Cookbook dilemma for restaurant owner

One of the major problems facing Sunnybrae Restaurant owners George Biron and Diane Garrett is what to do with the hundreds of cookbooks accumulated over the years now they have sold the establishment to Dan Hunter, formerly of the Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld.

Situated at 4285 Cape Otway Road Birregurra, Sunnybrae also was the couple’s home for more than 30 years and they have enlisted the help of Woodlands Auctions director Mark Stone to conduct the on site, largely unreserved, clearing sale auction from 11am Sunday as they head towards a much smaller modern Kyneton home.

There are about 300 cookbooks and George is not sure how to lot them for sale – whether in strict subject categories or in bunches of interesting contrasts.

The auction items will be a real find for many auction goers with a full range of French professional copper pots at the top of the list.

There also are marble top tables and chairs, large Kauri pine dressers, cedar bookcases, wine racks and excellent glass plates.

One of the more interesting accessories is a Carpigiani ice-cream machine, which, according to George Biron, is the most efficient ever made.

“Last year, I went to the Carpigiani factory in Bologna and had a most enjoyable staff lunch in the canteen with a group of about 30 students at the Gelato University,” he said. 

“In the class I attended they were making tiny bite sized gelatos in the shape of soccer balls, each with the international football logo of the overseas students enrolled.”

Other interesting items include pre-Raphaelite drawings (about 1910) by students from London’s Royal Academy tutored by well-known artist of the era, J.M. Waterhouse.