Eating near a nuclear submarine base on a Chinese island and dining with Tamil tea pickers in Sri Lanka – these are some of the memorable meals that Ardyn Bernoth and Roslyn Grundy have experienced over the years. Given their many years covering food (Ardyn is currently the national editor of Good Food, Ros is the deputy print editor of Good Food – and both have senior roles on the Good Food Guide), it’s not surprising that they’ve eaten far and wide. What is surprising is how restaurant life is something they both experienced very early on – when their families entered the hospitality world.

Ardyn and Ros also talk about their reviewing disasters, the lengths you have to go to ensure your restaurant coverage is accurate (“stealing copies of menus is something I’ve done many times, I’m ashamed to admit”) and some of their career highlights – like interviewing your heroes (Yotam Ottolenghi, “number one cookbook writer in the world”), your story landing on the front page of the newspaper and covering fascinating people like Icebergs Dining Room and Bar restaurateur Maurice Terzini (“his energy is 10 people rolled up into one frenetic bundle”).

And of course, given their role as national restaurant reviewers, they share some of their favourite places to eat around Australia (Ester, Africola and Lee Ho Fook are some of their picks).

You can listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or download it via RSS or directly. You can also find it on Stitcher and Google Podcasts nowadays. Also, huge thanks to anyone who kindly writes a positive review about this show on Apple Podcasts. And to everyone who subscribes to this podcast and tells me they like listening to it – it really means a lot!

Photography of Kylie Kwong’s chilli, chicken and Hokkien noodle soup and Helen Goh’s lemon and raspberry loaf cake by William Meppem, courtesy of the Good Food Favourite Recipes cookbook, available now through Simon & Schuster.