My name is Cara Waters and I am a journalist and blogger who has just relocated from London to my home town of Melbourne. This blog is a record of travels, restaurants, cook books (my porn) and kitchen adventures. Most restaurant and travel reviews are conducted anonymously and generally accompanied by MTV boyfriend which is a reference to meat and three veg, his favourite type of meal.
My aim is to find the best places to eat out in Melbourne, London and around the world . This doesn't necessarily mean they are the most expensive places or Michelin star places (although I do like to go to those when I have not blown my entire salary on shoes). I like to eat everywhere gourmet whether it is a street stall, pizza joint or a high end restaurant.
Who is Gourmet Chick?
How often do you visit a restaurant before reviewing?
Where can I read more about Gourmet Chick?
My aim is to find the best places to eat out in Melbourne, London and around the world . This doesn't necessarily mean they are the most expensive places or Michelin star places (although I do like to go to those when I have not blown my entire salary on shoes). I like to eat everywhere gourmet whether it is a street stall, pizza joint or a high end restaurant.
I've set out below the answers to the questions I get asked the most but if you have more questions just let me know and I will do my best to help.
Who is Gourmet Chick?
I am a freelance journalist and I have written for The Sunday Times, The Sun, The Financial Times, Country Life and TNT Magazine. Please get in touch if you wish to commission me to write for you, large or small.
I spend my own hard earned cash eating out so it is pretty rare for me to have the luxury of visiting a restaurant several times before writing a review. Usually I just go once but I assume that most of you are in the same boat and cannot afford to visit a restaurant multiple times either.
Where can I read more about Gourmet Chick?
- Olive magazine (July 2010) featured Gourmet Chick as blog of the month. Olive said: "Cara Waters is an Aussie living in London, and her blog offers a great mix of recipes and restaurant reviews plus coverage of some exciting foodie trips. There are lots of lovely pics to inspire you and appealing recipes such as her lemon and chicken cous cous."
- Top Table (December 2010) featured Gourmet Chick as "one of the UK's top food bloggers", and I was featured again on Top Table in January 2011, March 2011 and in December 2011.
- Food News Journal (January 2011) highlighted the Gourmet Chick interview with Antonio Carluccio in "Best of the Blogs".
- London Confidential (August 2011) featured an interview with me covering everything from extreme diets to signature dishes.
- The Guardian (November 2011) featured Gourmet Chick in its Christmas Gift Ideas.
- Cision (November 2011) ranked Gourmet Chick as the number one UK Food and Travel blog.
Do you let restaurants know you are reviewing them?
I generally visit restaurants anonymously and I pay for everything myself. Sometimes I am invited along to try a restaurant but I always make this clear in the review and not paying for a meal is no guarantee of a good review.
I generally visit restaurants anonymously and I pay for everything myself. Sometimes I am invited along to try a restaurant but I always make this clear in the review and not paying for a meal is no guarantee of a good review.
What camera do you use for photographs?
All the photographs on this site are taken by me or MTV boyfriend. When I am visiting a restaurant I try to take photos discreetly as I don't want to ruin the experience of other customers and to be frank you look somewhat strange/obsessive taking photos of your food anyway so I rely on a point and shoot rather than an SLR. Since January 2009 I have had a trusty Sony W300 Cybershot
which is really quite fabulous especially if you are technologically inept like me and sometimes I use MTV boyfriend's Canon EOS 450D
SLR for travel photos. I don't touch up or manipulate any of my photos partly through laziness and partly to try to give you a more honest review. If you want to use any of the photos please just ask first.
which is really quite fabulous especially if you are technologically inept like me and sometimes I use MTV boyfriend's Canon EOS 450D SLR for travel photos. I don't touch up or manipulate any of my photos partly through laziness and partly to try to give you a more honest review. If you want to use any of the photos please just ask first.
What about travel?
I have been living in London for the past five years where I took advantage of being able to get to continental Europe in less than two hours. Now that I have moved back to Melbourne it will not be quite so quick, easy and cheap to travel but I am hoping to keep on satisfying my wanderlust. For me, experiencing new food and flavours is one of the joys of travelling and I have been known to schedule holidays purely around where the best places are to eat. MTV boyfriend is a patient man! You can find all my restaurant reviews outside Melbourne and London by clicking on the "Travel" link underneath the main heading or click here.
What about cooking?
I eat out a lot but I do love to cook so I have also included some of my favourite recipes, reviews of cookbooks, the best places for gourmet shopping and even reviews of cooking classes. You can find this all under "Other" in the side panel.
You still have more questions?
I love reading your questions and comments on the blog so please keep them coming and let me know if there are any places you think I should check out. If you have any more questions or comments that you want to take "off line" you can also get in touch with me directly at missgourmetchick[at]gmail[dot]com if you feel the urge to invite me to a fabulous party or restaurant opening (I can only live in hope). Otherwise you can follow me on Instagram at carawaters, on Twitter at @carawaters and on Facebook.
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