Muse Restaurant shifts its focus | Food Bites

Weekend lunches have been cancelled in favour of dinner, Tuesday to Saturday, and extended services on Friday and Saturday evenings from 5.30pm.

"Dinner at Muse Restaurant is what we do best," owner and chef Troy Rhoades-Brown said.

"We are the big-night-out, special occasion restaurant in the Hunter Valley and I would like to continue championing that.

"It's such a rewarding feeling to be a place that hosts and helps celebrate so many milestone events and of course just to be a beautiful regional dining experience."

Becoming a "dinner only" venue, he said, has enabled the restaurant to use the Hungerford Hill building's extra floor space. This will become the new bar and lounge area.

"At a time when square metres in hospitality venues are so crucial, this added space will permit us to almost run at our pre-COVID capacity," Rhoades-Brown continued.

"It will allow us to continue supporting a large restaurant team moving forward if restrictions remain in place, with the added bonus of every Sunday off to spend with our own friends and families.

"During the first few weeks of September the Bar and Lounge area will only be made available for guests booked at specific times and solely for Muse Restaurant diners, but once we have found our feet in the new space, we look forward to further developing the drinks, food and seating times."

The bar menu will offer extensive range of Hungerford Hill, Sweetwater and Dalwood Estate wines by the glass, champagne and Hunter Valley spirit-inspired cocktails.

You will also be able to enjoy Appellation Oysters and house preserves like house-cured and aged local heritage pig salumi and woodfired shishito pepper with smoked soy and katsuobushi salt. Wow.

Margan Estate is hosting a number of cooking classes this month. There's the September Cooking School - Sensational Spring (September 20) where you can learn how to cook gnocchi and enjoy a three-course meal; Spring School Holidays - Mini Growers Family Fun (September 30; October 1, 7 and 8) at which children can plant their own succulents to take home and enjoy a garden tour; and the Twilight Margan Experience, which features a sunset tour of the kitchen garden and winery followed by a five-course degustation in Margan's hatted restaurant. Bookings are essential.

Subo in Newcastle is running a one-month trial of "Subo at Home" to test the viability of running it in conjunction with the restaurant's dine-in service. High quality, semi-prepared ingredients can be ordered online by 5pm on a Tuesday for collection between 3pm and 5pm on Friday and Saturday. A step-by-step guide is included. On the current Subo at Home menu is a buffalo ricotta gnudi with nori butter and jamon; and a tajima wagyu rump with smoked onion tare, braised daikon and fennel tsukemono. What a way to (sneakily) impress guests at your next dinner party.

Read more: Subo serves a refined menu to plate at home

Bottomless yum cha is back by popular demand at Ginger Megs. Kicking off on the October long weekend, it will be available for Saturday and Sunday lunch sessions. For $50 you can enjoy a set yum cha menu plus espresso martinis, cocktails, cider and lager.

Read more: Take a journey at Ginger Meg's

Baba Yaga on Darby is known for its coffee but what about its new kebab toastie with beef, cheese and mayo on Turkish bread? Check it out.

Additional dates have been added to Reece Hignell's sold-out Cake Boi classes at The Essential Ingredient Newcastle. On November 7 (10am to 12.30pm or 2pm to 4.30pm), the MasterChef Australia "all-star" will walk you through his Nan's now-famous Victoria Sponge recipe. Included in the fee are two cake tins that participants can take home - and a chat with the delightful man himself over a glass of wine. Tickets at theessentialingredient.com.au. Also, Hignell regularly catches up with his MasterChef friends for live-streamed cooking events, so keep an eye out for those.

Read more: Back to win: Mayfield's Reece Hignell returns to the MasterChef kitchen for all-star series

The Blind Chef Bistro is opening at The Gallipoli Legion Club on September 17 for lunch and dinner. Chef Ian Edwards, who was declared blind in 2015 due to a detached retina, has occupied the kitchen at Boolaroo Sports Club since 2018 where he offers other visually impaired people hospitality experience. He also "pops up" at Merewether Surf Life Saving Club and has appeared on SBS television series The Employables. Rumour has it he might be returning to our screens, perhaps a different channel though, soon.

Read more: Chef Ian Edwards lost his sight but not his passion for cooking

Hunter Culinary Association has introduced Hunter on a Plate and all this month will be sharing "seasonal recipes, culinary delights and special treats" courtesy of its members. First cab off the rank was Amanda's on the Edge's seared scallops with slow-cooked capsicum, garlic, onion and parsley, topped with toasted pine nut crumble. Go online to hunteronaplate.com.au.

Whether you're vegetarian or simply looking for ideas for a few meat-free Mondays, Slow Cooker Vegetarian offers a whole new way to celebrate healthy hands-off cooking.

Everyone's favourite set-and-forget device gets a modern makeover with 100 recipes for meat-free soups, pastas, salads, hearty comfort food and even desserts. Throw some fresh, whole foods into the slow cooker and walk away - very few nutrients are lost during the slow-cooking process.

Slow Cooker Vegetarian by Katy Holder is out now though Murdoch Books, RRP $29.99. Food & Wine has a copy to give away. To enter, send the words "Slow Cooker Vegetarian" with your name, address and number to freelunch@newcastleherald.com.au. Entries close on Monday at 9am.

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