Over the weekend, I spent time at the Hunter Valley – and Robert’s restaurant is one that you shouldn’t miss to have lunch or dinner at.
We stayed at the Peppers Convent, and the restaurant is no more than 5 mins walk from the accomodation on Halls Road, Pokolbin.
Originally started up by Robert and Sally Molines, we hear that they are no longers the one running the show. They have apparently started a restaurant of their own called Molines.
This beautifully decked out restaurant has a more intimate style dining experience and the service is of good quality.
The difference I noticed about this restaurant compared to your standard, is the fact that you have a flat $90 set menu (drinks and sides are extra). $90 includes an entree, main and dessert.
I started off with a beetroot and cheese filled puff pastry which had such beautiful flavour. However, towards the end of the dish, I felt that the pastry started to feel very heavy.
My main course was a rack of lamb which to be honest was very meaty and I felt quite full by the end of it. It wasn’t as flavoursome as the menu described it.
Dessert was strawberry mousse in a fancy shaped martini glass. I felt that it was a lot thicker than your average mousse, however the berry flavours did leave a refresh taste in my mouth.
We had a bottle of Bremerton Verdelho during dinner, and it was actually quite an easy wine to drink with both my entree and main.
Compared to my last trip to Roberts in December 07, I feel that the quality of food has now somewhat dropped. Possibly because Robert Molines no longer works there and that the new chef needs a bit more training from the man himself.
Atmosphere – 9/10
Food – 7/10
Wine – 8/10
Staff – 7.5/10
Value for money – 8.5/10
An article I read during the week on SMH boasted Microsoft’s Surface application which is being used at a bar in Las Vegas.
Microsoft, together with Harrah’s Entertainment, allows it’s users to use Surface to order drinks, watch You Tube Videos, play touch type games and even flirt with other users.
Being all touch screen, there is not input devices besides your fingers that are required for the interaction. Each of these touch screen devices go for US$10,000
The system is smart enough to record behavioural patterns and can be used, for e.g., to track a user’s gambling habits.
Another application that was used in this Las Vegas bar is called Mixologists. Through touch screen selection, the user can create a cocktail with their choice of alcohol and send the order through to the bartender (that would be something I’d love to see at the bars in Sydney).
Harrah’s claim that they are trying to make systems more networked. So if you order a drink at a bar, and later use of the touch screen applications down at the casino, it will remember your profile and offer you the same drink again.
After making a deal with YouTube, Harrah’s entertainment systems allow people to access YouTube videos to watch on their touch screen devices.
Flirt, is another application used on these devices and it allows users to text or video chat, take and email pictures and exchange contact details – another dimension to meeting people in a bar.
Playing games, seeing the bar menu, getting local information, etc, are some of the unlimited capabilities of this system. You can only but imagine what sort of applications bars, casinos and retail shops can add on to this.
A few companies have signed up to this idea, including some casinos (imagine playing roulette on this!) as well as hotel groups such as Starwood Hotels and Resorts in conjunction with T-Mobile.
One thing I remember reading ages ago, was that if you put your mobile device (or camera) on the table on the Surface application, it will attempt to connect, via bluetooth (or otherwise) and be able to access content from your phone such as pictures taken and so on.
A brilliant concept, and a new way of digital interaction on your finger tips (literally!)
To view some videos by Microsoft, have a look here:
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/videos.html
For those who do not know the infamous story of Kerry Packer and Alan Bond, here goes:
Back in 1987, Kerry Packer sold Australia’s Nine Network to Alan Bond for AU$1.05 Billion.
3 years later, Alan Bond’s company went down and the network was in trouble. Kerry bought it back for a mere $250 million.
Today Nine Network is still part owned and operated by the Packer family.
Now, James Packer (son of Kerry) has been on the Alan Bond side of a recent business transaction.
In 2007 James’s company, PBL, along with their partnership with Microsoft, bought Myhome.com.au from Shane Dale for AU$8 million.
A year later, and the site was recently closed down a couple of weeks ago. PBL is estimated to have spent $20 million on Myhome.com.au with no gains.
Media claims that Shane Dale, recently bought back Myhome.com.au for AU$1.8 million. However, Mr Dale said the numbers are not right, but did not confirm its accuracy.
It is apparent that PBL and Microsoft / Ninemsn had no real understanding of the online real estate market.
What are you going to do with MyHome.com.au, Shane?