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Charles Maclean - Whisky Tasting

Mar 2

Posted by Waitersfriend in Industry Info

Waitersfriend highly recommend checking out this event:

To kick-start a fantastic year of events for the Society in 2010, we are delighted to announce that our 1st Quarter tasting in Sydney will feature a very special guest - the inimitable Charles Maclean.   Charles is one of the world’s leading authors on whisky, having published no less than eight books on the topic.  Furthermore, his presentations and masterclasses are amongst the most comprehensive, informative, and entertaining tastings in the world.  Charles is also one of two “chairmen” serving on the Society’s Tasting Panel in Edinburgh, and is responsible for preparing the UK [read more...]

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David Hohnen - McHenry Hohnen Wines

Feb 24

Posted by Waitersfriend in Industry Info, Wine

Waitersfriend was recently fortunate enough to catch up with David Hohnen. 

David was the man behind Cape Mentelle and after selling Cape Mentelle, he went into partnership with his brother-in-law Murray McHenry & his daughter Freya to start ‘McHenry Hohnen Wines.’

He showed us some pictures of the deer he had roaming around the vineyard.  They assisted in weed control and aided grass/clover cover which in turn created a good nitrogen injection into the soil.  He is now culling the deer as he feels they are a hazard being so close to the main road and the potential for a very nasty accident [read more...]

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Presenting the Menu

Feb 22

Posted by Mark Wilson in Blog - Life as a Waiter

There are no right or wrong ways to present a menu but it is important that you know the house rules and the kind of service that your establishment is looking for in order to have consistency.

There are a couple of ways to present a menu.  If you have a nice menu cover you may wish to present the menu closed so the customer may admire the cover.  If this is not necessary then you may wish to present an opened menu for the customer.  It is a little bit of extra service.

This can be very helpful when a dessert page [read more...]

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2009 Penfolds Bin 23 Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir

Feb 22

Posted by Mark Wilson in Wine

The first release of Penfolds Bin 23 Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir. 

‘Bold’ is the company line and ‘unexpected’ was my first reaction to Penfolds doing Pinot Noir.  I first tried a Penfolds Pinot Noir last year at the Cellar Reserve launch.  I must say I was surprised that it was such good quality.  It seemed unusual that a company synonymous with BIG REDS would venture into this area.  As we all know, the Pinot Noir grape is one of the most difficult to grow and one of the most temperamental styles in the red wine world.  Alas, Penfolds have decided to [read more...]

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Serving Wine

Feb 21

Posted by Lee Middendorf in Blog - Life as a Waiter

I think it’s a fair comment that over the last ten years there has been quite a decline in the manner in which wine is being served, especially in the Australian café scene.  Here are a few examples - I’ve sat at a ‘table service’ eatery and ordered a bottle of wine.  When the ‘server’ returned with the wine it was merely plonked on the table in a wine bucket, quickly followed by the departure of said server.  Sure the wine had a screw cap closure so we didn’t need to be carrying any ‘fancy’ old school equipment like, lets say, ‘a [read more...]

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Ten Tips for Better Tips

Feb 19

Posted by Mark Wilson in Blog - Life as a Waiter

1.  If a guest is celebrating a special occasion, print out a copy of the menu and sign it on behalf of the staff & offer it as a memento.  Anniversaries are perfect.

2.  When a cocktail is ordered that no one knows how to make, or a guest says, ‘I had this amazing cocktail at………’ - call the venue they just talked about and ask them how to make it or look it up on the web.  We once called a hotel in the U.S from Australia to get a recipe.

3.  Whenever you sense that a male is taking his [read more...]

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Pimms No.1

Feb 18

Posted by Mark Wilson in Spirits and Liqueurs

Every day when I come home from work I gravitate toward my selection of various brands of gin to cleanse out all of my work related thoughts.  I firmly believe that there is no better staple drink than a good G&T.  Not too much ice and not too little.  Lemon or lime depends on the brand?  A generous dose of whichever bottle has caught my eye, and a good measure of tonic to complete the magical elixir.  BUT, every now and then I look for something different (I ran out of tonic)  and it is because of this need for something different [read more...]

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Dan Murphy’s assault on distribution

Feb 17

Posted by Waitersfriend in Social Bites

Waitersfriend has just been informed through a very close source that Woolworths owned Dan Murphy’s is going in to the distribution business. ALM or Australian Liquor Marketers will lose the near $500,000,000.00 contract to supply the chain. 

One would ask if this will spell the end of ‘ALM’ & ‘Harbottle on Premise’ distributors. If Woolworths track record is anything to go by you would have to assume this is the start of the distribution business not the end. And if that is the case then what is the business plan? I would suggest that there would be some wonderful synergies between [read more...]

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Dietary Requirements

Feb 17

Posted by Shaun Cooper in Blog - Life as a Waiter

As a waiter, every single night you will come across a guest that has some form of special dietary requirement.  Some of these requirements may seem a little far fetched, however it is imperitive that we listen to the guests’ needs and do our very best to accommodate them in order to avoid any unwanted health incidents.

We would like to name a few that we have come across on a regular basis, and specify the needs associated with each.  Of course there will be other requirements that I do not cover and would love to hear comments from other waiters out there in [read more...]

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Arete Wine - Barossa Valley

Feb 16

Posted by Lee Middendorf in Wine

Do we really need another winemaker out there producing even more wine, giving us another label to look out for, filling our heads with even more contemplating to undertake as we search through region, style, price point and at the end of it all enjoyability?  The search for a response to this quandary could undoubtedly lead us to many a debated conversation.  But as we refine our analysis and focus on the Arete Wines of Richard Bate, we at Waitersfriend say, ‘..go ahead Richard - make your wines!’  Tantalise us with your style and interpretation of winemaking, seduce us with the [read more...]

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