Bondi Banquet

Bondi Banquet is a 2000 Australian TV series broadcast on the SBS. The seven part series was described as part soap opera, part cooking show. Set in a Bondi apartment building, each episode focuses on different groups of residents cooking and interacting, until the final episode when they all join for a rooftop BBQ. The recipes for the series were created by Barbara Sweeney.

Reception

Michael Idato of The Sydney Morning Herald gave it a mixed review stating "It works, barely but it teaches an interesting lesson about technique and program content: there is too little instruction to lend it any culinary value, and too little plot to make it a compelling soap opera." Jenny Tabakoff of The Sydney Morning Herald gave it a negative review calling it a "lemon." She the mix of the drama and cooking did not work together. Also in The Sydney Morning Herald Robin Oliver was positive and finished "Offbeat, certainly, but where else were we going to be served Martin Vaughan, Carole Skinner, Mary Coustas, Jacki Weaver and the elusive Paul Chubb all on the one plate? I shall return for seconds."
The Age’s Nicole Brady wrote "The first episode of this quirky new
Australian series is a real winner." The Age's Brian Courtis gave it 1 star. He writes "the feast offered proves, on first taste at least, to be a somewhat patchy fusion of food and soapie fiction."