Peninsula gem.

At its heart, The Q Train is a love story shared by everyone who boards for a unique dining experience. But it goes further than the romance of rail travel.

The Spoljaric family has made a habit of doing things differently. After Tony and his wife Lilly sold the La Madre Bakery they founded, he went into architectural drafting, which was the impetus for one son, Rainer, to eventually get into architecture and construction management.

Anglesea has any number of things going for it and The Coast restaurant is determined to add fine dining to that list.