Top spot for a tipple?
A glass of chablis at Cumulus Inc. in Melbourne. By the time I take my seat at the bar, it has been poured.

Best for fresh produce?
Kurrawong Organics at Sydney’s Eveleigh Market.

Favourite place for satisfying sweet cravings?
Flour and Stone in Sydney – the lamington is one of the most comforting things I know. In Hobart, Sweet Envy.

The ingredient I can’t cook without…
Is Nolans Road Robust organic olive oil. I order it in huge bottles.

Top spot for seafood?
Billy Kwong in Sydney for Mark Eather’s sparklingly fresh line-caught fish steamed with ginger and shallots.

The local I couldn’t live without…
is The Apollo in Sydney’s Potts Point, for their taramasalata, slow-cooked lamb, roast chat potatoes and iceberg salad.

Favourite spot for a caffeine fix?
Fratelli Paradiso in Sydney’s Potts Point. But it’s green tea for me!

Best place for small bites?
Sidecar in Hobart for the wagyu hotdog and interesting wine list.

Best place to browse cookbooks?
San Francisco’s Omnivore Books on Food. Last year when I was in the USA I spent a happy hour there with writer David Prior talking about books.

Best meal off the beaten track?
L’Alchimista in the piazza at Montefalco in Umbria. After a few glasses of sagrantino, wander down the road to Tessitura Pardi to buy the most divine linen tea towels.

Most memorable meal?
A dinner at three-Michelin-starred restaurant Pierre Gagnaire in Paris in 2000 with UK writers John Lanchester and Miranda Carter. I will never forget the rabbit dish we ate.

My recent foodie discovery…
The Patagonian toothfish from our Antarctic waters. It’s a wonderful story of sustainable fishing in the face of pirates and it’s set to be the new wagyu – of fish.

The chef to watch…
Is Lennox Hastie. Our meal at Asador Etxebarri in northern Spain when he worked there was unforgettable.

Favourite dish to cook at home?
Roast Barossa chook with tarragon butter, saffron rice pilaf and a green salad.