webmenu.com.au awarded Best New Website in Australia

webmenu.com.au has been judged the best new website in Australia by ACP’s Australian NetGuide magazine, the country’s top selling internet magazine.

Australian NetGuide awarded webmenu.com.au the Best New Website award in its annual NetGuide Australian Web Awards for 2007.

The Best New Website award recognises the most innovative or interesting website launched in the past 12 months that’s made an impact on a significant number of internet users.

Other category award winners include Google (Best Search Site) and eBay (Best Classifieds Site).

The results appear in the April edition of Australian NetGuide magazine.

It's official, Vue de Monde is Australia's best restaurant.

Vue de Monde in Victoria was awarded Restaurant of the Year at last night's Restaurant & Catering National Awards for Excellence, the hospitality industry's largest & most renowned awards program.

A team of 529 judges visited more than 2,200 restaurants this year to determine the eventual winner. Restaurants were anonymously judged on over 50 different criteria spanning the entire dining experience from booking to menu options, service, atmosphere and value for money.

Other winners included:

New South Wales
European — Zest Restaurant
Coffee — Electric Bean Cafe
BYO — Pazzo Restaurant
Hotel — Est.
Pub — The Restaurant at 3 Weeds
Informal Dining — Clareville Kiosk
Thai — Arun Thai Restaurant
Specialty — Kazbah on Darling
New Restaurant — Rock Restaurant

South Australia
Indian — Tandoori Oven
Breakfast — Chianti
Pizza — Good Life
Restaurant in a Winery — Penny's Hill
Italian — Auge
Seafood — Blanc Bistro
Cafe — The Strand

Victoria
Asian — Koko
Fine Dining — Vue de Monde
Tourism — Lake House

Queensland
Family — Omeros Bros Seafood
Entertainment — Volare Restaurant
Themed — High Societea
Steak — Cha Cha Char

Tasmania
Modern Australian — Marquee IV

Australian Capital Territory
Chinese — Ginseng Restaurant

webmenu.com.au Wins Service Provider of the Year

The Restaurant and Catering SA Annual Awards for Excellence was held at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Monday 30 July 2007.

Winners of the Restaurant and Catering SA Awards for Excellence 2007 —

Popular Choice
T-Chow

Hall of Fame, Individual
Roberto Cardone, Salvatore Pepe, Angelo Inglese and Claudio Ferraro from Cibo Ristorante and Cibo Espresso

Hall of Fame, Chinese
House of Chow

Hall of Fame, Mediterranean
Zucca Greek Mezze

Hall of Fame, Pizza
Goodlife Organic Pizza Adelaide

Hall of Fame, Seafood
The Blanc

Hall of Fame, Tourism
Windy Point Restaurant

Apprentice Chef
Christopher Brown, The Manse

Chef
Camillo Crugnale, Assaggio Ristorante

Employee
Sarah Meaney, Auge

Maitre D
George Kasimatis, George's on Waymouth

Media
SA Life

Product Supplier
Negociants Australia

Service Provider
webmenu.com.au

Safety Award
Adelaide Entertainment Centre

Sommelier
Duncan Vent, Chianto Classico

Trainee
David Gareffa, Hilton Adelaide

Wine List
Apothecary 1878 Wine Bar and Restaurant

Asian
Mapo Korean Restaurant

Bistro
The Lion Hotel

Breakfast
Chianti Classico

Cafe
The Strand

Chinese
Ying Chow

Coffee Shop
The Coffee Club Harbourtown

Entertainment
Night Train Theatre Restaurant

European
Lenzerheide

Event Caterer
Blanco Catering

Family
Bocelli Cafe

Fine Dining
Magill Estate

Function Centre
National Wine Centre

Indian
Tandoori Oven

Informal
Brighton Jetty Cafe

Italian
Auge Ristorante

Modern Australian
Regatta's at the Adelaide Convention Centre

New
Kenji Modern Japanese

Pizza
Goodlife Organic Pizza Glenelg

Regional
Piper's of Penola

Restaurant in a Hotel
Blake's Restaurant at the Hyatt Regency

Restaurant in a Winery
Penny's Hill Restaurant

Seafood
Blanc Bistro

Specialty
XO Supper Club

Steak
Cos Restaurant

Thai
Regent Thai

Themed
Zapata's Mexican Restaurant

Tourism
Faversham's at Edithburgh House

Venue Caterer
Epicure Catering at the State Library

Wedding Caterer
The Observatory Function Centre

Caterer of the Year
Epicure Catering at the State Library

Restaurant of the Year
Magill Estate Restaurant

Lifetime Achiever
Brian Lawes, Head of Cookery TAFE SA

Search Adelaide's eat streets.

In addition to searching for restaurants within Adelaide, you can now search for restaurants specifically on Hutt Street, Rundle Street, Gouger Street or North Terrace.

Just type Adelaide into the suburb field and wait for the street list to appear.

Review a restaurant, win a restaurant voucher.

We've got a handful of $50 and $100 restaurant vouchers to give away throughout July to contributing members — to enter, just review a restaurant on webmenu.com.au before the end of July.

All winners will be announced, notified and eating for free by the start of August.

We’ve made some changes.

We rolled out a big update while 99% of you were still in bed this morning and we have a number of new features to share with you – many inspired by the feedback you've sent our way over the past month or so.

One of the most substantial features we've included is a user recommendation and review system. Here's how it works:

The following button now appears on every restaurant’s overview:



If the restaurant's worth recommending, simply click the Recommend It? text. The button will change to Recommended and the restaurant's rating will increase by one point.

Recommending a restaurant will take you literally a second and the ratings will help you (and every other user) keep on top of what's hot.

If you have a spare minute and you're keen to leave more than a recommendation point, you can leave a full review almost as easily – just click the Add a Review button, which is to the right of the recommendation button on every restaurant overview.

Reviews are published without administrative review and we encourage honest feedback – whether it's positive or negative. Review scores are reflected in a restaurant's overall rating, so a positive review will also act as a recommendation to other users.

In addition to writing a review, you can agree and disagree with existing reviews.



The more users agree with a review, the more weight it carries.

Restaurateurs often refer to their listings, so leaving positive or constructive feedback will not only benefit other users, but restaurants too.

On to other areas:

1. We’ve finally given you a fridge. The fridge is your account page and within it you can update your address, change your password and so forth. You can also stick your favourite menus to your fridge, which will save you searching for them on each visit.

To stick a menu to your fridge, just click the fridge icon at the top of any menu page.



2. On the topic of search results, we’ve included your search results on every menu page under the obvious Last Search Results heading. Now you can click between your results without having to return to the search screens.

That's it for now. As always, if you have feedback, we’d love to hear it!

webmenu.com.au Profiled in The Australian

If you don't subscribe to The Australian, you probably missed our coverage in today's Business section. Don't worry, here it is again:



Some tempting treats on the webmenu

Verity Edwards May 09, 2007

RESTAURATEUR Kristian Livolsi wants to create the greatest lifestyle website in Australia.

The plan is slowly coming to fruition, with the site already boasting the menus and location of more than 1000 eateries in Adelaide and Sydney.

The Adelaide entrepreneur, 29, who owns four restaurants and has worked under top British chef Gordon Ramsay, says the website has already sparked competition within the "conservative" South Australian food industry. "The greatest feedback we get from restaurants is 'now we can see what everyone else is doing'," Mr Livolsi told The Australian. "Here in Adelaide they've always been very conservative. It's raised the bar with what people are charging, to be in line with other restaurants."

Mr Livolsi began trialling the Adelaide version of webmenu in late December and will bring Sydney restaurants online on Thursday. The site includes street maps, menus, prices and restaurant news, and will soon include reviews, ratings, and "food and wine tourism".

Restaurants are able to list for free and link to their own sites, with free access for consumers.

And it has attracted more than just the cafe culture, with top restaurants in Adelaide onboard, including Magill Estate and Cheong Liew's award winning The Grange.

Mr Livolsi said he hoped the site would attract people interested in good food, variety and quality, rather than people hunting a cheap meal.

"People are only eating out as a necessity, rather than the pleasure of going out together for a special meal," he said. "I see webmenu as being the final saviour, the last-ditch effort."

"Don't worry about what you're paying, worry about what you're eating.

"Webmenu says to me, 'go out and have a look at what people's prices are' but it always comes down to quality and service."

Mr Livolsi, who is president of the Australian Culinary Association, studied hotel management before training at the Cordon Bleu school in Adelaide and then London. He then went on to work at Claridge's Hotel in Britain, the Observatory in Sydney and the Hilton in Dubai before heading his first Adelaide restaurant, the Observatory.

Restaurant and Catering SA chief executive Sally Neville said that anything that exposed the "diverse nature of hospitality in each of our states" would also be a great source of advertising.

"Anything that makes the industry more transparent is good for the industry and good for the public," Ms Neville said.

We're now in Sydney!

Which means we're now out to collate every restaurant menu in Adelaide and Sydney.

We have less than 500 Sydney menus now, but we're adding more every day. If you'd like to recommend a restaurant, get in touch via our feedback form. Otherwise browse the service, test its features and let us know what you think!

If you like what we're doing, be sure to spread the word — tell your friends. Even tell strangers you meet in the street!

SKYCITY's Casino Grill launches new menu

SKYCITY Adelaide's Casino Grill has recently launched a new Autumn menu that boasts an exquisite selection of robust South Australian flavours, which are sure to tempt the most discerning of diners.

Casino Grill head chef, Simone McDonald, says seasonal menu changes are important to highlight South Australia's finest ingredients, year round.

"In a state which is renowned for creating first-class food and wine, it's important for me to showcase top quality local meats, produce and ingredients. Asian influences are also apparent in the new menu with dishes such as the seared eye fillet tossed through a Vietnamese salad entrée - which I personally recommend," she says.

Premium local specialty meats and seafood feature on the Autumn menu along with the signature dish - the Grill Platter.

"The Grill Platter is truly a taste sensation, featuring a selection of South Australia's finest offerings. Ideally shared between two people it has to be seen to be believed," says Adam Vonthethoff, SKYCITY Food and Beverage Manager.

Included in the Grill Platter are: grilled prawn and chorizo skewers, pesto infused mushrooms, Barossa bacon, emu fillet, Morton bay bug, wild barramundi, oysters kilpatrick, marinated half shell scallops, venison sausage, roasted desiree potatoes, plum and chilli grilled pork medallions, dukkah (Egyptian specialty), half spatchcock (small chicken with delicate flesh) marinated in Nepalese spice, all served with steamed green vegetables and a range of select dipping sauces.

SKYCITY's Casino Grill is the perfect venue for a corporate function or an intimate dining occasion with someone special. With stunning views across to Parliament house, a superb a la carte menu and an extensive wine list, it's one of Adelaide's finest dining establishments.



Click here to view Casino Grill's full menu and opening times.

Another day, another 20 winners.

Cheers to our Nova 91.9 competition winners — together you've picked up $2,000.00 worth of vouchers to the following Adelaide restaurants.

#10 Cucina e Bar, North Adelaide
The Rocks Grill, Glenelg
XO Supper Club, Adelaide
Enoteca, Adelaide
Melt Pizzeria, Hyde Park
Top of the World Revolving Restaurant, Glenelg
Art Gallery Cafe, Adelaide
Gringos Mexican Cantina, Glenelg
British Hotel, North Adelaide
Citrus, Adelaide

Hey, and now your name's on the internet!

Laura Burke of Greenwith (SA)
Amanda Hopkinson of Elizabeth South (SA)
Tim James of Hyde Park (SA)
Nicole Nelson of Underdale (SA)
Rosina Parente of Kilkenny (SA)
Catherine Robinson of Happy Valley (SA)
Sophie Roenfeldt of Greenock (SA)
Sonia Samarelli of North Haven (SA)
Jade Walkley of Happy Valley (SA)
Bernadette Willcocks of O'Halloran Hill (SA)
Kaye Bates of Woodcroft (SA)
Marina Bruno of Newton (SA)
Genene Garth of Wynn Vale (SA)
Karen Gibson of Greenwith (SA)
Karlie Landers of Gulfview Heights (SA)
Jess Munzer of Modbury (SA)
Kerry Muth of Salisbury Downs (SA)
Vanessa Nemeth of Para Vista (SA)
Megan Ness of Strathalbyn (SA)
Tamara Rosenweig of Edwardstown (SA)

Can't decide what you're hungry for? Now you can search "All Cuisines".

We've responded to your feedback and implemented the ability to search all cuisines within a suburb simultaneously — and it's as easy as selecting All Cuisines or leaving What type of cuisine? in the search box.

We'll be rolling out further changes over the upcoming weeks (some big, some small), so stay tuned.

And remember, if you have any ideas, spill them!

The winner is... everyone!

Cheers to our December competition winners —

Sam of Hilton (SA) won $150.00 to spend at IKEA and Matt of Dover Gardens (SA) won $100.00 to spend at David Jones.

In addition to these prizes, we're sending $40.00 to spend at Greater Union to every member who sent in a menu during December. How's that for Christmas spirit?

We're adding stacks of menus every week... literally.

Here's next week's stack:



If we're missing a menu in your area, send it our way during December and win yourself a $100 David Jones gift card in time for the after Christmas sales.

We've improved the Know The Name? search.

We've received a lot of feedback over the last two days relating to our Know the name? search not actually knowing many names.

Well, we've made some adjustments and you no longer need to type the exact name of a restaurant or takeaway outlet to retrieve its menu. Type Gringos and we'll now bring back the menu for Gringos Mexican Cantina at Glenelg.

So, if you have a specific menu in mind, just type a name (or part name) into the Know the name? search box on the bottom left of the front page.

If anything else isn't working like it should, get on our case!

The day you've been waiting for has finally arrived.

No, not your birthday — although if today is your birthday, here’s to you!

The Web Menu service has launched!

We’re out to collate every single eat in and takeaway menu in Adelaide. So far we have 500... and we're adding more every day.

Browse the service, test its features and let us know what you think!

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