Dee Jae, ‘the Starving Artist’. Photo: Peter Barrett. It was to the strains of Celine Dion’s The Power of Love and a plate of deep-fried pork bits that I finally “got” Filipino food. I’d been in the […]
Curtis Stone’s guide to eating and drinking in Los Angeles
Curtis Stone at Maude in Los Angeles. Photo: Ray Kachatorian. Peter Barrett quizzes Curtis Stone on the best LA has to offer in food, wine and farmers markets. Melbourne-born chef Curtis Stone landed in Los Angeles […]
A potted history of Melbourne warehouse conversions
Fitzroy, Richmond and Collingwood have been hot spots for warehouse conversions since the 1990s. Photo: Jessica Shapiro JLS. By Peter Barrett Remember cringing at those real estate ads spruiking “New York-style” apartments in inner Melbourne? The […]
Rebooting Picnic at Hanging rock is a missed opportunity
If, like me, you marvelled while your school bus rolled the wrong way up a hill and you then spent the day exploring the spooky, 6.25-million-year-old lava terrain of Hanging Rock in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges, […]
Ho Chi Minh hipsters
Bikes outside the entrance of Saigon hipster shopping haunt, 14 Ton That Dam in District 1, HCMC. Photo: Emma Byrnes. Our trip to Vietnam just keeps giving. Here’s the latest story we had published in Fairfax Media’s […]
Coffee Economics: the symbiotic story of coffee and real estate in Melbourne
Carnegie locals are getting used to something new: queuing for their coffee. Photo: Scott Barbour. By Peter Barrett On a previously sleepy corner of Koornang Road in Carnegie, locals are getting used to something new: queuing […]
24 hours in Ho Chi Minh City for Jetstar
The snazzy interior of speakeasy-themed Saigon bar, Snuffbox. Photo: Emma Byrnes. The April issue of Jetstar magazine features my story about the best way to spend a day and night in Ho Chi Minh City, […]
Seccull House for sale: Your chance to own a piece of 1970s Melbourne history
By Peter Barrett. 1972. Led Zeppelin cut their Kooyong concert short due to rain, Carlton beat Richmond in the VFL Grand Final by 27 points and Australia says “it’s time”, ending 23 years of conservative […]
Melbourne research to be a lifesaver for premature babies
Two-year-old Shifra with her parents Michelle and Neville Matar. Photo: Joe Armao. By Peter Barrett Shifra Matar arrived too early. Like 500 babies born prematurely in Australia each year, she spent less than 25 weeks […]
Traveller: battle of the banh mi
Madam Kanh, the ‘Queen of Banh Mi’, in Hoi An, Vietnam. Photograph by Emma Byrnes. Much of our three months in Vietnam last year was spent eating. Here’s the latest story I’ve had published in traveller.com.au […]
