A Deep in the Weeds Production
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Dirty Linen goes behind the scenes in restaurants, cafes and bars, covering issues the hospitality industry finds hard to share in public - it's all up for grabs and everything is on the table. Your host is food journalist Dani Valent. For 20 years, Dani has been writing about restaurants and the people who give them life. But she's an outsider, a critic, a tourist, a fan. Despite hearing the stories and writing the tales, she's never really understood what happens behind the scenes. Now it's time to get stuck in, with compassion, humour and fearlessness. Dirty Linen goes deep, both...
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Dani Valent makes the business, culture and community work behind Australian hospitality unusually visible.
Dirty Linen follows Dani Valent into the working lives behind restaurants, bars and food producers. Her interviews keep the pleasures of eating in view while making room for staffing, workplace culture, uncertain bookings and the practical strain of sustaining a hospitality…
A motorcycle workshop serves ramen; Dani Valent gets you thinking about why people stay.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A chef's move from Melbourne kitchens to lamb farming becomes a quiet story about work, connection, and values.
Jenna Abruzzese's story lands as a clear move from kitchen work to farm life: from Melbourne hospitality and Kitchenette with Megan to lamb farming at Addington Downs with Alex.
A family handover in hospitality, with succession, loyalty, and rebranding at the center.
Bill Dracopoulos is at a clear handover point, with Sydney Restaurant Group moving to his sons as the family-owned company rebrands and expands.
A regional dining story grounded in reopening, menu work, and place.
Elm Dining in Bright reads as a regional restaurant story shaped by place, history, and the people behind it. Monica Melendez describes a venue with a previous life, along with a town and surrounding area that reward return visits.
A rice dish, a restaurant, and a conversation that keeps widening into care, memory, and pressure.
Dirty Linen follows Khash into Kitchen 55 and treats Iranian cooking as a practical problem, not a mood. Dani Vallant keeps the talk close to the stove, so tadig, timing, and the family rhythm around the pots stay concrete instead of drifting into theory.
A food-business conversation about taste, resilience, and teaching people to look past cosmetic perfection.
Marcus Warner's Pepo Farms segment presents a regional food business in plain, grounded terms: a farm shop that works like a cellar door, hazelnut oil and chocolate on the counter, and a steady case for trusting flavor over appearance.
A steady conversation about the hidden labour of hospitality, framed by decades at Punch Lane, Juliet, and Waygood.
Martin Perk’s conversation with Dani Vallant is really about the long haul of hospitality, not just what ends up on the menu. Punch Lane’s 31 years in Melbourne’s Chinatown, Juliet’s eight years as the cellar bar next door, and Waygood’s 10 years in Richmond give the piece its…
Food, mood, and public health come together in a grounded, practical conversation.
Dani Vallant talks with Felice Jacka about food, mood, and public health. Jacka comes across as a clear guide on the links between diet and mental wellbeing, and her role at Deakin University and the Food and Mood Centre is laid out without fuss.
A bakery story that becomes a conversation about identity, safety, and the work of staying open.
Dirty Linen moves from bakery talk into a sharper question: what it means for a Jewish food business to be visible, loved, and then suddenly unsafe.
Kerry Diamond interviews chefs, cookbook authors, and restaurant founders about building food businesses.
Dave Chang cooks a dish live with a guest while the conversation drifts from technique to identity.
Solo-narrated recipe builds and viral food-and-wellness trend briefings in under five minutes.
Food talk with grill marks and local flavor.
Long food conversations, with a reporter's follow-up question
Abby Balingit says her baking blog The Dusky Kitchen led to Mayumu Filipino American Desserts Remixed, a 2023 cookbook that won the 2024 James Beard Award for Emerging Voice in Books.
Host Dani Valent visits Reed & Co Distillery in Bright to interview founder Rachel Reed about her journey from chef to distiller, focusing on their koji-based shochu production and wood-fired restaurant Koji Bird.
Dirty Linen travels to Bright in Victoria's High Country and sits down with Marcus Warner, CEO of Pepo, for a conversation about a farm business built around taste.
Host Dani Valent visits Jacob Hanna, co-owner of Pawpunka Pantry in northeast Victoria's High Country.
Luke Dudley says Sixpence Coffee began in Bright 11 years ago in a shed with a roller door, then grew into wholesale, retail beans, an online store, a Will Street shop with Read & Co, and another store in Albury.
Kash Kohan describes Kitchen 55 in Melbourne as an "accidental restaurant" built around Persian hospitality, shared tables, and a daily menu that usually offers only two to three mains.
Jai Felinski says his documentary Tucker grew out of a long, messy attempt to make an Australian food web series, with early shoots at Gary's Butchers in Prahran Market, Titulina's in St Kilda, and La Tortoria.
Dirty Linen heads to Sydney for a chat about Rising Sun Workshop, the motorcycle workshop and ramen cafe in Newtown that has been around for more than a decade.
Connor Mallett of Love Shack in Castlemaine describes how the Harcourt fire destroyed the Harcourt Cool Store Cooperative, which he says served about 40 producers and held a large share of regional stock.
Dirty Linen brings Dani Valent back to one of food's bigger questions: what changes when everything starts from the ground up.
Dani Valent interviews Priscilla Williamson, owner of Bright Boutique Accommodation, about her collection of 32 unique properties in Victoria's High Country.
Greg Sanderson joins Danny Vallant as the co-founder and managing director of Speakeasy Group.
Julie Holm describes Ringer Reef Winery near Pawpunka in northeast Victoria as a small family-run vineyard, cellar door, and hospitality venue with lawn seating, platters, and live music.
Host Dani Valent takes listeners on a culinary tour of the Australian Open, interviewing chefs and vendors about their unique food offerings, from native Australian popcorn to Greek pastries made with love.
Carly Baker-Burnham shares how her family's Queensland cattle farm transitioned to organic practices, pioneered direct-to-consumer sales, and achieved Australia's first large-scale soil carbon sequestration.
Dani Valent speaks with Eleonora Rossi, venue manager at The Hardware Club in Melbourne, about running an independent restaurant in Hardware Lane.
Rowan Blakers from Bright Adventure Company discusses the company's focus on adventure tourism and outdoor education, offering activities like kayaking, abseiling, and rock climbing in the Bright region.
Dani Vallant opens an occasional series with Jenna Abruzzese.
Host Dani Valent journeys on Australia's legendary Ghan train, exploring how its kitchen creates fine dining with hyper-local native ingredients like saltbush and crocodile despite a tiny, rocking galley.
Dani Vallant welcomes Monica Melendez at Elm Dining in Bright.
Dani Vallant sits down with Felice Jacker to talk about food and mood.
Bill Dracopoulos is at a pivotal moment.
Martin Perk and Dani Vallant talk across decades of hospitality.
Dani Vallant opens Dirty Glass as a crossover with Shantae Whale.
Jessica Haidt, a chef with Journey Beyond, describes cooking on the Ghan, the Adelaide-to-Darwin train that carries more than 250 passengers through changing landscapes.
Dani Vallant speaks with Ed Helmarji about Avner's Bakery and why it closed after the Bondi Beach massacre.
Lucy Ridge, author of Fed Up: A Chef's Adventures in Food Farming and Feminism, describes leaving a burnt-out hospitality career and spending a 2021–2022 "chef's gap year" with seven women producers across Australia.
Peter Gunn talks about Ides approaching its tenth year and the choice to close it on the restaurant's tenth birthday.
Scott Brandon, owner and founder of Bright Brewery in Bright, northeastern Victoria, explains how a 2003 move with his wife and three daughters led to a brewery built from home brewing, a brewing course, and a business plan.
Host Dani Valent interviews chef John Loretty about the story behind Cafe Louis, a pastry shop in Sydney.
Host Dani Valent interviews chef Jason Jones about his restaurant Entrecote's 10th anniversary and his own 50th birthday, exploring the importance of celebrating milestones in the hospitality industry.
Host Dani Valent interviews artists behind an immersive exhibition about Melbourne's multicultural restaurant culture, exploring the stories behind order dockets.
Host Dani Valent interviews a restaurant owner whose farm was destroyed by bushfires, discussing the impact on his business and community.
Host Dani Valent returns for a new year, reflecting on recent troubling events and inviting listener engagement.
Host Dani Valent visits a restored 1859 building in Hepburn Springs, interviewing the owners about their journey and the joyful atmosphere of their food and wine venue.
Host Dani Valent interviews Erfan, a refugee who found purpose through SCARF's hospitality training program, discussing social enterprise and personal transformation.
Host Dani Valent interviews Claudia Paella, a fourth-generation restaurateur in Rome, about her family's trattoria and the food culture of the city.
Host Dani Valent interviews chef Fernando Sanchez about his career and life as executive chef at Opera Bar in Sydney.
Host Dani Valent ambushes a Parisian wine bar owner for an impromptu interview about his simple lunch formula and the restaurant's story.