Q. What does Buddy need to cook you to guarantee he’ll get lucky?

A: I absolutely love to cook for not only my husband but for my friends and family, for me it’s a way to express my love towards someone. So whenever my husband cooks for me it’s the ultimate!! I find it really romantic, no matter what is on the menu, I find it so thoughtful. I’m pretty easy to impress ;)

Q. What excites you more, a food baby or an actual baby?

A: It’s Friday morning as I write this and Friday nights are always our night to indulge with a nice meal and a glass of wine and dessert... so I have to say right now the thought of a food baby after tonight’s meal (I’m making fresh pasta) is exciting me.

Q. Salads can get a bit of a bad wrap. What are your tricks to take a salad from sad to seductive?

A: To keep it simple and add lashings of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon for zest. A sexy salad for me is butter lettuce, cut in quarters, the juice of half a lemon, a pinch of salt and lots of good quality olive oil.

Q. Top 3 restaurants from your travels around the world?

A: This is a hard one!! Whenever we travel we basically plan it around where we are going to eat, we love trying new things and of course indulging. It’s SO hard to narrow down to just 3 around the world but here are our most memorable recently;

Chez Janou - Paris

My girlfriend recommended this restaurant to us when we were visiting Paris. It was walking distance from our apartment and one of the most beautiful meals we have ever had ! We were only in Paris for 6 days but ate here twice.

Traditional, rustic, home style French cooking. It is always packed but you truly feel like you’re in Paris when you dine here. If you go - the chocolate mouse with unlimited servings that comes in a bowl double the size of your head, is a MUST.

Restaurant Gästehaus Egilsstadir - Iceland

Late last year my husband and I hired a car and drove the entire way around Iceland. We stopped at this restaurant, completely unplanned, and went in for an early dinner. We were the only people in the restaurant (which was very common on the road in Iceland) so we had very little expectation of the meal.

I ordered lamb cutlets and I cannot begin to explain to you how incredible it was. Even down to the presentation. We were in snow gear, in the middle of nowhere, in an empty restaurant eating the most amazing meal ever. It was insane!!

Restaurant Hubert - Sydney

We have so many favs in Sydney (Billy Kwong, Totti’s, Alberto’s Lounge, Bar Patron, Bert’s etc ) so it was reallllllly hard to narrow this one down. But I’ll never forget the first time we went to Hubert. It was spur of the moment, we had no booking and just thought we would wing it. We ended up being sat right next to the jazz band playing that night and had the best meal and wine. The end of the night is a little hazy but I’ll never forget the food!

Q. What’s your strangest childhood food favourite?

A: My grandmother used to cook (cows) tongue every now and then for dinner when we would go over. She would serve it with steamed potatoes, carrots and maybe some broccoli or cauliflower. I remember she used to cook tripe for my grandad too, but it was never served to us. 

Jesinta Franklin deets: @jesinta_franklin

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